Horus Lupercal - Part VIII

 

Wolf goes om nom nom.

The further this model is towards being finished, the more motivation to paint it, so it's no surprise that I was inspired to do more recently. I'm really wanting to move to the point of attaching Horus to his base, but still need to do a little more.

The focus of this next step is really the wolf pelt, but the "hood" has also received some attention.

The pelt I didn't want black. that's too close to the armour, and wouldn't really fit. Brown is also unsuitable given the pteruges, gold, brass, and reds. Grey on the other hand balances nicely against the talons of the right hand, so this is what I went with:

• Grey Seer base over the entire pelt. This was easy enough because the spray primer was a white anyway.
• Apothecary White (Contrast) covering the entire pelt. This is actually subtle colour shift mostly intended to give depth and help bring out the detail in the lighter areas.
• Basilicanum Grey (Contrast) thinned down, sometimes with water, and applied to the upper areas (flanks and back of a wolf). Multiple layers were used where I felt like it, and a little more added under some of the overlapping sections (the sculpt has large sections that look to overlap, it's just something that can appear on fur).
• Black Templar (Contrast) really thinned down, against sometimes with water, and mostly along the back and spine of the pelt. Normal (not thinned) was also applied over the nose.
• Nuln Oil in a few key areas, just to give much greater depth.

The pelt had no highlights applied - instead it was an exercise in darkening. The Contrast range really helped with this, but anything wash consistency would equally do the trick. This is mostly because the model is a really good sculpt and is extremely easy to work with in this regard.

The eyes are a basic pick-your-red (Flesh Tearers Red was on hand at the time) around the edges, black in the middle, and a dot of 'Ard Coat. I went with the black middle to make it stand out a little less, lest it take attention away from Horus' face (when I get that done).

Lips are some Volupus Pink, carefully applied, with Morghast Bone and Screaming Skull across the teeth.

The claws of the pelt are brown covered in greys. No particular method for this - Gorthor Brown was used, Skavenblight Dinge, Stormvermin Fur. I might add an extra highlight at some point.

Back must get chilly, needs a fur to keep it warm.

The "hood" on the armour is painted much the same as the rest. It's mostly black, but I felt it needed something extra and so put a thin brass line around an inner edge. I might brighten that some more still, but I'll wait and see how it goes once the head is done.

The glow effect can't really be seen in the photo, but this was done with Flesh Tearers Red in small amounts, multiple layers, a little Blood Angels Red, and some Mephiston Red for select edges. Keeping a bit of Screaming Skull around to mix with any red doesn't hurt either, if a bit more punch is wanted. I also used a bit of Bloodletter around the inside of the collar (again, can't be seen in the photo). I haven't gone very bright with the glow effect - I've intended it to be visible, but not overpowering. Keeping it as a dark glow reinforces the idea of Horus being evil at this point, and also doesn't look like it's blinding him.

Still various small details to get done, but they'll start to be less obvious between photos - which means it's really not long until he's finished.

-- silly painter.