The Chosen of Khorne: Creating the Blood God’s Best

On March 20, 2014March 20, 2014 By James CastroIn Art, ProjectsLeave a comment

Chosen of Khorne: Illustration Process

Though I consider myself an illustrator, I haven’t done a large, finished piece (foreground, mid-ground, background) in years…maybe a decade or more. So it was interesting to capture the process on digital camera, which I don’t think existed in a decent consumer form the last time I did one!

This is the earliest design; I sketched it on a piece of printer paper while waiting for something at work to finish. The design is very rudimentary. The dais looks more “chair” like, and the axe is on the wrong side (I picture Malvin entering left and seeing Kharn on the right for some reason) so Gorechild should be left rather than right in the frame as he sees the weapon before he sees The Betrayer. I was also drawing from memory and messed up Kharn’s helmet design.

The original pencils just for putting in placement. His helmet in the story is said to be in the sand at his feet, so the one thing I consciously altered from the terrific narrative description was to put it on a level of the stone dais, purely for composition purposes.

I stood on the shoulders of Black Library giants to design Kharn’s armor and wargear for this piece. It was fun to put my own touches, like the way the skulls are attached to his armor backpack.

I added some extra battle damage to Kharn’s helmet, just because it was interesting to draw.

The skulls appear as mentioned in the drama: two on the left, four on the right; one with shrapnel in the cheek, one with chain weapon damage on the forehead.

I added the manacles described in the story as being large enough to restrain a large beast or being of great strength. I put in dark tunnels behind Kharn based on the dungeons beneath the Flavian Amphitheater.

Before I started shading I thought it would be easy, just walls and stones. But then I decided to shade every stone essentially individually and it took much longer than I intended…

For so many reasons I’m lucky to have Raven. One of the lesser reasons is she inks for me in our comics! I had to darken the graphite before shading (I drew in 4H). I hate this process because it’s essentially drawing the same image TWICE but worth it to get the desired result.

I accidentally over-shaded the left tunnel and made it seem too short. It took some correcting to get it closer to right. I added the close foreground of silhouetted scattered remains based on the description in the drama. I left it vague but clear enough to be picked out if closely analyzed.

It’s actually at this phase I start to get excited about a composition. The background is essentially one, which means I can start the character!

See the Original Kharn Post Here Featuring the Finished Piece!

As a bonus: I’m also working on a version of the Fleshtearer as described in the story. It may be a single character piece, but here’s the face design I’ve been toying with.

Chosen of Khorne: The Arrogant Warrior King Upon His Throne

On March 12, 2014March 12, 2014 By James CastroIn Art, ProjectsLeave a comment

My Original Illustration inspired by a scene from Chosen of Khorne.

Kharn from Chosen of Khorne — **Click for a detailed view!**

I have to admit that Games Workshop, though they get a lot of stick from forums, has made a great game and created a terrific universe with some wonderful characters. When I first got into the Warhammer world I purchased a lot of used books, old codexes, whatever I could get my hands on to learn more about it and immerse myself completely in the grim darkness of the far future.

During my hunts for anything narrative 40k I could find I came across Gav Thorpe’s Raven’s Flight and regular readers of RevPub might guess why I decided to get that one! That one audio drama, read wonderfully by Toby Longworth, got me hooked on the Black Library audio drama/audio novel series. I’ve got almost all the ones I could find and have a few favorites. Raven’s Flight remains on my top list because of its terrific narrative and the rousing action sequence when Corax charges the Iron Warriors. The Garro series is also a superlative series and Mission Purge was a nice surprise and a great Deathwatch story. Recently there have been some terrific Horus Heresy dramas (Censure is excellent, as was the short Warmaster) as well as some good additions to the Space Marine Battles series (Veil of Darkness’ first person narration is wonderful).

My favorite and the one I’ve listened to the most, however, is Anthony Reynolds’ Chosen of Khorne. In the 40k universe I am a staunch, staunch loyalist (For the Emperor!), which is why it speaks volumes to both the writing and performance this drama, one that is centered wholly on traitor Chaos Space Marine characters, that this one is my favorite. Of all the dramas I’ve heard I don’t think I’ve heard any of them with as vivid imagery and as clear a narrative as this Chosen of Khorne. Not only is the story very tightly written and the settings so clear, but the action set-pieces wonderfully well-described and easy to picture. Not only that but the story arc of the narrative’s star, Kharn the Betrayer, is remarkably well done and, despite my pro-imperium stance I found myself cheering for him as the story went on.

