Crimson Court, Prince Duvalle - Part I

 

You cannot unsee the pointy codpiece.

I've been wanting to start this particular model for quite some time, and I finally cleared enough models out of the way to start it.

To start with I had intended to go with a slightly more red tone, similar to previous fiery haired "dark" elf, but somehow this darker tone just seemed to fit the feel of the model so much more and so I just kind of went with it. More on how it was painted up in a moment.

I have a slight plan on how to go about the Crimson Court. I have an idea for all the models to use a similar armour colour, but equally every model being unique would make it all come together as a collection of individuals. Regardless, the whole leader vampire thing evokes Dracula comparisons, and the armour design used by Gary Oldman's Vlad the Impaler was somewhat iconic. That definitely inspired the look I'm going for here, and so a red main colour for armour it is. I've also been debating the magical qualities that might be present - the pose is one of summoning power, so it seems like there should be a hint of a green complementary colour somewhere - and the sword is an ideal interest point for this. I've done a black sword before, fading into green toward the hilt, and I think this would work here too. The skin I'll likely go for very pale, with either a blue or purple undertone. This would give that extra cold appearance, hinting more of this being an undead character. I'm also intending different skin tones for each of the Crimson Court, which in turn might influence the inspiration that I look to for each in turn.

The cape I'm caught on. Not purple, that would clash too much with the armour. Black seems too ordinary. I'm considering continuing with the crimson theme and go for a very dark red, but perhaps drybrushed or stippled to give it some texture. The armour trim I'm also not sure on yet, trying to decide between a golden look or black. The latter definitely works, I've painted enough to know that, but the catch is selling it as black metal. I'll need to think more that.

For highlighting reference, I pointed a desk lamp from above and took a photo. This naturally shows areas of highlight, especially after the primer is applied, and really made the process so much easier. When doing this kind of highlighting again, I'll definitely be following the same idea: take a reference photo to show where the highlights go.

In painting the armour I ended up using multiple paints, but really it could be cut down to about three. No reason that mixing the base tone with white wouldn't achieve a similar result. Still, I have the paints and it's a good opportunity to explore them and get a better feel for each.

• Barak-Nar Burgundy as a base coat over all the armour.
• Mephiston Red mixed with the previous colour and glazed to highlight a good portion. Mephiston Red is a very neutral red: it doesn't tend towards either the purple/pink side, or the orange/yellow end of the spectrum and so can be used to saturate without shifting the colour too much. A little was kept on the palette and glazed over areas there were becoming a little to pink as I went along.
  
• Pink Horror was again mixed into the previous step and smaller highlights applied. About here I started to concentrate a little more on the upper areas which are naturally brighter, but also to help draw attention more to the chest and face.
• Emperor's Children was the next colour to mix in and glaze. This was really only used for edge highlights, and thinned much more on the lower areas compared to the chest and shoulders.
• Fulgrim Pink mixed in again and used for extreme edge highlights, particularly on sharp corners and those areas I really wanted to stand out. This is an "edge" paint, so the pigment count is very high. It's quite a bright paint, and should be added with care.
• Following all of this, a little Abaddon Black was mixed with Barak-Nar Burgundy to add extra shadow and help define more of the sculpted shape of the armour. I never went to a pure black with this, instead keeping it a very dark burgundy to help push the contrast.

Over all I'm quite happy with how the armour turned out. I wasn't going for the whole NMM approach: shiny metal gives a lot of reflection and instead I wanted the shine of a hardened surface without necessarily being reflective. This gives a more menacing yet stylistic impression, fitting to the theme I'd like to convey.

There are enough other projects started right now that it might take some time to fully finish this particular model, let alone start on the rest of the Crimson Court. Updates on this model might be rare, or not, entirely depending on what motivates me at the time.

-- silly painter.