Feel My Hate!!!! Ok.. not really, but your models will!


Just finished painting up Epic Butcher. I had a blast painting this crazy monster and wanted to share some of my though process behind him.With my scheme clearly in my head it now becomes the problem of translating it to every model in my army. Normally when I paint a model I set a pattern and just turn on the auto pilot. For example I'll say ok the armor is green, check, the shoulder pads red, check, etc. For this project I wanted to deviate from that and really try and strike an overall army scheme. So with that in mind I approach each model a little differently. The Butcher would be my first model I tried to apply this technique too.

Initially I tried to paint all the cloth on the model the khaki color, and then the armor green with the red accents. It didn't quite work this way as the cloak turned out to be khaki as well as the fur. Clearly this wouldn't work so I had to set back a bit and approach the model with my new mind set. I decided to do his cloak green and break it up with metallics so it wouldn't seem so monotone. I did this with his armor as well. I was pretty happy with the results.

The other challenge with this model was the basing. I have seen many an Epic Butcher that seems to be just hanging off his base. The contact points on this model are very wonky when it comes to the pile 'o dead guys. I started by taking some Apoxie Sculpt and building up the outside of the base for him to stand on. I then did my usually basing job for the army sticking razor wire and trench board into the sides. With that done I wanted to capture the feel of the bodies being partially buried by artillery fire, desperately trying to take down this mammoth of a man before he reaches their lines. I ended up sticking some of the Apoxie sculpt on the base in random areas. When the Apoxie Sculpt dried I sanded the base and undercoated him. All in all I'm happy with the way the basing turned out. He still has that essence of being an epic, while retaining his savagery.

The final challenge here was the dead models on the base. I would have to plan out how I wanted to paint my winter guard seeing as a dead one would be warming the Butchers feet! After a little hemming and hawing, then running into the same problem with the Butcher where the fur on their armor would be the same color as the cloth I decided to do accessory clothing black, armor green, and the shoulder pads red. All in all I think it ties in well with my army scheme and will be a great look for my Winter Guard when I get around to painting them.

I also did use some of Games Workshops new paints to do the Butchers flesh tones. Here is the new recipe:

Flesh Tones
Base: Bugman's Glow - Citadel
Wash: Reikland Fleshwash - Citadel
Highlight 1: Bugman's Glow - Citadel
Highlight 2: 1:1 Bugman's Glow & Skull White
Highlight 3: Add a touch of Adeptus Battle Grey to highlight 2 and apply to areas you want stubble in.