Claudia Rodriguez "The Sculpt" - Valhalla II Part 3
Onwards and upwards onto the next set of miniatures. This particular group consisted of the gods Tyr, Balder and Bragi. Each of them had their own bases so it was a simple case to glue them down to a plastic base, 32mm in the case of Balder and Bragi and 40mm for Tyr. As Balder’s base is oval I attempted to mask the raised area with a thick coating of Vallejo Thick Brown Mud, which honestly was only partly successful.
Once the mud was fully I primed all the models with Colour Forge Standard Grey and then blocked in all the skin with Army Painter Air Nomad Flesh. For Tyr I additionally painted his boat with Vallejo Model Air Camouflage Medium Brown and the sand with Vallejo Khaki. I then tidied up any overspill with Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone and gave each of the models a zenithal highlight by spraying them with Liquitex Titanium White acrylic ink through my airbrush at a forty-five degree angle. This is a quick and effortless way of establishing lights and shadows on the model. With that done I then washed the skin with Reikland Fleshshade.
Balder
Fated to be accidentally killed by his blind brother Hoder, who himself was tricked into it by Loki, Balder’s death sets in motion the chain of events that ultimately leads to Ragnarok.
I started by carefully painting the trim down the leg of his trousers with Snakebite Leather, and while I had it out I used it for the lion’s fur. I think in real life a lion’s mane is the same colour as its fur but to help things stand out a little more I painted the mane with Army Painter Speedpaint Burnished Red. Returning to the trousers, I finished them off by giving them a coat of Militarum Green. Sticking with the green theme, I painted his tabard with Creed Camo. Any leather details, such as his belt I painted with Gore-Grunta Fur. I carefully painted the facing of the shield with Wyldwood, then painted the rim and the sword with Army Painter Speedpaint Broadsword Silver.
For the base I painted the earth with Wyldwood and the rocks with Basilicanum Grey. Then to hide the oval plinth a little better, I dabbed on some PVA glue and sprinkled on some Geek Gaming Scenics Base Ready Patchy Plains.
Bragi
It is from Bragi that we get the word “to brag”, he is the god of wisdom and poetry. Bragi is the husband of Idun and potentially one of Odin’s sons.
The model has a rock and roll, or perhaps a biker, vibe to it with his open vest and big boots, so I decided to lean into that with my paint job. To start things off I painted his boot, gloves and vest with Black Templar to make them look like black leather. To continue with the rock and roll look I painted his trousers with Army Painter Speedpaint Royal Robes, quite a punchy blue but it had the effect of making the trousers seem like jeans. As these colours are quite dark I decided that Bragi would be blond, so I painted his hair with Skeleton Horde. While I had it out, I also used Skeleton Horde for the roll of parchment that he is holding. To break up the cold colours of the clothing I painted his arm bands with Gore-Grunta Fur, a nice warm red-brown colour.
As the cloak is quite a large part of the model I wanted to make it stand out a little. I started by painting the trim with Snakebite Leather, a deep yellow that reads a bit like gold. I then alternately painted the sections on the cloak with Army Painter Speedpaint Royal Robes and Familiar Pink. The result was a little garish but I felt that it fit the vibe that I was going for with Bragi.
Moving onto the harp, I painted the main body with Garaghak's Sewer which is a nice rich brown perfect for wood. Or sewers I guess? The strings I painted with Army Painter Speedpaint Broadsword Silver. The small plinth that serves as the base, which by the way is unsuitable for such a top heavy model, I painted with Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone. I had envisioned Bragi sitting atop his harp in a field staring wistfully at the horizon and contemplating the verses for his next poem. So with that in mind I finished things off by dabbing some PVA glue on the base and sprinkling on some static grass.
Tyr
Whilst he isn’t as well known as other deities like Odin, Thor and Loki, Tyr is actually fairly central to Norse mythology. He was patron of warriors and he sacrificed his hand so that the world-wolf Fenrir could be captured.
As mentioned above, I had basecoated the sand and boat before the zenithal highlight. So to buck the trend I started with the base by giving the boat a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone but this didn’t quite have the effect I was looking for, unsurprisingly all it did was shade the wood. I then went over it again with Wyldwood, which did have the effect I wanted but it did obscure the zenithal highlight. For the sand I gave it a coat of Skeleton Horde and the starfish I painted with Gryph-Hound Orange.
Moving onto the model proper I started by painting the cloth wraps that Tyr has around his tights and wrists with Skeleton Horde. For the various leather straps and his boots I gave them a coat of Gore-Grunta Fur. Between the boat, the skin and the leather there were a lot of warm tones on this model, so with that in mind I painted the fur around Tyr’s waist with Basilicanum Grey. Returning to the warm colours I painted his loincloth with Blood Angels Red and his hair with Gryph-Hound Orange. For the weapons and his hook hand I painted the blades with Army Painter Speedpaint Broadsword Silver and the haft of the axe with Snakebite Leather. Finally I tidied up the base with black. Fairly pleased with how he turned out although in hindsight I probably should have put some texture on the base, sculpted sand (or snow for that matter) just doesn’t look as good as a texture paste or glueing down some actual sand.