Steven Williams

First off I would say that this is an excellent sculpt! It was my 1st Rackham/Wolfen and my first attempt at this scale. I'll bet some other painters will agree they thought it would be easier at this scale, too. That aside, it was a more than a challenge. I have been in a winter mood, so I was inspired to make Zeirin of pale complexion with a colder look to him. This meant trying to provide a stark contrast working up the highlights to white all around. Starting with a white basecoat I did the skin first and then hit my first slump: couldn't decide on a color to match the gold NMM (my second attempt at this technique) So a chose the GW jade green mostly because I "never" use it and it came out nice. I was moderately pleased with the clothing and skin. But it was the weapon blades which are my largest dissappointment. Those Rackham painters nailed that one. I painted the arm completely separately and glued it on right before finishing the base in rocks and baking soda. Thanks to Dominic (or whoever chose this mini for the VIC), I spent more time on this piece than I usually spend on 20. Such is the army-painting-life but it was worth the time if not to try and improve my wet blending which is not 100%, clean but improved over 1 year ago!`

Steven Williams

Comments submitted on the original site:

AutumnMoon writes...

Strengths: Good choice of colors for a winter scheme - and one
that shows the strap work off nicely! Excellent use of
darklining and the detail is very nice.

Weaknesses: The shadow on the shoulder and the pant's leg in the
last photo are a bit too sudden and stark - maybe a shade between
would fix it...

Overall: Another of my favorites - very well done!

Rachel writes...

What a great colour - green isn't something that most people seem
to use on wolfen, and it looks very striking. I like the wintry
scheme, and the blade is cool in a stylised obsidian sort of way.

Bethany writes...

Great color choices! Very nice work. I like the snowy look.

Jack writes...

The Teal green really works well with the Winter scheme. This is
a piece to be proud of.

Kat writes...

Hi, nice work with this one- the colour scheme is good for a
winter scene. To improve him, smoother transitions on the NMM
areas would be nice. Perhaps bring out the details in his beads a
bit as well.
Regards

Kat (Jo Dale)

Kamui K writes...

Oh, I love the colors used here! I wished I'd thought of it.
The obsidian color is a good choice, but the NMM effect doesn't
work. The green colors could use 1 or 2 more colors to make the
highlights blend into each other better. And the snow on his
hair isn't really needed. Kinda looks drybrushed (I assume
that's snow). Why should his hair have snow and his shoulders
don't. Ya know? But still, it's very beautiful.

Geert Horvers writes...

Nice colour scheme and execution of the winter theme. Looks like
some very nice terrain you have there.
Cheers,
Geert

Wheels ( Chris Wheeler ) writes...

Steven,

Great color combinations. I love the green. Nice base work.
Convincing snow is hard to pull off and this looks great.
Nice work all around.

Favorite detail: Gold work on the axehead

Sandi writes...

Nice NMM on the weapon and haft, I would have liked to see a more
in-depth treatment of the shaft of the weapon. I really like
your golds - only your 2nd time at NMM? I'm impressed. The
golds go really well with the green of the tunic. The back looks
a little rough over the right shoulder, and some of the
highlights on the buckles and the thigh pads are a little abrupt,
but all in all a nicely painted mini. Love the base - very
wintery (coming from Minnesota, I know my snow).

Dave Kelly writes...

The effect on the blade is nearly there, although the blend is a
little abrupt but in the second photo it definitely looks
striking. I like it. Still struggling to get anything approaching
NMM myself!

Not a massive fan of Jade Green either, but you've done a nice
job with it and it offers great contrast to the straps over the
top so I'd say that worked out well.

Skintones are lovely. Very smooth and definitely say "Wolf".
Overall it fits perfectly with the wintery theme you had in mind
so I'd call that a success!