Topic: Looshkin's Terrorgheist Diorama

[Looshkin]

Hi all, Happy New Year.

2015 saw my hobby muse desert me. I did a few bits and pieces, some of which I'm really proud of, some I'm ambivalent towards. Largely though, I let painting get away from me. I blame the Harlequins. I bought loads of them, became intimidated by all the tiny diamonds, and then lost my painting nerve and got addicted to Destiny and The Witcher instead.

So how to recapture my muse?

Fortunately for me, my local GW was running a Secret Santa this year. Buy a box or boxes totalling a minimum of £30, plus 1 paint to be used in the painting of that model. GW then wrap the box, and on 27th December, the draw takes place.

I perused the shelves, and decided to buy something that I would love to paint, and therefore, someone else, would love to paint. I finally decided to spend a little extra, and get this guy:


When the draw came, I'll not lie, I was pensive. I had heard that some cockwomble had decided it would be good fun to buy 3 boxes of Gretchin. Please God/Flying Spaghetti Monster, don't let me draw the Gretchin! There was a Karl Franz in amongst the models, there was an Arachnarok...just don't let me draw the damn Gretchin!

I put my hand in the jar, pulled out a random number that corresponded with one of the packages, and with glee unwrapped this guy...


Yup, I managed to pick my guy. there was a 1 in 16 chance of my doing that by the time I drew (about 25 took part in total), and I was pleased as punch. I think if I had got the Gretchin or the AoS scenery my hobby muse may have hibernated until 2017! As it was, this was something to get my teeth into.

GW were having a Secret Santa painting comp too. Paint the mini by 6th February, and there would be several categories to enter. They were as follows:

* Best painted
* Best conversion
* Funniest
* Most Gory
* Best fluff

I decided to enter for Best Painted, Funniest and Most Gory. To get an additional 4 bonus votes, you could go for 'Hard Mode', whereby you drew a random theme for your model. This could make or break any ideas I had, so with trepidation, I put my hand in another jar. This time I drew 'Om Nom Nom'. Perfect. A zombie dragon or terrorgheist eating stuff. Simples.As such, I bought a box of something to be eaten:


Happy days.

On New Years Eve I put together the model (such are the joys of having a 1 month old boy, you don't get to go out anymore!). This is what he looks like at the moment:



I'll post more as I start slapping some paint on this chap. Really looking forward to getting to grips with him. And I have a great theme to go with it. I'm going to concentrate on getting the Terrorgheist up to scratch during what will be a busy month, but hopefully I'll have time to add to the diorama by the end of the month...so you'll have to have patience until the big reveal of what the diorama's theme will be.

Thanks for reading.

Loosh

[Cavalier]

Hey Looshkin that sounded like an awesome contest. I could only wish my FLGS was so cool. Sounds like an epic project but very fun. The model is really cool, can't wait to see what you cook-up. Looking forward to following this!

[vonny]

that's karma for you... "I'd love to paint this model" and then you got to paint that model!

I'm anxious to see how the project is coming along. I'd imagine you don't always have time to paint with a little gretchin of your own around the house.

[Looshkin]

Update time!

Thanks for the interest guys. I apologise for not updating this. Work got really crazy and as such I was only really able to get round to doing anything over the past week or so. So here we go:

First off, the base coats. I used GW Corax White over the entire model, followed by a light coat of Army Painter Skeleton Bone. I then used GW Sandri Dust on the extremities and a bit more Corax for some other bits.

All in all, this largely proved to be a waste of time and effort, but as it took minutes in total, I'm not lamenting that too much.


Next up was the base layering. All wing membranes and skin took a coat or 2 or Dark Reaper.


The muscle was Mephiston Red. At this stage it always looks...well frankly, it looks underwhelming. This is always my second guessing stage too. I'm never certain the colour scheme is going to work at all. What I normally do then, is try to complete a part of the model, to see if that scheme is worth continuing with.

So I did that with this guy. Everything got a really heavy Nuln Oil wash.