The hands-down star of Chosen of Khorne, after the writing, is Chris Fairbanks as Kharn the Betrayer. Fairbanks’ performance is ferocious and subtle. His Kharn isn’t a wild, bloody brute but a smoldering killer slowly building to a burning crescendo. I first heard Fairbanks’ Kharn in The Butcher’s Nails before I knew anything about the character, but Chosen of Khorne had me running to the game store to pick up a Kharn model that day. Fairbanks’ performance is so good I was even cheering for him over my own chapter master, Azrael, in The Trials of Azrael.

One image in this audio drama has always stood out for me, so much so that, despite years of not drawing large, finished pieces I had to get the image of it down in graphite.

When Malvin Bitterspear first enters Kharn’s lair beneath the arena the setting is described as a gladiatorial dungeon. Kharn is said to be “slouched on the dais like an arrogant warrior king upon his throne” with Gorechild nearby and his collection of skulls laid out before him. I couldn’t get the image out of my head, and so interpreted it as best as I could.

My Kharn differs from the official Games Workshop/Forge World Kharn in that I gave him hair. I’m actually a little tired of bald Space Marines and Fairbanks’ accent for Kharn reminds me of a more-intense, brutal Bela Lugosi so I gave him a bit of a 1930s Dracula-style cut. Not only that but it went well with the description in the drama as his face being long and noble.

I relied heavily on the Warlords of the Dark Millennium to do Kharn’s wargear, taking my favorite aspects from previous interpretations and including them in the design.

One of the most fascinating parts of Reynold’s writing of Chosen of Khorne was Kharn’s outward demeanor compared to the raging inferno within. He gives the character amazing depth and provides clear motivation for his actions, something very few narratives do well. Because of his description and his actions, I tried to give Kharn a look of impassive malevolence, outwardly calm but promising rage.

Anthony Reynolds’ story mixed with the magnificent performance by Chris Fairbank really provided me with great inspiration. This illustration was amazing to work on, and I hope it lives up to what the writer and performer had in mind when they made Chosen of Khorne!

Here’s where you can buy Anthony Reynolds’ Chosen of Khorne.

And Reynolds’ Kharn short The Eightfold Path which is another very personal look at the scion of the Blood God.

Where to get yourself a Kharn model. Some say it’s a little out of date, I think it is terrifically expressive.

And Reynolds’ WordPress site!

Off the Top of My Head: 40k Dark Angels Librarian Turmiel

On December 11, 2013December 10, 2013 By James CastroIn Art, Games, Random FunLeave a comment

This guy I painted the same day as I painted the standard bearer. In fact I may have painted him first but who can remember such details now?

He’s the Dark Vengeance Dark Angels Librarian and GW really showed off what they could do with plastic minis in that set. So much so that I’ve heard that finecast has met its demise going forward. I had a previous librarian, but since this guy was so utterly Dark-Angel’d up, yo, I moved my other one to my little Blood Angels army.

I didn’t follow the exact color scheme used in the Dark Vengeance literature, but it’s more fun to riff a bit right? He, like my standard bearer, needs some serious touch-ups as I can spot all kinds of places I didn’t blend well, but I do like his force sword! Other areas are just things I can look forward to correcting soon.

I actually had two of these guys, but the crew in the sadly closed Woodfield Mall GW store gave me a GREAT idea what to do with my other one. He’s been primered and painting has only just started on him but this is what I did with my other Turmiel:

I altered the command bike to carry an extra Tome of the Long Hunt from the Ravenwing upgrade sprue on the wings of the angels on the rear fender.

I’ve included several other little additions, such as the second volume on the side of the fender, A scroll from Skaven plague monks on the front fender, and a cherub I got with an Empire General Standard bit.

I heard of a few ways to convert a regular Ravenwing sergeant into a librarian-on-a-bike (including using Grey Knights bits), but with Turmiel’s dynamic posing (love that outstretched hand) and iconography it was hard to think of another one that would look nearly as Dark Angels-y.

Once I have him completed I’ll post pics of him, hopefully showing, hopefully, more advancement in painting ability.

Check out my previous ork painting posts for more!

