House Martell Knight & Warhorse [Completed]

At last after what seems like an eternity, the House Martell Knight and Warhorse is complete. It took me a while to get over the creative block hindering its progress i.e. deciding what heraldic image I wanted on the sides of the warhorse caparison. Check out the photos below for the finished project.

House Martell Knight and Warhorse [Completed]

A Games Workshop Bretonnian Knight miniature was used for this paint job conversion project

Main colour scheme comprised analogous hues such as yellow-orange, yellow and yellow green. Things were intentionally kept as simple as possible in keeping with the other knights/warhorses in this Game of Thrones miniature painting project as can be seen in the very last photo of this post. 

Analogous colour scheme comprising yellow-orange, yellow and yellow-green

Back view of the House Martell Knight and Warhorse

Freehand painting of the sand snakes were meant to complement the 'curvy' nature of the miniature

In assembling the Games Workshop Bretonnian knight for use as a House Martell knight/warhorse proxy, I tried to include parts that had elements of a curve in it. Initially, this was to tie in with the eight bastard daughters of Prince Oberyn Martell so if you think about it, it was actually a no-brainer to use a snake design as the freehand painting subject. Its just that I wasn't too happy about the type of snake design to put on the warhorse caparison before finally settling on the one you see here.

Each and every part during the assembly process was chosen with curves in mind ...

... curves ... sand snakes ... dynamic motion ... you get the idea

Front view of the House Martell Knight and Warhorse

360 view of the House Martell Knight on a Warhorse
For a 360 degree view of the House Martell Knight and Warhorse - essentially a Bretonnian Knight painted in the colours of a noble house in the land of Westeros as described in the Game of Thrones books - please see the YouTube video below. For other videos, please visit my YouTube channel FourEyedMonster Miniatures. Be sure to choose the high definition (HD) option for the best view.

My painting skills have improved a little to the extent that I might be more comfortable attempting to paint freehand motifs on the warhorse caparison. Unfortunately that's something I cannot do in this project because the other warhorses in my Game of Thrones project only have four large heraldic images on their sides. Doing small repetitive designs on the whole caparison now would make the newcomer to the bunch completely out of place. Freehand motifs will have to wait for another day.   

Other knights of Westeros from left to right: House Arryn, Baratheon, Lannister and Clegane

With the completion of the House Martell Knight and Warhorse, I'm left with only three more miniatures from the Games Workshop Bretonnian Knight set. Two are already spoken for i.e. House Stark and House Targaryen so that leaves one more 'lesser' noble house of Westeros that I can paint. With House Tyrell practically wiped out and House Greyjoy warriors more comfortable in the sea than land, that leaves me with two very minor houses with larger-than-life characters. It's a toss-up between Brienne of House Tarth and Lady Lyanna of House Mormont. Decisions, decisions.

House Martell warhorse [WIP - caparison and shield with heraldric symbols]

Using Faber-Castell Polychromos artist-grade colour pencils to outline my freehand paintings has been a game changer for me. These are arguably the best oil-based colour pencils that you can get and more significantly they have been used on top of acrylic paints in traditional art forms. Perfect for my purpose which is to roughly outline the design that I want to paint freehand, on a miniature.  

Symbol used to represent the Sand Snakes of Dorne

Vallejo Model Color paints used for the heraldry/symbol: Read Leather, Amarantha Red and Light Orange

After outlining a snake symbol in pencil (I forget which colour I used but it was of a brownish orange hue) I then proceeded to fill the simple design using Vallejo Model Color acrylic paints. To ensure a muted look to the heraldic sand snake symbol, I used more of the darker hues in a Red Leather-Amarantha Red-Light Orange triad. The overall colour combination was muted enough that I didn't need a wash to blend the freehand symbol into the warhorse's caparison.  

