Before I start blabbing away, I want to wish everyone a happy new year and may all your modelling & gaming projects, as well as your resolutions for the year come true!
As I mentioned in my last post, the various facets of my life have been warring for attention and my job won hands down. Nevertheless I have managed to fit in time and to do something. In fact I have finished up the Minotaur champion from the vignette I am building (as you can tell from the title of the post).
I wanted to try and paint the bronze in non-metallics so I tried first on a test mini. Non-metallic colours have starker contrasts between light and shade than metallics. I thought this would help make the Minotaur champion stand out more. The results were horrible - disastrous even. I simply do not have the knowledge or skill to pull it off at the level of presentation required for a display piece.
So I went back to the metallic paint option. I wanted a colour similar to the Minotaurs on Forge World's Badab War books. Unfortunately the bronze paints I found have a more yellowish tint to them, while Forge World Minotaurs - at least on the book - have a more reddish tone. I worked this out by painting the marine in copper and giving it several successive brown washes, besides the shading and highlights. I think I have managed a close metallic approximation.
Since the marine is a champion I thought it would be cool to give him his personal heraldry. This also helped by adding some colour to a more or less static figure. I added just a tiny hint of verdigris around the bottom leg joints, but it is not very visible in the pic. I don't think the company's serfs would allow a champion's armour to deteriorate to such a level.
Well that is all for tonight and this year. Once again I wish you all a splendid new year and may it last a whole 12 months!
Farewell and good health
NR