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So I snapped up five old gobbos with metal hammers off of eBay for just one of my English pounds...

I love grots, I really do... for some reason I find them strangely adorable and they're probably what I'd pick as "mascots" for Games Workshop.

I'd never painted one so when they arrived (and my internet was coincidentally unavailable) I got to work painting one and it was a wonderful experience.

The little fella took less than half an hour and yet I'd say he's probably one of my best pieces (ignoring the horrid base and mutated feet ofc ). It was so much fun that it's nudged me to ditch the Island of Blood Skaven, stick 'em on a shelf and perhaps get to work on a Goblin army: I may not know the rules to WHFB yet but damn, even if it turns out unviable; if these guys are as easy to paint as this one was then I'll have a whale of a time.

Here he is:


I deliberately went for a darker and dirtier look, though I intend to do the whole lot with varying skin tones (pics as they're done, I'm looking forward to doing a "sandy" one).

I started off with a Chaos Black undercoat and then added Catachan Green. I applied a 50/50 mix of watered down Chaos Black and Catachan as a generous wash over the whole model (and part of me was tempted to say he was done then ;P). Next came a highlight accross the raised areas of Catachan Green mixed with a small amount of Camo Green (no fixed amount; just mixed until it looked right). The final edge-highlight/facial highlight was a mix between Camo Green, Catachan Green and Bleached Bone. The teeth were painted Vermin Brown and then Bleached Bone was added. The mallet was painted Dark Flesh and then had Snakebite Leather, slightly watered down, painted in "streaks" (only upward motions) to make the wood look a bit more split and "Tom 'n' Jerryish". The shaft of the Mallet was painted with Dark Flesh and the straps with Scorched Brown. The rope on the waist was simply black with Bubonic Brown highlights and the red cloth was first painted Mechrite Red and then had a 50/50 wash of Ogryn Flesh and Red Gore put over the top. I didn't highlight the cloth as I felt it looked more "real" without one.

Anyway, hope you guys like it

Sometimes you jsut have to paint something you usually dont, I know painting marines over and over again gets boring...

I too found painting a gretchin or 2 makes the boring go away. They are fun to paint too

Well they have a lot of personality to them :p

I'm not sure if he's a Grot or a Snotling, though... the seller wasn't sure.

He's about 1/3rd of the height of an Eldar Ranger so I'm leaning toward Snotling I guess.


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Think I'll go for a Desert Yellow/Camo Green mix for the next one... but I might forbid myself to touch him until my Eldar Rangers are finished <- Nice incentive.

The highlights are really good, maybe you should paint up a squa dof grots now?

I've made some eBay bids on some fantasy goblins

Looks good. I think the weapon looks a little "muddy" but a whole bunch like this on the table would look great (and you will need to paint a whole lot. LOTS and LOTS!!)

Great stuff.

If you're feeling a little more challenging, stick some pins on their head and greenstuff various hairstyles like mo-hawks.

Yes he is adorable. He looks like a grot to me due to the size of the base... Snots are tiny little blighters (swarm bases in WHFB). These sizes have probably changed over time though. if he is in between the two sizes, you could just call him a mutant x-large snot, or a x-small grot, whatever works best for fielding him.

I agree the skin tone is fantastic. Those highlights make his little face pop. The eye especially works well due to the detail of the eye shading / eyelid highlights, and the eye color. The tunic looks great; the color gives nice contrast to the green skin without being too cartoony.

Constructive comments: looks like the leather strap on the mallet has some rubbing / wearing off of the brown (or is that flash reflection?). I noticed too that 2 fingernails on the mallet handle (and lower tooth?) are missing the bleached bone. Just minor things... you probably already see them yourself. Believe me, I always find stuff like this on my own models when I take pictures. What is it about photographing that causes all the little improvement-needed spots to show up???

Great job on the little guy! Looking forward to how you'll do up the gobbos.

Edit: for clarification

You have a keen eye! I didn't notice those fingernails at all! I was quite eager to get them over and done with in order to stop having to use my gloopy bleached bone...

And the strap is showing bare metal because the undercoat and then the paint after that didn't take to it too well; I'll likely fix it with an edge highlight (though much subtle than normal, this ain't no cartoony grot!) And I know what you mean about photographing... my old DP of a DA Tactical Sergeant (that I thought was perfect) was shown to have some pretty dodgy edge-highlighting by my sister's meticulous camera

To get over the gloopy bleached bone, I have been painting first with khaki (vallejo paints) then lightly with bleached bone watered down. I recently started this and am happy with the coverage.

As for the grot, he looks great, I agree they are fun to paint!

Looks great!

Good way to break up the monotony of painting an army.... I sort of do the same thing with videogames... I'll play WoW for weeks at a time but in between I throw in another game or two.

Lovely paintjob. Goblins are cute and fun! I can't wait to see your others with varying skintones. I think a Gobbo army with lots of varying greens would look just awesome, and cuddly!