XCIX. The Wilderness Project vol.1

The Cemetery Project is on hold for the time being as I got tired of it. Will continue when inspiration returns. In the meantime I took up another terrain project. Back when I started thinking about building scenery I listed several environment types, and for each of them which terrain they might contain. Like this:

WOODS

• trees
• woods
• rocks
• mushroom ring
• shrine of St. Hubertus
• uprooted tree

FIELDS

• rocks
• trees
• fences
• windmill
• ruined cottage
• rotting wagon with supplies
• mud

Since these two environments share a good number of terrain pieces - rocks, trees... for the building project I combined them into a single category I named Wilderness. Plenty has been done, although some of it was just some extra work on pieces you might have already seen on the blog.

Once again I found inspiration in Diablo III, where I observed the Fields of Misery area and its features. I gathered up a folder of reference photos, too. The overall tone of the Wilderness environments differs from the Cemetery; the colour scheme is much warmer thanks to the use of dry yellow static grass and brown soil. I used two shades of Field Grass from Noch, as well as three types of Gamer's Grass tufts in order to prevent an overly monotonous look. 

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Forests and trees.

A Citadel tree on a scratchbuilt larger base. The base is polystyrene built up on MDF.

The reverse of the same piece, to show the magpie I put on the tree's portruding root.

This is a combination of Wyrd and Citadel trees.

A Citadel Wood tree on an extended base.

A tree from Wyrd. An older piece, but now I've redecorated its base to match the new idea.

A forest area terrain. Another one just like it is on its way.

This terrain has been through a number of transformations in its lifetime.

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Rocks. My process for making these includes use of polystyrene, papier-mâché and plaster.

Rocky outcrop I.

Rocky outcrop II.

Rocky outcrop III.

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Special features. This group is comprised of pieces that are landmarks and/or annomalies in the wilderness. When used for gaming they will serve as objectives or as terrain with special rules.

The Arch. There is something odd about it, and people tend to avoid it. It's a resin kit from Origen Art.

The Standing Stone. This piece was my brother's idea: a standing stone that looks gravity-defying and uncanny. Also, it does have a habit of moving around when no one is looking. My addition to the concept was a subtle face. I carved it into a small piece of plaster and blended it with the polystyrene rock.

Fairy Ring. Folklore warns against touching the mushrooms that form the circle, and entering the ring is regarded as even more perilous. They say it can transport tresspassers to the cruel land of the Fae. 

  

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As you can see from the group shot, the set is shaping up nicely. I'm planning to do another area forest and another one or two lonely trees. A water well and some stone field fences might be a good idea, too. And I could really use a proper, textured and flocked gaming board...

XCVIII. Heraldry and Museums

Some notes on heraldry in my world. You'll find them similar to European heraldic laws and customs, but there are some visible differences. For instance, I decided to omit the rule concerning tinctures that would, for instance, not allow a yellow device to stand on a white field. I am aware this was introduced for practical reasons of visibility from a distance, but I found it limiting. Another thing was that I keep the  design on the shield simple, expelling the heraldic bestiary to the crest. This was inspired by the elegance of samurai heraldry...    

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A coat of arms consists of the colours and the crest. 

The colours are displayed on a shield or banner. Consists of one or more fields with charges placed on top. Charges are simple designs, normally geometric shapes. Most common are molets (stars), losenges (diamonds), roundels (discs), stylized flowers (trefoil, quatrefoil, cinquefoil... named after the number of petals), crescents; bars - fess (horisontal), bend (diagonal), chevron (v-shaped), cross... Every field and design has its tincture. The heraldic tinctures are: Gules (red), Sable (black), Azure (blue), Vert (green), Or (gold/yellow), Argent (silver/white). In the Monarchy the most commonly found heraldic tinctures are red, black and white, while blue is the rarest. 

The crest is displayed above the colours. A crest is a more complex image: an animal, a legendary creature, a person, a body part, an object, a plant... Or more than one of them. The colour of the crest is not heraldically significant - meaning that when describing a coat of arms the tincture of the crest is generally not specified.

I painted some coats of arms in colour as examples.

As to who can bear a coat of arms - it's noble families and their members, countries, cities and towns, highest ranks of the clergy...

