Greater Demon of Tzeentch

[JackMann]

A while back, a buddy of mine asked me to paint up a Warhammer figure for him.  This took me a while, but I'm finally finished just as he's coming back from deployment.

 

 

This guy was a pain, but also taught me a lot.  Based his coloration partially on the Bearded Vulture, a pretty cool bird.  Gave me the idea of orange skin and blue-black feathers.

 

 

Here's where the pain came from.  The model is top-heavy as heck with those wings, bue he has a single point of contact with the base.  To make matters worse, the foot is a separate piece from the leg.  I had to drill, pin, glue, and greenstuff it so many times, the foot ended up an elephantine cancerous mass.  Still, he's a demon of change and mutation, so it kind of fits.

 

 

The base is micro-arts.  Tomorrow, right before I seal the model, I'll clean up around the edges on it.  Maybe give it a blue or yellow rim.

 

 

This is probably my best attempt at white so far.  Went from a bone-color up on the bottom and a light blue up on the top to reflect the ground and sky respecively.

 

 

Mousling tax!  While waiting for the basecoat on the base to dry, I went ahead and painted this guy.  Took me about fifteen minutes, which makes him my fastest paintjob ever.  He's not a great paintjob, but it was a lot of fun, and if I ever decide to clean him up further, I can.

[Marvin]

Nicely done!

[Evilhalfling]

I have only seen earth and sky reflections recommended for reflective metal. 

Why do it with white? 

 

Other than that I like the color scheme, I was less happy with my vrock (bones 2) that I painted the feathers a mix of gold and black. 

mine also suffered balance problems but was easier to fix, with a 2" base and pins. 

I do have a second vulture demon but I was thinking something more oulandish like pink and purple - which is also vulture like now that  I think of it. 

[knarthex]

Nice work!

As to painting the base edge, I have been told that the best color is Black. That way the mini is the center of attention, the eye is not drawn toward the base quickly...

 

8)

George

[JackMann]

I have only seen earth and sky reflections recommended for reflective metal. 

Why do it with white? 

 

Other than that I like the color scheme, I was less happy with my vrock (bones 2) that I painted the feathers a mix of gold and black. 

mine also suffered balance problems but was easier to fix, with a 2" base and pins. 

I do have a second vulture demon but I was thinking something more oulandish like pink and purple - which is also vulture like now that  I think of it. 

Because white takes on color values from its surroundings.  Really, everything does this, but it's very obvious with white.  If you have a shadow on a white surface, it will tend to have some color to it.  If it's indoors, or towards the ground, it's likely to have a warm shadow that tends to brown.  If it's outdoors and more towards the sky, it'll tend to have bluer shadows.  I probably went a bit overboard, but the principle is sound.

 

Here's a guide that gives some good advice on shadows.

[Glitterwolf]

Wonderful

[Chaoswolf]

Great job!! I've got one of these around someplace, or at least I used to...

 

Having dealt with the whole heavy/only one point of contact, fiddly pieces thing, is there anything you'd suggest I do/don't do?

[JackMann]

So, the raised foot. I'd put something connecting it to the base. Maybe a rock. Something I thought of (though too late; I'd already pinned and glued everything) was to have the claw ripping out of a dying soldier's ribcage.

 

There's also the staff. The connection on the arm makes it really easy to re-angle the staff. You can have that as another point of contact. That's probably the easiest way to do it.

 

Finally, make sure your pin goes entirely through the foot and into the ankle. My first pin just connected the foot to the base without really supporting the rest of the model.

 

If you do these, you should be able to do it without the elephantitis of the ankle.