The Tools for the Job - Kingdom Death Lion Knight, Butcher, and Survivors

 While I feel particularly with Kingdom Death I've more often been doing models on the gloomier side, more recently I've been interested in more vibrant paint jobs, even when the midtones or general sentiment has been darker. With this set where my client asked that I do something that I felt fit each piece, the unifying characteristic is a general reference point in more classic fantasy book covers and movie posters, or just an older sensibility of miniatures painting.

Kingdom Death Ringtail Vixen ~ Kitsune

 

Painting this gal felt like walking into a minefield: it was so easy for it to look kinda trashy like a sexy Halloween costume, or like a furry. I don't have a problem with the latter; I think my value judgement is pretty obvious in my description of the former, and I wasn't going for either look, regardless.

This is a mix of more traditional (the grave markers are based on my time in Japan, and the mask is actually fairly strictly based on a specific papier-mâché festival mask I have) and more pop culture (referencing a few versions of more stylized anime etc. horror sources). I tried to get something simultaneously more naturally shaded (with a lot of blues and browns mixed in to avoid pure colors) while working with an almost chalky white that shows up in both early modern prints and in some anime.

Bovine Brawlers - Blood Bowl Beastmen

A quick post on some conversion work. My client wanted an all-Beastmen team, so rather than clone poses I tweaked the human models, with their new heads (the simpler and more dynamic part: I feel like a good head swap and positioning is always the most efficient way of altering a model), and by pretty much recreating their legs, only using some core sticks of the originals to keep them a bit sturdier.

The minotaur below was a much more minor conversion, just an attempt to make the mane more consistent with the Beastmen aesthetic.

Surviving - Early Kingdom Death Survivors, and some characters

For me, Screaming armor still embodies the best parts of survivors in Kingdom Death.

Boss Rush - Kingdom Death Nemeses, Watcher, Smoke Knight, Twilight Knights

This version of the Gold Smoke Knight is one I'm quite proud of.

In Fearful Day, In Raging Night - Kingdom Death Nemeses and Gorm set in blue

I think I used all of my better "blue" references up in earlier titles. This one is a bit obscure. (Nerd cred if you get it.)

I will wander through the pines and make my way to nature's shrines - Abyssal Woods set, Part 0

So, this was a lot of fun: with the Abyssal Woods campaign coming... uh... some time in the future, I was happy that my client went with my suggestion that all his expansions that would integrate into the campaign be a single palette.

The Plants and the Animals Eat Each Other - Kingdom Death Lonely Tree and Slenderman

So, the Lonely Tree marks the very last Kingdom Death "monster" I had left to paint, before completing the first wave of expansions, and is one of the trickiest things to paint, since it's a modular kit.

A Light at the End - Kingdom Death Nemeses, etc. Also, custom gear.

Starting off, the Twilight Witch is one of my biggest disappointments with Kingdom Death's 1.5 Kickstarter: I think it, and the non-pinup "Twilight Cloak" survivor model, could so easily have been included as part of the postgame mechanics/gear, with a more interesting survivor addition than the young and old survivors, neither of which are especially mechanically relevant.

I liked this old design so much that I actually made a gear card for it:

Darkened Dames - Kingdom Death Flower Knight and Allison

I was very happy with another departure from my lighting-heavy Kingdom Death painting.

Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears the Crown - Kingdom Death Lion God

I have to admit, I've never liked this model. Rather, I think it's actually one of the more dramatic compositions, but think it was one of the first Kingdom Death models* that strayed into hyperbole, with a weird phallic... head? Chin? whatever, that's justified in the narrative, plus another penis-tail growing out of its butt and no regular tail, and finally a regular old phallus.

However, I'm very happy with how this paint job came out, since I think that it highlights the drama of the composition itself. I'm happy enough with this one that I'm planning on mostly repeating it on my own (somewhat resculpted) Lion God when I eventually paint it.

* especially when it comes to actual game content

Who's Laughing Now?! - Harlequin Wraithknight Conversion

So, this guy started as just a simple re-pose, but became something far more elaborate.

Gloom and Doom - Kingdom Death Desaturated Models: Hand, Ranger, Rogue

So, I feel like my Kingdom Death painting is mostly recognizable for my play with light. Here are a few I've been painting that show off the bleak side of the setting, and these paint jobs are more than a little influenced by Dark Souls (including my own practice with its board game adaptation).

Black Operations part 8: Wyches

 Expanding the continuing Mandrake army, I've put together a couple new units.

Hunting Party - Kingdom Death Great Game Hunter, Rawhide, Butcher

 These were a pretty fun mix of kitbashes and conversions.

Black Operations part 7: Command

Rounding out the continuing Mandrake army with some command. Two pretty liberal interpretations of Dark Eldar command, they have roughly inverted colors.

Before & After - Kingdom Death First Story and Lion Armor Survivors

These were a pretty fun set to work with; rather than WYSIWYG, my client wanted to have a generally rougher look for them, so I played around with more narrative poses, gear, etc.

WYSIWYG - Hannah, Through the Breach / Kickstarter Edition

Honestly, I was pretty happy to get a chance to paint the Kickstarter edition of Hannah. I think the model has a decent pose, and think she's got just a great rules set (we'll see about next edition...), and basically the only issue I have with the model is she's huge.

Way more importantly, though, she's pretty cool looking and actually has the gear represented by her rules: It still mystifies me, why the standard edition doesn't even represent her weapon.

Black Operations part 6: Dark Eldar Ravagers

Honestly, the Raider/Ravager redesign some years back had me extremely sorely tempted to start an army for my personal collection. I think the vehicles are just fantastically well-designed, as a mix of the original design and an updated, more explicitly pirate-themed look that evokes classic sailing (mostly) without feeling out of scale.

These are, of course, painted for the Mandrake army I've been adding to for the last while; I was going for pretty much as sleek and stripped-down look as I could get, while letting that teal really pop. I repurposed the "squad" look, with helmeted captains/pilots (heads from misc. dark elf kits), and, with a little tweaking, got it so the sponsons are actually replaceable.

Stampede! - Variations on Kingdom Death's Screaming Antelope

So, I've worked on a few Screaming Antelopes recently, with different approaches.