Black Reach

Dredtrukk

Warboss with Attack Squig

Boss Zagstruk

Stormboy Nob on Flying Base

Bad Moons Nazdreg

Dark Angels Dreadnought

Dark Angels Standard Bearer

Off the Top of My Head: Painting 40k Dark Angels Standard Bearer

On December 4, 2013December 3, 2013 By James CastroIn Art, Games, Random Fun1 Comment

My dreadnought got me in the mood to paint more Dark Angels, and I decided to jump into robed characters rather than the standard green-armored tac-marines.

The new finecast standard bearer is a nice-looking model with a great bas-relief standard. It’s what appealed to me about it. The chance to paint the raised relief edges and also try my hand at the robes for the first time. I had mixed results but I was happy with my first effort:

I like the standard, though my edging could use some touch ups... — I like the standard, though my edging could use some touch ups…

This kind of shows how I tried to do the robes. Not bad but it could use some honing it.

I'm actually most happy with the back of the figure and the banner. I like the red and gold. — I’m actually most happy with the back of the figure and the banner. I like the red and gold. Again I need to touch up those highlights…

The base of the banner was fun to try, and I used ANOTHER piece from the defiler to accent the base.

Check out my previous ork painting posts for more!

Black Reach

Dredtrukk

Warboss with Attack Squig

Boss Zagstruk

Stormboy Nob on Flying Base

Bad Moons Nazdreg

Dark Angels Dreadnought

Off the Top of My Head: Painting 40k Dark Angels Dreadnought

On November 21, 2013November 20, 2013 By James CastroIn Art, Games, Random Fun2 Comments

It’s true I love painting orks but, like a lot of 40K folks, I have dedicated myself to a space marine chapter as well. I went with the Dark Angels over a more codex astartes chapter because of their somewhat mysterious past, duel agenda, and their chapter structure. Gotta love the Ravenwing…

Since I still consider myself a painting neophyte, I started painting my Dark Angels with something a little easier than even a tactical marine figure: a dreadnought.

With the big, flat surfaces and edges, and larger areas it was a simpler place for me to try out some of the layering techniques I’ve seen more expert painters use. It also has lots of weapons and mixed colors (though still on larger surfaces) so it wasn’t just a single, drab item but required a bit of creativity.

I used the Assault on Black Reach dreaddy-nought since he’s relatively static and he’d be easier to clean off if I had any painting disasters:

I went with the Dark Angels color scheme recommended by GW: Chaos Black, Caliban base, Biel-Tan shade, Warpstone Glow layer, Moot Green layer 2, Underhive Ash dry brush, with Waywatcher glaze. Pretty vanilla but I don’t feel ultra-confident enough yet to experiment!

I added the red sarcophagus front-plate and weapon details to give him a bit of character, but still retaining the Dark Angels general scheme.

I’ve decided I’ll have a lot of my DAs in 4^th Company, so I used the munitorium “4” and “IV” from the transfer sheet to detail him, along with some extra bits from the Dark Angels upgrade sprue (pretty good deal, btw folks. It’s basically the DA veteran’s kit $14 cheaper!) to make him more Dark Angel-y. I named him “Puriel” an angel described (by Wikipedia at least!) as “fiery and pitiless”

Again, I love basing models and tried my hand at using some of the Forge World weathering powders on his feet and leg armor. The rest of the base is pretty much just stuff from the GW basing kit again.

That’s his big brother, Camael, the venerable dreadnought behind him. He’s just primed (and yes, that’s part of an Icon of Old Caliban on his back…) I haven’t had the guts to finish completely gluing or painting him yet since, as a member of the Deathwing, he’ll be bone white and I want to practice that a bit more before I potentially mess him up!

Check out my previous ork painting posts for more!

Black Reach

Dredtrukk

Warboss with Attack Squig

Boss Zagstruk

Stormboy Nob on Flying Base

Bad Moons Nazdreg

Off the Top of My Head: Painting 40k Ork Warboss Nazdreg

On November 13, 2013November 12, 2013 By James CastroIn Art, Games, Random Fun5 Comments

Since I’m a fan of both Dark Angels and Orks I found Gav Thorpe’s The Purging of Kallidus to be a perfect book for me. Not only does it include a lot of small details on the functioning of a Space Marine force in the field, but includes the two biggest and baddest ork warlords in a combined effort; the mighty Ghazghkgull Thraka, and the wily Nazdreg Ug Urdgrub.

