Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C. [Completed as Ser Gregor of House Clegane]

Working on miniatures of a larger scale than your average gaming variety - the Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C figure stands at roughly 70-mm from head to toe (base excluded) - has been a real help in my quest to be a better miniature painter. It lets me concentrate on improving basic painting techniques without the added worry of working within the confines of a small surface area. You are also less likely to get away with painting errors that are harder to notice in a smaller miniature, so you inevitably have to 'up your game' as it were. An added bonus is larger models have fantastic details. 

Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C. painted as Ser Gregor Clegane aka The Mountain

Closeup of some blood splatter on Ser Gregor's chest area

With regard to the blood effects, there were two things I could have been done differently. I shoulda coulda woulda painted slightly less blood on the front of the sword and added more blood splatter to the chest area of Ser Gregor's tunic. But blood effects, in my opinion, is one area where two painters looking at the same miniature will have largely differing opinions. It's more of a personal preference and as such there is no real right answer as to how much blood effects a miniature should have. 

Washes played a prominent role in giving the metals more depth

Ser Gregor's back is largely devoid of any blood effects save for the blood dripping from the sword onto the top of his cloak. After all, one shouldn't expect to be able to land any cheap blows to the back of The Mountain now would they? Though that didn't stop a low slash to his calf (see below). 

Bleeding wound on left calf is one of many small cuts endured by Ser Gregor

One of my weaknesses is painting metal. But at least this time around I didn't completely mess up the metals on the Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C. miniature. For Ser Gregor, I relied quite heavily on paint washes to give the metal a more realistic look. It can be improved upon but I am happy with the results nonetheless. It helped that the priming process came out better than usual for this miniature.

House Clegane heraldry on the shield was painted freehand

After gaining valuable experience in the freehand painting of heraldry designs on some Bretonnian Knights paint job conversions (for House Lannister, House Clegane and House Baratheon), I found it so much easier to paint the heraldry designs on a larger scale. This was one case where working on smaller miniatures helped me on my larger scale projects. There are no blood splatter on the shield as I envisioned Ser Gregor would have had his shield to the side when he cut at his enemy instead of hiding behind the shield while he swung the death blow. So blood splatter on tunic = none on shield.

Greyish-blue and yellow is one of my favourite colour combinations

Ser Gregor's official colour scheme is yellow tunic atop greyish metal but for this miniature, I used a greyish-blue colour to complement the traditional House Clegane yellow. This is one of my favourite combinations because I find the colours play off each other extremely well and is pleasing to the eye.

A wonderfully sculpted cloak that made painting it a pleasure

Paint work for the base was fairly straightforward. Comprising primarily of dry brushing with various shades of grey and some black and brown washes, the only 'special effect' I attempted was some patches of green mold on the stone work. Meanwhile, there was a broken spear tip lying on the ground that had the usual aged metal look with both grime and some rust painted onto it.

Painting the cloak and tunic allowed me to practice wet blending and layering

360 view of Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C. as Ser Gregor Clegane
For a 360 degree view of Ser Gregor Clegane which was painted using the Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C. resin miniature, please check out the video below. Unfortunately, the video lost a great deal of quality and did not really capture the colours as accurately as the photos above mainly due to the basic video editing software I was using - Microsoft Movie Maker. For videos of other miniatures that I painted, please check out my YouTube channel FourEyedMonster Miniatures.

Painted using the Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C. miniature, Ser Gregor Clegane is one of my best works so far. Of course, that's definitely not saying much when compared to some excellent miniature painters out there in the blogoshpere (in sporting terms ... I am not yet fit to lace their boots), but it's still a huge personal satisfaction to see myself improve ever so slowly over time. Hopefully I can continue to grow as a miniature painter and get up to that next skill level.     

Happy Lunar New Year of the Horse 2014 ... and a quick update on Ser Gregor Clegane's weapons and shield

Woo hoo! Happy Lunar New Year! Here's wishing those who celebrate the lunar new year a healthy and prosperous Year of the Horse. As for those of you using this holiday period to return to your hometowns, please stay safe and have a good holiday rest.  

I haven't been able to get much painting done as my family prepared to welcome the lunar new year. However, I did manage to make further progress on my Ser Gregor Clegane painting conversion using the Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C resin miniature. 

Ser Gregor's weapons and shield (with freehand painting of the House Clegane heraldry)

Completing the freehand painting of House Clegane's heraldry was easier this time around as I had some practice on a previous paint job conversion of a Bretonnian Knight into a Game of Thrones House Clegane knight. Incidentally that miniature is shown above in the lunar new year greeting as he was one of only two horse-themed miniatures that I had ever painted. The design for the heraldry is based on a version painted by Jennifer Haley, a miniature painter whose work I admire greatly. 

Flip side of Ser Gregor Clegane's weapons and shield

Work on the flip side of the shield was kept simple because about 90% of it will be hidden from view. Both the sword and warhammer were given some blood effects. With that, Ser Gregor Clegane (aka Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C.) is at 85% completion. Hopefully I can squeeze in some painting during this long lunar new year holiday period. Cheers and thanks for reading!

Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C [WIP - Cloak & Tunic]

Work on Ser Gregor Clegane is coming along nicely as I make steady progress on the paint job conversion of the Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C resin miniature. This phase saw me completing Ser Gregor's cloak and tunic as well as a version of the House Clegane heraldry on his chest.

Ser Gregor Clegane - Work-In-Progress on his cloak and tunic

As with my previous experience when painting the face, the job of painting the cloak and tunic was made so much easier by the fantastic sculpture of the resin miniature. A well sculpted miniature always makes a painters job easier, and in this case the sculpted folds of the cloak and tunic made determining where light and shadow fell on the clothing a fairly easy task.

