The End of the Golden Age - Berserk tribute models

Kentaro Miura's series has directly and indirectly been the source of quite a bit of entertainment over the years, and so I wanted to acknowledge his work. These models are slightly rougher than I'd intended, but I didn't want to wait until this project was complete, whenever that came around.

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.

The Ninth Circle - Blackstone Fortress Rein & Raus and Traitor Guard

 

I wish regular old Cadians looked even half as good as these scum.

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.