How Not To Paint – Dork Tower Mini’s

Well then, how about that, we have a cool new look to the blog. With the extended text block I can now include big pictures so you can all see how bad my painting is up close.

I also fixed the Workbench page, whenever I update the bench there will be a notice at the bottom of the flash link. Also the out now and coming soon sections are vaguely up to date.

But that’s not why you’re here, so lets get right into the Dork Tower stuff. For those who don’t know Dork Tower is part of Steve Jackson Games (not Steve Jackson who founded Games Workshop… a different guy.) and most famously they make a game called Munchkin, well this model and the others in the series come right out of that game. The art for the game is done by John Kovalic who is known for his very distinct style and these minis represent that style perfectly in lead.

So, before I begin I have to say I expected the painting style I would use to paint this guy would be radically different, but to be honest the mini did most of the work for me.

I started out with a black undercoat. I then painted the inside of the mouth Deep Red, then I added Bright Red and then Bright Red and White to the tongue to make it stand out. I also picked out the teeth in white. While this is sort of difficult to do the effect really adds to the character of the model.

With that done I added the rest of the base colours. Adeptus Battlegrey, Tallarn Flesh, Chocolate Brown and Boltgun Metal although you could easily read Dark Grey, Tanned Flesh, Dark Brown and Dark Silver, instead of the specific names, they are really only included for completeness. Next I ran a wash of Ogryn Flesh over the flesh and armour.  I followed this with Astronomican Grey and Burgundy on the tunic and shield. I painted these with a reasonable amount of shadow to give a more comic book feel.  I highlighted this with white. I added a reasonable amount of water to the white to try and stop it clumping. I also highlighted the red with Bright Red. Next I added Tanned Flesh to the all the flesh areas, making sure to leave some significant shadows around the nose and between the fingers. I then mixed some white into the Tanned Flesh, along with some water and added another layer of flesh. This time I left significant portions around the eyes unhighlighted.  Next I added the eyes in with Black and in keeping with the comic book feel, a single dot of White. The hair came next, I simply added Leather Brown, followed by Tausept Ochre and then washed it down with more Ogryn Flesh. The shoes also recived the same treatment, with his socks being Leather Brown highlighted with Sand and washed with Ogryn Flesh. Finally the armour received a light drybrush with Chainmail to just pick up some highlights. The hilt of the sword was painted with Tin Bitz, Shining Gold and then Burnished gold. The blade was done with Chainmail, with extreme highlights in Mithril Silver. To finish, the whole model was given a coat of Gloss Varnish, to give it that glossy comic book feel.  I’m not sure how Cthulhu will want these guys based but part of me likes the simple black.With 7 more to go you may still see another of the Dork Tower miniatures, but what I can say with absolute certainty is, I will be sad to send these guys back!

Until next time… Keep on Gaming.

The Duke