Non Traditional Goblin Skin

The tree is up, the presents are wrapped, and the wine is open.  Looks like I have a bit of time on my hands for one more update before Christmas.  I just finished up this goblin the other night....proof that I actually complete a miniature from time to time.  He represents the start of yet another project where I will be playing around with goblin skin tones in order to avoid the bright green cliche that seems to dominate goblin painting.

This particular goblin is from the Hasslefree Miniatures Orcs and Goblins line.  The line itself is fairly limited with only a few pieces, but it's a good choice for painters and gamers that want a bit more of an "old school" look (Otherworld Miniatures also produces goblins with that old school feel and I hope to showcase some of those completed models in the coming year).  Though there are not many models in the group, they are varied enough to create a chaotic looking little warband.  And since some of the weapons and equipment seems to be interchangeable, adding additional goblins to the warband should not be very difficult for those with some minor miniature conversion skills. (Scroll below to see some of the other miniatures in the line).

Except for in the Warhammer world, I'm not a huge fan of painting goblins green...or bright green I should say.  I prefer more subdued colors that suggest some past relationship/common ancestry with humans.  I'm fairly certain I developed this taste from Tolkien's works where it is hinted at that his orcs and goblins are descended from captured elves during the First Age.  Though it seems that before his death he was beginning to regret that version of events, he never changed his legendarium and the story remains the same today.

 I've always liked the Professor's descriptions of his goblin-kind in the books that illustrate their skin coloration ranging from grey to brown to a sallow-skin.  It is in this tradition that I have tried to paint this little goblin.  I used an olive base color (Reaper Olive Skin 09221) then played around with the highlights and washes to get the chosen color.  For this particular model I wanted to play up the sallow skin part so I applied faint yellowish highlights in a few prominent locations.  Several washes of Delvan Mud (GW) helped to blend the different tones together and provide additional shadows.

For the most part, I'm fairly happy with the coloration.  However, I have been playing around with a few other skin types for some of the other goblins in the Hasslefree line.  As you can see on some of the models below, I'm trying out a brown based version on two of the goblins to provide a bit of variance amongst the group.  I still need to tweak the colors a bit though.  They look a little too reddish at this point.  I would like to tone down the warm colors and bring them closer in style to version one.  I'll try a few washes and see what that does to them.

I'd be curious to hear what color schemes others use for their non-Warhammer orcs and goblins.  Do you like the your goblin-kind to be "green-skins" or do you prefer some other approach?  Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Anyhow, as mentioned above, this the last update from the hobby desk before Christmas.  So once again I'd like to thank all those that take the time to read my ramblings and visit this blog.  But I'd also like to wish everyone a very happy Holiday Season.  No matter what you celebrate, I hope it's a safe and happy one.