The Manticore was finished and I will have some photos posted shortly. He turned out amazing, as it should have for the 37 hours I put into as well as the price tag I charged for the job. A little about my "mercenary painting" before I continue, I'm not someone who has a lot of customers, I mainly paint for 2 people and they pay what I ask and don't gripe about it. One nice thing is that they also currently paint for themselves, or have done so in the past, which is nice because they have a respect for what it takes for me to deliver the finished product. I only have two major requirements for painting for someone, the first being timely payment. One thing I feel I should mention is that, I require is creative freedom. I will gladly copy something I had previously done for them or a piece from collection they bought from me. However, I will never paint for someone who gives very specific instructions or "copy their paint job, just better." For example I am painting a what will end up being a very large Wood Elf army (more than likely over 4000 points plus Storm of Magic pieces) and the only instructions I was given (and would accept) was to make them Autumn themed. Just one note to those who paint for people, don't short yourself, your time is valuable as well as your skill set.
Above is my necromancer WIP. I just got the non-flesh basecoats on applied a Devlan Mud wash on him. I am going to be layering on some lighter colors next and maybe do some edging as needed over top of the layering. I love this model as well as all the single plastic mini-kits GW is putting out for Fantasy. I really hope the plastic mini-kit makes it way to 40k some day.
Now for the rant:
Below are two images from GW's facebook page. I saw these and in an instant I was struck with a classic case of fan-boy nerd rage.
I do not deny that this is a fantastic paint job, and very impressive free-hand, but it's not in the spirit of Dark Eldar. I could see a bone based color scheme being done really well, but combined with the green, and the graffiti style free-hand, it looks far too vibrant in my eyes. When I think of Dark Eldar, what comes to my mind is cold, calculated sadism. They may be very frenzied in their murderous onslaught while feeding on the suffering of their victims, but they are not without empathy. They are not stone-cold sociopath killers, who feel no emotional connection to their victims. In fact, they are fully aware their victims suffer and they feed off it and the sensation drives them to new heights of ruthlessness. To them, you are nothing more than a commodity to be utilized as discarded, once you have full-filled your purpose. They know fully that their actions cause great pain to their victims, but they feel no guilt, no remorse, and only wish to continue the cycle over and over again. Now, when I look at that paint scheme, I don't see that. You can pull of lighter colors with them, but you need to have some dark in there otherwise it just looks odd. When I look at that color choice I just see, 80s NY subway graffiti. Like I said prior, the job is very skilled and the free-hand is very impressive, just bad color choice.
Not to took my own horn, but below is a test Dark Eldar Kabalite Warrior I painted, I think this color is appropriate for their lore.
Well that's all for now. I didn't originally mean for this post to be so long, I guess I was trying to make up for the month long gap. Anyway, I will update the page on the progress of the necromancer.
-Dark Apostle Brian
