That's some pretty heavy stuff for a blog that normally talks about painting little fantasy creatures, but I really just wanted to take a few minutes to urge the folks who may be reading this to really make sure you cherish the time you have with your friends. I'm an incredibly lucky guy to be surrounded by an absolute score of great friends, and sometimes I take some of them for granted due to silly things like them being more than a 15 minute drive away, or because they have kids, (I'm not too comfortable around babies/kids too young to communicate with properly), or just any number of petty little factors like that. The simple truth is, despite being arguably the most complex and adaptive biological machine on this planet, we are incredibly fragile creatures, and our lives are precious and short. Make the most of your time.
Enough of that, dear readers. I promised you folks a troll riding a bear, and that's what we have here.
I apologize again for not setting up the lightbox, but it was like 10:30 when I finished everything up last night, and I'm an old man who likes going to bed early.
I spent quite a bit of time on Borka2 (or Bearka) and I truly feel that he is one of the best models I have painted yet. He's definitely my favorite model in the entire Privateer Press range, and while I was super intimidated by the thought of painting him at first, once I got started, I had a ball.
First up, his bear! In the studio scheme, the bear is portrayed as a Polar Bear. While I dig on polar bears, the scheme I have for my trolls has them with very grey-blue skin, and having a white bear feels like it would have made the model have too many "cool" colors. I'm no great artist, but I've been reading a bit about color theory lately, and most people prefer a good balance of warm and cool colors.
I should also note that I painted Borka and his mount separately, and only put them together once I was just about finished for touch ups.
To begin with, I primed both Borka and his mount with Badger Stynylrez Black. After that dried, I used Minitaire Blood Stained Mud as a basecoat for the bear. Then I did a zenithial highlight at about 45 degrees of Minitaire Saddle Brown for the bear. I went back in with Saddle Brown to bring out some of the highlights on the shoulders, head, and the back individually.
After that dried, I moved back to the brushes, and drybrushed a 1:1 mix of VGC Bonewhite and GW Scorched Brown lightly onto the highest highlight areas on the mount. The saddle was painted with GW XV-88, and then washed with GW Agrax Earthshade. The blanket under the saddle was painted with Minitaire Spellslinger Blue, and washed with GW Drakenhof Nightshade. The teeth and claws were painted VGC Bonewhite, and washed with GW Agrax Earthshade. The tongue and inside of the mouth was painted with GW Emperors Children and washed with GW Baal Red. The metallics were GW Leadbelcher for the silvers, and VGC Brassy Brass for the brass. Both were washed with GW Agrax Earthshade. The gemstones were painted GW Snot green and then a tiny bit of GW Moot Green on each to provide a little bit of a highlight.
Feeling pretty full of swagger after painting what I thought was a pretty good bear, I begin tackling Borka himself.
I started with the skin, basecoating VGC Sombre Grey and then drybrushing VGC Wolf Grey. Leather was the same as on the mount above, and the "skirt" was painted the same as the blanket on the bear. I painted the "runes" on skirt itself with VGC Brassy Brass, and then the runestones attached to the skirt, as well as around his neck with VGC Stonewall grey, washed that with a thinned down VMC Fluorescent Green, then drybrushed with GW Skull White very lightly.
The hair, nails, and the "stubble" on his chin were basecoated GW Scorched brown and then highlighted with GW Averland Sunset, making sure to leave a little bit of the brown showing through at the base of each.
The armor was basecoated with VGA (vallejo game air) Gunmetal, drybrushed GW Leadbelcher, then washed with GW Badab Black. The Brass pieces were VGC Brassy Brass washed with GW Agrax Earthshade.
Let me take a second here and talk about how awesome VGC Brassy Brass is. Most gold/brass paint in all the various ranges feels thin, covers poorly without multiple coats, and never quite looks like you want it without a lot of fuss. Brassy Brass just like, works. It's one of my favorite paints. If you want to do a warm gold, it even works alright as a basecoat for the other paints.
Anyhow, The mace haft was painted with VMA Aluminum, washed with GW Badab Black, and the areas with the runes etched in washed with a 2:1 mix of VMC Fluorescent green and water to provide a little bit of glow.
The bomb bolas were drybrushed Leadbelcher and Brassy Brass, and both the teeth and the fur trim on the cloak were basecoated Scorched Brown and highlighted with VGC Bonewhite. Finally, the eyesockets were painted with GW Abbadon black, and the pupils picked out with GW Troll Slayer orange.
This is already pretty long winded, but I really do think this is one of the best models I've yet to finish. While I don't think i'm breaking any new ground here, I think the choosing of a balanced color palate and good execution made this as nice as it is. Even so, there are a few things I still need to work on. My "glow" effects on the mace are passable, but they just aren't where I want them to be. I need to spend some time practicing some glow. I've got some Cygnar jacks that I may try to do that with soon since they are all "electrical."
Next time we will either look at the progress on the Archangel, or we will start to document an actual commission I have to paint an Extreme Titan Gladiator for one of our local guys. Until next time!
