And at long last, Lugft Huron, Chapter Master of the Astral Claws, self-styled Tyrant of Badab and future traitor to the Imperium of Man is complete!
Painting this guy was actually a lot of fun. His face turned out well, though not quite like I was hoping. I had originally been going for a paler look, but the highlights clash with how dark the base skin tone is. Instead it makes Lugft look like he's got some long-healed burn scarring on his face. The hair turned out as well as I'd hoped. I think grey fits. After all, he is a few centuries old.
The banner features a claw gripping a representation of the Maelstrom, the Tyrant's personal heraldry. It turned out okay, but I could use more practice free handing. Along with a few other bits, the original banner was broken, so it got tossed out and replaced with one from the Space Marine Tactical Squad box.
The gold bits came out just as planned and contrasts well with the oiled steel look of the armor. The heavy flamer was heavily washed with TAP Strong Tone then hit with some Vallejo Carbon Black dry pigment to show carbon scoring.
The white sections didn't turn out like I'd imagined they would, but I like them. Instead of using my usual Dheneb Stone foundation paint (what little of it is left), I used Ceramite White from the new range of GW paints. It's much, much brighter than I'd intended, but it turned out looking more like sculpted marble than the usual parchment color I've used so often before.
The Astral Claws's paint scheme is supposed to be a brighter silver rather than a dark steel. Bright colors, however are more difficult to paint and end up not looking quite as good as a darker base with brighter highlights. I toned down the color scheme of the model overall, making him look much more grim.
The original color scheme features much more blue than I've put on the model. The only actual blue parts are his right knee plate and the optics above his armored cowl. This again was to tone down the model and keep that grim look that defines the Warhammer 40,000 universe. It also clashes less with the overall visual flow of the model. If I decide to do more Astral claws, I'll keep the same dark color scheme.
Hope you guys enjoyed following the blog for this project. More to come as I continue to paint.
All the best,
-Jordan