Thursday 21 January 2021

Imperial Navigator Espern Locarno - Blackstone Fortress

 
Hey everyone, so I'm still feelig good with the Blackstone Fortress characters so I've followed with the Imperial Navigator, Espern Locarno. It's a great figure and quite suprisingly one of the very few to not sport any type of weapon and in a very peaceful pose for someone dwelling in the grim darkness of a far future !
I have to say I'm pretty chuffed abot him because I didn't have a navigator painted until now so I believe it's a nice item ticked off the list !
Navigators have evolved a lot in style over the years and do evolve a lot in general throughout their lives supposedly.

Just remember what the original navigator looks like (painted by my friend Sho3box) :

Heinlein – Navigator | sho3box

The navigator concept obviously borrows a huge deal to the guild navigators from Dune :

Daily "Dune": Concept Artist Confirms no Spacing Guild Navigators in Film

And it would obviously be a project on its own to model navigators at their different stages of evolution as seen in God Goodwin's sketches :

Now painting wise it was obviously very tempting to go on my usual palette but for I wanted to challenge my habits a bit, allowing myself to use cold tones mostly without placing dark tones next to each other and some other things.

There's a little detail too, I didn't paint the third eye on its forehead like something light can go through to show the third eye is only open to the light of the Imperor (or something like that). This was inspired by how some Rose windows in Cathedrals are shut to only let the light of god shine through (or in some interpretations how only certain sexual practices are allowed but that's another topic).

Something different for me here was trying to do the "paint by numbers" freehands on the cloak. I tend to discard those on recent models but it felt silly not to use them here and give a layer of nobility on an otherwise austere character. I realise it could be a fun exercise but results are almost directly linked to the amount of time spent so not exactly the kind of exercise I'm after !


 
So that's 3 models out of 44 and 3 out of 9 heroes so while not impressive, there is still a progress here ! Here's 33% of the PC's done yeah !

Not to mention I have almost everyone needed for space travel ! Where do we go now !



 

35 comments:

  1. Wow. Very impressive. I like the tarnished brass a lot, and that freehand is very nice!

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    1. Thanks, I wanted something less eye-catching than gold so opted for tarnished brass instead, glad you like it !

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  2. I just ordered two of those Espern Locarno mins. Going to convert one over to being a merchant for necromunda. And not sure what to do with the spare, but I am sure I will figure out something to do with him. I mean I already have BSF so that makes 3 of the model.

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    1. It's a great model tbh, and the non threatening pose makes it a great conversion base.

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  3. Replies
    1. Hardly freehanding mec, just coloring in the spaces ! It helps the lazy ones like myslef !

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  4. This is a great model and one I hope to paint at some point. I like the fact that he's got a funky hat on - he could easily be one of the hyper-evolved navigators underneath!

    Really nice paintwork on the robes and cloak. It's got a nice sombre tone to it.

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    1. I really like the mystery pf hiw he is under thoserobes and helmet with his long silhouette.
      He was surprisingly easy to paint too

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  5. Ca fait plaisir de te voir changer tes couleurs :)

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    1. Et ben sache que tu y es pas étranger ! Tu m'avais fait un commentaire sur ma zone de confort qui m'a fait cogiter vois tu 😅
      Donc merci, je vais tâcher de sortir des habitudes et automatismes un peu 🙂

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  6. Great blending of North Star, Colony 87 and GW minis.
    The freehand on the Navigator's cloak is especially striking.
    Great stuff

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    1. The freehand is already traced on the cloak so it really is just coloring in, I'm pretty pleased this guy fits with the others !

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  7. Great job on a lovely fig! It's hard to know to to copy.....er....be inspired by for my own fig. I think with a grout of illustrious individuals entering mid to late career stage they should pull a 'traveller' move. Cash out, pool their resources into a ship, and brave the frontier for adventure and profit.

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    1. That's a great story pitch, I'll get tickets for that !

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  8. This might be my fav mini from the set, and I like the interpretation you made of the character. Your choice of palette is effective, I think it gives quite an interestig, cold vibe to the guy. Love it!

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    1. Thanks man, I have to say it's not the one that struck me the most but now I really appreciate the elegant and smart nobility of the pose.
      Thanks mec !

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  9. I like how one of those Jes Goodwin portrait sketches looks awfully like one of the T'au race. ;)

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    1. Wow never seen these sketches before. Is there any lore to this kind of evolving. I've only read about some more mutations in the navigaror genes cause of the endogamy

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  10. I love how you always take the time to post interesting lore and thoughts on the figures you paint, opposed to just slapping up some photos. Do you feel that the navigator can blend in with your otherwise quite oldschool 40k collection?

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    1. Thanks, I feel like it's always worth giving a little insight into creative processes, it's something I like to read so I try and give some of mine as well !
      I think the navgator, although significantly taller, will fit fine with the rest, I've never been too bothered with my regular gaming buddies about that sort of thing and despite the vast array of miniatures and painting styles, it's never clashed in game, I'm 14 inches taller than my gf so I get a daily reminder that scale is not exactly as uniform amongst humans as we want it to be amongst models ^^

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  11. Replies
    1. It's not exactly a freehand though, the details are engraved in the cloak for the lazy asses like me !

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  12. He's really cool this way. I really like the freehand. What did you use to make the oxydation?

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    1. Thanks man, the oxydation is purely and simply nihilak oxyde straight from the pot ^^'

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  13. Marvellous looking fellow! I couldn't begin to do such a good job with the cloak (engraved or not). is it just me or do some of those Jes Goodwin Navigator sketches resemble how the Tau ended up?

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    1. I think they do look alike a lot, dunno if that's intended or not but it's a fun thing for sure !
      Thanks for the kind words !

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  14. The muted greens and blues here works so, so well!

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    1. Thanks, I wanted colder colours on a guy navigating the void of space/warp

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  15. Hello! I Love your Work, can you tell me wich colors did you used for the vest and the cloack?

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    1. Hi ! The cloak is based on PA's marine deep blue, a wonderful colour for plenty of things. The green is also a PA reference, I think it's Olive IIRC. I'll try and check !

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  16. Marvellous. A year ago I drew inspiration from here (and thePhilthyPhish) - would you mind if I "cited" your work in a video by including that first image and attribution links?

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    1. I wouldn't at all and would like to see the video when it airs !
      Thanks !

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    2. It's up. I'm still stumbling through the whole "hobbyTube skill set" but I'm pleased with the general results

      https://youtu.be/k9q1A0VeE2M

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    3. Well done and thanks for keeping me up to date ! You've definitely reinvigorated my mojo for BSF !

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