Slaanesh Chaos Chosen [Completed]

Cute wasn't what I was actually aiming for ... heck who am I kidding, it totally was. Sugar, spice, unicorns, rainbows, care bears, you name it. If it was cutesy in any way, it was running through my mind as I settled on a colour scheme to weave such thoughts onto a subject matter that's the very antithesis of all that's good - a servant of Slaanesh. I was in the mood for pastels, and after contemplating the usual suspects like chibi minis I decided on a Chaos Chosen instead.  

Slaanesh Chaos Chosen, eyes devoid of compassion

Of all the four chaos gods, only Tzeentch and Slaanesh had the potential for the kind of pastel colour scheme I wanted to create. And of the two, the former is predominantly blue while the latter is dominated by purples. Both are equally appealing so it was just arbitrary that I painted the Slaanesh Chaos Chosen first. Eventually, I'm sure I will do the Tzeentch one in a similar pastel colour scheme.

Of all Slaanesh's attributes, this Chosen personifies pain the most

A daemon is infused into the Chosen's armour, trying desperately wrest 'soul' control

Pristine claws, so much the better to rend with 

One thing nearly all my completed miniature projects have in common is that upon finishing them I always find some key thing I could have done differently to take it to the next level. Needless to say, it was no different with the Slaanesh Chaos Chosen. Here, I could've permeated the armour with flesh pink hues in a pattern suggesting that the daemon within was winning a battle of wills between itself and the Chaos Chosen. But that meant the colour spectrum would shift towards pink from purple. While there is precedent for predominantly pink hues in Slaanesh subjects, it wasn't what I wanted.  

Sweet pastel colours is incongruous with the nature of Slaanesh, yet somehow fitting

More of the daemon is erupting from the Slaanesh Chosen's back

Base comprises a greyish black sandy texture

What I wanted was a Slaanesh Chaos Chosen covered primarily with purplish hues. Hence I abandoned the thought of painting strands of pink flesh crisscrossing the Chosen's armour. This arguably leaves the armour looking a bit flat in places. But it was a trade off I was willing to accept.  

Other than the claws shown here, the Slaanesh Chosen's eyes had the brightest hues

Hues of muted gold, blue and bone help keep the colour scheme varied

And then there were two. Completion of the Slaanesh Chaos Chosen marks the midpoint of my 'visual ode' to the Warhammer 40K chaos gods. With the other two upcoming Chaos Chosens being mainly in reds (Khorne) and blues (Tzeentch) respectively, it also more aesthetically pleasing for me to have the Slaanesh Chaos Chosen covered mostly in purplish hues as opposed to pink.    

Nurgle and Slaanesh now have their chosen while Khorne and Tzeentch await theirs

At this point I'm not sure which of the Chosen Chaos - Tzeentch or Khorne - will be painted next. I'm not even sure if either one will be the next W40K project. For now, please say a warm hello to a My Little Pony version of a Chaos warrior who bears the favour of the Dark Gods, in this case Slaanesh.

Slaanesh Chaos Chosen [WIP - Claws & Colours]

I may be a year late but I've finally managed to incorporate the Pantone Color of the Year 2016 - namely Rose Quartz and Serenity - into a miniature painting project. Two years ago saw the start of my fascination with Pantone's annual Color of the Year announcements. It has become a treasured source of inspiration for my art projects especially miniature painting. Last year's was no different.  

Slaanesh Chaos Chosen: work-in-progress on claws and colour scheme

Admittedly though, not even I could have foreseen the miniature I would eventually use the hues on. Pantone officially describes the colours in question in the following way: Joined together, Rose Quartz and Serenity demonstrate an inherent balance between a warmer embracing rose tone and the cooler tranquil blue, reflecting connection and wellness as well as a soothing sense of order and peace. So I'm pretty sure they didn't envision them being used to depict a servant of chaos.   

Pantone Color of the Year 2016 - Rose Quartz & Serenity

Slaanesh Chosen's colours run the gamut from Rose Quartz to somewhere in between to Serenity

Another miniature, another first. Here, the Slaanesh Chosen's claws marked the first time I had ever used Vallejo Model Color metallic paints. In this instance, I used Vallejo Gunmetal Blue with Citadel Chainmail and Mithril Silver in varying ratios to achieve a kind of 'pastel metallic hues' for want of a better description. A thin wash of Citadel Asurmen Blue was also applied on parts of both claws. 

Sheen on the Slaanesh Chosen's claws were painted using Vallejo Model Color and Citadel metallic paints

Light blue bordering on violet was used to nudge the colour scheme towards Pantone's Color of the Year 2016

A couple of shots below provide a sneak peak of the Slaanesh Chosen's front end but it's not the finished article yet. Not much remains to be done, yet enough that a complete reveal is still days away. What little that can be seen, however, shows a variety of surfaces from metal to cloth to bone.  

