Zarkan is complete!

 

  Well, the Master of Possessions is finally fully painted.  I still have to base him and he's a Word Bearer, not a Black Legionnaire, so the title may be not completely true.  But I finished painting something and had to practice my camera-phone skills some more (I apologize for that in advance, of course!).  

  In my last post about this model, I did a quick paint job on the burning bits but with a green, spooky glow rather than the more common fires.  It was well past time to just paint the robes and rest and get him table ready- especially if this is the leader for my Combat Patrol!  So without further ado, let me show and tell.

Step 1- the robe

  This has been a bugbear since I started painting this model.  The original GW artwork shows him as a Black Legion marine with a red robe (not too shabby, actually!), but I play the most evil of evil Word Bearers.  Now, I can't put a bright red or even black over this area as the robe would instantly get lost in the rest of the details.  And any other colours would certainly have thrown off the balance compared to the rest of my basic-paint scheme army already.  So I had to be really persnickity while still trying to keep the red aspect.  

  First, I mixed equal parts Khorne Red and Abaddon Black, which turned out like the old Scorched Brown colour!  That was exciting to me.  This was applied over every bit of the robe, inside and out.  

  Next, I added more Khorne Red to the mix and layered this over the previous colour.  This was very subtle, but it really laid out the curves and highlights, as well as established that shadowy fade that cloth is great for.  In this case, the pictures definitely don't show much difference.  

  Next, I added more Khorne Red to the mix (seeing a theme yet?) and layered this very specifically in only the high areas and around the borders.  This added the colour contrast to the robe and gave that shading the deepness that I was looking for.  Old-school techniques still work!

  Finally, with straight Khorne Red, I layer- or line-highlighted very specific areas.  Remember that any borders/edges of the robes are going to establish the colour to the eye, so those have to be highlighted even if the light isn't really bouching there.  All about the tricks to the eye...

Step 2- the other details

  By this point, I had the model playable but not done.  I still had to paint the little scroll on his belt, touch up some of the bones (and there were many bones on this dude), and get those eyes glowing.  

First, I layered Zhandri Dust onto the scross, basecoating the entire bit.  Then, I simply mixed a little more white at a time into the mix and layered that on, successively in smaller lines leading to the edges.  With a final edge highlight of the white along the top, bottom, and the middle wrap, that was done.  

  Now it was time for those eyes.  I forgot to paint them when I was working on the rest of the fire, so I had to base a little White Scar into those eye sockets.  

  Once that was completely dry, I had to choose what glow I was going to use.  I could stick with the green that the rest of the army had, but I already have quite a bit of that green all over this model.  I could go with red, but that brings up the same problem as the robes where they would get lost in the other details.  But I still wanted "evil", so I went with orange.  I watered down Wild Rider Red until it was almost skim milk consistency- like, almost transparent!  I dabbed that into the eyes and then brushed it off the center of the lenses.  The effect rocks and is so easy!  It's not the colour, it's the technique.  

Step 3- the finish

  I've dedicated so much time to deliberations and experimentation that I was nearly exhausted.  I needed to just push through this last stage and be done.  This is where the "Touchup" and "Highlight" stages are.  Think of "leg day" at the gym, but for nerd dolls and a paintbrush...  I dislike this stage enough that I forgot to take pics!

  There was the pesky obsidian blade (an 'anathame'?) hanging on his belt.  That took a quick basecoat of Abaddon black and then some sloppy stippling and edging with Sotek Green and Ahriman Blue.

  Then I had the feathers (yes, feathers!) hanging all over his fur shawl (sometimes, GW, you're choice of aesthetics is confounding.)- I really wanted to do those feathers in all kinds of colours.  But now I'm in "get it done" mode, so I thought the Raven aspect would be the most appropriate.  Mixing black and white to make a very dark gray, I layered the feather quills and such, and then mixed in more white to just edge the shape so it would stand out just a tad from the surrounding brown fur.  

  While I was using the gray mix, I also lined in the ridges for the undersuit, painted the handle of the pistol, and drew black lines (with very, very watered-down black) between colours and plates.  Lining-in is old-school, but it's necessary on darker models like this where highlighting too bright can change the entire colour of the model.  

  Now, with everything touched up and the basic highlights done, it was time to cap it off with the highlighting of the silver bits.  That was basecoated with Iron Warrior (or Ironbreaker and then washed with Nuln Oil- I just can't remember and they both end with the same effect) and then edge highlighted with Stormhost Silver.  I wanted to go crazy with this, but I just needed the 'bling' from the table-top standard.  This colour combo does that.

  Now comes the base.  But I have the problem of my Cultists being different than my original plan.  So I basecoated the sane black and will get back to that later.  

Step 4- admire

  I had some fun painting this model because it was very different than the bog-standard marine and definitely a harbinger of the new style when it was originally released.  I'm not trying to make this model win any painting trophies, but he does deserve to look pretty good, and I'm pretty happy with him.  He's definitely stand out while leading his Possessed!

This makes me want to name him "Skeletor" and laugh maniacally... 

Of course, Skeletor has his staff of power- and look at those eyes!

  And that's it!  He's done, he was fun, and now there's more to go.  The squad of marines is sitting on the table...

Happy Hobbying!