"The way is shut. It was made by those who are Dead, and the Dead keep it, until the time comes. The way is shut."
- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Three of my clubmates and I entered Wyrd's Iron Painter competition this year, and the above vignette is my entry for the second round. I don't normally do display pieces, so this was an interesting exercise. I built the entire base from scratch, I painted it using almost exclusively washes and glazes over a white undercoat (I just painted on a few highlights at the end to finish it off). Bright colours, as well, are not what I usually put on my miniatures. But this really works. All in all I am very happy with the result and I learnt a lot in the process. Hope it fares well; my opponent is a tough one.
I took some pictures as I worked:
![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RuY9h_PqT30/Vw0oAX_oImI/AAAAAAAADHw/JhQzQNKfDQYHIF9YS9LraV4LFu_7NZJzwCLcB/s400/12042016009.jpg) |
The building began with rough shapes. The wall was cast in plaster, the stairs are balsa wood and the rocks polystyrene. A large undead knight was originally meant to stand on the base, but in the end I changed my mind and went with the ghost miniature. |
![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8imilIWR1K8/Vw0oAHzmZCI/AAAAAAAADHs/WPTYQ0OZisY5j-IIILmeIsYLIYx74cFmg/s400/12042016008.jpg) |
I had most fun making the door. It started from balsa, cut into shape and textured to resemble wood. |
![](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7v0-m6lSeys/Vw0n_yF5DzI/AAAAAAAADHo/yGYbtibJA-k7AjWCvxf4ZJyL5Jggq1zUA/s1600/12042016007.jpg) |
The metalwork is plasticard and pins. |
![](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c5e5x8Phlcs/Vw0n_XawiVI/AAAAAAAADHg/u9PMJ_hRg2In0KMSHa4WM6S8iBbUh7WrA/s1600/12042016005.jpg) |
The trees that flank the door are part wood, part air-drying clay. |
![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gu-bj69BqzA/Vw0n-9ZTzUI/AAAAAAAADHY/DyEZ6-B28EQY4OsQmFsSZv4shBqO1WahA/s1600/12042016004.jpg) |
The modelling part is finished. |
![](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0FXEGq7cTgU/Vw0n-p_sENI/AAAAAAAADHU/Cn3fvDZGpD8JYiR96tydirfs82-6CTAfQ/s1600/12042016003.jpg) |
I had fun painting with washes and thin glazes. This is what it looked like after the first couple of layers. |
![](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NWxlP6rOUsk/Vw0n-IhSXFI/AAAAAAAADHQ/FWE0RZ0ngccWVwBGxqpcsYi1q7yU2_NAQ/s1600/12042016002.jpg) |
More washing and glazing. |
![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kvpEYqqube8/Vw0n-l5ZTyI/AAAAAAAADHc/ctG3HgTapDk-_l39oGOCZ_2ftG3DidE3Q/s1600/12042016001.jpg) |
The state of the base before I started work on the miniature. Later, when the miniature was in place, the lower steps felt too empty. So I added some bones. They also gave a darker tone to the piece. |
![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-96wD6npOEcw/Vw_ItOtnLGI/AAAAAAAADIc/x0jaHi30DwAz-cT-5WyPzQ88HFgTCE03gCLcB/s1600/12042016011.jpg) |
The miniature is a simple one. It's one of the Spirit Host ghosts, with a
Bretonnian knight's face and a crown. I added the 'hairs' made of thin
wire and static grass, each glued in place individually. It took a
while... but it was worth it. |
The
King of the Dead was in a way inspired by this
Ian Miller piece:
And the base is an adaptation of the background from this painting by
Petar Meseldžija:
Next round of Iron Painter won't start until April 25th, so I'll have some time now to work on the next update of the Wilderness terrain project.