Titter Ye Not, Balders, And Don't Mention The War!

Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone!

In this week's blog post I'll be looking at a commission piece that I did last year. Seeing as Richard Hale has recently posted this figure to The Stuff Of Legends, I thought it'd be a good time to say a few words about how he was painted.

He's a design from the early 2000's (a Brian Nelson sculpt, I think), when GW was going for a more generic look to their ranges (not my favourite periods aesthetically, if I'm honest) and, as such, he has no iconography on him, not even a chaos star, and certainly nothing to indicate what power he follows. Despite this, the sculpt itself is quite characterful, but was never released. As I've heard of it being referred to as the "Adolf sorcerer" I'm guessing his resemblance to a certain historical figure is why GW changed the head for a horned skull* for the released version.
Personally, I think he looks more like Rowan Atkinson. Or maybe Frankie Howerd. 

One thing I really don't like about the miniature, though, is the horse. There's nothing wrong with the sculpt of the horse's head (although, what's with the little skull on spider's legs familiar thing holding the reins?) but why did it have to be married up with a generic plastic horse body? It looks awful, the head doesn't fit properly and the two parts don't match at all. Surely a character model, one of the leaders of an army, could have had a one-off horse to ride?

As for the painting, well, as there was no clear power at work here, I took my lead from all the bones and skulls on it and headed for a traditional Nurgle feel, with lots of natural greens and browns.

I started by laying down a load of Contrast washes over an Athonian Camoshade underpaint.

These were:

Flesh: Darkoath Flesh/Plaguebearer Flesh 1/1

Armour: Militarum Green/Black Templar 3/1

Cloak Lining: Guilliman Flesh/Plaguebearer Flesh 1/1

Bone: Skeleton Horde

Horse: Gryph-Charger Grey/Gore-Grunta Fur 1/1

Robe: Basilicanum Grey/Plaguebearer Flesh 1/1

Staff: Cygor Brown

Bag and Boots: Cygor Brown/Skeleton Horde 1/2

Leather: Cygor Brown/Snakebite Leather 1/2

Fur: Nazdreg yellow/Snakebite Leather 1/1

Hair: Black Templar/Apothecary White 1/1

Scrolls: Skeleton Horde/Plaguebearer Flesh 1/1

Then the metallics were given the following basecoats:

Brass: Runelord Brass

Metal: Chainmail

Gold: Retributor Armour

Then the whole model was given a couple of glazes of thinned Athonian Camoshade to unify the colours and provide a bit of deep shading.

Once that was dry, the fun really began!

The first area I tackled was the face. This was given a highlight of Pallid /wych Flesh before being given various glazes to give it some colour. I'm afraid I didn't note down which ones were used, but it would have been greens and red, with a bit of blue around the eyes and blue/grey around the chin. A final highlight of Pallid Wych Flesh would finish it off.

The armour was highlighted with Loren Forest, then Ogryn Camo and Kreig Khaki before a glaze of Athonian Camoshade was washed over it to smooth and unify the colours. A final highlight of Kreig Khaki finishes off the armour.

The robe was given a highlight of Ironrach Skin, followed by Deepkin Flesh.

The fur was given a drybrushed highlight of Flayed One Flesh followed by Wraithbone, before being given shading washes of Seraphim Sepia, Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil.

The horse fur (hair?) was stippled with Steel Legion Drab, followed by Karak Stone then a glaze of Agrax Earthshade. This was then followed up with careful drybrushes of Karak Stone and Screaming /skull, before given washes of Reikland Fleshshade, Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil.

The cloak lining was highlighted with Tau Light Ochre, Ungor Flesh and Pallid Wych Flesh before being glazed with a mix of Reikland Fleshshade and Athonian Camoshade.

The staff was highlighted with Gorthor Brown and Baneblade Brown before being given a wash of Agrax Earthshade.

Leather areas were highlighted with Tau Light Ochre, Zamesi Desert and Wraithobne before being given a glaze of Snakebite Leather followed by Agrax Earthshade.

Bones and skulls were given a highlight of Ushabti Bone, followed by Screaming Skull then Wraithbone, a glaze of Athonian Camoshade and a final highlight of Wraithbone.

Parchments were given a highlight of Karak Stone, followed by Pallid Wych Flesh and White Scar, followed by a wash of Seraphim Sepia. The iconography was done with Fleshtearers Red.

The little areas of gold were picked out with Retributor Armour, highlighted with Liberator Gold and Stormhost Silver.

Bronze areas were picked out in Sycorax Bronze, highlighted with Stormhost Silver and given a wash of Athonian Camoshade.

The metal areas were given a coat of Leadbelcher, highlighted with Stormhost Silver and given a wash of Agrax Earthshade/Nuln Oil mix.

Gems were given a careful wash of Hexwraith Flame followed by Coelia Greenshade then a highlight of White Scar and a glaze of Waywatcher.

Finally, the base was done with a basecoat of Mournfang Brown then drybrushed with Steel Legion Drab, Zandri Dust and Karak /stone before getting a wash of Agrax Earthshade. The stones were painted with Mechanicus Standard Grey, given drybrushed highlights of Dawnstone and Deepkin flesh before getting a wash of Athonian Camoshade/Nuln Oil mix.

And we're done!

Total time was a round 12 hours and I'm quite happy with the result. He looks kinda Nurgle-y but there's more of a feel of a traditional wizard gone to the dark side, which I think really works for this miniature.

Thanks for reading!

-Stu

*Because what this miniature needed was another skull...