David Bibby

Zeiren was my third VIC and the biggest challenge so far. He's big, really big! The largest miniature I've painted in a long time and also the most detailed. He is also the first miniature that I've painted where there was no alternative to painting parts of him before construction. After much anguish I decided to paint him with the arms and halberd attached and just the head as a separate piece. I also decided that I would leave him unmodified. It was very tempting to remove the mask over his mouth, it was the one piece of the sculpt that I wasn't fond of. In the end I chickened out. Luckily I don't mind it now, it's grown on me.

This is the second miniature on which I've broken from my black primer cult background (sorry Joel!). I primed him white then black-lined all the colour boundaries before starting on the flesh. Here's where the problems started ...I wanted to paint him as an albino, very pale flesh with bluish veins showing through. Unfortunately I was half way through painting his skin when I realised that my base colour was way too dark and too pink. I should have started with something paler and slightly greyer, I think. I then abandoned the albino idea and carried on with what I had.

I really liked the colour scheme that the Rackham staff painters had used, and it would allow me to try a couple of colours that I don't normally use, but I also wanted him to look a little different. I compromised, keeping the Rackham colours in a couple of areas and improvising on the rest. I was really happy with the Vallejo Red that I used, it came out very vivid over the white undercoat (it's more of a burgundy over black).

This is only my second attempt at NMM and I am happy with parts of it, not so happy with others. It was also my most ambitious attempt at free-hand work yet. On the claws I combined the two, adding NMM gold line-work, I was really happy with the results of this. The halberd blade pattern was the scariest part. In the end I'm reasonably happy with it. I was going to try and highlight the pattern (and probably should have) but was afraid that I'd lose the sharp line-work.

Basing was going to be easy! I placed him on a round base with a couple more rocks that I sculpted from greenstuff to match the one on which he stands. The look I was going for was that he was standing in a forest, the ground is moist and a little rocky, but is covered in fallen autumn leaves. Then, at the last minute when he was almost done, I opened up the jar in which I keep my silver birch seeds to discover that they had started to go mouldy! Argh! No time to get more, it's not even the right time of year. I ended up compromising and scattering the "leaves" I had over the base in a suitable arrangement as a temporary solution. When I get some more I will attach them and paint them.

This is the longest I've ever spent on one miniature, he took an eternity to finish! The day after finishing I can now say that I'm very happy that I have (yay, I can move on!!) but I'm also very happy that I put in the effort. Although there are elements of him with which I'm unhappy, I am still proud of the final piece. I think he's the best I've done.

Lastly, thanks to my wife, Linda, for her colour advice, freehand ideas and critical encouragement.

Blessings,
David Bibby

Comments submitted on the original site:

AutumnMoon writes...

The third to last pic really helped - the color shows up better
there than the others I think - (you might try Auto levels in
photoshop if you have it - works wonders)
Strengths: Again it is the skin - everyone seems to have handled
that really well this time - maybe because we didn't feel
restricted? Anyway - the freehand is subtle but very nice and
you did a fine job with the axe and the straps!
Weaknesses: Dark pics - but that aside the gold on the top of the
axe looks a little muddy and the base is quite dark - can't quite
make out what is goint on there...
Overall: Well done - great job handling this figure!

Rachel writes...

2nd attempt at nmm? Here I was thinking how damned spiffy it
looked! It's really very nice, and I like the tone you achieved
with the gold. The freehand designs on the blades look
*excellent*, they really set off the shape of the weapon well.
Stylee gold toenail paint, and a nice simple base - best bit is
the addition of the rocky bit that means that the silly stump (I
found that thing so annoying) doesn't look out of place. neat
leafy stuff too.

Bethany writes...

Though I'm not crazy about the pink skin, you did a great job on
it. The colors seem to flow and mesh together very nicely. Your
NMM is very nice, I'm way too afraid to try it. The freehand is
awesome. The base works well too. Have you tried dried tea
leaves for a forest base/autumn leaves?

Sue writes...

David, this is great for a second NMM! You got it! I love the
freehand work on the blades, though the one on the bottom looks
weird as it gets cut off by the edge...mayhbe a third little
blobby in the corner would help. The skintones look good, good
shading on the muscles, and I think if you had done the more
albino look, the rest of the figure would be way too dark for it.
I love the face shot of the shoulder and head...the eyes look
perfect and he has real personality to him! Great work!

