Thor! Oden's son, protector of mankind
Ride to meet your fate, your destiny awaits
Thor! Hlödyn's son, protector of mankind
Ride to meet your fate, Ragnarök awaits!
Twilight of the Thunder God - Amon Amarth
Heil og sæl! Welcome to The Art of Caesura!
When I painted this guy a few months ago, Vikings were really in my zeitgeist: I was binging "The Last Kingdom", I was really trying hard to resist Mythic Games' "Hel" kickstarter which was running at the time (somehow I managed to resist!) and Assassin's Creed: Valhalla had just been announced to much fan-fare. So when I picked up this model I was thoroughly in the mood to paint a Viking!
Upon first seeing Hyg's model I knew I was going to love painting it. I would be able to go mad with my preferred neutral palette, broken up with cold hard steel and a ruddy complexion.
Although I started him from a Wraithbone undercoat, I didn't really use many Contrast Paints on him.
One new thing that I tried was covering his Steel Legion Drab cloak with Contrast Black Templar before re-highlighting with Steel Legion mixed with black and then on its own. I think this gave the cloak some cool depth that wouldn't have been as prominent if I'd used Nuln Oil.
The other thing I did a bit differently was to stipple the highlights on - this gave a lot of texture especially to his jerkin.
I have increased the contrast of my metals, going straight from Leadbelcher with Nuln Oil, to Stormhost Silver. Previously I would have highlighted through Leadbelcher again then Runefang Steel. But taking a more direct leap and again stippling the highlights actually looks better to me - it differentiates the hard lustrous surface of the metal from the cloth.
Although his palette is quite neutral, it still uses many different shades: Snakebite Leather for his shoes, Steel Legion Drab for his pants, Ushabti Bone for his shirt, and Doombull Brown and Skrag Brown for his leather straps. These were all washed with Agrax Earthshade to bring them together.
Finally, his face. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I think it looks rugged and weather-worn without being too overdone. I just took my time with the S75 flesh paints - working between several extremely thin glazes of Indian Shadow for the ruddiness and hightlights of Basic + Pale Flesh for his scars.
His Nordic hair started as Averland Sunset mixed with Steel Legion Drab and I glazed the sides of his head with this mix for that stubble effect.
His Nordic hair started as Averland Sunset mixed with Steel Legion Drab and I glazed the sides of his head with this mix for that stubble effect.
What a blast to paint a viking for a zombie orc game - and he's a monster in the game too, especially starting with that Norse Sword...
Tune in next Friday to The Art of Caesura!
Reading: Blackstone Fortress Rules
Next Week:
Calamari...
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