Ghasghkull was and is still the king of all orks to me; his semi-religious role, brutish persona, yet strangely high-intelligence seems to encompass the most frightening combination of ork traits. However it’s nice to have options, while looking over an older ork codex I found Nazdreg is a GREAT option for an ork warlord (if only we could get modern rules for him GW!)

Nazdreg is not only a cunning leader, but also a remarkably good shot for an ork (BS4! BS4! With a PLASMA weapon!) He also has fun painting options, as he is a Bad Moons warboss and can be done-up right in bright yellows and ostentatious decorations.

NAZDREG

The old Nazdreg model is nothing like the current line and difficult to field. He’s SMALLER than most ork boyz, so that’s not an option. This one is mine. He came with his boss pole broken so I replaced it with a different one. Luckily I got an old metal Ghazghkull with the deal I mentioned in a previous post and decided I’d Nazdreg-him up.

I used the older Big Mek head so he had a different face from Ghazghkull that gave him a Mek look without having weird screws in his head. I also liked the smug grin and goggles.

There wasn’t an appropriately massive Bad Moon bosspole, so I made my own out of green stuff. I mounted it on the Lascannons from a Forgeworld Tauros Venator I turned into a warbuggy and stuck a deffdread face on the back. The skulls came from the Chaos Defiler kit, whose bitz have served me so well since I converted it to the Dredtrukk. It’s not perfect but I ended up really liking the look of the moon.

His armor, instead of black with flames, I wanted a bright, blazing yellow. Mostly to make his stand out even more from my Goff models. His custom power klaw is made of the lower-potion of Ghazghkull’s with two ork chain blades and a piece from the Skaven Hell-Pit Abomination kit as flexible spiked-knuckles.

The most difficult, but fun, part of the model was the Kustom-Blasta-X, Nazdreg’s supa-gun. It’s frequently described as being “multi-barreled” but because it has the “gets hot” profile and the same feel as a plasma gun I thought it would be good to make it LOOK like a plasma gun. I sheared off the twin-linked big shoota that came with the model (never cut off so much metal before) and used one of the plasma storm batteries from the Land Speeder Vengeance kit. The little piece underneath is actually a re-fashioned mace head and it has the power supply from a megablasta off of an extra Mek on top.

Basing is something that I’ve heard a lot of modelers complain about but it’s one of my favorite parts of finishing a model. I originally wanted to have him on a telly-porta but I couldn’t think of a good way to make that work on a terminator-size base. So I went with a scene from The Purging of Kadillus that is by far one of my favorites in the Black Library books I’ve read (along with Primarch Corax’s charge into the Iron Warriors in Raven’s Flight, also by Thorpe). If you haven’t read the book SPOILER ALERT!

In the novel, Chaplain Boreas leads a defense of a power plant against an ork attack. They initially succeed until Nazdreg himself arrives and dooms the space marine/imperial guard defenders. Boreas challenges Nazdreg to single combat, and, though he fights as best as he can, is ultimately smashed by the Bad Moons Boss. I like this narrative not only because the fight itself is rousing, but also because it’s a rare instance of orks portrayed in a Black Library book not as comic relief but as the martial menace that they are. Boreas and Nazdreg fight fairly, and Nazdreg beats Boreas through strength of arms, not blundering into luck. This is especially impactful in this book as future Deathwing Captain Belial took a similar beating from Ghazghkull in the novel’s background. I also have a strong memory of Nazdreg addressing the Dark Angel’s leadership through Boreas’ helmet comm with the typical Ork laconism, “Dey’s all dead…”

For my base I have Nazdreg stomping Boreas’ Crozius Arcanum. The Arcanum is made from the handle of a thunder hammer; the head is actually part of the angel wings off of the Icon of Old Caliban from a Land Speeder Darkshroud kit. For the Chaplain’s helmet I used a standard space marine helmet, sliced his face off, and glued on the face of a skull (again, those Chaos Defiler bits save the day!) I then added appropriate muddy texture and various pieces from the GW 40k basing kit.

Nazdreg’s my favorite model I’ve completed so far. I hope I can use him (WITH his profile) in games and I’m really hoping GW includes him back into 6^th edition when we get our overdue ork upgrade next summer!