Kat writes...

Hi david,

this is another one similar to mine and to the card art. Erm.. I
hate to ask but is this puppy shaved nekkid or something? The
skintone looks great but he's really got that nakid look about
him! :D not that thats a bad thing.
Great work on the NMM and the shading and highlighting overall.
The base is great too.
Regards,

Kat
(Jo Dale)

Kamui K writes...

Kudos for painting up his skin pink without making look too
bright nor cartoony. The NMM is stunning. And everything is
just painted up extremely well. The only improvement I can see
is the color choice for the brass/gold. It looks too yellow to
me a metal. And it clashes too harshly against the blue. But
I'm still amazed with everything else.

Dave Kelly writes...

Despite the fact you've primed with white (shame on you! :)
you've still achieved lovely deep colours as you normally seem to
with black as the undercoat. The red in particular is such a rich
leather tone ...

The skin might not have gone the way you were planning but it
turned out well. Looks better with your choice of dark blues to
give a contrast and if you'd gone any lighter with the skin it
wouldn't have looked right against it.

Everyone else has mentioned the NMM but I'll join in and say it's
distinctly yummy as well. Very, very, nice indeed and I'm rather
jealous that it's just your second attempt to achieve this.

About the only minus I can find is the leg and ankle pads ... are
they meant to be metal or material? If they're metal then it fits
right in with the other work but if material then it doesn't
quite look right. Erm, not sure that makes sense but hey :)

The time you've spent on him was worthwhile, it's an excellent
piece.

Dominic writes...

Impressive piece. Great composition and execution. I really like
it. I just wonder why so many participants do not add some
highlights/shadows to the staff od the weapon. Odd.

Jack writes...

This is one of my personal favorites. The colors compliment the
figure, and the detail is well shown. The subtle hair color in
the eyebrows is distinctive enough to separate them from the face
without overpowering the face.
The flesh tones are excellent.

Sandi writes...

I really like the NMM on the weapons and the freehand is great.
Makes it really eyepopping. The skin tone is good and the
shading is good, but I think your strong points are the metals
and the detailing. I would love to see the base totally finished
but it still looks pretty good. Brighten up the pictures, if
possible, and that will also help. All together a really nice
job.

Geert Horvers writes...

Not the colour scheme I would have chosen, but it works, So hey!
Very nice work on the face end I also like the subtle basework.
Cheers,
Geert

stairwayspirit writes...

Lovely piece - can't really give you any technical comments,
except to say that the reds and NMM are truly gorgeous. (I'm up
to 3 pieces with NMM, and nowhere near that good with it). Regarding your comment about the albino skin not fitting in... I
think it would have - lots of deep colour details against a pale
background would've looked really dramatic, I think. Also, highlighting the blade patterns - I've noticed that what
the rackham studios do isn't so much an actual highlight as a
glow effect, where they fill in the middle of the pattern with a
lighter colour - this might be a way to get the pattern to... I'm
not sure how to put this - not be just a patch of flat colour -
without losing the line work, which, as you say, is crisp like
new snow.

Wheels ( Chris Wheeler ) writes...

David,

Easily the most surprising piece in the lot, for me. If someone
described this piece to me I would probably hate it...yet I love
the way it comes together. The skintone is fabulous. As a
painter of larger scale garage kits, I can tell you there are guys would
kill to be able to do this skin effect. It is perfect for any
number of zombie, vampire, cave dweller type scenarios. I am not
a fan of green-gold, but it works very well in this scheme. I
also love the base, although a bit more contrast into grays or
red-grays would have been cool. I would have punched up the blue just one
more shade in a few of the highest highlights, I think.
This is one of my favorites.

Great photos, too.

Favorite detail: The aforementioned skin and the entire head shot
from photo #3. The eye and eye socket are PERFECT....

ryan writes...

oh, now that's just sweet! the skin tones are excellent and the
eyes seem real. the axe/halberd (big ass weapon) head caught my
eye first. i love the blue steel look.
well done!

An anonymous coward writes...

Hi David,

Stunning peice. I really like the composition. The NMM is
stunning, and line art is very crisp and clean. Not much else I
can say.
Dallas