Before painting a miniature, I try to obtain the greatest possible amount of information on it. I consulted Osprey Men-at-Arms No 251 Medieval Chinese Armies 1260-1520; Historia del Vestido published by Libsa; Historic Costume in Pictures published by Dover and, finally, Heraldry (Sources, Symbols and Meaning) published by Tiger. I do not use any primer. Instead, the first or base layer of paint, is applied a little thicker as one or two coats. Also, before beginning to paint a figure I make the groundwork, so that this and the feet fit correctly and stay this way, once the figure is painted, to avoid handling and, consequently, shiny finger marks from natural oils exuding from the fingers. I use acrylic paints, mainly 'Model Color' made by Vallejo, but with some exceptions that I will detail as required. The paint brushes I use are good quality sable hair and have a very fine point. I begin by painting the figure's eyes, which for me, are the fundamental part, since they are what gives the 'sensation of life' to a figure. I use white Decorfin Wood/Stone for the eyeballs (this paint is glossy) and after painting a black dot I apply gloss varnish. I finish the upper part of the eye by outlining the lashes.

FleshSince I began painting miniature figures in 1987, for flesh colour I've used a mixture of Brown Orange with approximately one quarter part of Bright Yellow, with very little water and this is the base on which I still work. It should cover well and after giving two or three base coats, begin to lighten the colour (highlighting) with white Decorfin. At each stage I always add a quantity of white paint which loads the paintbrush and increases the consistency of the paint. When you begin to lighten the flesh colour it becomes a similar colour to milk and this is fundamental when painting with acrylic. For highlighting and shading, I bear in mind that the light it receives is akin to sunlight; (a technique called now zenithal). When I arrive at the desired highlighted flesh tone, I begin to shade. Shading is the most delicate operation when painting flesh, and if the greatest care is not taken, the whole of the earlier highlighting work can easily be spoiled. Shadows are applied with a lot of water in the paint mix, giving the consistency of say, a soft drink. This is, virtually all water with a small amount of colour. For the Chinese General the first shadow colour used was Beige Brown; the second is a mixture of Beige Brown and Flat Brown; the third is Flat Brown; and finally, Flat Brown and black. Once shading was finished, I applied a little, very watery Bright Orange colour, which defined the lighter and darker areas between the cheekbones and the cheeks. For the lips, I used a little of this colour straight onto the flesh colour. (Sometimes, I use mixture of brown, Red Vermilion and a little Bright Orange to highlight it).

Hair For the General's goatee beard, moustache, hair and eyebrows, I used black, highlighted with Chocolate Brown and a mixture of Chocolate Brown and Beige Brown, finishing with a fairly watery wash of black. I did not shade the beard area since the Chinese race, in general, lacks this 'shadow'. ArmourFirst I coloured the steel parts with a thin wash of black and gloss varnish, with emphasis in the areas that I wished to darken using the same mixture. For the golden areas, I used alcohol based paints: as a base, Dark Adithes Golden Yellow and the highlights with Pale Gold. For the colours I used acrylics: first, a very watery Orange Brown, an intermediate shade to which I added Dull Brown and finally, black. This mixture is good to delineate between gold and steel areas. Finally, apply a semigloss or gloss varnish. ClothingFor the General's clothing, I used Andrea's Blue as a base, then highlighted with Deep Blue. For the shadows I added Prussian Blue to the basic colour. Before painting the patterns, I did not apply the deepest shadow colour to areas of cloth, applying it as follows. First, I drew on the dragons with a paintbrush, using the darker flesh colour. I next added red, white and black, according to- the drawing of the dragon and, once these were finished, I made the series of Chinese characters in Prussian Blue and Cadmium Red with a little Bright Orange to highlight it. I made the oblique drawings in the first fold of the cloth using various colours (red, white, black, Flat Brown, Brown Orange, Chocolate Brown, Bright Orange, yellow, Andrea Blue, Prussian Blue and Violet Blue. When I'd finished, I marked the oblique join between the lines and finished with some drawings of waves in Prussian Blue and, on the crest, Andrea's Blue and White.

