Sunday, 4 November 2018

Paradygm shift : Don't feed the troll !!!


Hi everyone ! A little change this time and an unexpected one on top ! 
For some reason I found myself needing to paint a troll (to celebrate an event on a FB page full of them) and wondered which I could paint and if I had one at all ?
After a quick search I realized I actually had this gorgeous guy from the first Pantheon of Chaos Kickstarter :



Now for some reason, looking at those vast areas of flesh, I didn't feel like painting the way I usually (mostly basecoat/wash/highlights/glazes) so this time I worked in an unusual way (for me).
I took advantage of the zenithal white prime over black to give the skin a light glaze of the skin colour and then worked with glazes and a few washes exclusively.


The base colour for the skin was a desaturated brown and I worked all the shadows with glazes of marine blue and the raised areas which would catch the light with a light orange : 


I then added some glazes in some strategic areas and then gave a very thin wash of sepia and brown (very diluted with medium). a few touch ups here and there for the highlights and here I was. Only the metallic areas were done the usual way with a metallic base coat, washes and bit more work.


I have to say the photos don't show the nuances of the skin as much as I would like but I really did learn a lot in the process. I realise the constrast is rather poor with most parts quite dark since I mostly worked on desatured/saturated and cold/warm contrasts. that's something I'll have to keep in mind next time I work this way which I will without a doubt. 


Overall, I didn't want this troll to be specifically chaotic but more a freak of nature so I tried to keep a Froudian palettea dn very autumnal colours (well, that's the season y'know).


So what's coming next ? Well cool stuff of course ! Some I've been looking forward to for some time and some I didn't expect but I'll enjoy both without a doubt !

38 comments:

  1. Gorgeous work! It reminds me of the fact I have some Pantheon of Chaos stuff sitting about somewhere!

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    1. I think many of us have plenty of it still unloved. It's my way to slightly fix that !

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  2. Even though the whole paint job looks ace JB, the thing that jumps out at me the most are the eyes. Putting a white dot on the black pupil has really made a big difference to the overall effectiveness IMHO.

    A great mini with a great paint job.....another keeper :)

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    1. It usually kills or makes the deal so I'm always extra careful, I used an off white here to avoid the eyes being to eye catching.
      Thanks mec !

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  3. That's a helluva nice troll...

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  4. What he said, great work! Very realistic.
    Proper sculpt got proper paintjob :)

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    1. It really is a great well balanced sculpt. I love it even more now I've got to explore it !

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  5. This is lovely. Really sophisticated use of colours here – the red and green work really well together emphasising the brutal nature and regeneration powers of the troll.

    What are the greenstuff alterations on the early photos for?

    I keep thinking I've got some Pantheon of Chaos miniatures, but they're the very-similarly-named Circle of Chaos miniatures. Oops.

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    1. The green stuff is just here to fix some mould lines I couldn't remove. I spotted some way later (when I actually took the final pictures).
      I really wanted a leathery kind of skin and on large areas of flesh like that, I tend to like adding nuances to avoid the monochrome effect.
      Glad you like it !

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    2. Ahhhh.

      There needs to be a special word for mouldlines that you spot only after you've begun the painting.

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    3. There's a special place in hell with a lot of furniture and you have to walk with bare foot and ALL THE MODELS have mouldlines that only reveal after painting.

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  6. He looks great JB. Frankly I have forgotten what all I have in my Pantheon. I went all in but then didn't buy a fair few of the addons because I was already on the hook for so much cash. To be honest, I'm still bitter about the whole thing and don't know when I'll get to painting them.

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    1. I realise I have plenty of really nice stuff from that KS and there's one that has even more appeal than before now !
      Models are made to be loved, you don't blame kids for what their parents do, do you ? ^^

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  7. Wow, that's a pretty interesting paintjob; I love the skin tones and the overall looking :O

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    1. Thanks man !
      I really tried to focus on a nice skin, sort of ^^'

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  8. A real beauty... well, in an awkward way. The skin tones are superb!

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    1. Thanks a lot, It's the first part I worked on, because I wanted to get it right and I'm pleased with the result !

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    2. You should be. Actually with all of your miniatures, lol!

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  9. Of all your fantastic work, this is the one I love the most so far. The colors feel very natural. The wood of the club is my favorite. Seems odd, but I have a really hard time painting wood; it always looks cartoony. I'll be keeping this guy as reference!

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    1. The wood on this one is probably the part I like the least. I've kept it bright and clean to contrast with the rest but it should be worn out and dirty really. ^^
      I did opt for very natural colours here and wanted the creature to be more a force of nature than a magical being.
      Thanks !

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  10. The different painting approach makes this troll look like something from an Alan Lee illustration - lots of subtle variations in colour with a sort of misty, magical quality. My favourite elements are the fungal growths on his right shoulder. They suggest he often lies dormant among the ferns and rotting wood!

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    1. There's definitely some Allan Lee, Brian Froud and Paul Bonner inspiration in this one !
      I like giving variations in huge areas of flesh like that and it worked pretty close to what I had in mind actually so I'm quite chuffed !
      Thanks Jon !

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  11. Yeah, far less "Chaos" and more "Freak of Nature". I'd imagine this brute and a Jabberwocky would be good neighbours, some might even venture, "friends"?

    Really like how you've painted this gorgeous sculpt.

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    1. Now this is interesting, I just happen to have one and hadn't thought about it ! It would be the perfect buddy to dive it and a nice model to urther experiment on !
      Thanks for the idea !

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  12. Beautiful work here mate - your painting has really done a sublime sculpt justice for an outstanding combination of paint and sculpture. Kudos!

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    1. Well thank you ! A good sculpt always helps !

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  13. Asbolutely fantastic! I love the model per se, but your paintjob is really cool as well! Sometimes it is so good to try out another style/ way of painting...I feel working with loads of glazes in a kinda 'dirty' way from time to time really helps to just get the energy flowing again!

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    1. Thanks Mark !
      Working with glazes and washes is nice because it's very rewarding so very good to get some motivation. It's not something I'd feel confident doing all the time but on a few models it's definitely worth it !

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  14. Superb. Especially with a different glazing technique - nice to see a different method happening

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    1. Thanks ! I'm actually eager to try that again !

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  15. Unbelievably fantastic work ... now that's how a troll should look like warts and all.

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