Heresy & Heroes

So, as vaguely promised last week, here is another WIP (or with this being Slaanesh, should that be ‘WHIP’?) of the monstrous, eye-hurting behemoth that is Dios Toros, the much-corrupted Imperial Knight. And this week, I think I almost ‘jumped the shark’ with just the smallest illustration.

There is a point on a pair of axis for any painter which is where ambition meets ability. It’s important to push this point as that’s how you improve, but it can make for brown trousers time when you’re working on a project like this and you think you’ve gone past it. I’ve put a lot of expectation on myself and with the incredible reception that the Knight’s legs got last week (this blog had its biggest day ever) I can feel the eyes of my peers fixed on my efforts too (well, to some extent at least).

I’m pretty comfortable with freehand painting patterns or basic designs. It’s a nice little skill to have and I’m quietly proud of my ability. My skills with freehand painting too have improved greatly since the Mortifactors project began but seeing as that only really deals with skulls, my repertoire is a tad limited. But mimicking another artist is a real test and I have decided to test myself this week. That little point on those axis is getting pushed hard and I am in danger of snarling up the whole project.

In my head, it sounded relatively easy – painting a John Blanche Illustration or two on this model. Pfft! Do it with my eyes closed! …I have no idea why it sounded easy. No idea. Even as I write this, I have no idea what came over me to even dare to attempt it. And there were a couple of times while i was doing this that I almost scrapped the whole thing. I even consulted fellow hobbyist, oldest friend and 4gotowar proprietor Henry South about it and followed his advice (to some extent). I persevered and I’m relatively happy with the result. It fits with the project and my style and I think it suitably pays homage to Mr Blanche. There might be another illustration on the way soon – what a glutton for punishment I am.

The big job of the last couple of days has been the internal workings of the knight and the inner torso is now done. Lots of weathering using the Citadel Technical paints but all hopefully done with some restraint. They’re such fun to use, it’s really hard to stop myself from going OTT with them, but I think I’ve managed it. As I said in the last post, I want to have internal corruption behind the gaudy plates of armour, symbolising the rotten core within the Emperor’s Children.

I’ve also done the head, but not much of this is going to be visible as a suitable faceplate is being put together as we speak. It should be as gaudy and terrifying as you’d hope. Nevertheless, this relatively simple job deserved showing before it gets covered forever.

I’ve replaced one of the stubbers with a dirge caster which will act as a Doom Siren for the purposes of this Knight. I’m really looking forward to coming up with some home-brew rules for Dios Toros too so that fits in well with him being a little different. And it wouldn’t be Slaanesh without a little bit of sound after all. In many adventures I can always field him as a Knight Paladin, but i’d like to give him his own flavour too for friendlier, fluffier games.

There are a couple of more colourful plates already done and I’m quite happy with the scrollwork on the chest too. All in all then, it’s progressing at a nice speed but there are still two weapons/arms to do, as well as the large top-plate and shoulder plates so it’ll be a while before he’s ready to roll out onto the battlefield yet. And yes, those arms are going to be converted too. I really don’t make things easy for myself. That being said… Onwards!

I don’t often post WIPs on this blog (I don’t know why…), but I feel the need to with my latest project. Despite having a bit of a commission left to do, as well as the Mortifactors project and more still awaiting the attention of my brushes, I have taken it upon myself to work on a very Un-Imperial Knight. I finally succumbed to my wants and picked up the frankly huge Imperial Knight kit, and it’s already proving fun, but exhausting as I sacrilegiously corrupt it in the name of She Who Thirsts, The Prince of Pleasure, Slaanesh.

As you can see from the above image, the only part done so far are the legs, and this post is a bit of a ‘story so far’ (as most WIP posts are), so, excusing the relatively poor iPhone camera shots, let’s take a closer look.

These are the first shots of Dios Toros (a very ‘low gothic’ way of saying ‘Bull God’), my Slaaneshi Knight, and what a monster he is (or will be, unless you count a pair of legs as a monster). I’m still very much in early days, but I’m hoping to get the lower section finished this week and crack on with the very bulky torso too.

Very much inspired by the old Eavy Metal ‘Psycho-delic’ vision of how far the Emperor’s Children have sunk from their once regal, beautiful history, regular readers might note the similarity to one of my older pieces – my Sonic Dreadnought. This is just on a “slightly” larger scale. The early Chaos Renegades and 1st Gen Noise Marines are where my image of Slaanesh and particularly the Emperor’s Children stem from. They should give you a headache just by looking at them. They should be so far from the regimented order and functional tones of the loyalist marines that one look at them would make the Emperor spin on his Golden Throne. Hence all the loopy colours above which are very ‘Marmite’ (for those who don’t know the term, it means you’ll either love it or hate it – very Slaanesh).

I started off by building and painting up the metal skeleton of the legs. They’re weathered and rusted just a touch, to indicate the internal rot of the Emperor’s Children that is hidden behind their garish and vibrant exteriors. Once that was done, I set about painting up the plates. There has to be a lot of pink to keep it tied together, but I also wanted to use animal prints, as if these are the skins (or homages to the skins) of great and exotic animals that have been hunted for sport on the worlds that have been plagued by Fulgrim’s sons.

There are also chips and breaks in the rims of these plates (and plenty of my now apparently ‘signature’ ‘moody’ gold), and there have to be plenty of spikes. Using liquid green stuff, a brush and a knife, I’ve added the traditional spikes that denote Choas-ness throughout the 41st Millennium to the plates. I’ve also had fun inverting the plates, and changing the existing spikes from noble fleur-de-lis-esque examples to more heretical spear-points.

I’ve kept the base relatively simple so as not to draw the eye away from the model (the giant, neon, scary model) above it, but have added a rusting barrel and a little more detail to keep it at least a little interesting. Likewise, the skeleton of the model will be relatively understated too, to keep the view fixed on those gaudy plates and patterns.

Needless to say, this is a massive job, and with all this freehand work going on, it is going to take me a fair bit of time to complete it. I’m even going to attempt to replicate a bit of John Blanche’s work in this which will, if I can do it, be no mean feat! His Slaaneshi illustrations are incredible and I’d love to pay homage to him with a bit of an inclusion here. Anyway, I’ll probably put up at least one more of these WIPs (if not more) before the task is done. It needs more chains, more spikes, more freehand and more… well, just more. The weapons are going to be heavily converted, the head is being altered too and there’s plenty of other nonsense happening so watch this space for further updates. Rest assured though, this will be a big one.

Oh, and one last, quick update today. I will hopefully soon have access to a high-end digital camera so I’ll get some good shots of this completed model and I’ll do a reshoot of plenty of others as well. Onwards!

A bit of my inspiration for you from the Eavy Metal team…