To reinforce the warhorse's dynamic pose - 'sand snake' symbols were chosen over the static 'spear over sun'

Sand snake symbols had opened mouths to symbolise aggressiveness

Key to making this work was the muted hues of the sand snake symbols. It avoided a iron-on-patch look which would've ruined the look of the warhorse's caparison. While working on the sand snake symbols I then realised what has been bugging me for the longest time about the House Martell coat of arms (spear through sun) on the shield. I had finished the freehand painting for this quite a while ago but was never really satisfied with what I achieved. Although I liked the design, the colours 'popped' too much. Then it occurred to me the colours needed to be muted. I did just that and the results are shown in the last two photos of this post. It looks much better in my humble opinion. 

House Martell warhorse was painted with an analogous colour scheme in mind

I needed greens in the warhorse's colour scheme and it came in the form of grass

Real life sand snakes do not have such prominent heads as you see before you in the freehand painting that I did on the warhorse's caparison. However, this is one of the times when creative license had to override reality. As such, I made the sand snake's head larger ... almost serpent like. It's opened mouth/stuck out tongue look was meant to symbolise aggressiveness. Imagine if you will Professor Severus Snape barring his teeth and hissing at you. That kind of aggression.

Creative license was taken to make the sand snake symbol look more intimidating i.e. a bigger head

Another piece of creative license was maintaining a darker hue of orange versus those seen on TV

An over-saturated spear-through-the-sun symbol which I had done earlier would've looked totally out of place with the new more muted sand snake symbols. As mentioned earlier, I had muted the colours of the House Martell coat of arms on the knight's shield. The before and after freehand paintings can be seen below with the 'after picture' on the left and 'before picture' on the right.

New muted House Martell coat of arms (left) vs the original over-saturated spear-over-sun symbol (right)

Macro camera shots, as always, can be a bit misleading as it takes away the scale of difficulty (pun unintended) in painting on small surfaces. Granted these Games Workshop Bretonnian Knight miniatures aren't that small in overall size but they are still small enough to make painting freehand on them a challenge. Shown below is the warhorse and shield placed next to a five sen coin and paper clip respectively. Painting freehand on the shield was a particularly daunting experience.

No Knight of Dorne in attendance yet but here's the warhorse and shield in a scale comparison shot

I'm so relieved the creative block that has plagued me in the painting of this miniature is finally over. Having semi-completed miniatures on the display shelf can be an eyesore yet I continue this practice in the hope that (a) I finish what I start and (b) I don't start what I can't finish. Hah! That's working out well for me ... not. But the soon-to-be-completed House Martell Knight/Warhorse miniature conversion will at least be one less eyesore on my shelf. One more step towards a display cabinet that's full of wonderfully (ok, ok ... fairly well ... hmmm let's settle for they don't suck ... too badly) painted miniatures. Cue music, Imagine by John Lennon ... one miniature painter exiting stage left.  

Resuming work on my Game of Thrones project with plans for Bronn, Myrcella, House Mormont and Martell

After a 30-episode Game of Thrones marathon viewing session spanning Seasons Four through Six with the missus (she's a huge fan), it's hard not to get inspired again with ideas for new painting projects as well as a fresh take on existing ones. First up is the Nocturna Models 54-mm Crusader resin miniature which I, one time or another, had toyed with the idea of painting as either Prince Oberyn Martell, Daario Naharis or Ser Jamie Lannister. None of them seem right until it suddenly hit me. Why not Ser Bronn, a skilled and dangerous lowborn sellsword. Granted the miniature's facial features aren't an exact match to Bronn but it still comes pretty darn close all things considered.   

Knight Models 54-mm The Crusader resin miniature has a face that looks a lot like Bronn

While not a doppelganger for Bronn, The Crusader does look very similar to the sellsword

Back of The Crusader's head doesn't have Bronn's semi-long locks but it'll do

Clothing while true to the medieval period, isn't remotely close to what Bronn wore in the series. However, that's not going to be an issue for me so long as I can recreate the colour scheme of one of Bronn's many in-show costumes. As to which one, I've no idea at the present moment. I guess it would partly depend on what acrylic colours I have in hand as my paint collection is still incomplete.

