Back On Track.

It's been a tough couple of days with Njal, to be honest.

I had a great deal of difficulty getting the yellows to my satisfaction, and then found the face to be an absolute nightmare - having to paint it twice in the end, because the first version just didn't cut it.

I find it's a tricky balancing act, deciding whether or not to re-paint an area, especially faces, because although the original may not be great, you run the risk of blotting out a lot of the finer detail if you paint it a second time.  This, in fact, I did on Njal - but in the end I think it was worth it.

As always, I have to point out, when I say something I've painted looks good, I do mean in relation to my own painting skills.  So far, Njal is the best paint job I think I've ever done, but quite frankly he's not all that great when you compare him to 'Eavy Metal's Darren Latham's version:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpYMJh2KpfLStsy-tO4SZfPwBpIalzT6w0cTmsU4ISKcF5y2IEmg-yFkeiEugIi1Ko1eEAjwXc-5YUDd_hGPTwEg-lj2kOhLEWn8T5XYCox6YLkijIkPqbsjUcwVBis4QBbVYhp1wKUQ4/s1600-h/njal+comp.jpg

This is about as perfect a paint job as I think anyone could manage and a great inspiration to me, as well as being completely depressing at the same time!!

But anyway, enough of that, back to my Njal:

As you can see, all the major detail on the main body of the miniature has been finished.  When this picture was taken, the Badab Black wash on the black piping and the pistol grip was drying.  I painted the blacks very simply, just using Adeptus Battlegrey over the Chaos Black basecoat.  As I'm not (yet) skilled enough to make a great job of blending such thin lines of highlights, I always tend to cheat a bit and just pile on several coats of black wash, and this usually does an adequate job.

The face has turned out very different from how I imagined it originally - much more shaded and contrast-y - and in the end, I think it works really well, making Njal look like he's about to let loose with some arcane and etherial power.  Grrrr!

All I need to do once the blacks are finished (tomorrow, I would imagine...) is paint the teeth and claws on the cloak and armour, the metal studs and fastens, and the leather thong that they all hang off of.

You may notice from looking closely at the photos several areas where the paint has already worn down to the black undercoat - mainly on the edges of the armour.  I won't bother touching any of this up until the arms and raven have been attached and painted, or else it will have worn down again by the time I've finished him.

Finally, I'm starting to reconsider the base for Njal - having looked at some of the beautiful bases that can be seen on various miniature painting websites, I can't help but feel that my humble effort doesn't quite cut it.

Saying that though, these bases tend to be for competition or display miniatures.  I have to remember that I need mine to be practical for gaming purposes.  Much as I would love to see my Njal standing atop a ravaged cliff-face, black waves smashing the stone beneath his feet... well... it wouldn't be very easy to hide him behind cover, would it?

Anyway, off now (you'll be glad to know).  You can go and find something much more interesting and informative to look at!