In rural communities there is a practice of using house-marks. Those are rune-like glyphs used by peasants to mark property. A family will carve their house-mark on their house and their tools. They will brand their cattle with their mark. Unlike with heraldry there are no tinctures and no crests; house-marks tend to consist of lines, which makes them easy to carve or scratch into wood and stone. 

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I made a trip to Sofia recently. Just like the previous two times I was in Bulgaria's capital, it was rainy and uncomfortably cold outdoors - so I went to a couple of museums instead of rambling through the streets. Hopefully the next time I go there the weather will be more fit for sightseeing.

Етнографски музей в София, Ethnographic Museum in Sofia. The museum is rather tiny, but I was happy to have been able to see Bulgarian carnival masks in person. Some of their collection of Kuker costumes was on display, and an exhibition about the Surva Festival of Pernik was on when I visited. The Surva Festival is a big three-day event that gathers masses of Kukeri from all over the country. Must be quite a sight. Bulgarian Kukeri are mummers akin to Zvončari and other carnival bell-ringers of Croatia and many more lands across Europe (I wrote a bit about them back in 2013).    

Mummer's mask, Mogila village, '90s of the 20th century.

Mummer's mask, Pobeda village, '80s of the 20th century.

Mummer's costume, Veselinovo village, '90s of the 20th century.

Kuker costume from the Surva exhibition.

Kuker mask from the Surva exhibition. Those teeth are creepy.

Bear costume from the Surva exhibition.

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I've also been to the Национален природонаучен музей - National Museum of Natural History in Sofia. It spans across four floors, and includes collections of ancient fossils and diverse minerals; rooms with glass cases and dioramas of stuffed animals and birds; shelves of pickled frogs and lizards; hundreds upon hundreds of dragonflies, horseflies, butterflies and gnats - all stuck on pins and lined up in an orderly fashion, with name tags and all... The usual stuff for a place of this kind. I rather like natural history museums, especially the entomological sections. I took some photos of the exhibits, but since they are all behind glass the results were kind of lousy. I'll just show a few:    

Human skeleton. What I found interesting here are the metal bits that keep it together. It's something I would like to see on a reanimated skeleton - a necromancer giving extra reinforcement to his undead puppet.

The rib cage.

Flying lizards.

One of my favourite exhibits in the whole museum: a heavily armoured white crab of the Parthenope genus. A giant version of it would make a fine monster.

XCVII. St Anthimus, the Knight of the Holy Trinity

Part mummy, part bare skeleton. Encased in gilded plate armour bedecked with jewels. I haven't developed him much yet, but he will be a patron saint whose remains are thus embellished and venerated as a relic. Miraculous properties are associated with such relics. This practice is not uncommon, it occurs in different parts of the Empire. Each year, on St. Anthimus day a procession is held in his honour. Unlike statues, banners and other bones, the saint is not carried during the procession. He walks. That's all I know about him for now.

An inspiring sight for the faithful.

The Shield of  the Trinity.

The saint's eyes are a pair of rubies, and a golden halo encircles his head.

THE BUILD

The breastplate idea, with windows that show the ribcage underneath, came from the armoured skeleton of St Pancratius. I really enjoyed converting on this one.

 In order to make his pose more awkward and "shambly," I cut off his right leg and slightly repositioned it.

The shield comes from the Blightkings kit. Skulls and spikes had to go.

The rays of the halo are leaves of an etched brass fern.

THE INSPIRATION

St Anthimus was inspired by the catacomb saints phenomenon.

Catacomb saints are skeletons exhumed from catacombs on Vatican's command in order to be dressed up as relics of Catholic saints and sent to German, Austrian and Swiss towns. This was done in response to Protestant iconoclasm, starting in the 16th century and continuing through the 17th and further on. Even though they were presented as saints and clad in finery, gems and gold, the skeletons were in fact anonymous early Christians. Some of them might have been actual martyrs, though.

The skeletons are very visually striking. If you're interested in learning and seeing more, there is a book dedicated fully to catacomb saints: Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures and Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs, by art historian and photographer Dr. Paul Koudounaris. More about his book in this ARTICLE.

Another source of catacomb saint images is a series of photographs by Toby de Silva. I cannot find the man's official website, but a quick Google search will get you to some more examples of his work.

Photograph by Toby de Silva.

Photograph by Toby de Silva.

Photograph by Paul Koudounaris.

