On The Desk - Pumpkin Pirate Part 2 - What is a pirate without his hat?

As I mentioned last week I'll be looking at the hat this week. In retrospect I should have started with the hat first as my leather painting technique is a little...messy. A lot of sponging, drybrushing and stippling. I had a little bit of retouching to do on the head after I was finished!

I went straight over the prime with a thinned reddy brown mix. I believe it was Vallejo Smoke mixed with GW Doombull Brown.

I made a very dark black/brown mix with more Vallejo Smoke (seriously it's the best paint product for leather) and S75 Black Ink, again very thinned down. I worked this in to darken areas of the leather.  After this I used some P3 Menoth White base (but really any off white colour will do) to lightly sponge (for this I use a bit of old blister pack sponge, put some paint on it then wipe most of it off (similar to drybrushing) then apply where I need it) I tried to focus around areas where wear would occur, the various tears and holes, bottom area where the hat is bent, edge of the trim etc.

Then I took some watered down Vallejo Smoke and glazed over this, some areas repeatedly, some less. You can repeat this step as much as you want really to get the effect you desire. As well as sponging I stippled (with an old cut down brush), drybrushed and towards the latter stages went in with a fine brush and painted some weathering lines on in places.

I started to consider lighting at this point, as established in part one I want to have a light source in front of him below to the left (perhaps a campfire) There is also the candle on his hat which will have it's own light, then finally the moonlight from above and behind. I'll be honest this is way beyond what I've tried before (and on my first bust as well!) so much experimentation will follow! I started to get some lighting by glazing thinned layers of Menoth White base towards the light source. For the front shot this is mainly on the lower left of the hat (to match the lighting on the head) The candle is actually quite far back so the light will mostly be seen on the side of the trim and the back of the hat (as you can see from the second shot) This is really just a template so I can get an idea of where the lights will be, I'll use glazes to change them to a more appropriate colour when I've prepared for it more!

Should also point out I haven't really decided what to do with the symbol on his hat yet. I'm half and half on having it metal or doing it as leather (like the hat below as an example) Any thoughts?

Next week I'll be looking at the various ornaments in his hat, the candle, bag and bottle! As always comments or questions below please, always great to hear what people think.