On the upper body the clothing is a kind of shirt which ends in a fringe in black which I highlighted with pink, shaded again with black. I painted flowers and plants (a habitual decoration on the clothes of the upper classes at that time). I did the same thing on the ends of the sleeves. For the areas of forearm protection the metallic part was done with the usual mixture of black and gloss varnish and the seams with Red Vermilion, highlighted with Bright Orange and shaded with the same Vermilion Red and red (TD), outlined with black.In the final part of the armour to be painted, there is a decoration of horizontal red and yellow ribbons and some vertical strips of white leather. For the red ribbons, I used Red Vermilion, highlighted with Bright Orange and shaded with red (TD) with a little very thin black that was introduced in the deeper areas. For the yellow colour, I mixed Orange Brown and Bright Yellow, highlighted with Bright Yellow and later Pale Yellow, shaded with the basic mixture and Orange Brown. For the white vertical ribbons I mixed Brown Chocolate and Brown Ochre and lightened with white until arriving at practically this colour. These ribbons have a red circle in their centre, for which I used Vermilion Red. The sash and the scarf at the neck were painted in white, with a mixture different for each one so that the tone was not the same, mixing Sky Grey and a drop of Flat Brown and then highlighting with white, until reverting to the pure shade in some areas. Some painters do not like to use the pure shade, but I do like the effect this colour gives. For the first shadows, I use the base colour, adding a little black for the later ones. Finally, I added the motifs in Prussian Blue.

HelmetI polished the steel areas of the helmet with very fine aluminium wire wool and applied a black and gloss varnish mix. The protection for the neck is made of leather or sheet metal lacquered in red which I painted with Vermilion Red and highlighting with Bright Orange. It was shaded with the base colour, red (TD) and black. The gold securing strings that held the sheets together I painted firstly with Dark Sand and then with gold acrylic. It is very important to profile all the elements and their textures that make up a figure. These should be emphasised by outlining the joins (or separation) lines between them; e.g. between shirt and trousers, weapons and straps, etc.) Usually, I do this it with a darker colour to the one that has been used, or with thinned black, the consistency of the paint being a little more fluid that of milk. AccessoriesThe sword was a very sought-after Japanese blade for those in positions of importance in China and, therefore, it's scabbard was lacquered. I painted it black and 'lacquered' it later with varnish. For the hilt, a mixture of Orange Brown and Brown Ochre, lightened with Brown Ochre and Pale Yellow, shaded with Brown Orange and Flat Brown. The leather belt that supports the armour was painted with a mixture of black and Flat Brown as a base colour and the highlights with Flat Brown and, when reaching the pure colour, with Bright Orange, shaded with the base colour with black added. For the footwear I used the white colour mixture that I described previously. GroundworkFor the groundwork I used balsa wood to give it more height. I made two holes where the pins in the figure's feet would be inserted later and put two toothpicks in the holes to stop the sand, with which I covered the base and fixed with super glue getting in. I added some stones and painted the base with Orange Brown in some areas, Flat Brown and black in others. I mixed these colours together with Brown Orange, giving some highlights to the sand with Dark Sand. Once this was dry, I added the grass for which I use the remains of marine algae that can be found on Spanish beaches. This algae is a kind of ball that, once dry, can be pinched to obtain some strands or fibres which can be cut to length and resemble grass. Once fixed to the groundwork, I painted it in Military Green with an airbrush, later applying highlights with Toasted Olive and Bright Yellow, finishing with a little gloss varnish applied with a paintbrush to give a sensation of wet grass or where dew had formed. I also added some plant roots to simulate small branches. Once the groundwork was completed, I fixed the figure to the base with two-part epoxy glue (Araldite) and applied a nameplate to the base.