Claudia Rodriguez "The Sculpt" - Norse Goddesses Part 2
With the first batch of goddesses done, I could make a start on the second. In contrast to the first batch, the second generally involved more assembly.
With that in mind, I set about assembling the miniatures. Which honestly, was more difficult than it should have been. For a start the models are made of resin so I need to use super glue to put them together, which is its own form of pain. But that wouldn’t be too bad if the models weren’t so small that pinning parts together is impossible. For example, I had to glue a hand to a wrist, but said wrist is thinner than the rods that I use for pinning components together.
Freya
First up is probably the most well known goddess in Norse mythology. Freya (also spelt Freyja or Freja) could arguably be considered on par with Odin. A popular misconception is that those killed in battle go to Odin’s hall: Valhalla. This is only half correct, because only half of the battle-slain goes to Valhalla. The other half go to Sessrumnir, which is Freya’s hall.
For the miniature itself I stuck the feather cloak down to a base and left the main body separate, using some superglue I stuck the body to a small length of dowel for ease of painting. Both were then primed black.
As always I started with the skin, which I painted with a few thin coats of Cadian Fleshtone. I feel that Freya has quite a matriarchal feel to her so I painted her clothes with Fenrisian Grey, which is a nice muted blue-grey colour. I then lined the tabard with Vallejo Scarlet Red. For accent colours, I painted all the jewellery and her belt with Scale75 Dwarven Gold, for the spear I painted the shaft with Army Painter Oak Brown and the wraps with Mournfang Brown. In keeping with the aged matriarch theme I painted her hair with a couple thin coats of Ulthuan Grey. For the shield I went with some quite bright colours: Macragge Blue and Mephiston Red. The back of the shield I painted with Khaki and to finish things off, I painted the rim of the shield and the spear tip with Scale75 Thrash Metal. The feather cloak I kept simple, yet outlandish, I painted the feathers with Macragge Blue and the inside of the cloak with Mephiston Red to mirror the shield.
With that done it was time to move onto the washes and layering. The skin and gold details I washed with Reikland Fleshshade. To bring out the wood grain on the back of the shield I painted it with a thin layer of Wyldwood contrast paint. And to keep things simple, everything else got a wash of Nuln Oil. From there it was a case of layering back up with the base colours on the clothes and the skin. By way of highlights, I used a bit of Kislev Flesh on the skin and drybrushed the feather cloak with Two Thin Coats Celestial Blue.
As the cloak cloak takes up so much of the base I didn’t see the point in putting on texture and what not. So I tidied up what little of the base was showing with some matt black, stuck Freya to her cloak and called it a day.
Gna
Gna is another little known goddess, she is only mentioned a few times in the Prose Edda. All that’s really known about her is that she runs errands for Frigg on her flying horse Hofvarpnir.
The model itself was fairly simple to put together,if a little fiddly. Getting the angle right on the spear arm isn’t easy and there weren't any good places to pin it. With the arm in place I stuck the model down to a base and primed her black.
As always I started with the skin which I base coated with a few thin coats of Cadian Fleshtone. Next I painted the leather armour with Mournfang Brown. The fur trim and the satchel she is carrying I painted with Ulthuan Grey. The scrolls in her satchel I painted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone and the caps with Vallejo Old Copper. Her billowing cape seemed very reminiscent of either Superman or Marvel’s Thor, so it seemed only right to paint’s Gna’s with a coat of Mephiston Red. To contrast the red I painted her tabards with Macragge Blue. For even more contrast, I painted her hair with Vallejo Pale Sand which is a nice bleach blonde colour. I finished off the base colours but painting the spear shaft with Army Painter Oak Brown, her jewellery with Scale75 Dwarven Gold, and finally her leg armour and spear tip with Scale75 Thrash Metal.
For the washes I started by giving the skin and gold a coat of Reikland Fleshshade. I then washed all the leather with Army Painter Strong Tone, and finally everything else got a wash of Nuln Oil.
As with the others, I kept the layering and highlights quite light. I layered the skin with Cadian Fleshtone and highlighted it with Kislev Flesh. The cape I layered with Mephiston Red, and the tabard I first layered with Macragge Blue before adding a few edge highlights with Two Thin Coats Celestial Blue to really make it pop.
