From EvanH - The Big Fella - 28mm Orc Chieftain (10 points)

I'm back from the Apple Isle and ready for more painty goodness!

I love Tasmania. The scenery is breathtaking, the weather is cool, the beer is great, the seafood is brilliant, the cheeses are amazing, and the stonefruit are the best I've ever had. I can state categorically that sheep's milk whey makes an excellent vodka, as well as forming the basis of a delightful vanilla liqueur, and quinces are an excellent and flavourful addition to cider. 

All that stuff about oysters being an aphrodisiac is rubbish though; I ate a dozen and only eight of them worked.

But I'm back in the hot and humid confines of Sydney now, and I went to the painting desk first thing upon my return to finish off another fig from Scibor's Monstrous Miniatures, an ostensibly 28mm Orc Chief, who, at 55mm in height, certainly lives up to the 'Monstrous' tag. As soon as I saw this model on the website, I had to get it. Scibor Teleszynski's work is excellent, and this is one of his best sculpts so far. Six hours later, here's the result.

You can't rush this!

I went for a cooler colour scheme than the canonical GW Goblin Green. It makes him look a bit more grim and forbidding, or at least I hope so!

The skin was basecoated with the discontinued Citadel Foundation colour Orkhide Shade (because it was good, of course, it had to be discontinued - thanks GW!), a dense dark green at the blue end of the spectrum, worked up through Vallejo Scurvy Green and with successive additions of Citadel Hawk Turquoise and Space Wolves Grey to the mix. 

I decided to work with a wet palette to help with the blending of colours, and when the weather is hot, it's the only way to go if you don't want your paint drying out before you've finished. Given the heatwaves we've had to deal with recently, this will probably become a fixture on the work bench for the duration of the Challenge!

The leather loincloth was worked up from Citadel Scorched Brown, through Vallejo Game Colour Beasty Brown and Citadel XV-88 (that's light golden brown for those of you playing at home) and on to a final drybrush with Citadel Bleached Bone. A wash of Citadel Agrax Earthshade over the surface tied the layers together.

Hair and whiskers were basecoated black, highlighted with Vallejo Model Colour Black Grey and a light overbrush of a dark blue. Citadel Space Wolves Grey provided the final highlight for strands of hair and beard.

This is one of those sculpts that cries out for a patient approach, and repays it many times over. I am glad I took my time with this one; while this pace will never get me an army anytime soon, it's allowed me to finish one really imposing figure to a standard that I'm happy with.

I don't know what this will be scored as, 28mm or 54mm, but it's just one figure so it's not going to set the world on fire!

Maybe he needs some friends? I'll have to see what I can dig out from the hidden valleys on the northern slopes of Lead Mountain...

Stay tuned!

Ev

By Paul & Alan: Not sure your Tasmanian tourism advertising has many of our international viewers sold, but I've definitely enjoyed a few trips there over the years too.

You've done great justice to a fantastic sculpt.  I love your choice of colours and your blending technique is top notch!  Given his size, I've scored him as a Cavalry fig - 10 points!