The focal point, the true expression of a miniature, the face is always a crucial part. A miniature with a badly painted face will never be beautiful as a whole. Since there was so little skin on this miniature, I took the opportunity to get wild on the face. I wanted it to be very realistic, dark and expressive. The splendid plastic pieces of these Terminators helped me greatly. A really beautiful sculpture.
I started from Vallejo Cam.pale Brow and I worked the lights with Kommando Khaki and White. Following the example of the barbarian, I have washed it with reds and purples and then I’ve made his head and beard greyish, to give it the shadow of hair. The most important thing for me was that his face wouldn’t look cartoonish, kitsch or baroque, but instead it should look lived, dirty and very dark. I knew that this contrast would automatically lower the clean impact of the miniature, making it more experienced, more true. The skin tones are similar to those used for the parchments for the same reason The parchments have been made in an easy way and then weathered down much in order to lower the tones even more. These details concur in creating a very definite atmosphere that is not necessarily “polluted” by the amount of drawings. In the end everything has to be functional.
The METALS
The fundamental point is the same: the first thought was that with all the gold nmm on the freehands, I could not possibly add weigh to the model by adding strong metal parts. Having banned the pure golds, I chose a very dark and sober metal, very cyber, worn out in time (but not too much, that would not have been in line with the model). And I have used a dull brass only for small details. Chromatically, the metals have been treated with very light greens and browns, which are barely visible but get along very well with the tones of the miniature. Technically they were very easy to achieve, given their small number . The only party that has requested some more attention was the blade at the end of the banner pole-weapon, as I wanted it to look very simple and well blended.
The colours I’ve used: Boltgun Metal, Smoke, Black, Catachan Green, Snakebite Leather, Brown Ink, Scorched Brown and a bit of Scaly Green to suggest the oxidation, especially on the interior of the shield.