I Know What You Do, 'Cause I Do It Too. Lynch Crew

This has been the shortest gap I've had between doing two of the same set of models.



Hmm, guess I shouldn't have started with two that weren't from the same set I've done :/

Well, I liked them best, so wanted to show them up front. My client wanted to emphasize the horror aspect of the crew, lots of dark, lots of Neverborn, lots of blood. I was really happy with how the blood came out on Mr. Graves' knuckles and Mr. Tannen's thoroughly blood-soaked knife (he really got someone good).

Lynch and the rest of the more presentable crew got some fancy new duds, compared to my set's faded look. They may be monsters (in the actual or moral sense), but they know how to dress.

The black and (off-)white also emphasizes the stark look and highlights the purple energies and red blood.

Lynch's ladies have rejected the garish look of the time, sticking strictly to his dress code of black and white. Having painted two now, I still think the right Beckoner is one of the best Malifaux models. With a little more skin showing, you can see some of the unhealthy/horror look I used here. There's a lot of purple in the shading, and I added some bone to the highlights.

(Beckoner revisions here)

Moving into darker regions of the Honeypot, the wood floor has been replaced by dirt and loose rubble.

The Hungering Darkness got new eyes, red beads in the second pic. However, this piece isn't quite done: since the eyes needed to go in after I varnished everything, I worked without them in, and grew pretty attached to the Hungering Darkness with just empty eye sockets- enough so that I haven't glued the beads in, in case my client agrees. Either way, I'm thinking I'll take out my HD's eyes, I like it so much.

If the beads stay, the sockets will get a white coat first to make them pop better.

The Depleted did not live up to Graves' or Lynch's dress code, so they're stuck out in the sewers with Ugly (above).

On both the Depleted and the Hungering Darkness, I used similar techniques to the hellstriders' lance arms from a recent commission, though obviously in a less garish context. Though they're dark enough that even the soft glare from my light box obscures it, that "black" is actually around a 2:1 purple:black mix. I also repeated the blackness on the Depleteds' hands in their stomach and eyes, emphasizing a hollowness. They're also the only models without the purple eyes seen elsewhere.

Speaking of brightness, the Illuminated got some serious purple to them. Working with complete models, this time, I had fun with a regular color scheme rather than obscuring most of the models. The left one was fun to "pose," with him getting pulled along by his ethereal beasty- the creature is centered as the model, while the man is actually fully off the textured part of the base (don't worry, it's pinned ;) ).

Last, and least (in stature, if not malice) are the Terror Tots... which I started to try to bring into as a fluffy part of the crew, but with Mr. Graves as the only other Nephilim in the bunch... I'm going to avoid that mess. I don't write that sort of fiction. Well, actually I mostly just illustrate fiction, but that's not the point.

Well, they're pretty thoroughly visually tied into the crew, with the same palate and bases. These were by far the biggest pleasant surprise I've had recently- I've never been much of a fan of the Nephilim line, but these new sculpts were a lot of fun to paint, and had a good amount of serious attitude and ridiculous... ridiculousness.

Also, as my sister-in-law informs me, they're not cherubim*, they're putti**.

*cherubim† "have four heads of different species and several pairs of wings," which is pretty freaky.

**singular is putto

†as far as I can tell, "cherubim" is a plural used only for (mislabeling) little winged babies (actually scary angel things), while cherubs is the plural used for cute kids. Thanks, English!