Old School GW Chaos Wizard WIP [Finished 6/22/2007]

[Tinweasel]

I\'d greatly appreciate feedback on this guy. I\'m in the process of rounding out some details, and I\'m kinda ambivalent as to whether the overall current appearance works or not.

Digging through my \'89 GW Catalog, I see he\'s listed as a Champion of Slaanesh, but someone on another forum indicated that he\'s now listed as Thagrosh Vile Staff in the UK online store - a \"generic\" GW Warhammer Fantasy Chaos Wizard-type. That doesn\'t really affect much, other than I\'m trying to paint this guy up to the point where I could auction him off... and I\'d like to make him as marketable as I can.

 

[Matrim Cauthon123]

Superb looking blue and purple.

The only thing I would add are some successive brown washes on his horns and on the statue on top of his staff. Maybe even on his mask too.

Other than that, this looks pretty cool to me.

Cheers!!

 

[Tinweasel]

Not enough shading on the yellows and tans, then, compared to the rest?

 

[funnymouth]

id say the face skin isnt working for me.
suggestions:

more blueish pale for a drained blood look

more reds for a fresh cut face look.

rotten

tanned leather look

if its not skin, ignore this post.

 

[RedSevenBlue]

the mask looks a little too plain. add something to it.

 

[Ogrebane]

I think the mask and the statue need more contrast and then the horns could be graded from dark brown to white. Otherwise a nice clean paint job.

 

[Tinweasel]

I started back painting this guy again after a long hiatus - I\'m working on him now for a Warhammer Fantasy painting competition at the local GW Hobby Center.

Here\'s the current progress, and it seems like I\'ve addressed most of the prior concerns - and no, the face is not his own, it\'s a mask of some sort. The figure was originally marketed as a Chaos Sorceror of Slaanesh, whereas now I\'m painting him as a followed of Tzeentch and he will ideally be part of a small diorama:

There\'s not really more shading on the front as compared to the back, but it looks that way as the whole figure leans forward at a slight angle. I\'ve also straightened the horn back to its original position since taking these pictures - he seems to keep trying to jump out of my hands and land on hard objects, as it\'s happened several times so far... very odd.

Constructive criticisms and suggestions at this point would be greatly appreciated!

 

[vincegamer]

I think the thing on his hip should not be the same color as the mask. The staff head is enough to emphasize the mask but the thing on his hip distracts from the face.

I don\'t like the hair color beause I keep thinking it makes him look like Gene Simmons.
Since the robe is so tattered, it might be nice to muddy it up there.

 

[Tinweasel]

Originally posted by vincegamer
I think the thing on his hip should not be the same color as the mask. The staff head is enough to emphasize the mask but the thing on his hip distracts from the face.

I don\'t like the hair color beause I keep thinking it makes him look like Gene Simmons.
Since the robe is so tattered, it might be nice to muddy it up there.

So far as the yellow goes, I always understood that painting particular shades in triads, or sets of threes, lends a certain balance or continuity to a figure. I really couldn\'t think of any other color to paint it that wouldn\'t offset the blue or the silvery purple. I was kinda undecided about the medallions hanging from his gear as well for the same reason, so I just settled on light blue, pink, and green.

I think I went with a greenish-grey just for the sake of having something that went with the other colors in the figure - both the staff and the metals have greenish hints in them, and now that the base is painted there\'s definitely quite a bit more green. I\'m ambivalent about the hair - it\'s a wierd style and in some ways doesn\'t suit the figure, which is why I painted it an unobtrusive color. On the other hand, anything completely different would either clash or pull things too far in one direction or the other, IMO. Gene Simmons, eh? When viewed from the side it looks like a combination mohawk/mullet - no good can come from that hair.

So far as the robe, I was planning on adding some of the dirt color to the bottom hem and his plated shoes - I just hadn\'t really gotten around to painting the base.

Here\'s the most recent pics with some touchups still needed:

I was aiming for a \"weathered wood\" appearance for the wood at his feet and I think I\'ve got the greyish/green color down, but I can\'t say I\'m quite comfortable with the appearance of the lighter section (which I painted to represent where the bark peeled off, or where there\'s been damage and some fresher wood has been exposed.) The problem is, I can\'t quite put my finger on what\'s bothering me about the lighter section - it\'s the same color as the rest, only highlighted closer to pure white with a wash of Codex Grey and straight lining-in of Codex in the dividing line between the lighter and darker sections of wood.

