This model is being painted for the 2012 Clean-Slate Challenge, an attempt to paint all the forgotten models accrued over the years by an enthusiastic hobbyist.
This model came to me from a good friend who had purchased a Warhammer Fantasy Battles started box back in the day when it was Empire vs. Orcs. He had purchased some supplemental figures for his empire army, just because he liked the way they looked. This model made it's way to me brand new and unprimed, and was promptly tucked at the back of the bits box. No more hiding sir Necromancer, into the light with ye!
Have a look at this guy and start to build an image in your mind of how you would paint him.
If the image is anything like mine was, it's probably pretty close to the one we've been collectively spoon-fed our entire lives. Dark clothing, withered skin, musty atmosphere. A soulless old man, completely desaturated of color and life.
It's exactly how I was going to paint him until I remembered the entire point of this exercise, to challenge myself creatively and see where I could take the sculpt.
Make it Your Own
I read a lot of tutorials and articles on the internet dealing with creativity and visual art. Though each one might be slightly different in terms of it's presentation, they all boil down to the same two or three elements over and over. One of those elements is the concept of originality.
As hobbyists, we're always striving to be original in everything we do, to help ourselves stand out from the crowd and command the respect of our peers. Sometimes an artist simply tries to be original by doing it the best, other times they seek the road less travelled.
In this case the road less travelled was throwing a hard 180 in terms of color selection and dynamic lighting. Rather than draw from the hundreds of repetitious horror images I grew up with, I opted to go for the American southland, deep in the heart of Cajun territory, Mardi-Gras style.
A Shadowman.
And why not the Shadowman? Just because Walt Disney put out a movie with similar color styles doesn't mean it's off the tables. The Princess Frog was a well received movie, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say most Warhammer players who weren't parents and didn't have an active interest in animation never saw it.
Remember, it doesn't have to be new; nothing is. It only has to be new to the person who is seeing it.
This is why retro works. Any given image will only survive for so long in the collective consciousness of society before it fades into obscurity. If you want to be original, you don't have to sit and stare at a blank wall until your inspiration magically comes to you (trust me, I've tried.) All you need to do is a basic analysis of what people are seeing on a regular basis. Whatever it is only represents a small portion of what is out there, and all you need to do as a creative person is to tap into those dusty tomes of lore to draw your inspiration.
Micro-Lesson: Saturated Light
I covered source lighting in a previous post, but I wanted to go over some of the rules that change when you go from realism to saturation.
- Work Backwards
When you paint light sources over a dark model, you're looking to hit the highlights very gently and just on the edges of the surface. You're usually working by painting the model dimly first and then highlighting it. When going to areas of concentrated color, the key is to start with the lights instead of the backdrop. The first pass of colors had this model oozing green, yellow, and red. The blue was added afterwards to create the gradients as the source faded. - Let Multiple Lights Mix
Even though these are three strong light sources, they are going to have some areas of overlap where one does not dominate. This step is best done after the initial shading work. For example, I was able to blend a little extra green into the contact area with yellow, as I was cleaning up the blue. You don't have to go overboard with this, as you're looking to really push those colors, but a little mixing and overlapping goes a long way. - Have Fun With It
Sometimes there's just nothing else to do but throw up your hands and yell like you're on a roller coaster. I don't condone this during the actual act of painting, in public or at home. That being said, sometimes we hobbyists get a little too concerned with finding the perfect color, the perfect freehand and so on. Never forget they're toy soldiers, and you'll feel free to let your imagination run wild.
Just writing this post has given me a couple new ideas on where to take painting, and I'm excited to try them out on some upcoming models. Here's to creativity and originality!