Nocturna Models 54-mm The Crusader resin miniature primed for paint (front view)

Nocturna Models 54-mm The Crusader resin miniature primed for paint (back view)

Meanwhile for my Knights of Westeros project, I'm contemplating another completely new faction to add to the series. Currently I've already completed knights/warhorses from the noble/vassal houses Lannister, Clegane, Arryn, Baratheon (Renly). Why House Mormont? For one reason and one reason alone - Lady Lyanna Mormont. She was hand's down my favourite character of Season Six. Played by 12-year-old Bella Ramsey, Lady Lyanna stole every scene she was in (Episodes 7 and 10). Her character is an example of how daughters should be raised: strong willed, confident and brave.

Bear Island knows no king but the King in the North, whose name is Stark

House Mormont remembers. The North remembers

Speaking of knights, I'm still stuck with House Martell's Knight of Dorne. I was initially going to paint House Martell's symbol on the warhorse's caparison, having already done that to the knight's shield. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that House Martell's symbol was just too boring to be placed on the warhorse's caparison. In my opinion, one dull House Martell symbol was about all that the miniature could take. To retain the warhorse's dynamism, I intend to paint silhouette designs of snakes to represent the Sand Snakes of Dorne instead. Like Bronn's costume, I haven't a clue as to which design I should use. In the end, it will likely boil down to the one I can paint freehand.

House Martell warhorse minus the Knight of Dorne

Some of the shortlisted snake designs for the House Martell warhorse

Then there is an existing half-finished Dark Sword Miniatures's Female Mage on Stairs which I have been trying get inspiration to continue painting. She came in the form of Princess Myrcella as she was depicted in Game of Thrones Season Six. So going forward, I hope to incorporate some bluish greens and light golden yellows to the miniature's overall colour scheme. Of all the Game of Thrones projects on my worktable, Myrcella is perhaps the one most likely to see progress in the coming weeks followed hopefully by the Knight of Dorne and Bronn with House Mormont still a ways to go.

Dark Sword Miniatures Female Mage on the Stairs who will be a proxy for Myrcella Baratheon

Princess Myrcella in a pink dress

Princess Myrcella in her last ever gown (left) and in House Martell colours (right)

It feels like the gloomy clouds have parted and a ray of sunshine has broken through to lift the melancholy that has shrouded my creative figure painting process. Without a doubt my Bandai Star Wars projects will still continue to grow but at least now I have equal enthusiasm for my Game of Thrones proxy miniature figurines. Fantasy is indeed the perfect foil for Science Fiction. As Lady Lyanna would say, I think we've had enough small talk. Onward we go towards the latest painting progress photos. But that's in the next post. Valar Morghulis! So get cracking on your own projects.

Adapting House Martell heraldry for miniature form

House Martell's heraldry is that of a brownish red sun pierced by a yellowish gold spear on an orange field. Adapting this simple heraldry for miniature form was fairly straightforward although some modifications were needed to spice up what is essentially a very boring design. For reference, I used a photograph of a House Martell banner on the set during the filming of a Game of Thrones episode.  

Freehand painting of the House Martell heraldry on a 28 mm scale shield

Design for the House Martell heraldry was based on a banner motif found on set 

Steps (four out of five) involved in adapting the House Martel heraldry for miniature form

Due to the scale involved (heroic 28 mm), I kept the heraldry design as simple as possible. In addition, I tried breaking it up into basic steps, each building upon the previous one. As seen above, I started with a simple circular shape and followed up by adding primary and secondary flames to the sun before capping it off with a diagonal spear. But if you observe the knight's shield closely, you will notice a lighter shaded line-painting of a circle on the edges of the circular shape. This was necessary to maintain the illusion of a round sun. So essentially this is a five step process.

House Martell Knight [Completed sans warhorse]

Dark brownish reds of the heraldry help create some contrast in the overall colour scheme

With the knight completed, now all that's left is the freehand painting of the heraldry on the warhorse

Having finished the freehand painting of House Martell's heraldry on the knight's shield, I must admit I'm having second thoughts as to whether the same symbol would work on the warhorse's caparison. Firstly, it would be difficult to account for the natural folds on the caparison. Secondly and more importantly, it might look too boring. With that concern in mind, I'm toying with the idea of using a motif of a sand viper's head instead; not unlike the one you would find on the Dodge Viper. Nothing is finalised at the moment because a) I'm riddled with indecision and b) I haven't yet figured out how to design a cool viper motif. Just as you are, I'm truly sick of the sight of this yet unfinished House Martell knight/warhorse. But on the other hand, rushing through this last bit will inevitably ruin it.

