Reader's Showcase #9: Kingdom Death The Scribe

The first reader submission of the year and in my opinion a stunning figure to start 2014 with. The Scribe is one of Kingdom Deaths most intricate miniatures to date, with an array of separate arms that form the throne for the Scribe himself (think Game Of Thrones...but made of hands!). There is a huge amount of detail in this figure and once again, Sven has done an amazing job of bringing this Kingdom Death monster to life! I have to admit, I do wait with anticipation each week, just to see what Sven has emailed and this as always I have been blown away. 

Please note this is one of Kingdom Death's more 'creative' figures and as such this post is NSFW there is gore and nudity in the majority of the photos. However if you are on a private computer, sit back and enjoy this fantastic miniature in it's full glory.

The Scribe by Sven 

NSFW 

In my memories the Scribe is always one of the first Kingdom Death miniatures I truly recognised and thus brought me to investigate upon this company. He caused a massive uproar in the tabletop community that seemed to originate mainly from the babies and the lectern lady. I can't say I was shocked or anything, but it took me a while to get the concept behind this miniature. This is something I adore about Kingdom Death, and that is that there is real meaning behind their models and concepts. My beloved Forge God for example is seen by many as a quite blank monster with penis heads and quite extreme testicles. But I believe he depicts the ultimate peak of manliness. His manly body and posture, presenting his sex organs (heads), turning the normally most vulnerable part into a weapon and actually being a smith. It wasn't that easy for the Scribe, but finally I came to the conclusion that he might represents the absolute disrespect for mankind and life itself.

Apart from the controversy of the miniature itself, the throne of hands makes this model so unique. It was also the part that took me the longest to build, as it consists of 14 (!) quite badly fitting parts. Luckily the miniature is very efficiently divided and most of the gaps are later covered by other parts. The canyon-like gaps of the throne are covered act as a seat for the Scribe himself and the gaps in his legs are covered by the draped cloth. I was surprised to see, that the Scribe actually comes with the option to have his private parts covered or uncovered and that the cover may actually stay removable. So I decided to keep it removable instead of gluing it into place or just not using it at all. It's funny, that I have never seen in any picture of the model, that the crotch may be revealed.

After building the model, I started by painting the man himself. My concept was quite easy and inspired by the artwork. I knew I wanted him very pale, while all the human parts (throne, lady, and babies) should have a lively, darker colour. For his skin I used  colour combination that I also use on my GW Dark Eldar. It is a mixture of the awesome Tallarn Flesh and a very light blue-grey (Space Wolves Grey) and just highlighted by the further addition of grey and white and shaded with skin and purple tones. The hair then needed to be even whiter and the cloth shouldn't contrast with him to much as well. So I used a blue grey base for that again.

The Lectern Lady was done easily and without any special ideas in mind. The main part while painting was basically to make the book look worn out by dry brushing and washing it multiple times. I came to the conclusion, that the Scribe would probably use her opened chest as ink pot and so drew the writings in blood. Later I thought, I should have made the handwriting look more alien than it is now, but didn't want to spoil the look of the paper.

The throne than was just a work of patience. I used the natural, camouflage green tone I use to use on many of my figures, if I don't want cloth to get to much attention, for the straps and then painted all the hands with Tallarn Flesh, washed them, highlighted them with Tallarn Flesh and then used different inks on some and highlights others even further to make it look, like it is actually built from different humans and not some kind of weird entity.

So this was my first work for 2014 and I'm very happy with the result. I'll try to keep on being an regular contributor of KD goodness on the 14th Legion and will aim to provide an article about every two weeks, also me and DiStudios have a little special prepared for the next instalment. So stay tuned!

So a very intensive start to 2014 from Sven, while I like all of the pieces he has produced for the Showcase series, this figure appeals to me a great deal as it is one of those figures that really define the dark and broody atmosphere of Kingdom Death. When I first started reporting on Kingdom Death miniatures in the 2010, I had an inkling into what might come, but never in my imaginations would I have depicted such intricate (and controversial pieces), as I have said before, there is a real influence of Miura's Berserk Manga throughout the whole range, resplendent of blood, horror and sex. People need to look past the obviously shocking parts; and as Sven does; looking into the meaning of the sculpts...despite the horrific visages, there is something ultimately human in what is being shown...or maybe that is just my opinion ;-)

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 blog, then please send me an email titled Showcase HERE.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

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p.s. Dear Mr Poots if you ever read this, I would love to see a Kingdom Death version of Berserk's Slan ^^