The Chattering Horde: High Elf Prince Althran

Thursday, January 29, 2015

High Elf Prince Althran

High Elf Prince Althran.

After finishing a unit of White Lions, I needed a break from painting lots of gems and lion skins! I decided to reward myself by working on a couple of individual models, including Prince Althran.

Prince Althran

For this model, I tried a couple of things that were new to me.

Firstly, the gems decorating his cuirass and attaching his cloak are round. Most of the High Elf gems I have painted are shaped liked like a tear drop, so this was a bit different. Also, I went with red gems, rather than green. That meant that instead of simply using a lighter shade of the gem colour, (which would have given me a pink effect) I mixed in orange. I had read about this before but it worked surprisingly well (I think!)

Secondly, I added a couple of scratches to the shield. I'd also seen this before, and after a bit of Googling I knew how to do it, but it required a really, really steady hand.

Prince Althran, notice the slashes to his shield

The technique itself is very simple, but I think it looks good from a distance and adds a bit of story to the model:

1. Add a thin line of Skull White (pure white)

2. Just a fraction above that, paint on another very thin line, the same length, but this time of a darker colour (in this case a GW Calthan Brown)

3. Finally, add an even thinner, darker shade inside the first dark line.

The third thing I did differently to usual was that I bothered to paint in the wood grain to the reverse of his shield. You can see it clearly in the first picture at the top of this post.

For some reason, I feel a real sense of satisfaction with this model! Compared to my painting when I started this blog, looking at this model made me realize that (in my opinion at least) I've improved. Regardless of what hobby you are doing, that is a very rewarding - if fleeting - moment!

Here are some photos of the Prince, in progress.

Basecoats, before washes...