Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia

I did it! My wife's painting challenge was just what I needed apparently. I'm not sure how many painting hours it was (probably 8 to 10), but it was basically just 2 evenings and some time on a Saturday. I'm sort of amazed that I pulled it off. I'm really looking forward to fielding him today at the Schism tournament. I'll make sure to post about the tournament tonight or tomorrow and include a review of how he performed. Fortunately I've got the DTMX to be his bonded beast as well!

Things that went right:
* The scrolls went fairly well. I started with Thrall Flesh and then worked up through MWB to MWH and a couple of spots of pure white on paper edges. A bit of a wash of Beast Hide helped give more definition to the paper as well.
* His flesh went well. I started with Underbelly Blue and then did a combination of washes and 2BB using layers and combinations of Trollblood Highlight, Trollblood Base, Exile Blue, Sanguine Base and Ryn Flesh.
* The basing went great. More on that below.
* The leathers worked out well despite some failed starts early on. Mostly it was a matter of starting with Bootstrap Leather, washing it heavily with Armor Wash and Battlefield Brown, then working it back up using more Bootstrap Leather, Beast Hide and Rucksack Tan. Man I do love those colors from the P3 range!
* GW's Devlan Mud wash worked out great this time too. I used it in some select spots and now I think I've figured out how to use it effectively. On the cloth on his feat I used Beast Hide, then some rough highlights with MWB, and then washed it with Devlan Mud. The results were quite good despite not doing any further highlights. It's definitely a shortcut, but it does look pretty nice for the amount of time needed. The key was to highlight first, then lay on the wash quite thick.

Things that could have been better:
* The tartan didn't go so great. I often struggle with them, but this one was so wavy and folded that it made it quite hard to paint effective lines. It also just sticks out in small places, making it harder to keep a coherent look to it. But, in the end, I'm not completely unhappy with it.
* The rune stones aren't great. The runes on them don't really jump out so well. Next time I think I'll need to hold off on the washes and stick to proper highlighting.
* Having no sprue tab was a pain. I had to work from a paperclip stuck through a cork, which is rather small for my hands. It doesn't afford the same stability that an empty mattcoat can affords. Next time I should look for a way to mount the paperclip-cork combo to the can.
* Mounting to base didn't go very smoothly. I should have better fit him down. His left foot is floating just a tiny bit above the stone slab of the base. Oh well, too late now.

One last note before I head out to the tournament: The base was an amusing departure for me. I wanted to make a base that was at least somewhat epic for Hoarluk so I figured I'd create a rune-carved slab on a pile of stones like a small altar. You can sort of see it in the picture. I too one of the prominent runes from his armor and from the artwork and carved it into the face of the top stone. It wasn't too hard to do actually. The base is made from Super Sculpy which hardens well enough for basing, but is still easy to carve into with cutters and a knife. He's standing directly on the run though so it makes it hard to see properly without having it up close to look at.

Anyway, off to breakfast, and then to play!