Looking back... and forward.

About his time last year I’d reconciled myself to a less productive 2015, at least in terms of the number of minis I’d get finished. I decided to concentrate on quality and enjoy myself obsessing over Gutrot Spume. Gutrot was painted with an eye to entering the Golden Demon competition, whenever that happened; and I’d resolved to quite literally push the boat out for him.

As it turned out 2015 was a far more productive year than I had predicted! After a slow start, Gutrot came together and was finally finished in September. I’d already taken time out to paint Mole, but once Gutrot was done, I switched up in scale to paint Commodore Borgossa, and most recently Abalam Prince of Hell. I also started painting a unit of Plague bearers as part of the preparations for my Weekend Workshop in Cardiff.

And now we finally have a date for the next Warhammer Fest and the 2016 Golden Demons! Sunday, May 15, at the Rico Arena in Coventry. It’s been a long wait!

With Abalam finished, all bar his plinth, I am turning my attention to the next project. I was going to paint another mini for Salute (April 16) and then return to the unit of Plague bearers, but the Golden Demon announcement has changed everything. The Plague bearers have jumped right back up to the top of my painting priorities. Remembering 2014’s last minute Haemonculus, I want to try and complete them without putting too much pressure on myself.

Project Nurgle is all GO….again.

Abalam Prince of Hell - Part 3

Shifting my attention away from Abalam’s head to concentrate on the overall paint job proved to be a good move! I’ve made a fair degree of progress and the overall colour palette has come together. Most importantly, I’ve managed to avoid losing momentum. 

Sorting out the red/green balance was key to resolving the colour scheme. When I started painting Abalam, I hadn’t intended to use so much green; but as I’ve worked on the gold areas, the green swiftly became a key colour. With so much red used in the flesh tones and costume, the green introduces contrast and drama to the palette. Similarly the sash across Abalam’s chest is now painted in a light cool grey, rather than red, to add both colour and tonal contrast. 

With the bulk of the painting done, I’ve finally glued Abalam’s head onto the bust so I can better work on the piece as a whole. There are lots of finishing touches to do, but the project feels like it’s moving onto the final stage!

Abalam Prince of Hell - Part 2

The crest on Abalam’s helmet is done and I’m very pleased that I changed it. It was a nasty fiddly job to alter the model after I’d started to paint it but sometimes you just have to take a risk and go for it! 

I moved on to painting the rest of the helmet but as the week went on I felt I was running out of steam on the project. I found the stitching details very tedious to paint so rather than slogging on with them I decided to try something different. 

I’ve gone ahead and blocked in the base colours for most of the rest of the bust. This gave me a lot of progress in a little time and, more importantly, gives a good feel for how the overall colour scheme is shaping up. 

 
I’ve decided to spend some more time working on the overall paintjob for Abalam before I get too caught up in the details. That feels like a better way to approach this project, keeping myself energised and the January painting blues at bay! 

Abalam Prince of Hell - Part 1

Having so enjoyed painting Commodore Borgossa I decided to start work on another bust and I picked Abalam, Prince of Hell by, Hera Models, for my next project. 

I chose to paint the limited edition version of Abalam wearing a helmet. To be honest I wasn't a fan of the small spikey crest on his helmet, so I've gone for something a little more OTT. His armour has a clear samurai influence so I’ve added a bladed crest to the helmet. After a little research, and a rummage through my spare bits, I decided to try using the head off the statue of Khaine from the GW Cauldron of Blood kit. In the first instance, I thought to use only the blades; but then I decided to try and incorporate the entire head as a crest. 

Purists will be pleased to hear that I also primed the model prior to painting. Although I don’t usually prime my minis I’ve found it essential with larger scale pieces. This turned out to be a very good decision as the model was going to come in for a lot of handling! 

A dark and moody feel seemed like the right approach for this model, so I’m working it up from an almost black base colour. The use of a dark base colour for the flesh, in particular, was a major departure for me as I normally use Rakarth Flesh for this. The overall colour palette for Abalam’s flesh tones was fairly uncomplicated with a range of warm flesh tones enhanced by the addition of blue, red and ochre glazes. I blocked in the lighter areas over the dark base colour before further refining with glazes and highlights. 

For the highlights, I decided to follow Ben Komet's lead and try using tubed artists acrylic. I’m not sure if it made that much difference to the overall result, and I think I prefer ivory as a highlight colour, but it’s worth further experimentation. Working with tubed artists acrylic was nostalgic if nothing else. This is the type of paint I used when I first started painting minis! 

Another good reason for having a dark base colour was my decision to use a lot of metallics on this model. I’d considered a highly decorated, lacquered look for the armour but, as the painting on the face came together, I decided to go for a more brutal look to the overall model. I want the metallics to look really ancient, but not heavily corroded, with a heavy patina. 

I used scalecolour metalics and they continue to impress me with the results they give. I used a lot of layered glazing to build up a patina making sure to add some scratches and stippling in between the glazes to create a worn look. 

The brown splotches on the gold areas are done using washes. I apply a blob of wash (slightly diluted) and then start to dry it off with a hair dryer. Once the edges have dried, I take a clean damp brush and wipe away the un-dried wash leaving a tide mark in the shape of the original blob. There is then a bit more glazing and stippling with the wash to tie it all together. 

I’m really pleased with Abalam’s face and the metallics are getting there although the gold needs more work – it’s too green at the moment, and I want a more nuanced look to it. But when I painted the face on the helmet’s crest I loathed it with a passion! 

I had a very strong reaction to it, a case of the head and the heart not agreeing. On one level I can see that the face wasn't a total disaster but I really hated it! In addition I was not 100% sure that the overall proportions of the crest were that great and the style of the face didn’t seem to belong with the rest of the bust. It just felt wrong to me so I decided to try to change it. 

What I’ve gone for is something more abstract. I feel that the new crest is a great improvement and closer to what I initially intended.