Maybe some moss or something? I dunno...


Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Tinweasel]

I said \"what the hell\" and decided to have some fun tonight, taking a stab at some NMM-style freehand:

How does the Tzeentch symbol on his robe look? (Pardon the glossiness - I need to buy some more sealer.)

 

[JakeSh]

Ahh... Tinweasel... your classic GW stuff makes me happy. Keep it up, it looks great. I want to see you paint up some RT marines sometime!

 

[Dragonsreach]

I like the most current version that you\'ve been working to, but I think that the Purple needs a little bit of strengthening in the shadows.
Try a mix of Liche Purple/Purple Ink & a tough of Chaos black to give a definitive line, or add some Scorched Brown to the Liche Purple. (it makes a good warm shadow colour for purple).

 

[usurpator]

I\'m with Dragonreach here: the purple\'s shadows need strengthening - that might mean strengthening the highlights to compensate???
great colour choice!

 

[Tinweasel]

Originally posted by Dragonsreach
I like the most current version that you\'ve been working to, but I think that the Purple needs a little bit of strengthening in the shadows.
Try a mix of Liche Purple/Purple Ink & a tough of Chaos black to give a definitive line, or add some Scorched Brown to the Liche Purple. (it makes a good warm shadow colour for purple).

I definitely appreciate the feedback. The original basecoat was shaded with purple ink and the crevices subsequently were shaded with VGC Hexed Lichen and a tough of metallic medium. Based on your suggestion, I went over with thinned Hexed Lichen and touched up the deeper, downwards-facing crevices. I also gave an extra edge highlight of thinned-down silver on most of the upwards/sideways facing armor panel faces - made a definite change even though I didn\'t really adjust much in the actual colors. Thanks!

I also think that the previous pictures might have been a little off color-wise and visibility of the metal-wise because I hadn\'t sealed the figure yet and my finishes tend to be a little glossy due to the thinner mixture I use with my paints.

That being said, I took some final pictures of the finished work and a few close-up insets. Unless there\'s any other suggestions or needed touchups that I missed, these are probably what I\'ll end up posting to my Gallery.

 

[Tinweasel]

Following some suggestions over on the Relicnews Painting & Modeling Forum, he\'s back to being a WIP as I still have a week to work before submission for the painting competition.

I tidied up some stuff and added some more details, so here\'s where he\'s at right now:

 

[Tinweasel]

Here\'s the final figure that I plan on entering in the local GW Hobby Center painting competition this upcoming week:

I\'d really appreciate any suggestions or changes that you guys feel would make this suitable for entry into the Golden Demons. I\'d ideally like to attend this year for the first time in my life and since I\'ve been painting up a bunch of figures for these Citadel Celebration painting competitions at my local GW shop, I\'ve got some stuff that I think is fairly \"solid\" painting-wise.

Of course, I\'ve never been to a GD and I\'ve only been back at miniature painting for about two years, so maybe I\'m overestimating my brush-handling skills. Probably grossly overestimating... all the staff at the GW shop say I should go for it, though, and I would imagine they\'ve seen their share of painted figures.

 

[Dark Seraphim]

Awesome!

It looks great! I love the way he looks, very dirty and still sophisticated! A real Tzeentch Sorcerer

I would however recomend (it might just be hard to see) that you highlighted the grass and dirt a bit more, it doesn\'t look finished...

Otherwise it\'s awesome, and I could easily immagine this one placing or at least reaching the finals...

The golden icons are just superb!

Good job!

 

[james]

I really love this mini and the way you painted it too !:beer:

 

[Mason Storm]

I really like him. You chose some nice colors and kept the composition simple.

As far as Golden Demon, I would encourage you to enter as you seem to have the talent to compete. If you are competing and winning local competitions, the next step is GDs. As for the model, it is certainly painted well, but typically the \"classic\" models don\'t do as well in GDs as newer ones (there are exceptions of course). You should consider entering if you have even a small inclination, and anything available to submit. It sounds cliche, but what do you have to lose??