An inadvertent sneak peak of the Slaanesh Chosen's front end during a closeup shot of the claws

Violet blues of the loincloth completes the range of Pantone's Color of the Year 2016

Awash in pastel hues, the existence of any creepiness factor whatsoever is debatable. That said, I'm hoping the dichotomy which exists between the sculpted details and the colour scheme would still instill a sense of unease in anyone who lays eyes on the Slaanesh Chaos Chosen. 

A closeup shot of the Slaanesh Chosen's back to show the piece's predominant colour scheme

All this talk about Pantone's Color of the Year has gotten me all excited about this year's iteration too. But that's a story for another day as I finish painting last year's hues on this W40K miniature.

Slaanesh Chaos Chosen [WIP - Armour, Cloth and Demonic Flesh]

Of the four chosen chaos space marines dedicated to Nurgle, Slaanesh, Khorne and Tzeentch, it is Slaneesh's favoured one which fascinates me most, colour-wise that is. That's because Slaanesh subjects have base colours that can be mixed into a light pastel-like scheme. And as I've mentioned before - probably ad nauseam - light pastel colour schemes are firm favourites of mine.  

Slaanesh Chaos Chosen sports a demonic face playing peekaboo from his shoulder armour

Sickly flesh permeates the Slaanesh Chaos Chosen's armour

At this stage of the painting process it's still too early to gauge the overall look I'm going for. Suffice to say I want to infuse it with hues which, to paraphrase the words of the Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, reflect a soothing sense of peace and order. Wait a minute! Slaanesh. Peace and order. Sheer humbug? I'll leave it to you to be the judge when I finish painting the last major hue of my Slaanesh colour scheme. But just so you know, I'm going for a creepy My Little Pony look.

Slaanesh chosen, work-in-progress on his armour, cloth and demonic flesh

Demonic face pops out of the chosen's shoulder pads like an unwanted boil

Slaanesh chosen's claws will take on the last major hue in order to complete the colour scheme

For the Slaanesh chosen's organic forms, I wanted to convey ulcerating and necrotising flesh rather than dead or rotting flesh. In other words, molecules in demonic flesh that is trying to regenerate while in its death throes. So that meant flesh with more pinkish/purplish versus greenish hues.

Chosen's violet armour is more or less done with only extreme highlights yet to be painted on bony protrusions

Demonic flesh is prevalent on the chosen's back, more so than in any other part of his body armour

Whereas Nurgle's chosen had rusted metallic parts, Slaanesh's chosen is largerly expected to have shinier metals

Meanwhile, plans are for the base to be kept simple and dull. This is in anticipation of an overall light pastel colour scheme. Anything bright and vivid will likely distract from the miniature itself. To fulfill these conditions, only neutral greyscale colours fit the bill. Sometimes boring is what's needed. 

From this angle, no blues are visible thus showing more traditional Slaanesh hues but too dull in my opinion

Blues of the loin cloth was tempered by a purple wash to ensure a more Slaanesh-like colour scheme

When the claws are finished next, the Slaanesh chosen's colour scheme will then take on a more definite identity. One that will no doubt be confusingly pleasant and disgusting at the same time. Only time, or my next post, will tell if I can pull this off. In the meantime, the weekend is almost here so have a good one until my next update of this project comes along.

Nurgle Chaos Chosen [Completed]

Frustration doesn't even begin to describe how I feel. Three months into the year and I only have one painted miniature to show for it. Sadly, the Bandai Stormtrooper and Millennium Falcon crew doesn't count - the former was more assembly than paint while the latter is part of a larger model kit. I haven't felt this unproductive hobby-wise in years. For what it's worth, here's a look at the miniature which belatedly kick-starts my 2016 miniature painting programme - the Nurgle Chaos Chosen.  

Nurgle Chaos Chosen, eyes all aglow with hate

What's changed from my last Nurgle Chaos Chosen update? Quite a lot actually - his eyes, marking on the right pauldron, breathing hose, weapons, and base. Also in this set of photographs, I have tried to make minor adjustments to the white balance in order to truly capture the colour scheme that I had painted. If you compare this set with past photos, you will notice the colours here are less saturated. 

Nurgle Chaos Chosen in arguably his best pose

Colours are less saturated in keeping with the sickly diseased hues of Nurgle

Let's begin with the Chosen's eyes. If you know your colour triads then you would know that the orange hues of his eyes practically chose itself. Initially I wanted the rust on his weapons to be the predominant orange hue for the miniature. But things rarely pan out the way you planned so in the end it was the eyes that completed the orange-green-violet triumvirate. Meanwhile for the pauldron marking, I chose a simple Nurgle design to paint freehand (see below). Nothing fancy. More a marking that you would barely glimpse at i.e. one which blends into the overall colour scheme.

