Hello!

By popular request (and just because I wanted to!) I've begun a new painting series for The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth, and I thought I'd share the first video here for anyone who might be interested:

I'm making the series as beginner-friendly as possible, and I really had fun taking a fast and loose approach with the first eighteen figures from the game (the Orcs, Goblins, and Ruffians). Here's a few pictures of what I've covered so far:

I hope some of you will join me for the painting journey!

Sorastro.

You are an inspiration. Thank you.

15 hours ago, steveisbig said:

You are an inspiration. Thank you.

Thanks a lot Steve!

Sorastro, if I were going to only use the white primer, would I only spray from the top like you did in the video? Or since I don't have the black, would I use the white on the whole mini?

Thanks!

8 minutes ago, Wandalf the Gizzard said:

Sorastro, if I were going to only use the white primer, would I only spray from the top like you did in the video? Or since I don't have the black, would I use the white on the whole mini?

Thanks!

Hi Wandalf! Good question - if you're just going to prime in white, then you need to prime the whole figure. (You can then obviously skip the part where I applied a white dry brush!)

Great video and series! 👍

Again, SO THANKFUL for this series in particular about a game I'm SO EXCITED to play with my kids. I've never painted a single mini, and I want SO BADLY for them to turn out well, but I've decided to include my older kids in the process and have this be a group activity for us. I think it will make the game that much more special for us as we play it, and maybe we'll enjoy it enough to try it out on some other games too. LOVE this series and THANK YOU AGAIN!

This is fantastic! I'm a new painter, so I will be following your videos.

Are the flesh tones used here for the orcs and goblins the common flesh tones in the Lord of the Rings books and moves? In D&D, it seems goblins are green and orcs tend to be grey.

That's not a criticism of the color schemes in these videos, they look awesome. I'm just trying to figure out what colors I should use when I start my painting adventure.

Also, the goblin miniatures look more like the Moira orcs in the movie. Were those actually goblins?

Thanks!

Steve

5 hours ago, SteveMarroni said:

This is fantastic! I'm a new painter, so I will be following your videos.

Are the flesh tones used here for the orcs and goblins the common flesh tones in the Lord of the Rings books and moves? In D&D, it seems goblins are green and orcs tend to be grey.

That's not a criticism of the color schemes in these videos, they look awesome. I'm just trying to figure out what colors I should use when I start my painting adventure.

Also, the goblin miniatures look more like the Moira orcs in the movie. Were those actually goblins?

Thanks!

Steve

Thanks a lot Steve!

Those are some interesting questions, and I admire your quest for authenticity! Firstly, it's worth noting that in Tolkien's published works he actually uses the terms "Orc" and "Goblin" interchangeably; i.e. they are just two different names for the same race of creatures irregardless of size. Although some are clearly larger than others - take the Uruk-hai for example - they are all just goblins (or orcs). That should answer your last question, but yes - those enemy figures in the game are called "Goblin Scouts".

Regarding the skin tones, Tolkien doesn't really specify what they should be in the books. In one of his letters he describes Orcs as being "sallow-skinned" which implies a yellow-ish/brown-ish complexion - or a roughly Caucasian tone but leaning towards yellow and brown, which is why I included such tones in the video. There is also the occasional mention of certain types of Orcs - such as the smaller tracker Orcs - that are described as being "black-skinned", which is a look I chose not to go for as I really wanted to stick to paler skin tones to help make the figures more "readable".

In the movies they actually use a nice range of such sallow tones, and often quite dark skin tones too. For some of the goblins however they also lean more towards using greener tones, showing the influence of the now stereotypical look established in the D&D/Warhammer universes. I did of course also include some green tones in the video to present a range of options, but was careful to de-saturate the tone when doing so to create a more grey-ish, natural look.

I hope this helps!

Given what sounds like a lot of good knowledge about Tolkien's world, can we expect a blonde or the properly dark-haired Legolas? :-D

5 minutes ago, steveisbig said:

Given what sounds like a lot of good knowledge about Tolkien's world, can we expect a blonde or the properly dark-haired Legolas? 😄

Ha ha! Well, as far as I’m aware his hair colour is never actually specified in the books so you could paint it blue and the purists would have no amunition to use against you! Having said that, his father’s hair is stated as being golden in colour so there is a case for leaning that way.

I will probably most likely go with the dark hair as depicted in the fantastic character art however, partly to aesthetically unify the miniature with the hero card, but also to separate this interpretation of the characters from that of the movies. 😀

I think the biggest clue is from how much effort is put into stating how extremely rare Galadriel's golden/blonde hair color was. The movies portrayal of "All Elves are blondes" wasn't the biggest change from the books, though, so...

1 minute ago, steveisbig said:

I think the biggest clue is from how much effort is put into stating how extremely rare Galadriel's golden/blonde hair color was. The movies portrayal of "All Elves are blondes" wasn't the biggest change from the books, though, so...

