The Watcher and Zeiren- VIC Diorama

Zeiren is a Wolfen Devourer that was chosen for the Visions in Colour showcase number 8. I decided to do a diorama of him and his arch enemy The Watcher. Click on a thumbnail to see more!

The Watcher and Zeiren- VIC Diorama

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Painitng Zeiren

I did not convert Zeiren as I had a hard time thinking about how to improve on such a finely sculptured piece in the first place. I didn't assemble him until after I had finished painting him.

I started by priming him white, then worked on the main patches of skin. As with my other wolfen, I tried to get an effect of fur on the whole of the model as I feel that the Wolfen and the Devourers should be fluffy all over. I also had the idea at this stage of making him a white wolf.

I discovered that trying to get a white fur effect is probably the most difficult of the whole lot so far- because when you look at photographs of white wolves- their fur doesn't really show up the individual hairs very much.

So anyway, I used Bleached Bone as a basecoat mixed with a little brown. Then used a very fine brush to build up a darker base of "fur" using more brown ink in the mix.

Then I gradually layered on more of the original Bleached Bone mix- adding more and more white- returning with the darker shades where I think it needed it. As a last step the fur was washed in the crevasses with very watered down blue ink.

For the remainder of the model I went with a similar scheme to the card art. Ie. blue silk on the arms and under the armour and red and NMM gold armour with a red sash on his front.

The blue fabric I was trying to get to look like very shiny dark blue silk. For this I used a mix of Blue Ink and Lightning Blue paint. The after laying down the basecoat I gave it a wash of blue ink, and highlighted up from there adding Ice Blue to the paint mix.

For the red armour I used very thin paints- starting with Scab Red, building up to Blood Red- with Chestnut Ink shading in the recesses. I also added some red ink to the paint because I wanted the red to also look quite shiny- so that it looks like enamel. The trim and parts of the weapon I did in NMM gold. For this I used Miniature Paint's Rust mixed with Chestnut Ink as a basecoat.

This was then blended up with Bubonic Brown then through to Golden Yellow and Sunburst Yellow- then Skull White. I also used a similar effect to this on his thigh plates- but for this I also tried out some of the Vallejo White Glaze- so the plates actually came out a slightly different shade- which I think adds a bit more variety to the model.

For his cloak, I used reds again, but mixed with a bit of the Rust paint to give it a drabber look. This was higlighted up using a bit of Bubonic Brown and I also added to the cloak a bit of a pattern (I am trying to improve my freehand work at present). I also shaded the cloak with a very dilute mix of Purple and Chestnut Ink.

Then came the details such as the jewelery and the things on his back- I tried mainly to keep these as quite natural tones such as browns and greens and added some light blues and Jade tones to some of the beads. Some bits were embellished with NMM gold and silver- his Battle axe was also painted as NMM silver at first.

All of the leather bits were painted in scorched brown then highlighted with Snakebite leather mixed with scorched brown.

I also used a mix of this and some of the rust paint to paint the haft of the weapon. The main part of the sheath for his dagger I painted using Forest Green and higlighted this up with adding Golden Yellow to this mix.

His eyes were painted yellow and the nose black I also used Brown Ink to give the face some depth. I built up the rock with a variety of grey tones washed with watered down Purple Ink. I also painted the claws black and highlighted them with a little grey.

Then I assembled him and based him, For the base, I basecoated it in Scorched Brown, then I built up the ground cover using some scrunched up dead leaves and foliage from Woodland Scenics. I also added a branch that I cut from a tree armature. Then came the best bit- adding the snow!

I mixed some of the Woodland Scenics snow with PVA glue so that it formed a paste. Then loaded it onto the base with a sculpting tool. I also added some Water Effects to the underneath of the rock to form icicles.

Then I thought he was finished. but then I had another look and decided to add a pattern to the blades. First I laid out the basic shapes- circles and so forth, then I highlighted and shaded these in blue-grey tones and he was finally finished!!

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The Watcher

 

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This is the second wolfen model I have painted. He started off on his own, but ended up being used in a diorama for the VIC 8, where he is having a confrontation with Zeiren- his mortal enemy.

Unlike most people I paint my wolfen with fur on their bodies- I don't like the idea that the wolfen have just skin like humans, I think they should be fluffy! I suppose that comes from playing Werewolf the Apocalypse- I like to paint them like the crinos werewolves in this artwork- especially by artists such as Ron Spencer.

This one was tricky to photograph because he has such a big weapon!

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Zeiren Devourer Adventurer

A closeup of Zeiren and a back shot for good measure!

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