Horus Lupercal - Part VII

 

That cape must really get in the way.

Finally judged enough done to assemble more of Horus, notably his cape. There's perhaps a little more do go on it yet - some of the folds could be a bit darker, and the wolf pelt is obviously still pending. Still, the closer to completing this model, the more motivation there is.

I didn't want the cape to be a deep purple. The armour of Horus is dark enough, and the cape just wouldn't have framed that effectively as a deep purple. By the same token, a bright red would have drawn far too much attention. Ultimately I decided on a midpoint: burgundy. It's also a good midtone from which to shade and highlight.

I also didn't want the cape to be strongly highlighted. No hard lines, and no metallic effect on the edging, to help give the impression of cloth over some harder surface.

After much deliberation and a few sources of inspiration:

• Gal Vorbak Red over the entire cape.
• Basilicanum Grey / Contrast Medium (1:1) spread over most of the cape, staying clear of the more prominent upper edges and folds. I may do this step again at a later point, just to darken some areas a little more.
• Gal Vorbak Red again, thinned down, to highlight some of the areas.
• Gal Vorbak Red / Khorne Red (1:1) thinned and again used to highlight. Mixing these paints was done rather than simply layering because they're each a base paint and have a much higher pigment density; mixing helps with the blending.
• Khorne Red, thinned, really on the "tops" of the most outwards folds.
• A little Mephiston Red mixed with the previous step, for very select edges, just to brighten things a little bit.

The edge line and Eye design are fairly flat, and again this is intentional. It looks more like brightly coloured stitching rather than inlaid gold, and I felt this was a much better look given the actual gold metallics on the rest of the model.

• Balor Brown, with two coats needed because of it being a layer paint.
• Steel Legion Drab, thinned down and used to desaturate in the shaded areas.
• Averland Sunset, thinned down of course, and used to highlight some of the edging as appropriate.
• Yriel Yellow, just to give it a little more saturation in normally highlighted areas.

At this point I could very well glue Horus to the base, but I will still leave that step until I've finished just about all of the model. No particular reason other than it's easier to handle everything right now while attached to a painting handle.

-- silly painter.