"Elite Undead" - Royal Guard Zombie

The changing of the guards...
INTO ZOMBIES!!



Welcome ladies and gentlemen to The Art of Caesura!

This week we're leaving the video game miniatures behind us and heading into the foggy alternate London of The World of Smog. 

I must be getting old. I actually painted these guys AGES ago, I think it was around last March - I believe I painted them just before we moved house!! Anyway I completely forgot about them until I was working on the 200th post and found them as I was selecting pictures for the post! We'll blame it on the move...not senility!

Sometimes I relish in lavishing details on one model, and sometimes, as with many of the multitude of mono-pose minis, I like to do a nice quick and dirty job on a bunch of miniatures at once. 

And who doesn't want to paint a bunch of Beefeater Zombies!? 

I painted these before Contrast Paints were released, otherwise I think they would have worked really well for these guys (a quick Black Templars, Flesh Tearer's Red, Apothecary White) I think I would have still done the skin with conventional paints as I wanted to add some nuance - and on that note lets talk about what I actually did!

The black (hat, pants and raven) were Abaddon Black shaded with Nuln Oil (I do actually think this makes a difference. But, on a complete side note, I think the relatively new Corvus Black (or is it Corax Black?) would fulfill this role even better. Dry brushed with a mix of black and White Scar with a super-soft make-up brush. 

The red was Evil Sunz Scarlet washed with Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil and highlighted first with Evil Sunz mixed with Doombull Brown with Ushabti Bone added. 

The skin took a little while to get right. I wanted it to be dark (to really make the eyes stand out) and very unheimlich (one of my favourite words). 

Rather than any normal skin-tone, I started with a base of Steel Legion Drab (one of my most used colours), shaded with my own version of Coelia Greenshade (Agrax + Biel-Tan Green) and highlighted back with Steel Legion and added Ushabti Bone.

Against my better judgement, I dabbed the eyes with pure white (rather than trying to build them up with Ushabti) 

The metallics (broken-off bayonet used as a dagger) was simply Runefang Steel, Nuln Oil, Stormhost Silver. 

I finished them off with a bit of Nurgle's Rot on the area that the raven is pecking out. I always like to add a bit of different texture when possible and these guys looked pretty dead so green seemed better than red (and contrasted his red coat nicely). 

I love the aesthetic of the World of Smog minis. Imagine if these were resin or multi-part hard plastic!

Anyway, I'll see you next week on The Art of Caesura!!

Gaming: Pillars of Eternity

Watching: Good Fellas 

Next Week:

Half the men they used to be...