That, sir, is an excellent point! Dark hair FTW it is 😄

I'm re-reading the Trilogy (for the 4th or 5th time) and I just happened to come across this passage about Legolas, in Chapter 9, The Great River:

"Frodo looked up at the Elf standing tall above him, as he gazed into the night, seeking a mark to shoot at. His head was dark, crowned with sharp white stars that glittered in the black pools of the sky behind."

Perhaps his head was dark because it was night? Or perhaps because his hair was dark?

1 hour ago, nevogamer1 said:

I'm re-reading the Trilogy (for the 4th or 5th time) and I just happened to come across this passage about Legolas, in Chapter 9, The Great River:

"Frodo looked up at the Elf standing tall above him, as he gazed into the night, seeking a mark to shoot at. His head was dark, crowned with sharp white stars that glittered in the black pools of the sky behind."

Perhaps his head was dark because it was night? Or perhaps because his hair was dark?

Nice find mate! It looks like we’re all on the same page RE Legolas’ hair colour for sure 😀

Now, let's talk about whether Balrogs have wings or not...

So glad you're doing these for this game! Your vids have been an immense help when I got into such hobby/mini painting with Star Wars Legion.

A question about flow aid. How does using it differ from thinning the paint with water? Could you just thin with a little extra water, or is flow aid a replacement for thinning with water? Never used a flow aid type of product before.

12 hours ago, manoftomorrow010 said:

So glad you're doing these for this game! Your vids have been an immense help when I got into such hobby/mini painting with Star Wars Legion.

A question about flow aid. How does using it differ from thinning the paint with water? Could you just thin with a little extra water, or is flow aid a replacement for thinning with water? Never used a flow aid type of product before.

Thanks a lot mate!

The flow aid is quite interesting; firstly I would restate that it's not essential, and yes you can just thin with water. It's hard to describe in words what the effect is, but it reduces the viscosity of the paint allowing it to be applied in thinner, more smoothly-flowing layers but without over diluting the colours. Overall it really does literally aid the flow of the paint, so when I'm brushing on the skin tones for example, I just lightly touch a segment of skin and the paint just more readily fills the area. It's also really good for painting fine decals etc as you can keep the paint quite concentrated but still lay down a very clean, flat line.

Like I say, it's tricky to put into words but if you try it (and you only need to add a drop or two) I think you will feel the difference, but it's a nice addition to our armoury rather than a vital one.

5 hours ago, Sorastro said:

Thanks a lot mate!

The flow aid is quite interesting; firstly I would restate that it's not essential, and yes you can just thin with water. It's hard to describe in words what the effect is, but it reduces the viscosity of the paint allowing it to be applied in thinner, more smoothly-flowing layers but without over diluting the colours. Overall it really does literally aid the flow of the paint, so when I'm brushing on the skin tones for example, I just lightly touch a segment of skin and the paint just more readily fills the area. It's also really good for painting fine decals etc as you can keep the paint quite concentrated but still lay down a very clean, flat line.

Like I say, it's tricky to put into words but if you try it (and you only need to add a drop or two) I think you will feel the difference, but it's a nice addition to our armoury rather than a vital one.

Thanks! Makes sense about the liquid not diluting the color as water would. I may try it out. Really looking forward to the heroes!

Also, depending on the hardness of your water you may get weird results. There are also some paints (typically metallics, from my experience) that tend to separate or just not work well with just water.

Noob question, How should the miniatures be stored after painted and varnished? Do I need to keep them separate?

1 hour ago, player1516705 said:

Noob question, How should the miniatures be stored after painted and varnished? Do I need to keep them separate?

i'd say it's up to you. I will probably store them separately in pluck foam, like I do with my Star Wars Legion miniatures. But, if you varnish them, you could probably keep them together like in the box and not risk too much damage to them.

There's no rule! But, over time, if they're tossed in the box together and constantly rubbing against and being in tight quarters, you could risk chipping and rubbing paint off, even if varnished. But, your varnish will minimize such damage.

I'm going to start minis painting with this game and will follow your guide - I'm glad you took a back to basics approach 😁

I am going to buy some stuff as I've never done that before. In your video you suggest to use Testors Dullcote varnish spray. Unfortunately it is not available in amazon UK (I live in Ireland). Any suggestion on a similar product?

And thanks again for your amazing videos!

Most primers Are guite similar so any that is right color should be ok. There Are Little more differences in the Main colors, but the principles Are same, but there Are differences is viscosity and color tones, thickness and cans.

1 hour ago, player4054054 said:

I'm going to start minis painting with this game and will follow your guide - I'm glad you took a back to basics approach 😁

I am going to buy some stuff as I've never done that before. In your video you suggest to use Testors Dullcote varnish spray. Unfortunately it is not available in amazon UK (I live in Ireland). Any suggestion on a similar product?

And thanks again for your amazing videos!

Hi! Yes.. the Testors can be tricky to get hold of sometimes. It's been a long time since I've used any other spray-on varnish to be honest, but I have used the Army Painter one before; I found it worked well but did become blocked quite easily. Having said that, that was some years ago and it looks like they've updated the product so it may well be worth a try: https://amzn.to/2HY1ide Others might have some further suggestions too perhaps?