Ever keen to get involved in fun community projects, I agreed to join in and selected one of the champions of Tzeentch for my model. My particular champion was a minotaur who had received the following gifts/attributes:
- Big ears
- Regeneration
- Uncontrollable flatulance (paralysing)
- Rearranged face
- Temporal instability (voluntary)
- Eyestalks
- Scorpion tail (poisoned)
At the end of May, I had got to this point - a bit of chopping and parts selection:
Fast-forward 6.5 months to last week, and the figure hadn't moved much further on. A timely nudge from Plaiecivile and two evenings of modelling and painting has resulted in a completed model - Bro'og the Gorgite:
Bro'og is a real mish-mash of components. The body is from my own Beast Face Miniatures minotaur, with a head from the Warploque Miniatures minotaur. The eyestalks are from a Hasslefree alien, the tail is from a Citadel Khorne fleshound, the ears are from my bits box (I have a feeling they were original bat wings), and the mace head is from an old Citadel Zoat.
It was only after I finished painting did I realise that I appear to have made a Jar Jar Binks lookalike. But believe me, Bro'og does not do slapstick!
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| A face only a mother could love! |
Although Bro'og was built as a fantasy Chaos champion of Tzeentch, I plan to use him as an alien mercenary in my sci-fi gaming. With that in mind, his weapon got a tiny little bit of tech to make it into a shock maul, and I painted him to match my mutant Gron-Slom, who he'll be handing around with.
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| Oh, Bro'og is massive by the way! |
Your painting has really constantly been improving ! This blue to pink tail and the pinkish tones yo ugave to both the mino and the 2 headeed mutant really show a real finesse in painting.
ReplyDeleteYou've used a desaturated palette lately that really makes your conversions shine. It is really inspiring and I have to get on that train at some point.
You late speed is also mind blowing.
The conversion is absolutely great and is somehow reminiscnet of Pete Tayor's work as displayed in the RoC books.
Slow claps, you're ending this year with fantasic models !
Thanks JB :) There's a couple of areas I'd like to redo as I was rushed to get this one finished, but overally I'm happy - the fade from flesh to blue came up alright I think.
DeleteThe change in palette is intentional - I've been trying to make things a bit more modern in style and I'm experimenting with some new colours.
This may well be my penultimate model for 2014...if I can squeeze in a last one before Christmas :)
Man that's fecking amazing!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGlad you like him mate :)
DeleteMeesa thinka disa a biggest Gungan isa eva seen!!!
ReplyDeleteSorry, I just couldn't help myself :D
Seriously, it is great. The droopy, dough eyed expression on his face really matches the pose perfectly.
You've definately got an eye for conversions there axiom.
Well done.
Heesa bigun :)
DeleteThanks - lots of experimenting, dead ends and starting again with components usually. I struggled finding a way to represent his big ears, than turned up the pair of wings...and it all came together :D
Another top job there mate, a mini that you just want to keep looking at. The head just works so well, there is something almost rabbity about it. Are you building these guys into their own little warband?
ReplyDeleteHaha! He does look a little cute and rabbit-like. Good job I didn't do anything with his teeth.
DeleteHe'll probably be an irregular companion to the chaos cultists which will become a full warband in time.
ReplyDeleteI cant add much to this that I or the others havent said already, but Bro'og really is top notch. Its disturbing and weird and discordant, yet the model looks coherent and has a pose that makes sense and suggests reality.
Your painting and converting have gone up a notch recently for sure and they werent too shabby before. Great stuff. Im looking forward to seeing the 2014 retrospective :)
Two days to assemble and paint. Wow.
I really wanted to do mutations that made sense - sometimes mutated chaos figures lack the sense of realism that makes it work. Eyestalks where the horns would normally go was the starting point. The ears were a very late addition - I only actually added them last night just before painting.
DeleteAs for 2 days to assemble and paint - I'd worked out what I was going to do back in May, so the 'assembly' evening was pretty quick - just required some gluing and a little bit of sculpting :)
Glad you like him :D
I love this! Great use of bits to create a unique looking model, the swap of horns and eyes (which then become eyestalks) is genius. As already said the painting really complements the conversion too. You've aced it!
ReplyDeleteThanks Stuart :)
DeleteVery good work. I like that which side of the mutation/natural creature line he falls on is very ambiguous.
ReplyDeleteThe paint job is very good, although I wonder what he would have looked like with a pink to purple gradient on his tail.
Thanks! We'll never know what he might have looked like with a purple tail ;) I chose blue to tie the colours with the cultists...perhaps it might have worked better using purple :)
DeleteThis is a fantastic piece of work, Jon. I'm in love with that flesh technique. Go on and tell me how you achieved it.
ReplyDeleteThe flesh is actually based on the colours used for the most recent Dark Eldar Wracks...I actually studied the paint guide on the back of the box! I use a black undercoat, then two coats of GW Rakarth flesh. Wash with old GW washes (Ogryn flesh with a dab of leviathan purple). Another coat of Rakarth flesh (leaving the wash visible in crevices). Highlight by adding increasing amounts of GW pallid wych flesh to Rakarth flesh. The coloured areas are either given a wash (ears, nose) or very diluted coat of paint with increasing amount of paint across the transition (tail). Hope that helps!
DeleteThis whole time I've been looking at the model thinking 'ears? What ears? I can't see any bloody ears!'. It finally clicked when i realised that i had seen the ears but assumed they were a sash of some kind ( though in hindsight that's more of a Slaanesh thing). The model looks great - very imposing and very well realised. Kudos to you chap!
ReplyDeleteHow about I call them big dangly head flaps? ;) I realise the photos remove depth, making them a bit harder to spot, but they're pretty prominant as I look at the model in hand :D
DeleteGlad you like him!