ME82 Hobbit Personalities: Bilbo

 

Here we have a true hero. Bilbo Baggins. Legendary figure of childhood for many of us and a hero who no doubt persists into adulthood. I was lucky enough to have a teacher, Mrs Baker, who read my classmates and I much of the Hobbit in 1988. She told it with real gusto, with comedy voices and breathless delivery. Techniques I use today when reading to my class, though sadly I've never had the opportunity to study the hobbit in any depth with pupils. 

One day perhaps...

As you will know, I picked up the ME82 Hobbit personalities a few weeks back in a retro shop. They were mis-listed and unloved. Naturally, Old Orlygg snapped them up with enthusiasm in order to clean, restore and paint these lovely little sculpts. 

Bilbo proved a challenge, but a pleasurable one. I gave myself two hours to base, shade and paint the figure and just went for it with a similar gusto as Mrs Baker. He is clearly dressed for combat in the Mithril armour and brandishing Sting... so presumably ready for combat during the Battle of Five Armies. 

Getting a decent finish on metal is something that still alludes me so I used this figure as a bit of practise. The armour was Mithril Silver followed by a black ink was (a little water was mixed in) and a subsequent Hawk Turquoise glaze over that. I then highlighted with Mithril Silver once again. To give some contrast, his belt was picked out in Shining Gold and given a Brown Ink wash. I highlighted the gold with Mithril too. 

His jacket was Blood Red mixed with my new favourite paint - Snakebite Leather. I simply highlighted the coat back to red with a little Bleached Bone thrown in for good measure. The sleeves of the tunic were painted Ork Flesh and again were highlighted up with Bleached Bone but the photography has made them seem more brown than they actually look to the eye. 

His flesh was my usual mix of Blood Red and Bronzed Flesh but I duffed up the shading here and made it too light, especially around his hands and feet. A future target for me is to try and develop a richer tone for flesh. 

Finally, Sting was painted with Woodland Green, highlighted with Bilious Green and a little Bleached Bone. I gave the blade a thin glaze of Hawk Turquoise to blend it all together. 

The base hasn't come out as nicely as I thought it would, but no matter. Once the other figures are finished I can tweak these and try and make them tie in a little bit. 

And so ends Easter. I got little Bilbo here painted, along with three skeletons and an Epic Great Unclean One. Not bad considering MFM and I have been stripping our home of decades of wallpaper and paint, much of which is combined together. After two and a half years of brutal saving, the restoration of our home has begun. We aim to have the heating ripped out and fully replaced, including all of the pipes and old radiators. A new boiler somewhere outside in our derelict back garden too. New French doors, a patio, the chimney breast reduced with a new solid wood stove to boot. 

Oh, and we are having a new bathroom!

So over the next few months there is going to be a lot of coming and going from this blog. I'll put the computer away somewhere safe when major work commences but there should be suitable warning to you all long before. I don't intend to 'go dark again' for quite some time.

Here's hoping with all the ripping out and clearing, MFM might be persuaded to find me a little permanent spot for a retro set up... fingers crossed. 

I have started Gandalf now, so hoping can get him complete shortly. 

Until then...

Orlygg