Miniature Monday – Horned Hunter
Right out of the realm of legends and lore we are set to paint the Horned Hunter.
(posting by Antonia)
This week’s mini was a request, and when I read it I realized we long had the figure on our “to do” pile from Bones II. The design is relatively simple but really kind of classic, and I like the pose and silhouette very much. It reminds me of a medieval illumination or something alike.
Material-wise the mini was easy to work with, with the removable quill/sword piece it was possible to paint it separately – I simply glued it onto a toothpick for that.
I drew my inspiration vaguely by arthurian or celtic legends:
I pictured the Hunter as some grim guardian spirit of the woods, so I used mostly greens and browns. I don’t remember why, but I decided to use rather pale and mute colors again, and I quite like the result, realistic and balanced. Overall I might use a bit dark shade/wash to add a bit more contrast here and there, we’ll see. While painting I didn’t realize what the symbol on the belly piece is, but of course it’s a tree, right? A bit in the “wonky palm tree” direction but still, as a guardian of the woods I guess that’s fairly obvoius. So maybe I’ll work on that part too to make the symbol a bit more visible.
Dirk wanted to go full-on Blanchitsu:
In case you’ve never heard it, the team “Blanchitsu” means a painting style emulating or inspired by the works of GW artist John Blanche. These show a very reduced color palette, mostly just browns, red and yellow, painted in a grimey, dirty way, often as watercolor. Therefore Dirks mini really looks like a Warhammer illustration, including glowing eyes and a slaneesh icon on an added shoulder pad. I really love how his small, smooth conversions (sword, pauldron and position of the head) give the mini a really special look. Compare to my low contrast paintjob, amazing how much difference the technique and style can make!
Arjen gave himself a challenge this time:
He wrote: “Last time I used what felt like the obvious colors for the Valkyrie. Now with the horned hunter, the obvious choice is to paint him somewhat demonic, so this week I challenged myself to paint it NOT with the obvious choices, but different from all examples available on the net. I wanted no blacks or reds to keep away from demonic, decided fey was an option (why else the horns and hooves?), so chose browns and greens. Then I thought a hunter should have camouflage, but I did not want it looking army style, so I ended up with white patterns like some African tribes use.
Technical execution is a bit sloppy in places (the color shading on the loincloth is too little and even less visible in the photo, gems on the bracers do not pop out, drybush on the hairs on his legs is too wet/heavy, no work on the base yet, and so on), but I am happy with the look and feel of the mini and I think I passed my own challenge.”
I agree, and I’m surprised how different both of our minis look, considering we started with the same idea – I love the intense brown and vibrant green, and the white camouflage/war paint gives great contrast!
Michael made his Hunter a fey:
He wrote “I tried to make him look very much like an Archfey; he carries no iron or steel, only copper and silver (I added a touch of verdigris to the copper bits), and his horn might be wood, or it might be antler. I gave his dark skin a green wash as well.
I think I might have done a little better on his sword and quiver, but I was running a little low on patience there, especially because the fronts of them were difficult to get to, owing to the horns and arm.”
Good idea with the green wash! Something like this can bring together all areas of a miniature and give it a nice overall flavor. The copper works well with the green, and I really like the red gem on the sword! As I said above, consider removing the quiver/scabbard next time, it really helps a lot it painting it.
Jim liked the mini but wonders how to use it:
He said: “This one was kind of fun! I’m not sure if he’s good or evil, divine or mortal, or just how to use him, if at all. I really hope everyone shares some ideas. Anyway, It was a fun paint with yet another slightly restricted color palette that came out fairly well. I’ve been disappointed with my photography for the last several minis and after I took this one I started looking at my “auto” settings on my camera. I think I found a couple of things that were not ideal, so if I get a chance to take another pic I’ll send it along as a replacement.”
I also enjoy painting with a reduced palette, it can result in very balanced color schemes like that on your mini, Jim! The earthy tones work well together, and the whole thing gives me a bit of an “ancient greece” vibe, I bet it would also look great on a satyr or minotaur! Concerning the camera – do you maybe have a manual, or can look the model type up on the net? Somehow you can find ideas for a perfect setting there.
About my use for the mini – I honestly don’t know. Maybe Dirk can use it as an encounter in our Forgotten Realms D&D campaign, because for sure I don’t want to meet his grim Slaneeshi version there!
Have our other painters or maybe our readers any suggestions how one could use the Horned Hunter? I heard he is a monster/NPC from Pathfinder but didn’t get around to look him up.
This week’s gallery:
Coming next:
10/29/18 Bones III Hobageddon: Hobgoblin warriors (B3 Core)
(I added some of your suggestions already, I might shuffle them around a bit, but keep them coming! For some minis there are no pics in the online shop yet so I’ll add them later.
11/12/18 Bones III Elven Blacksmith (B3 Core)
11/26/18 Bones II Bat Demon (B2 Core)
12/10/18 Bones III Blood Hoof, Minotaur (B3 Core)
12/24/18 Christmas break
12/31/18 New Year’s break
01/07/19 Bones III Christina, Female Cleric (B3 Core)
01/21/19 Bones II Cuth Wolfson, Barbarian (B2 Core)
02/04/19 Bones III Wild West of Oz Wicked Witch plus Monkey* (B3 Core)
*they sell them in packs of three (obviously) but in the KS there was only one piece
02/18/19 Bones II Dub Bullock, Rogue (B2 Core)
Caffeineforge 
I thought I had a very original idea…but look, we have three minis with a green loincloth, a brown torso and a copper helmet. Mike has something on his mini’s body that looks like camouflage as well. It must be that great minds think alike 🙂 .
Great freehand on the horns, Dirk.
Love the conversion with the big old sword and chaos shoulderpad…
Might copy it.
Great job everybody.
Feel free to do it! I thought he would give an excellent chaos barbarian…
I’m going with Arjen’s Great Minds theory! Except for Dirk’s radical departure, the minis look similar without being exactly the same. I like all of them.
Mine ended up as a cross between Pan, Cernunnos, Herne the Hunter and the Master of the Wild Hunt. I think the bronze pushes him towards a Greek look, but I’m not sure about that palm tree! I also forgot to put the sword and quiver back on before I took the pic. Oops! In the end, I would use him as a semi-divine/immortal woodland guardian, perhaps an NPC that is a plot device or a deus ex machina.
As far as my camera work is concerned, the short answer is: LIGHT! The longer version is that I have been lazy about my setup lately and taking pics in low light conditions. It really isn’t the camera’s fault at all other than I had been using it for other purposes and hadn’t changed some settings back. I really should buy or build a better setup, but it always seems to be a low priority item for me.
Ever since these were posted (and kudos on the posting job the last two times!), I’ve been internally laughing at how 4/5 followed the same color themes. Mine and Antonia’s especially look very similar to one another, but they’re all great. Dirk’s conversion looks incredible, but among all the changes, I’d like to highlight the paint job on the skin and the glowing eyes. Those really give this guy a different feel than the fey creature most of the rest of us depicted.
I always think I ought to try more conversions and use outside-the-box thinking, but often don’t plan them out in advance enough and just need to start painting. I’ve got a few ideas for some minis not on the current schedule, though.