Heresy & Heroes

Hello all. I’d like you to meet Mr Gribbly. He’s my Myphitic Blight-hauler and I’m very fond of him. After a few projects where I’ve been focussed on clean paint-jobs, it’s wonderful to get back to the gross, disgustingness that only Nurgle can deliver. So in this post, I’ll take you through what I did.

Let’s start with the main panels. I went for something along the lines of “what if Paul Smith made a shirt entirely from vomit” and I think it worked pretty well. It’s entirely done with contrast paints, shade paints and an oil wash and I had a little bit of coaching from Migs over at Iron Sleet who has done something similar (and much better) in the past. It’s a nerve-wracking approach but a lot of fun when it gets going.

I also want to call out the clean crab-claws/pincers which help to make this even more unsettling, the red eye done using very traditional mini-painting methods, and the mouth which, yeah, totally doesn’t look graphic and diseased. Wait, no, it definitely looks graphic and diseased, but that’s the fun thing about Nurgle. Truly, Papa Nurgle’s finest gift.

While the puke-stripes catch the eye, it’s the flesh that I’m really proud of. It’s based on Ungor Flesh and then it’s shaded with either Carroburg Crimson or Athonian Camoshade – done in odd patches. Then, a “skimmed milk thin” layer of Ungor flesh went on top of that before highlighting began and, eventually, glazing. It’s some of the best looking foul-flesh I’ve worked on and I love how gross it looks.

I also kept the rust patches to a minimum with this piece. There’s some there (it might not show up too much on here thanks to my legendary photo skills) but it’s minimal and just helps to accent all the other decay on this piece.

I kept the base very simple here. The model has enough going on that I wanted the base to be a very simple frame for it. And I so rarely get the chance to use Nurgle’s Rot that I really enjoyed it with this one. I suppose I should say that the entire thing is covered in Contrast paints. When applied with Contrast Medium, they just make the best glazes in the world, and I couldn’t have done this without them. I also applied texture paints to the model first before even putting the undercoat down to help me get those patches of rust and decay.

I’ll give you the recipe for the tarnished brass I went for here. I painted up in silvers going for a TMM look, before applying a glaze of Nazdreg Yellow that had been thinned with 2-3 times as much Contrast Medium. Then, I watered down some Biel-Tan Green (1:1 mix) and splotched that on to give it that tarnished look. It was a whole lot of fun and a look I want to try again on lots of other things.

I loved working on this mini. It’s a horrid little thing really. It has some truly gross bits to it, but it also looks ready to go to war as well. I like the idea that it’s sat here, somewhere in Nurgle’s Garden, waiting to be deployed through the warp. I’m super-proud of this paint job and given that all the recent things I’ve done have received a grade, maybe this one sneaks an A-. B+ at worst. And it was so, so, so much fun working on something gross again. If you ever want a break from painting clean, Nurgle really does offer the best excuse to get down and dirty.

Not sure what’s up next for me. I actually have a very busy couple of months ahead of me and my hobby time might be slightly reduced, but fear not, for I will always paint whenever I can. But I’ll keep you posted here and on Twitter and Instagram too. Until the next time, I wish you wonderful hobby, happy times with your paints, and an amazing October. Onwards!