Hierarch Severius

Doing another side-by-side on this one. Grand Scrutator Severius was the first Warmachine warcaster that I painted. I spent a ton of time on him working on the blending. I remember being very please with him at the time. Today I finished up Hierarch Severius, the Epic version of the original. Looking at these models side-by-side was an interesting exercise. For the purpose of this post I will shorthand Hierarch Severius (who appears on the left) as eSevvy, and Grand Scrutator Severius (on the right) as pSevvy. Unfortunately the lighting was tricky for eSevvy and I just didn't get good pictures, so he appears darker in the pics than in person.

There's a couple things that really shocked me when I took an honest look at the two. The whites on pSevvy are simpler and lack depth, but are smooth and clean looking. eSevvy overall has more of a gritty look to him. The reds on eSevvy are, without a doubt, much better. They have stronger contrast and convey much more depth, plus the blending is much better. However, for the overall model look, I have to be honest and say that eSevvy is not lightyears ahead.

Things that went well:
* Reds - These went great. Absolutely happy with them.
* Blacks - These worked out pretty well. Blending could have been better, but I like the end look of them.
* Brightness range - I'm happy with the overall effect. The blending on the whites was brutal, but I really wanted to put more contrast depth into this model to convey depth of field in his robes.

Things that could have been better:
* Whites - These frustrated me. I tried using more tonal variation but in some places it backfired on me. In the end I achieved the depth I wanted, but the blending left much to be desired.
* Metals - Overall I'm not displeased, but some places they just look unfinished.
* Gems - I suck at gems. I need more practice. On the plus side I used some paint-on gloss coat after sealing the whole thing and that made a noticeable difference for the gems.

Ok, well, it's late and I have a day packed with MKII test games at the LGS tomorrow, so I'm going to sign off. Hopefully it continues to prove a fun set of rules changes.