Having completed no less than three figures last week, I would not have been surprised if Sven our resident Kingdom Death fantastic had decided to take to rest. Not a chance, Sven is back with yet another Kingdom Death figure in the form of the Dung Beetle knight. To make things even better, he actually completed this figure only three days after last weeks Showcase post, so without further delay...
The Dung Beetle Knight was the first Kingdom Death expansion miniature released after the Kickstarter game, but nevertheless saw general release a
little later. Even though I have ordered the expansion, the nerdy collector in me couldn't help but buy the limited resin version too. When it arrived I was currently working
on other miniatures and so it sat on my table for a while, also I had heard
from various sources that he is a pain to assemble, as the hands are fixed on
the legs and it would be quite hard to get both arms to fit at the same
time. With this in mind, I decided to use some modelling putty/green stuff to
"glue" the miniature. That allowed me to move the joints whilst stuck in
place. Thanks to that technique, it was surprisingly easy to built him. However there was another major problem, the giant ball was a really bad cast, it seems that the back half was smaller than the front half, so I had to leave some
space and build it back up with green stuff. It was difficult work and
despite all best efforts a line can still be seen.
After building the model, I was finally able to have a closer look at the model
and I must admit that I can understand why Adam of Kingdom Death really likes this miniature so
much (he has stated that it is his favourite), the proportions and size of the model are
really nice and make me look forward to the other knights. Obviously the most
stunning part of the model is the pattern on the armour, It is so fine and
detailed that I was afraid that the base coat might spoil it. So I
started with the thinnest possible layer of black base coat-spray and it turned
out alright in the end. Although the base layer had gone well, I was pretty sure that a simple wash would not be enough to make the detail pop. Obviously the whole model is about finding a nice effect and
colour for the armour. After looking at several pictures of the real dung beetle,
I decided that I wanted the overall colour to look greenish in the light spots
and dark blue in the recesses. That colour combined with light brown fur should
do the miniature and the artwork justice.
Ok so on to what people are probably most interested in, the painting of the armour. I started with a turquoise colour, that I
mixed with Vallejo's metallic medium; which adds metallic pigments to any acrylic it has been added to; and also lightens up the overall tone. I lightly dry brushed the
whole armour with this colour multiple times. This left a nice coverage and meant I did not have to add a thicker layer of colour, as I feared the detail would be obscured. I then dry brushed the dark areas with a dark blue/metallic medium-mix and the
highlights with jade green/ metallic medium. Following an advice from the
Kingdom Death Kickstarter backers, I opted to use inks instead of washes to
keep the shine, so the whole armour was inked with a green ink, tinted
with one drop of blue ink. For the darker parts I used blue ink with a drop of
green and added purple ink for the deepest recesses, I must admit that I was surprised how nice the effect turned out, It is always great when that
happens.
While the inks and washes on the Knight dried I put in more work on the
ball. It was done by dry brushing different shades of grey and washed with brown. The glow was also dry brushed and turned out very
nice just after the second layer... seems like sometimes less is better. When
looking for some personal touch on the ball, I remembered, that background wise the
Knight is feeding it's victims to the ball and so I brought out my Tamiya clear red
again to add some gory blood to the mouth. In the end I was really pleased with the results of both figurines,
which were finished surprisingly fast and easy.
So another amazing piece from Sven's Kingdom Death range, graces the Showcase gallery. Below is a slide show showing the figure from build to finished paint job.
The Reader's showcase is a series dedicated to the you the reader! If you have a painted piece you really love and want to share with the 14th Legion, then please send me an email titled Showcase HERE.
Thanks for reading,
DiStudios
Send The Eighth!
Amazing!
ReplyDeleteYay! Thanks! - Sven
DeleteReally beautiful painting
ReplyDelete