I recently picked up this cracking little bust by Midnight Miniatures of Bilbo Baggins.

The face has been base coated in Jo Sonja acrylics and I've started applying highlights and shading.

I've base coated the waist coat, trousers and shirt. For a bit of added texture and to make the shirt feel a bit more rustic and coarse, I painted on a layer of Jo Sonja Texture Medium.

The yellow waist coat will have a plaid pattern painted on it.

Looks like a fun piece to paint.
Looking forward to seeing the face develop ... and that dreaded tartan.

Cheers,
Andrew

Looking good Tony. I like the face.

Awesome bust, Tony Off to a great start

Thanks Andrew, the dreaded tartan is half done now. I painted the vertical stripes last night. Horizontal stripes tonight and then I'll look at what effects I can add to make the waistcoat look rustic and worn.

Hi Chris, yes the face has a sweet innocent quality to it that I liked. Very much my idea of Bilbo Baggins as he sets out on his adventure to the Lonely Mountain.

Hi Nick, time for a coffee I think mate. We need to catch up and talk figures. Thanks for your comments.

Hi guys,

More progress on Bilbo. Last night I finished painting in the horizontal green stripes on the waistcoat and the light green stripe that dissects the green stripes, and the red stripe that splits the green stripes.

The waistcoat now needs to be shaded and highlighted before I start to distress the fabric and add some texture effects.

I wanted to create a plaid pattern waistcoat that looked a bit fancy (as Bilbo was known to be) but also something that retained the earthiness and simplicity of the Shire folk.

Next I will try to finish the face and hands, and then move on to the map.

Looking great Tony. The shirt and fabrics are coming on wonderfully. (The face looks great too!)
Phil

A good eye and a very steady hand Tony. This is a bust with great character and the painting of it is excellent. Well done.

Thanks Phil and Chris for your comments. They are greatly appreciated.

A bit more work on the waist coat and the face last night. Lots of little corrections and touch ups on the waist coat required and I'm still not entirely happy with the highlights or the texture effects.

The face is coming along nicely, and I'll do some stippling tonight and tomorrow to finish it off.

For those of you who know the Hobbit, this is the map Bilbo uses to find his way into Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, where the dragon Smaug sits on a pile of gold. The big challenge ahead is to replicate the map.

Geez haven't you finished that yet. Slacker.

The waistcoat looks very "hobbit-ish". Like it.

Something completely different from you tony,very nice

Hi Andrew, no mate I'm still plugging away slowly at this little fella. I've spent some time re-reading the Hobbit to ensure I got the right colours for the waistcoat

Hi Brian, different but not completely different. I've done several LOTR figures over the years. This one is a bit more fantasy that usual, but still quite honest to the books.

Here are the latest pics.

Last night I painted the map on The Lonely Mountain of Erebor, and then glued the hands to the arms.

It's a bit hard to see but I'm pretty pleased that the details on the map look like the original map drawn by Professor Tolkien and used in the movie.

Only took 30 minutes to paint the map, and then another 2 hours of touch ups and fiddling to get it to this point.

Great work Tony. I wouldn't even try to replicate the map with my shaky hand. Well done.

Chris

Wow!
Considering the scale, that is superb detailing of the map.
The tartan's great as well.

Cheers,
Andrew

Very nicely done

Hi Chris, thanks mate. The map is approximately one inch (2.5cm) square, so there wasn't much room to work with, but I managed to get everything in and roughly in the right position. Sadly the writing on my map isn't legible.

Hi Andrew, I'm actually not sure what scale this bust is, but it seems like 1/10th scale but reduced to Hobbit size. Thanks for your comments mate. I'm happy that the map and the tartan came out well.

Hi Sippog, I appreciate your comment. Thanks

Yeah, you're definitely slacking .

Seriously though, this is just looking great.

Phil

Come up a charmer!!
as usual, lots of little details coming together for a coherent whole!!

cheers

Thats turned out rather nice, superb painting as always.
I'm going to paint the one with the ring on his finger.
Regards

Hi Phil, thanks mate. I did try to make it legible mate, but I'm not that talented

Thanks Jamie, you know me mate. I love a coherent whole

Hi Bob, the latest instalment of WUIP pics are attached. The bust is now assembled and just waiting for the finishing touches.