For the base, I kept it simple and covered it in Valhallan Blizzard. With all her tabards draping onto the ground there wasn’t much space to work with and I felt the cold snow would work well with the warm tones of the model. As flat white is kind of boring, I then gave it a coat of Apothecary White contrast paint followed by a drybrush of Ceramite White. The result was alright, it turned out better than when I had used Scale75 Instant Colour Ancestral Blue for Gullvieg at any rate.
Sif
Sif one of the more well known goddesses, thanks mostly due to Jamie Alexander’s performance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In Norse mythology however, she is the wife of Thor.
The model itself seems to take inspiration from Sif’s warrior interpretation in the MCU as she looks ready for battle in her leather armour and armed with an axe and shield. The model is also painfully lithe, there is very little contact between her feet and whatever she is standing on. In an attempt to alleviate this, I stuck down a piece of bark to a base then pinned Sif to the “rock”, drilling into her foot as deep as I dared. I then reinforced the bond with some liquid greenstuff. With that done I primed the model black.
As always I started with the skin, to which I base coated with a few thin coats of Cadian Fleshtone. After which I got out all my brown and drab colours to paint all that leather. The armour on her torso and her boots I painted with Mournfang Brown. The leather armour on her, er, butt I painted with Skrag Brown. I painted the haft of the axe with Army Painter Oak Brown. The loincloth, thigh-high socks, and her top I painted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. In keeping with the drab colour scheme, I painted her shield with Balor Brown and Vallejo Russian Uniform, and her hair with Vallejo Khaki. The fur tim on the stone rock she is standing on I painted with Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone. The metallics I kept drab as well, electing to give her a copper circlet rather than a gold one, to which I used Vallejo Old Copper. The remaining silver details, such as the shield rim and axe blade, I painted with Scale 75 Thrash Metal.
The washes, it turned out, were rather simple. Reikland Fleshshade on the skin, Nuln Oil on the hair, fur trim, silver details and the rock, and then Army Painter Strong Tone on everything else. For layering, all I did was the usual Cadian Fleshtone on the skin followed by Kislev Flesh, and to drybrush the rock with Dawnstone. To finish off the model, I dabbed some PVA glue on the base around the rock and sprinkled on some Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready Patchy Plains.
Frigg
Frigg is Odin’s wife and she is usually associated with marriage and motherhood. It is her son Baldr whom Loki tricks the blind Hoder into killing. It is also theorised that she and Freyja share a common origin.
The model is fairly simple, consisting of the seated Frigg and a separate hand holding a distaff (a tool used in spinning fibres). The hand and wrist it attaches to are too small to be pinned so I had to glue it on, reinforce the joint as best I could with liquid green stuff and hope for the best. With that done, I primed her black as I had with all the others.
Instead of starting with the skin as I often do I started by painting the throne that Frigg is sitting on. I usually paint from the inside outwards and skin is usually the deepest part of the model, with clothing and equipment built on top of it. But Frigg’s seated position means that the throne is the deepest part, hence why I painted that first. The next deepest detail is in fact Frigg’s cloak, which I painted with a few coats of Mephiston. It was only now that I painted her skin with Cadian Fleshtone and her hair with Vallejo Pale Sand. Next I basecoated Frigg’s dress and the wool on the distaff with Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone. I followed that up by then painting Frigg’s dress with a couple of thin coats of Ulthuan Grey. I finished off the dress by painting the trim with Vallejo Heavy Goldbrown. Finally, I picked out the trim on the throne, her crown and her necklace with Scale75 Dwarven Gold.
For the washes, the flesh and gold got the usual Reikland Fleshshade, the cloak and hair were washed with Nuln Oil and the throne with Army Painter Strong Tone. The wool on the distaff and her dress I decided to use contrast paints rather than washes. For the wool Basilicanum Grey, which really darkened it down, and for the dress I used Apothecary White. I then layered back up on the dress, cloak and skin before giving said skin a final highlight with Kislev Flesh. For the base, the throne was taking up nearly all of it so I just tidied up with some matt black.
Final thoughts
With the second batch done it means I’ve completed all the miniatures from Claudia Rodriguez’ Norse Goddesses kickstarter. So I will have to find some to make a start on the Valhalla and Valhalla II miniatures in the near future.
Overall though I’m pretty pleased with how they have turned out. Although I did mess slightly with Sif, she is described as having golden hair. Not like a bright blonde but actual gold gold, after Loki cut it off as a prank and Thor forced him to find a replacement.
Also I probably should have split the Norse goddess articles in half, as they have ended up being way longer than I expected. Oh well, something to remember for the next batch of miniatures I suppose!