Thrud the Barbarian: Step by Step - Painting

So now we get to the meat of the process, actually painting!  For the first step, I used two coats of flesh colored paint to cover most of the model.  He is a barbarian after all.  I also painted the base and the haft of his axe in a light brown,

Thrud with a base coat of flesh paint

Next, I painted the leather areas, boots, belt, and loincloth, being careful not to get any on the flesh areas.

Thrud with his belt, boots, and loincloth painted

The boot straps were time consuming,  I chose a lighter color for them, so that they would show up against the brown of the boots.

Thrud with his boot straps painted

Next, I moved on the the ornamentation on Thrud's belt.  I decided to go with a coppery color for some contrast.  The small metal studs along the belt were done in a dark silver.

Thrud with some belt ornamentation

Next I moved on to the metal areas, helmet and axe head.  Again, I had to be careful not to get any on the flesh colored areas.  Not that I couldn't have fixed it, but I just wanted to avoid the extra work.

Thrud is totally metal!

Finally, I painted the horns on Thrud's helmet, and the main painting was done!

A good helmet needs horns

Next:  Shading with washes!