Horus Lupercal - Part XI (Showcase)

 

Warmaster Horus

I'm calling him done. I could do more. I could always do more. I could put more marbling on the eagle. I could put more colour into the rubble. There has to be a point though where I say the model is done, and I think I'm there.

This model has been quite a journey. I started it in January 2017. Four and a half years of painting a single model. Not constant of course, many breaks between steps, but it's still quite a long time. Most of it was only done in the last year or so, quite possibly thanks to a year off work, but also finally knowing just how everything was going to be done. I also had to wait until I deemed myself good enough give the amazing sculpt justice.

There are a couple of notes on painting items on the base. The pauldrons littering the base are black with brass trimming. I figured this was fairly Legion agnostic, and so could represent any force that Horus was facing, or even the troops belonging to his own. The trim itself is:

• Balthasar Gold as a base.
• Castellax Bronze painted directly into recessed areas.
• Brass Scorpion added as highlight points.
• Agrax Earthshade added to selected recessed areas, mostly to outline rivets, but also to dull the shine.
• Stormshield to varnish and reduce shine a little more. Being in rubble, I didn't want any metallics to be overly bright.

Another piece of the base puzzle that I'm fond of is the iron girders. I mostly certainly didn't want them as a bright silver. Such building materials are generally worn, covered in concrete, slightly oxidised, and dull. I thought about it somewhat, did a test piece, and ended up with:

• Dryad Bark over all the metal.
• Iron Hands Steel thinned with water, and slightly dabbed and drybrushed over most of the metal. Recessed areas were mostly left alone.
• Fuegan Orange painted into selected recessed areas, a glazed onto flat areas randomly. Don't overdo this step, less is definitely more, but a hint of orange rust is the idea.
• Ironbreaker highlighted onto very select areas, typically where the metal has broken away. These pieces wouldn't be oxidised so much, not covered in building material, and so are given a cleaner look.
• Stormshield varnish applied over all the metal area to dull it down.

I also played with various colours around the base in a mostly random manner.  Rubble was highlighted around any metal, skulls (contrast method, a little Druchii Violet for shadow colour, Screaming Skull for highlights), armour pieces, just to blend it all together. I stuck to the colours used on the balustrade, steps, and eagle statue. These were the likely source of most of the rubble anyway, so it makes sense to keep to that palette.

Somewhere along the way, I looked and thought "done". I need to play with the lighting more, do a little photo adjustments for the fun of it, and also magnetise the base. With a lot of magnets. In the meantime, enjoy Horus Lupercal, Archtraitor Primarch of the Sons of Horus.

Horus Lupercal. Warmaster. Traitor. Heretic.

 -- silly painter.