Flesh:
On most Dwarf figures the only flesh showing is the face and hands.
Dwarfs have ruddy complexions and their faces have deep shadow areas and large prominent noses.
To paint Dwarfs (except Slayers), I usually spray them with black primer and then paint the flesh area white before painting the base flesh colour (I also use white to undercoat any areas that will have a light and/or bright final colour).
I use Dwarf Flesh with just a touch of Chestnut as my base flesh colour for Dwarfs (if you want a more tanned weathered look just add a couple of drops of Snakebite Leather to this mix). After the base coat is dry, wash with a Chestnut and brown wash.
Then highlight with a lighter shade of your base flesh colour, you can use Bronze Flesh to lighten the original for your fist highlights, and then add a touch of skull white for the next, then more skull white for the next.
IF you wish to add details to the face you can paint the inside of the mouth a dark brown or black and drybrush teeth bone white, then paint the lower lip with a mixture of Snakebite Leather and Chestnut. Paint a white slit for the eyeballs, with a very small dot for the pupil, then paint the eyelids in such a way that they clip off just the top and bottom of the pupil so that they do not look pop-eyed. Then very carefully shadow around the eyes so that you don't get any of the shadow colour on the eyeball itself. We will come back to beards and hair later.
Painting Dwarf Armour:
For chainmail, start by drybrushing with Chainmail over the black base coat, then drybrush over this with Mithril Silver and Chainmail mixed, then lightly drybrush with Mithril Silver.
For plate armour, mix just a little Mithril Silver with Iron, and paint the plate, leaving a very thin black line around the edges. Then add a little more Mithril Silver to the mix (thin this so that it will blend smoothly with the earlier coats) and paint a slightly smaller area, then mix more Mithril Silver with the mix, and paint a smaller area (make sure you are blending the edges of all of these). Just repeat this process with each step having more Mithril Silver until you have the effect you want.
Beards:
Now it's time to paint the beards.
To paint the beards, first paint them a very dark shade of the basic colour you want them to be, and then drybrush, using a thinned down lighter version of the base colour, keep lightening this colour until you have a good 3D effect (always drybrush in the direction that the hair is laying). To shadow grey or white beards, use blue-grey. To highlight black beards, use black and Midnight Blue mixed. For red beards, always start with Chestnut, not one of the reds, or the beards will look phony.
Clothing:
Many of the Dwarfs have surcoats. You should always paint these white before trying to paint any other colour over them, otherwise they will look dirty. Dwarf clothing looks best when it is painted in bright and clean colours, I like to keep the colours fairly simple and to use the same basic one or two colours throughout the whole unit to give it a unified look.
Painting Slayers:
These are by far the hardest of the Dwarfs to paint, due to the large areas of flesh on them. Slayers should always be primered white so that you will obtain a nice, clean and bright finish to your colours. After they are primed, I paint them a base flesh coat of Dwarf Flesh with some Bronze Flesh and just a touch of Snakebite Leather mixed in. After this has dried (and I give it overnight), I wash all flesh areas with a very thin wash of chesnut and brown mix (remember when making washes to always use matte medium in your mix). This will give you your base shadowing. It is a good idea not to have too much paint in the brush at one time to prevent puddling of the paint. After this has thoroughly dried, you can start to highlight. The highlighting on Slayers is done exactly the same way as it is done on faces, there's just a lot more flesh to paint (once more, let me remind you, always thin the paint you are going to drybrush with so that it will go on smooth and not be lumpy).
Slayer Hair and Beards:
I paint Slayer hair one of two ways: First, the Red Henna method. For this, your base coat should be a 50/50 mix of Chestnut and dark orange. Let this dry thoroughly, then wash with a very thin wash of straight Chestnut to give your shadowing. After this has dried, drybrush with a mix of Chestnut and orange that has had more orange added to it. Repeat this step with more orange each time until you have a good 3D effect. Don't overdo it, or you will end up with orange hair. The second method is what I call the Barbarian Limed Effect. To achieve this, you first paint the hair with a mixture of Bone White with a touch of grey mixed, they you wash with a very thin wash of Grey, then you highlight by drybrushing with a mix of Bone White and a little Bubonic Brown mixed, then you drybrush over this with straight Bone White (remember to let each drybrush layer dry thoroughly before the next, and to always thin the paint).
Slayer Details:
I usually paint on wode tattoos, which is done with a mix of Ultramarines Blue with just a touch of Scorpion Green added (I've tried to get the same effect by adding yellow and it doesn't work). The tattoos should be swirls and geomorphs. Be very careful not to have too much paint in your brush, and to not let the paint start drying, the paint for this should be very thin, so make sure you use matte medium to keep it from separating. For painting tattoos, use a good quality very fine tipped brush. If you aren't good enough, or you're afraid you aren't, to paint the tattoos, you can do acceptable tattoos with a blue Ultrafine point Sharpie or other ultrafine point permanent markers.
Slayers wear a lot of jewelry and chains. These will look better if you very carefully paint them black first, and then drybrush them with the final metallic colours, leaving just a little bit of the black around the edges to separate them from the rest of the model and to make them more defined (do not leave too much black, this should be the very thinnest line possible).
To Paint Dwarven Weapons:
Dwarves take very good care of their weapons and take pride in them, so all blades should be bright and shiny. To obtain this, first paint the metallic part(s) of the weapon black, and then paint it a base 50/50 mix of Mithril Silver and Iron. Then highlight it with the same mix but with more Mithril Silver added. Repeat this process several times until you are using pure Mitril Silver for the sharp edges and for the very highest area(s) of any ridges on the metal. Runes look best if they are painted with a mix of bronze and gold (straight gold come out looking more like brass than gold). Another good colour for Runes is a bright Red. Hilts should have special care taken with them, as the Dwarves like to decorate them, and it takes a careful hand to pick out all the details, but it will be worth it in the long run. To paint wooden hafts, use a medium shade of the wood colour that you wish it to be, then wash with dark brown, and then highlight with lighter versions of your base colour.
Dwarf Bases:
For the bases on Dwarfs, I like to dip them in sand (after first painting the top of the base with white glue (PVA) thinned with water), then I drybrush with brown, let this dry, and then drybrush with Snakebite Leather. Then I paint the edges of the base to match the green of the tabletop I most often play on. You can add more details, including grass, rocks, etc. to the bases if you wish.
-The Old Sage