The Wind membranes and skin I then Drybrushed using layers of Dark Reaper, followed by The Fang, Russ Grey and finally Fenrisian Grey. I gave a heavier dry brush to the wing parts that bulged outwards, pretty much treating the wing like I do a cloak or a piece of fabric.

You can see this on the next photo. The far wing bows out towards you, so received the heavier dry brush. The near wing bows away, so got a lighter dose.


I used the same palette on the legs. The muscle are left with the Nuln oil wash and nothing more.

The bone was repainted with Sandri Dust - as I said, the layered base coat was rendered pointless by my messy base layering. The bone all over the model then received a liberal dose of Seraphim Sepia.





And that's where I am right now. I need to dry brush the bone back up to a near white in some places (Teeth/Claws). I will then do a few details such as blood effects and the like.

Whenever I look at this Terrorgheist, I worry that it's a little dark, but hopefully touching up the bone should help that a lot, and the fact that it will be mounted on a snow base will really solve the problem I believe.

Time to start working on this guy's master...and their food!

Thanks for stopping by!

[Cavalier]

Looking very good man. Love the color palette and it looks super clean. Looks like you banged out a good deal of work on it as well. Looking good keep it up!

[dog_of_war]

Looks awesome. I see what you mean by the darkness of the palette, but I think it is largely due to the high contrast with the bone. Maybe try some extra drybrushing on a small, hidden area to see if you can get a good effect. The current saturation actually works for me and I enjoy high contrasting models, but if you're not happy with it, I think bringing down that contrast would give it a more realistic look. You could also go darker on the bone, going more yellow, like rotting bone, but it may make your overall model too dark.

[Looshkin]

Thanks for the feedback guys! There are a few areas to touch up Cavalier, but I'm happy so far. dog_of_war, you make some good points about the colours. I think I'm going to continue with the plan of lightening the bone, but I like the idea of taking it quite brown...even if I don't use it with this model, it's an effect that I want to try on something else in the future!

Anyhow, I had a couple of hours to myself yesterday and today, and not wanting to tackle the bone colours, I decided to muck about with green stuff instead. I am categorically not good with green stuff. I never really convert stuff, but my plans for this diorama demanded some gs work, so I leapt into it:

One gutted elk thing, and some mysterious cubes.Ish. Cubesish. They're close enough for government work at any rate...


Another Elk, with claw wounds, and a scroll thingy at the top.


A big fat guy in a robe. I didn't need the details on this chap to be perfect as he'll largely be buried with...uh...scenery . As it is, I think his full beard looks passable, I gave him some hair and did a reposition on 1 arm. He'll do for now. Will have to see how he shapes up after he has fully dried and I'm able to get a base coat on him. That should show up any massive flaws that need addressing.


So there we go. Pretty much all of the components of the diorama are made and ready for some paint. Now where did I put that 'Blood for the Blood God'........

[Dread]

Looking really good. The one thing I discovered when I painted my last one is the bones one ten wings and other areas would actually have the dried skin on them. So I have one painted each way. Can't wait to see your finished project.

[Temperance]

My two cents....

I feel weird commenting again, because this is as good as (if not better than) anything I could do. Just saying though... I'm really not a fan of the yellow/black/red contrast. It's a very harsh contrast for me.

That said, I get some stylistic reasons for doing it. And if that's what you're going for, you certainly nailed it, so right on.

I'm just not a fan of extremes like that.

Your painting and detailing is great though.

I feel horrible saying I don't love it, because when/if I post something of my own up, it will definitely be way, way, /way/ worse than what you did. But you really embrace this extreme contrasting style that I'm just not a big fan of . You do  it well though - for what it is.

I hope this doesn't sound to negative. I think you nailed what you were after.

[Looshkin]

I feel weird commenting again, because this is as good as (if not better than) anything I could do. Just saying though... I'm really not a fan of the yellow/black/red contrast. It's a very harsh contrast for me.

I feel horrible saying I don't love it, because when/if I post something of my own up, it will definitely be way, way, /way/ worse than what you did. But you really embrace this extreme contrasting style that I'm just not a big fan of . You do  it well though - for what it is.

