Game of Thrones Bronn (WIP - Clothing) aka 54 mm Nocturna Models The Crusader

It has been quite a while since I painted so much clothing in a miniature. Another recently completed Game of Thrones (GoT) project namely Princess Myrcella Baratheon - using the Dark Sword Miniatures Female Mage on Stairs as the proxy figurine - had clothing but most it was painted months earlier. Painting cloth comes with its own set of challenges but it actually isn't that different to skin tones. In the end, it's all about creating textures through paint to mimic real life surfaces.   

Nocturna Models The Crusader (54 mm) painted as Bronn, a sellsword in Game of Thrones

As a sellsword who first served Tyrion and later Jamie, Bronn needed a colour scheme to reflect his allegiance to House Lannister. Because the costumes that Jerome Flynn (the actor who plays Bronn) wore on set largely consisted of dark neutral hues such as greys or dull colours like browns and olive greens, I had to take some creative license with his clothing. Granted Bronn had on bright hues when he was betrothed to Lollys of House Stokeworth - light turquoise, bright greens and even yellows - but those are better suited to my Loki project. So in the end I went with dark red, reddish brown and ivory white; a colour scheme somewhat similar to a costume Jamie Lannister wore on Season 5. 

Bronn aka Nocturna Models Crusader, picture here with his left arm and yet to be painted scabbard

Lower right back area of miniature is arguably the best place to paint a freehand House Lannister lion

With Bronn's clothing looking rather bare, chances are high I'll attempt to paint the House Lannister heraldry freehand on some part of his clothing. Prior experience painting the heraldry on a warhorse caparison will hopefully stand me in good stead for the second attempt. Another issue I have is with the slight glossiness of the red gorget-like clothing around his neck (If anyone knows the definition of this Medieval clothing, do let me know). I tried matting the reds with Vallejo Matt Varnish but results were unsatisfactory. I then used Citadel Lahmian Medium with better but still mixed results.

Side view (right) - Bronn's clothing comprise of a red-reddish brown-ivory combination

Side view (left) - indentation on Bronn's left hip is where the scabbard will eventually be placed

I had second thoughts about using the Nocturna Models Crusader 54 mm resin figurine as Bronn seeing that this figurine was actually modelled after Baron Godfrey de Ibelin (Liam Neeson) from the movie Kingdom of Heaven. But the more I looked at it, the more I felt this figurine to be better suited as a proxy for Bronn. Not entirely accurate sculpt-wise as Jerome Flynn/Bronn but close enough for a carefully considered colour scheme to pull off a character doppelganger effect. 

Undergarment's main colour is ivory with white highlights and beige-grey shadows

Every miniature I paint seems to present a first-of-sorts for me and this figurine was no different. This was the first time I attempted to paint ivory clothing. I used a combination of grey and beige for the deepest shadows; ivory for the base colour; white for the brightest highlights; and lots of half-tones in between. Initially I used ocher for the deepest shadows to terrible results. It took me a while realise that ochre shadows weren't deep enough for ivory clothing. Moreover, the undergarment took on a yellowish tint which gave it an unappealing sickly look. So beige-grey shadows it was.

Reds of the gorget-like clothing symbolises Bronn's ties to House Lannister

Apart from the Lahmian Medium from Citadel, I used only Vallejo Model Color to paint Bronn's clothing. Next up will be the leather bits as well as metals on the miniature. While I'll revert to my trusted Citadel metallic paints for the latter, I'll be trying out the former with Vallejo paints for the first time. Hey, whaddayaknow. Yet another first. Until then, do enjoy your weekend.