Vrayaxian art

Today I am showing something a little different. I am pleased to be able to show you this wonderful sketch of one my characters, Olenya Heldane. The sketch is by Harry Boddice, who can be found on Instagram or Artstation, at the username, @pencil_sword_paints. I showed him a 3D render of my miniature for Olenya Heldane, commander of my Wings of Vrayax army. 

I sent Harry an image of Olenya and another of the Wings of Vrayax emblem, and he came back to me with this fabulous sketch. It's so good! I like how he worked the emblem into the background, and how we're staring down the barrel of the bolt pistol wielded by this fierce and bitter former commissar. 

I always envisaged her as being quite practical in her clothing. It's relatively unadorned, since she shuns pomp and ceremony, and Harry has captured this well. Her coat looks worn but comfortable, and her hair hangs down loosely, as if she doesn't fuss over it often. Her only items of embellishment are her weapons: her power sword and bolt pistol. Whilst the sword is a reminder of the Imperium she has left behind, she still carries it as a symbol of the struggle she and every other citizen of Vrayax has been through. 

It's a great sketch and I am really pleased with it! Thanks Harry! Contact him for commissions on Instagram or Artstation.

(click/tap for a larger image)

This is the 3D render on which the sketch is based:

And this is my painted miniature. Harry didn't know how I'd painted her, but he serendipitously painted her in almost the exact same colours! He said he just felt like painting with those colours... spooky!

This is the emblem of Vrayax:

 

Shiny and not chrome, but gold

Oh yes, don't these look good? Custodes are some of the coolest models in the 40k range. I have now added these to my force (I also have a Knight, Dreadnought and Shield Captain: see below) and am really pleased with how they came out. Drybrushing the armour gives it a lovely look, and I did some funky lightning effects on the swords.These are going to look great fighting alongside my Minotaurs (notice they have the same bases).

 This is what I have for Custodes so far:

Leading the T'au to battle

This week are two HQ choices for the T'au. First is an Ethereal, which is the only model that I bought myself. I really like the pose, since it's a little different from anything I already have. It's certainly a lot less 'about to hack your head off' than most of the Space Marine characters I have in my collection. Jol'rak, as I have called him, looks superb in the drybrush scheme, with the addition of some blue jewels and white robes.

 

 

This commander, whom I have called Resh'fel, has also been completed. She'd already been painted, so smoothed down some of the bumpy bits and trimmed off the flash that had been left on, and then painted over the top. She looks pretty cool, although I definitely think a brand new model would be better.

 

PS. I get a lot of my character names from https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/. Check it out: it's a great site, created by an individual with a passion for fantasy/sci-fi and linguistics.

Inspired by nature

 One evening, I looked out the window and witnessed a beautiful sunset. It had a wonderful combination of colours. I've always enjoyed sunsets; indeed, I painted one for a high school art project, and it was probably the best painting I ever painted. So here I was, looking at the wonder of nature, and a thought occurred. What if I painted a model to look like a sunset? What if I painted that super cool retro model, that I'd just bought, to look like a sunset? What if I created the Sunset Avatar of Khaine? So I did.

I had already built and based the model, creating an imposing staggered set of rocks. I decided to paint the entire thing in the sunset scheme, using the feet of the model as a line of reflection, so the sunset is mirrored on the rocks. 

After much rapid painting, in my sketchy, haphazard style, the Avatar finally emerged, golden and beautiful. I tried out the Spiritstone technical paint too, and that looks great. I had to look at a Codex to know what to write on the loincloth, since this is my first Eldar model and I am not familiar with their language. I enjoyed painting my first Eldar model, and since I've coveted this model for 20-odd years, I am extremely happy that I finally have a painted copy. Thank you, Avatar, for showing me a good time!

By the way... I don't own an airbrush. People keep asking if I use one and no, I don't. None of my models have been airbrushed. I feel like a Defender of the Brush: you don't need an airbrush for smooth paintjobs!

Flying Piranha

The T'au continue! I love getting into the flow with a project, such that you just can't stop! This week is a Piranha with two Gun Drones. It wasn't properly attached to the flight stand, and I wanted to put it in a low-height box with the other models, so I magnetised it to the flight stand. This means it can spin around on the flight stand, which is very pleasant!

 

The Fire Warriors of the Dried Brush

This is my second team of Fire Warriors. The first has pulse rifles, and these have pulse carbines. That's how my friend built them, so I decided to make a team of one type and a team of the other. Same techniques, but a slightly larger team this time. There will be two further models, but I plan to modify them: they currently have bare heads but I want to put helmets on them and I'm waiting for the helmets to arrive. Another nice team to add to my growing T'au force!

 

Drybrushed T'au

Once upon a time, a friend of mine gave me a box of models that had been languishing in his loft. There were various Space Marine models, most of which you have seen already, and some T'au. I planned to fix up and paint or repaint the T'au at some point, but wasn't sure what colour scheme to use. I knew I didn't want to use the standard T'au ochre, and I certainly wasn't going to paint them completely white, like the GW website models. I eventually came across a scheme used by @Pegastyx on Instagram, that suddenly struck me as being a unique way of approaching T'au. Rather than make them neat and tidy and clean, she had painted them in a drybrushed scheme with a sort of 'sunset' palette of colours. I immediately knew it was the colour scheme for me, so I created my own version of it. The base is purple, and then there are drybrushed layers of pink (pink horror) and deep yellow (averland sunset).

These Fire Warriors with pulse rifles were first, and this is how they came out. I love them so much! The blue bases in particular were a serious departure for me, but they complement the models so well. Onto more T'au, then...