I hope this doesn't sound to negative. I think you nailed what you were after.

Don't ever apologise for your opinion! I absolutely value any and all comments, especially those that question what I'm doing. If all we did was praise each other, we wouldn't progress.

I'm not actually looking for a yellow/black/red contrast on this mini. The black is a very deep blue/purple. Close up, I actually think it looks pretty good. It doesn't necessarily work with the yellow at the moment, but there's some good news. The yellow won't be yellow for much longer!

As I'm doing a snow base, I need a colour in the Terrorgheist to match well with that. As such, the bone is going to come up to far closer to white. The recessed bone will still be a yellowy/brown, but all extremities will be far lighter.

As for the red...well, it's muscle, so needs to be red. I might soften the tone, as I haven't done anything other than base and wash. I may also add some Blood for the Blood God to go all in on the effect. I also need the red, as it needs to tie in with the 'props' that I am including on the base.

Thanks for the input!

Looking really good. The one thing I discovered when I painted my last one is the bones one ten wings and other areas would actually have the dried skin on them. So I have one painted each way. Can't wait to see your finished project.

Do you have any photos of you Gheist Dread? I'm interested to see how you did that effect...might be a winning idea!

[Dread]

Here ya go buddy. Hope these help.

[Looshkin]

Nice work Dread! I never really thought of giving the Gheist a rotting look, but if I ever put together an undead army, and I think I might, it's definitely just forced it's way into the mix for army theme. I love it!

So. Since last time out, I've managed a lot of progress. I've done a little more work on the Terrorgheist, lightening the bone, tidying some of the wing areas and adding a little detail. I'll post photos over the next couple of days, but it's night at the moment and the lighting is terrible.

I started work on the base.


I liked how the snow was coming out, but then I tried putting all the components on the base and it just got very, very busy. So I tried something new:

In unrelated news, I now need a new Cutting Mat...

At this stage, I had just undercoated the base black, added Stirling Mud and washed with Nuln Oil. Next up would be a heavy dry brush of Steel Legion Drab, and then a light dry brush of Baneblade Brown. Then the snow after. Several layers of snow to get a nice drifty type effect.

I also needed some wood. One medium hot chocolate to go from Costa and I was in possession of a bunch of stirring sticks. The I undercoated, then painted Dryad Bark. Next was a Castellan Green drysbrush, a Thraka Green wash and then Steel Legion and Baneblade dry brushes:


One side needed some colour to it, so it got a Mephiston Red sprayed layer. This was done in quite a patchy fashion so that an element of the wood underneath came through. Finally, an Evil Sunz Scarlet dry brush followed.


So I had created some stag corpses, and these got a lick of paint. Bodies are just Balor Brown washed with Agrax Earthshade. The white areas are Pallid Wytch Flesh with an Agrax wash. They are then layered back up with Pallid Wytch and finally White Scar. Then lashings of Blood for the Blood God. Some painted. Some smeared with a thumb. Later (not shown), some flicked from a stiff brush.

Less is more. Except when more is more...


And the other guy:


That's it for now. I have way more done, but the light is too poor, and I kind of want to do a big reveal when it is put together.

That said, I'm eager to see if you guys can guess what the final diorama is. All the clues are there now, so get sleuthing and let me know what you think!

[Exarch Thomo]

 
That looks brilliant. A bit of blood stain in the snow under the stags will finish it off nicely.

As for the stags, the only thing I can say (and this is just my opinion, and I feel bad offering it because this is so far above anything I could ever achieve), is they look a bit flat/plastic at the moment, although the longer fur on the neck looks ace and the internal organs are  a nice touch (although maybe a bit more blue than green?). A bit more depth in the shading, some highlights to give them more of a natural coat/hide look (maybe a few mottles? Something to break up the plastic looking brown - it could be the flash too perhaps), and some highlighting on the antlers too?

