Bjorn Cubsson

[Cubster]

Here's the wee fella who is the Limited Edition model for Great Escape Games' new 'Age of Ravens' ruleset. A gorgeous figure he is, who takes the paint like a baby takes milk, a real pleasure to paint.

Pic 1 shows the tricky NMM on the shield boss, the shield's face and Bjorn's face. I've never tried 'chrome-style' NMM before, especially on a domed surface! It was easier than I expected really and has come out nice. The shield came out nicely with some subtle highlights achieved by a series of thin washes to lighter the shade in stages. I used some blueish glazes on Bjorn's face around the bridge of the nose and under the eyes because the guys at GEG wanted him to look battle wearing and generally shagged out.



Pic 2 shows a little of the mail shirt. I wanted to really put some real highlights in, not just rely on a wash over metal or metallic drybrushing, so I individually picked out some of the mail links for extreme highlighting. It was time consuming, but not overly so and I think it was worthwhile to get a real impression of the metal links catching the light.



Pic 3 show the rear of the shield, the mail shirt again and the axe head. Because I had painted some brackets on the front of the shield that were holding the metal rim in place, I of course needed to replicate them on the reverse too. I also painted in the back of the shield boss (for his hand to nestle in) as well as the woodgrain. The axe head was more NMM work, but relatively simple this time, with just a smidge of a blood smear.



All in all I was happy with him and he photographs well, but there were a couple of bits I'd like to improve on if I get another go to paint him.

[carvel2]

Magnificent Cubster! Words fail me., I love your comment at the end about making it even better!

[canadasteve]

What a great model and so well painted.

[Biggus Dickus]

Utterly stunning Cubster. Love the subtle blood splatters..is that done with by blowing down a straw...or tiny brush strokes?

There is so much to like about this...all the tiny details are just amazing...the gem on that brooch!!!!!!!
I might be able to do the chain mail.....but the rest i wouldn't know where to begin!
I'm going to start introducing some of the glazing techniques on certain colours...I like the way you have done the shield....lightening it in certain area's,
The base is pretty splended to!

[mikeland]

Jaw dropping work once again Cubster. Not only a technically super job but full of character and atmosphere. I am impressed with a lot of little details too, the pattern on his wrist band, the the effect you have achieved on his hair is excellent too.

and all done in time for this afternoons rugby.

[Cubster]

Thang yo, thang yo.

Love the subtle blood splatters..is that done with by blowing down a straw...or tiny brush strokes?

It's a thin wash of red paint and chestnut ink, loaded onto a small brush and flicked with the thumb. First of all I cut a slot in a strip of paper and then slid it behind the shield, so any spatters would go onto the paper, not the model behind. Then I practised with a couple of spatter patterns before being fairly confident of what I needed to do to get the sort of spray I wanted. The blood on the axe and mail shirt are dabbed on with a wee brush, because I wanted it to look more smeared than sprayed.

I always think less is more with these things unless you want it really dripping in gore.

[Parus Ater]

I like that a lot.

[Suetonius Paullinus]

Outstanding!
A true piece of art.
Again.
Well done mate, customer will be very pleased.

Cheers

SP

[grant]

holy crap that's good

[clivethecelt]

Terrific. Nice model, fantastic painting. I'll pinch that tip about blood splatters too! Cheers!