A hint of the Nurgle symbool is visible on the right pauldron from this angle

Symbol of Nurgle - a simple design painted freehand

As for weapons, the Chosen had many. His primary one though is presumably the power axe on his right hand. At first I was shooting for an ancient and rusted look but this was not in keeping with how the axe was sculpted. So instead I went with a weapon in the early stages of deterioration. This came in the form of a light rust and verdigris on the power axe. There were even less signs of degradation on the bolter, heavy bolter and blade as perhaps befitting a newly minted chosen of Nurgle who's still subconsciously holding on to his humanity. Or maybe I was just too lazy to do any weathering!  

Nurgle Chaos Chosen's main weapon is his power axe

Closeup of the power axe with the beginnings of verdigris and rust

Funnily enough, the spot with the most detail work was on the Chosen's back. I especially loved how the sculpted spine fused into the jump pack. An equally nice touch was in seeing what I think is the lower lumbar protrude out as a mutated pincer. And then there is the heavy bolter strapped to the pack and incorporated with organic elements. A great sculpt whichever way you look at it.

Back view of the Nurgle Chaos Chosen

As mentioned above, the other weapons carried by the Nurgle Chaos Chosen were a bolter on his left hand and a blade (the knife not the vampire ... ba-dum-ching .... groan) strapped to his waist. Other than the loin cloth, these two weapons had the most purplish violet hues painted on them.

Closeup of the Nurgle Chaos Chosen's bolter and blade

With so much going on in the miniature itself, I kept the base to an absolute minimum - a layer of Citadel's Agrellan Earth and a sepia wash. Nothing else. Zero, zilch, zip, nada, nothing.

Nurgle Chaos Chosen, a custom paint job of the miniature from the Dark Vengeance board game

As part of a visual ode to the Chaos gods, this Nurgle warrior is the first in a set of four. While my next W40K miniature will likely be another Chaos Chosen, a semi-assembled Ork Trukk gathering dust in the corner of my workstation is suddenly looking appealing thanks to a screenshot shot I saw of the Mad Max Fury Road truck called War Rig. Now I haven't seen the movie yet but that truck sure looks cool as hell. So next up might be one or the other or even both. Now that would be cool. 

Nurgle Chaos Chosen [WIP - Demonic flesh & loincloth]

Being the squeamish sort, I couldn't help but feel slightly ill while painting the skin tone of the Demonic face seeking to consume the Nurgle Chaos Chosen's right shin. Perhaps that was a sign I could be getting the hues for the supernatural flesh spot on, at least I would like to think so. There was something about the sickly skin tone atop a yellowish green background that just rubbed me the wrong way. The combination of colours, all round, seemed off and yet so right for the piece.

Demonic face on the Nurgle Chaos Chosen's right shin

To mitigate these effects, I tried to put some bright pastel cheer back into the miniature without turning it into a Hello Kitty moment. For that, I chose a light purplish fleshy hue for the loincloth. I meant to simulate necrotic flesh but in a more cheerful kind of way. Not making much sense am I? Well, to put it another way, I wanted the hues of decaying flesh without inducing a vomit reaction.  

Nurgle Chaos Chosen, work-in-progress at about 65% (or less) completion

Yet to be lit up, his eyes will need to be of a colour that stands out and blends in - an oxymoronic hue if you will

Right pauldron is in need of a symbol ... no idea yet what it'll be at this moment

Meanwhile, more demonic fleshy bits were added to the bolter on the Chosen one's left hand. To harmonise with the existing hues, the colour scheme for this flesh-on-weapon fell between the sickly green of the face and the purples of necrotised flesh. The best (or worst) of both worlds.

Demonic flesh is also corrupting the Chaos Chosen's bolter

As a scale comparison, I placed a standard 31 mm paperclip next to the Nurgle Chaos Chosen miniature. Individually, both the demonic face and loincloth barely came to one third of the paperclip while the flesh on the bolter was even smaller. At this scale, getting the right hue was a real pain.

Scale comparison between the Nurgle Chaos Chosen and a standard 31-mm paperclip

Even at this fairly advanced stage of completion, I have so far managed to resist the urge to randomly splash washes and technical paints such as Nurgle's Rot to 'dirty up' the model. Currently, the most I plan to do is to introduce rust to inject some orangey hues into the overall scheme. Hopefully, I will be able to stick to my original plan of making him look 'eewwy' without the 'gooey' stuff. Easier said than done but hopes springs eternal. Hope and Nurgle, now that's a laugh and a half.