Painting with References - Knock it up another Notch!

Lately, in an attempt to improve my painting techniques I've been introducing some real life references into my work to try and get a more dynamic and interesting feel.

It all started when I bought a set of Scibor's Elven Ruins Bases. They feature a series of statue heads, and I wanted to do something cool with them. With a bit of a lack of inspiration coming from my own imagination, I thought I'd look at some statues on the internet and see if inspiration struck. Luckily, it did and I was really inspired by the green lichen and mossy mildew green stuff. It really made me want to have a go at it myself, so I layered in a few green washes, first with GW's Biel-Tan Green Shade and then with Vallejo's Olive green. It really didn't take very long, but the results were quite striking and a lot more interesting than the plain sandstone-coloured statue head that I'd been working on.

Reference and base side by side.

It was while playing the PS1 classic "Soul Reaver" that I had another revelation. I decided to take the colours from the game and did a model inspired by the palette and look of the game. It's like "Art imitating life, imitated by art" ... or something!

Now if only someone would make an actual miniature of Raziel! If they did a Soul Reaver the miniatures game on Kickstarter it'd be "just shut up and take my money" time!

The greens have made for a really nice and scenic addition to both of the bases and it's all thanks to looking at a few pictures on the internet, so next time you're struggling to think of how to paint something, try looking at a picture or two - it might be surprising where you'll end up!

Building Bungo - A Warhammer Quest Barbarian

A few determined blog followers may know that I've been doing a series of comedy stories titled "The Chronicles of Bungo". They're basically the culmination of a childhood spent watching Conan the Barbarian and an overactive imagination.

Inspired by my own fiction, I decided that it was time to create a model of Bungo himself in all his grandeur and exactly as I had imagined him. It would also be necessary to consult some important reference material and make suitable adjustments to the model.

Hmmm, huge muscles and leather pants?

 

 

Does everyone else secretly really enjoy anything with Kevin Sorbo in it - Hercules was a great show. Also note the flowing hair.

 

I identified 3 areas of concern with the Darkoath Chieftain model (which I bought on e-bay for a surprisingly reasonable sum of about £7).

• First, he needed billowing barbarian hair
• Second, leather pants to make even Conan proud!
• Third, a bigger display base suitable for his personal bigness!

The first 2 steps would be a job for the greenstuff. It wasn't too hard to remove the loin-cloth from the model (I'm sorry GW it just wasn't cheesy enough). For the base I wanted something really overblown. I decided that rather than raid my bits box (as my fantasy spares are a bit thin on the ground) I'd have a look and see what was available in the world of resin bases. Handily, I'd seen some rather nice stuff from Scibor Miniatures before, so I checked out what they had. In the end I bought a set of 3 resin statue head style bases for about £5.50. It turned out to be a great deal and they were rather impressive when they arrived.

 

I mounted the resin base in the centre of a larger base and then went to town adding additional details.

It turned out that the most difficult part of the whole build was repairing his buttocks - or should I say forming them in the first place! The GW model was entirely flat, so after a bit of delicate surgery he was endowed with a manly behind!

Not bad, considering the total cost of the model is about £12. He is actually about the same size as Mortarion now!

The finished model is now ready for paint. We'll see how that goes later. For those who missed Bungo's adventures, find them here:

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-5

Chapter 6

The junk in the trunk!

Here's an excerpt of the good stuff to wet your appetite:

Bungo thrust his armoured crotch plate wildly at a swooning tavern wench.

"Another Mead" he bellowed enthusiastically. His booming voice was punctuated by a dull thump as another buxom maiden fell to the ground; rendered unconscious from the sheer rapture of his manly presence.

 

Bungo took a heroic gulp of his drink, chugging back the beverage with warrior-like abandon; and spilling equally large quantities down his chiselled and bulging torso, eliciting sighs from the on looking villagers.

Remember to check back on Friday for the continuation of Bungo's epic tale