Ax Faction Giant Hunter [Completed as Ygritte]

Overall, I am very pleased with how the colour scheme turned out in this paint job conversion of Ax Faction's Giant Hunter (or Raen of Rannoch) in which she was painted as Ygritte, a character in Game of Thrones. But on the other hand, I was disappointed because I did not do this beautifully sculpted resin miniature justice. It was a case of one step forward two steps back in my progress as a miniature painter.

Ax Faction Giant Hunter aka Raen of Rannoch, painted as Ygritte

One small achievement that delighted me was Ygritte's mane, which I felt was my best effort yet in painting red hair. It certainly helped that the Ax Faction Giant Hunter has one of the best sculpted hair that I have seen on miniatures of this scale. Against that personal milestone, I wasn't too pleased with my paint job on the skin because it was chalky in places (partly due to bad priming). Additionally, I didn't a very good job of simulating green veins under the skin which I tried to do by using a very thinned out green wash.    

Side view (left), Ax Faction Giant Hunter - can you spot my painting error?

I didn't really appreciate how detailed this Ax Faction miniature was until I started painting it. In hindsight, I should have been more careful during the priming process as a badly done primer coat can wreak havoc when trying to paint such detailed designs on a miniature later. But the more miniatures I prime (in lighter colours such as white and grey) the more I guess I will understand how weather and spray distance can affect the smoothness of the primer coat. This gives me hope for better primer coats in the future.

Helm on the ground was nearly painted black (as in the Night Watch) but ended up as above instead

Her beautifully sculpted hair was really fun to paint

Cloak was painted in pretty drab colours to make the hair stand out more

There was nothing much going on in the base as I didn't know how to make snow 'exciting'. All I could think of to do was to paint it as a smooth white layer with bluish shades for the shadows.

Side view (right), Ax Faction Giant Hunter aka Raen of Rannoch aka Ygritte

Oranges of Ygritte's hair went surprisingly well with her greyish-blue clothing

Skin tones on her face came out rougher than I intended it too

To give you an idea of how small this miniature is, I took a photograph of her as compared to the smallest coin in the Malaysian currency. Bottom of the based to the top of her head measures at roughly 38-mm.

Raen of Rannoch (aka Giant Hunter) painted as Ygritte, and measured against a five sen coin

360 view of Ax Faction's Giant Hunter painted as Ygritte
For a 360 degree view of the Ax Faction Giant Hunter aka Raen of Rannoch, please check out the video of the miniature below. For other videos, check out my YouTube channel FourEyedMonster Miniatures.

As always, thank you for checking out my latest work and for taking the time to read my blog. May you have a good week ahead, stay well and be happy.

Ax Faction Giant Hunter [WIP-Clothing and Weapons]

Use of Ax Faction's Giant Hunter (or Raen of Rannoch) as a proxy for Ygritte in my Game of Thrones project by means of a paint job conversion is at the early stages with work 'close to completion' for the sword while progress on her clothing is at about 70% to 80%. In a recurring theme, I didn't get a smooth enough primer coating for this highly detailed 30 plus-mm scale miniature, a setback that I hope won't return to haunt me when I start painting her hair, skin and face.

Ax Faction Giant Hunter, an early work-in-progress (WIP)

I based this Ax Faction miniature's overall colour scheme on Ygritte's winter fur clothing as seen in the Game of Thrones HBO TV series. It comprises largely of greys, blues and browns - all pretty drab stuff actually. I am hoping that such a dull coloured clothing will be a good contrast to the rosy skin tone and red hair that I will be painting on the Giant Hunter aka Raen of Rannoch aka Ygritte.

Using a 'Ygritte colour scheme' for Raen of Rannoch aka Giant Hunter

In general, I might need to add more light greyish-blues to the clothing but the final decision on this will be dependent on how the current darker shades will look on the rosy skin tone I have planned for her. Sadly I just realised that all my hard work at creating a smooth colour transition between the shadows and highlights on Ygritte's buttocks area (see last photo below) will be for nought as I forgot that the cloak will generally cover up almost the entire area ... 'face-palm dumb self'.

Colour scheme comprises greys, blues and browns

Weapon is fairly at an advanced stage of completion

All my hard work on Ygritte's behind will soon be for naught

That's about all for this short update on Ygritte. Further work on her skin and hair will depend largely on weather conditions. With haze and drought-like conditions resulting in some places in the city being put under water rationing, conditions are not too ideal for painting. But is has been raining a bit these past two days so things are looking up for my water-hungry miniature painting projects.

A wildling and the next noble house of Westeros [WIP]

While I try to figure out a realistic way to paint blood splatter on Ser Gregor Clegane - a Nocturna Models paint job conversion I am currently working on - I kept the momentum going on my Game of Thrones project by working on two new paint job conversions namely Ygritte using an Ax Faction's Giant Hunter and a knight of another noble house of Westeros using a Bretonnian knight.

Ygritte, a free folk of Westeros as played by Rose Leslie

As I didn't quite like the official Dark Sword Miniatures sculpted figure of Ygritte and also owing to a very tight personal budget, I had a look at the existing miniatures in my collection and settled for the Ax Faction Giant Hunter aka Raen of Rannoch as my Ygritte. Granted Raen didn't have what would constitute standard wildling weaponry and clothing, but she had other compelling similarities. For one, Raen was clothed partly in furs and had long wavy hair. She also stands on an icy base which had a footprint of a giant, mythical creatures that form part of the wildling army.    

Paint job conversion of Ax Faction's Giant Hunter into Ygritte (WIP, front)

I was tempted to remodel the sword to look like Jon Snow's Longclaw but had a change of heart at the last minute as I liked the unique look of the Ax Faction sword. So now, it's a prize sword she took off a brother in black. As for Raen's skimpy clothes, well if Ygritte can frolic in the snow with Jon ...

Paint job conversion of Ax Faction's Giant Hunter into Ygritte (WIP, back)

Lack of proper snow-like basing material substitute meant I had to paint the snow as it is sculpted on the base. Not sure what I can do paint-wise to improve on the snowy look as using washes on a white paint layer can quickly ruin it, which I discovered to my dismay in the first few attempts.

Snow on base was painted partly by referencing this picture

Base of Ax Faction's Giant Hunter (WIP)

Meanwhile, I have decided on the next noble house of Westeros to paint. If you are a Game of Thrones fan, then you will be able to easily tell which house by looking at the pictures below. Can you guess which noble house it's going to be?

Can you guess which noble house is next?

If you are a fan of the Game of Thrones books, this is a huge giveaway

Well that's it for this blog post. Now I have to get back to figuring out Ser Gregor's blood splatter!