Hobbit - Bilbo Baggins Painted - An experiment in painting

Afternoon all,

Well I've painted Bilbo Baggins, badly. Let me explain, a couple of months ago I purchased this;

Reading through it yesterday I decided to apply all the techniques mentioned in the book to painting Thorin's Company from the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey box set. With the intention being that through the learning curve of 14 miniatures I could eventually finish with a better standard of painting in general.
This will not impact on my army projects (DA + DKoK) as they use techniques otherwise.

So in terms of the model, several things jump out at me and thus will be rectified for the next model. These include the fact that the model is overall very dark. I attribute this to the fact I applied several layers of milk-thin paint rather than say a 25-50% paint/water ratio paint I usually use. I have clearly not applied enough of the layers so that whilst the finish is smooth, the colour is not homogenous enough and is impacted by the underlying black paint.

Brush technique; it is clear that whilst using very thin paint I am required to paint small areas repeatedly, for various reasons including an Essential Tremor I have been unable to reapply each layer with enough consistency that it has ended up looking patchy or unshapely.

One of my new year's resolutions was to be slightly less harsh on my own painting, and in that vain I will say I'm quite pleased with the red on the coat. I think with another highlight layer or two I'd be pleasantly surprised.

So, what's next then;

Well I have a set of 5 Space Marine Scouts to paint, which I intend to start this afternoon after lunch. These include a converted Telion and one of my favourite GW models ever made, which is a metal scout sniper reloading his weapon. I will make some lunch and listen to World at One and hopefully see you all again in the next day or two.

Steve

PS: I was reminded of this very very old video, of Leonard Nimoy singing a song about Bilbo Baggins...