Wednesday 4 February 2009

Crusaders

Here's some pictures of my latest miniature - Black Templars High Marshal Helbrecht. I have always really liked this sculpt, it's got great movement and the character of the whole piece is really strong. I wanted to make him look like he's been out in the field on campaign for a while, so I made all of the colours a little faded and opted for quite strong lighting from above. I think I am most pleased with how the cloak came out - the lighting works well, and it's nice to add a rich, strong colour to the inside.

Black can be tricky to have as a main colour - it needs surrounding with lighter and brighter colours to give it some shape, so the white fabric really helps to bring the anatomy of the figure out. I definitely didn't want to make the white too stark and clean, so opted for an off-white instead. It's a mix of light bone and black, shaded down with black and blue.

I'm pleased with the base. The figure has such a sense of direction and movement that I wanted to have him on a path or road. I decided that he was on a Pilgrim's path, littered with bones and discarded weapons - the wall has the prayers and messages of the pilgrims nailed to it. The warm ocher colours are a good contrast with the miniature and suggest a dusty, desert setting

2 comments:

YoungWolf7 said...

*sigh*

It's really too bad you moved back home you know. I had so much more to learn.

Do you have a better angle for the gear on his back?

cree1978 said...

Mike another lovely and inspiring piece, i have been reading your blog for a couple of months now and it has inspired me to put my brushes back on something other than 15mm.

The position of the power sword looks abit odd to me, i used stand he might lower it moving past the wall, but the way it is between the wall and the skull, i imagine him clonking it strides past, would the skull not be better lower to the ground or just not there?

Cheers Craig

p.s. if you ever want a chat about the "old days" with Dale Hurst or Phil Lewis i have there numbers, just message me.