Latest progress on the warhorse invloved the completion of its base

Bright green grass was added to contrast the orange hues on the warhorse

As I am no where near deciding what House Martell design/motif/logo to actually put on the warhorse, I decided to base it first. Nothing fancy. In fact it pretty much looks the same as all the other bases for my Game of Thrones knights/warhorses so far. Only slight variation is that it might have had much more bright green grass glued to it than normal. Green is a great complementary colour for orange and I took full advantage of this fact when gluing on the grass. I was planning to finish the whole miniature by this post but it wasn't meant to be. Hopefully it will all turn out well in the end.

House Martell Knight [WIP - Everything sans heraldry] and Warhorse [WIP - Brightening the highlights]

Sand snakes are synonymous with House Martell so it was a no-brainer to select a Bretonnian Knight with a snake/serpent helm to represent one of the great noble house of Westeros. While sand snakes normally exist in yellowish brown hues, creative license meant green was chosen instead to contrast the predominantly orange colour scheme. Yellow and blue wash on metal made up the rest.

House Martell Knight work-in-progress, a closeup of a 'sand snake' atop the helm

Having watched House Martell come to prominence in Season Four of Game of Thrones, I was largely influenced by the costumes of Prince Oberyn Martell and his paramour Ellaria Sand. Because Prince Oberyn's entourage was decked mostly in yellow, it made me doubt my initial choice of an orange colour scheme. But closer inspection of everything House Martell in the Game of Thrones HBO series revealed an interplay between yellow, orange and every hue in between. Hence I made a slight adjustment to my original choice by making the orange lighter to mimic the colours on TV.  

My version of a Martell knight has a colour scheme dominated by orange, yellow and green

Getting smooth blends was much easier for green than orange

Side view (right) of the House Martell Knight

Apart from the 'sand snake', I achieved fairly smooth blends on the helm banner and lance

Getting a smooth transition for the orange hues was difficult which made blending work on the greens of the 'sand snake' seem almost too easy in comparison. For both colours, I made use of Vallejo Model Color (VMC) acrylic paints as I find them relatively easier to blend smoothly. I love the amount of green as well as orange/red/yellow hues available from the VMC line. That and its consistency allows me to make half tones of half tones for that extra smooth transition between hues. 

Back of the Martell Knight had the darkest orange hues

A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!

Side view (left) of the House Martell Knight

A blue wash was applied to the knight's armour for that 'extra' shine

A piece not shown above was the knight's shield. Thus far it just lacks the House Martell heraldry which is a red sun pierced by a golden spear. I have yet to create a design simple enough to be painted freehand on the miniature. That should be the final step prior to completing the paint job.

Shield with the House Martell heraldry/symbol yet to be painted on it

In addition, I reworked the House Martell warhorse so that it now looks much brighter. Extreme highlights are now a pure yellow instead of the previous light orange. Inclusion of the red sun/golden spear heraldry may yet change the dynamics of the overall colour scheme ... time will tell.  

House Martell Warhorse sans heraldry work-in-progress

Warhorse had its overall scheme brightened up a notch towards yellowish orange

Time off from this piece has gotten me excited about it again. Hopefully it will spur me on to figure out how to paint the heraldry freehand. You might be wondering what has happened to the red dragon in my previous post. Well similarly as I'm wont to do, projects tend to be left to gestate for a while before I return to finish them. I find that this allows me to spot mistakes I may otherwise have missed as well as view the miniature from a newer perspective. The latter could cause an adjustment to the colour scheme; the point being moving from project to project keeps things fresh. And having a fresh approach can sometimes make or break the miniature painting project we have spent an eternity on.