(On a side note - it would be pretty cool to have a White Stag having been slaughtered - mostly for symbolism and the place that the White Hart holds in folklore and for the wood elves. Although that's just me)

Anyway, take that comment for what it's worth (the random mumblings of an enthusiastic-yet-average-at-best hobbyist - so not much). Either way, I can't wait to see the finished product.

[dog_of_war]

Hmmmm, red wooden structure smashed to pieces across a snowy field. Antlered cloven animals slaughter. A short, chubby, bearded guy in a wool suit. OMG did the Terrorgheist kill Santa on his slay?

[Exarch Thomo]

Just noticed that the last reindeer has a red nose too...I think you're right dog_of_war

(Completely ignore my white stag idea - this is sooo much better)

[Looshkin]

And we have a winner! dog_of_war with a fairly accurate guess.

Santa isn't dead, but let's just say that he may be reconsidering the people on his naughty list!

Rudolph though...Rudolph is beslubbered up. He's eaten his last Carrot. Comet isn't looking too bright either. Let's just hope the others got away...

Speaking of which, I made a naughty list. Vlad is the Ghoul King that I haven't shown yet, while the other 3 guys all work at Swindon GW...so I'm blatantly trying to curry some favour by sticking their names on this thing!! The only thing I don't like is how prominent the edge of the transfer is. I'll play around and see if I can mask that a little bit.


The fat guy himself. I decided not to go to too much effort on Santa, seeing as he will be largely buried in his Sleigh wreckage. I'm fairly happy though, and think that it will look good when combined with everything else.


Can't be Santa without some prezzies:


And a repost of Rudolph. Just to show he's not as shiny as the last photo made him look. Damn stupid Winter making me rely on crappy lamps...

[dog_of_war]

That's superb work on the fat man and his list. Totally missed the green stuff list and presents in your previous posts. Looking awesome! Can't wait to see the complete scene once you put it all together.

[Cavalier]

Looking great Looshkin. The paint job and modelling is spot on. The fence looks great as well! lol Keep up the great work man its coming out awesome.

[Lord of Winter and War]

Great painting there and hilarious concept. Keep it up!

[Looshkin]

So it's competition time tomorrow! Fortunately, bar one or two very minor touch ups that I might do, this bad boy is finished.

"Would You Care To Reconsider Your List Herr Claus" is the title of the diorama.













So, I can finally explain some decisions that I made.

The Terrorgheist had to be fairly dark. I wanted a kind of midnight blue feel to him and the Ghoul King to act as a direct contrast to Santa. I also wanted little touches on both to tie the models together, hence the addition of red as a spot colour on the Bad Guys. Following this theme, Rudolph and Comet were never going to be allowed to live. Again, red was needed to tie those into the other figures on the base.

I figured that I could go quite dark on the main protagonists, as the snowy backdrop was going to make things 'pop'. A darker base would've required a lighter tone to the minis.

Will this all be enough to win anything?

Probably not, and I'll explain why. In the spirit of the 21st Century rewarding everybody for taking part, the store have seen fit to come up with a judging system that I can only describe as balls. Every entrant will vote on every model entered, and decide which category it best fits. Which means, if there are 20 entrants, every single model will receive 20 votes.

And that means if I win something, it will be a shock. I spread myself too thin on this competition. I made it a bit gory. I converted things. I made it funny. I gave it a back story. I tried to paint it well. So I my well get votes in each of those categories, not just 1.

That will mean I lose to someone that converted the hell out of there model and then just gave it an undercoat and a wash.

That will mean I lose to someone that got a single figure and painted the hell out of it (maybe better than me, but maybe not)...but didn't do anything else to it.

I don't think I entered this competition to win, but I'm quite pissed off that I'll probably receive a spread of votes, which guarantees I won't win anything.

Anyhow, I'll make sure I take some photos tomorrow of the entrants, let you know the results and then you can decide!

Hopefully I'll get some well lit photos too. The weather here has been crap pretty much all week, so I had to give you bathroom photos. The finest lightbox that mankind has to offer. That also smells faintly of amphetamine parrot....