Both the cloak and tunic on the Nocturna Models miniature was wonderfully sculpted

Some possible additions to tunic (or even cloak) might be to bloody it up or to make it look dirtied up. But such stains on the clothing will have to wait until after Ser Gregor's chain-mail armour has been painted. If you look closely you will notice some rents in the armour which would be ideal locations to paint blood while other areas show wear and tear which could be suitable for dirt stains. I want to wait and see if I can get away with not having any stains at all on the cloak and tunic.   

Chain-mail armour is still unpainted

Admittedly, the colour choice of Ser Gregor's cloak is not an official one as the character as depicted both in the books and HBO series do not indicate bluish-grey as part of House Clegane's colours. I used it because it complemented the yellows of his tunic, not unlike the original X-Men uniform.   

A shield will be placed on the upper mid-section of the cloak

Painting the symbol of a dog - a version of House Clegane's herladry - was very difficult for me to conceptualise and make into reality. More so as I have never tried to paint any designs or symbols onto a crumpled clothing before. I tried my best to distort the heraldry based on the folds of the tunic.

House Clegane heraldry on the crumpled tunic of Ser Gregor

What remains to be painted are the hands, weapons and shield of the Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C resin miniature. They have been primed in light grey using the Tamiya Fine Surface Primer.

Weapons and shield of the Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C resin miniature

Thanks for following the progress on my version of Ser Gregor Clegane, a character in the Game of Thrones by George RR Martin. The toughest task lies ahead of me namely a detailed heraldry depicting three hounds on a shield. With the shield's larger size (a result of this resin miniature being in 1/28th scale), it will harder to get away with a badly painted freehand design. It's a task that I approach with a fair bit of apprehension. Till then, have a good week ahead, and be well and happy!  

Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C [WIP - Face]

Work finally resumed for my paint job conversion of Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C. into Ser Gregor of the Game of Thrones House Clegane. Leaving the rest of the miniature at the basecoat stage, I proceeded to paint the face to near completion by going with a weather-beaten or tanned look. For this purpose, I used a mixture or Reaper and Citadel flesh acrylic colours.      

Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C. as a proxy for Ser Gregor Clegane

As my painting style gravitates towards a minimalist approach, I am always trying to get the job done with as little colours as I can get away with. Although I am fairly satisfied with the skin tone I have achieved for the face, I will likely do additional work on the beard to give it a more contrast as well as an aged look. I am guessing this might involve a wash and perhaps some grey or white highlights. A final decision will be made after I have completed painting the greyish-blue cloak on Ser Gregor.

For the face, I tried to achieve a weather-beaten or tanned look

I was sorely tempted to paint some hair on his scalp to simulate the hairstyle that you would find on a fresh army recruit otherwise known as a buzz haircut. Though I might still do this, it is highly unlikely as I feel that I neither have sufficient painting skills nor the brush control to pull it off.

Do I look macho without my hair?

After I have finished painting the rest of the miniature, I may perhaps have to revisit the face and add more colours to it to enhance the contrast and depth, especially to the beard as mentioned earlier.

Back view of Ser Gregor's head

Painting the face of the Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C miniature was made easier by the fact that it was extremely well sculpted. So much so that the face practically paints it self. Well, that's my progress so far on this Ser Gregor Clegane paint job conversion. Thanks for reading!

Starting work on Ser Gregor Clegane

Although Dark Sword Miniatures already has a beautifully sculpted official Game of Thrones miniature depicting Ser Sandor Clegane, I decided to go rogue and use two unofficial miniatures to depict 'The Mountain' both masked and unmasked. Using a Warhammer Bretonnian Knight for the former and the Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C for the latter, I will be painting both in the colours of House Clegane for a miniature conversion of sorts that is limited to just the paint job.

Game of Thrones - Ser Gregor Clegane aka The Mountain as played by Conan Stevens

Progress on both miniatures is at the initial stage with basecoats in a colour scheme that at first glance looks a lot like costumes worn by the X-Men, mutant superheroes of the Marvel Universe.

Size comparison of the Nocturna Models (left) and Warhammer (right) figures versus a 32-mm paperclip

Not only does the Nocturna Models figure bear an uncanny resemblance to the actor portraying Ser Gregor in the Game of Thrones television series, it will also allow me to practice painting on a larger 1:28 scale and hopefully provide me with the opportunity to create a realistic looking Ser Gregor.

Nocturna Models Crusader XIII C basecoated in the colours of House Clegane

Meanwhile, the roughly smaller 28-mm scale Bretonnian Knight miniature will fit in nicely with my exisiting Lannister Knight in what will be an eight House extravaganza. I went with the helmet containing a boar with a knife on it's back, which I felt was befitting the actual storyline describing the demise of the king in the Game of Thrones books. Although the Cleganes were not directly responsible for the king's death, they do serve masters who were.  

Knight of House Clegane (WIP)

As for Sandor Clegane aka The Hound (Ser Gregor's brother), I am unable to use any existing miniatures to depict him due to the character's unique characteristics chiefly his helmet which is shaped into the likeness of a dog's head as well as his badly burned face. So if I were to eventually paint Sandor, I guess I will use the official miniature from Dark Sword. 

Game of Thrones - Sandor Clegane aka The Hound as played by Rory McCann

As it stands, my work on House Clegane is centered around Ser Gregor. Perhaps in the future there will be room for Sandor. But for now, The Mountain takes precedence over The Hound.