Photograph by Paul Koudounaris.

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The Shield of the Trinity St Anthimus carries came into being when, rummaging through my bits, I found that Blightking shield. I really like that bit, and it instantly reminded me of this:

From Heraldry: Its Origins and Meaning, by M.Pastoureau.

This is the Shield of the Trinity, or the Shield of Faith. In the above image we can see it in the coat of arms of God from Medieval times, and this book is probably where I first encountered it. The Scutum Fidei is a diagram that visually expresses the doctrine of the Holy Trinity:

Making this an actual shield was a great opportunity for some freehand on the miniature. I had to adapt it a bit, due to lack of space in the shield's centre. There was no way I could comfortably fit Deus and three ests there, so I painted that part simplified: with the ests as simple lines. And the Deus got a place on Anthimus's belly plate.

Different versions of the diagram:

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The idea of these dead saints walking as a part of processions in their honor came from a ludicrous article I came across some time ago. This is probably not the exact text I read back then, but it says the same thing: LINK. Basically, is speaks of mummies in Indonesia actually walking to the place of their birth as a part of a funeral ritual, animated by magic of “a witch doctor”; and it presents this photograph as proof of the claim. The photograph in question is indeed real, but it documents a different sort of rite. Anyway, absurd as that story was, I immediately thought it was a pretty neat concept to adapt and use somehow in a fantasy setting.

XCVI. Podcast Interview

Near the end of 2015 Fallout Hobbies have started a new podcast. The aim is to "discuss new model releases from a hobby aspect, have hobby tips and tricks, tools and tutorials, interview talented hobby painters from international hobby circles." The first episode was an interview with Dave Taylor. The second features a conversation with me. My thanks to Ron Gamble and his co-host for the episode Thom Jason for inviting me to share my thoughts. You can find both episodes on Soundcloud by following this LINK.

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 As a bonus, I present my attempt at a fully scratch-built piece. It was a collaboration with my brother
Ivan:

♫ Do you wanna build a snowmaaaan? An abominable snowmaaan...

 ♫

That's all for now as I'm currently sorting out some commissions. But soon enough I'll be back to show you what came out when I finally took my knife and putty to an unsuspecting Stormcast Liberator.

XCV. Borislav and the New Beast

Happy New Year, everyone.

I was rather busy during the past week and a half with the holidays, so even though I had some new things to show off I just didn't have time to publish. The soldier fellow from the post before this one is now finished:

Borislav, a warrior in service of house Waywode.

The miniature was assembled from a variety of bits. The body is from the GW Empire Huntsmen kit. But I chopped off the original legs and grafted on a pair of cut down High Elf Archer legs. In addition to giving him a different look this also made him a tad better proportioned. The cravat around his neck is fashioned from heavy paper.

Borislav's belt holds useful items, like charges for his rifle. He also carries this small heraldic shield bearing the Waywode family colours. As he is a rare living minion of the Countess, the yellow of his clothing will set him apart from the spirits, and the subtle red and white details (hopefully) make him still feel like a part of the crew. The freehand on the rifle's stock was inspired by richly decorated historical Balkan flintlock rifles.

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This is yet another version of Countess' etheric projection, like the Beast and the Harpy. Counting the ones I made before starting the blog, this is the fifth version of this character (what can I say; I'm hopeless...):

I wanted the design of the head to include both the Countess' face and a wolf's maw - somewhat like I saw on the wolf-creatures in Bird Boy. I recommend you check out the whole comic; it's rather beautiful. The author, Anne Szabla, comes up with such amazing creatures. You can find more here: LINK.

This time the Countess' soul takes the form of a huge she-wolf, her body dotted with wounds that bleed perpetually. The Beast leaves a trail of dark blood and ectoplasm in her wake. This form was inspired by the crest of the Countess' family.

Vérzőfarkas coat of arms, as seen on Mór the Armour. On the left are the colours, and on the right the crest: "one bleeding wolf, tail to the east". I'm planning a post explaining the heraldry of this world in the near future.

When painting, I relied heavily on washes and glazes, using photographs of wolves for reference.

The body is from a LOTR Warg Chieftain. The face is a Slaanesh Daemonette's, the same as the  one on the Countess. 

The new Beast, the old Beast and the Harpy. Which one is your favourite?

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