Miniature Monday – Sigurd, Viking
Sigurd is one of those “classic” vikings, long haired, bearded, even wearing one of those infamous horned helmets!
(posting by Antonia)
I’m having a busy week this time so I can’t write much, just so much: I like the sculpt – the helmet may be historically incorrect, but the rest of the gear and clothes have a quite authentic vibe to them. My mini had some mold lines but if I had checked for them it would have been easy enough to remove them as most of them are not in delicate areas.
Dirk chose the colors by gut feeling:
When he started he wasn’t sure where the color scheme was going, so he started with browns and then added detail colors on a whim until he liked the result. Very strong colors, but it works for high fantasy, so – not bad for an experiment! The red was added as a focal color (and to add some gore, showing what sigurd does in his spare time). I like the color of the horns!
I just knew I wanted blue:
I started painting this guy weeks ago because I had some leftover blue-grey but of course I had to finish the rest on Sunday. Like, yesterday. Anyway, the blond beard is a nice contrast to the blue, the details worked well with washes, I’ll just pic out some of the rune details on the rim, and maybe cut off the horns, if I’m already at it. Other than that I consider this guy done. I chose a green rim just to avoid the go-to combination of yellow or white, trying new combinations won’t hurt.
Arjen painted his viking two times:
He wrote: “I like this mini a lot: it has a nice pose and all kinds of details like the sort of writing on the rim of the clothes. I started painting this mini with cool, greyish colors and got the result on the left. I was disappointed as it was somehow dull. I decided that I would do a repaint and remembered someone warning me some time ago that you should stay away from grey colors and for best results should only use primary and secondary colors, and very little of those dulled down colors (like Citadel dryad bark, or paint set B from the Bones 4 kickstarter). I did my repaint using a slightly warmer color for the brown parts, no grey in the paint and I am much happier now. ”
Thanks for your insights on the painting progress/development, it’s always interesting
to read that kind of stuff!
Michael also went for blue, which seems to be a viking staple color:
He wrote: ” I’m really happy with how this turned out, especially the beard. The detailing on the model held wash very well, I thought. ”
Is it the lighting, or is your Sigurd a redhead (beard)? Also a good combination with blue cloth!
Jim was inspired by fantasy art:
He wrote: “I like this mini with the possible exception of the horns on the helmet, but they’re not too excessive. I’m not sure why I decided on purple for the tunic but I like it more than I expected. The bright red beard clashes horribly but that fits the personality of the mini for me. As I painted, I slowly realized I was painting Kane from the works of Karl Edward Wagner as portrayed by Frank Frazetta (Google “Frazetta Dark Kingdom” or “Bloodstone”). Great stories if you’ve never read them.”
I’ll have to check them out, thanks for the info! And the beard is very red indeed!
This week’s gallery:
Coming next:
09/16/19 Bones III Brotherhood of the Seal (B3 Core)
I added some miniatures to the schedule now. We might still shuffle them around, do extras (like “Show me your project!”) or add more, just tell us what you think in the comments!
–> Since reaper re-organized their online shop recently, some of the links might not be working anymore. Until we come around to fix that you can always use the miniature’s name and use the search box on top of the page.
09/30/19 Bones II Mi-Sher, Sword Dancer (B2 Core)
Bones 4 finally! Yay!
Since the miniatures don’t have separate pages in the shop yet, I’ll link to the “packages” they seem(ed) to sell.
Here is the link to Reaper’s page with all the core pieces, but it’s one and veeeery long picture so be prepared for some scrolling. On the other hand it has separate numbers for most of the pieces.
10/14/19 Bones IV Dire animals: Crab (B4 Core) Nr. 55 on KS pic
10/28/19 Bones IV Villagers: Younger Man with stick (back row, left) (B4 Core) Nr. 50 on KS pic.
11/04/19 Bones IV Villagers: Woman with bucket (far right) (B4 Core) Nr. 149 on KS pic
11/18/19 Bones I-III TBA
12/02/19 Bones IV Monsters: Wyvern (B4 Core) Nr. 81 on KS pic
12/16/19 Bones IV Villagers: Bandit with Dagger & Sword (front row, right) (B4 Core) Nr. 100 on KS pic
I added some first picks from the Bones 4 Core Set, some monsters, creatures and villagers. The adventurers I’ll check next, the group was just too large for a quick pick. Any more suggestions?
Caffeineforge 
Very nice. Looks like everyone felt a little blue while painting Sigurd here.
Dirk’s blue is trim to a very bold yellow. I feel like those colors evoke a real seafaring raider kind of feel. Nice blood effect too.
Antonia’s pure blue and mossy green trim makes a nice combination. The colors make a nice contrast with the browns and yellows elsewhere on the model.
Arjen, I agree with your your decision. The repaint does look much better. I really like the blond beard here too. The mostly brown tabard with brighter trim makes me think it’s a coarser garment, meant for warmth or protection more than decoration.
Jim went beyond blue into purple! The richer color means this Sigurd might be a guard captain of some Dark Ages keep.
I wanted a cold feel to my Sigurd, as evidenced by the base (which I thought turned out great too). I’m trying to remember what colors I used on the beard, but it’s more strawberry blond. Perhaps his fearsome beard is fading with age!
So I just want to clarify – it looks like we’re going weekly for a while in October. I don’t mind – I could use the motivation to sit down and paint more – but I wanted to make sure that was intentional.
Also, I believe I heard that October 1 will bring Kickstarter 5…
Hey Michael, thank’s for the heads-up!
As happy as I’d be to paint more miniatures, we’ll still have to stick to one article every other week, especially because the pre-Christmas time normally is my busiest time of the year (I’m doing painting commissions and people always seem to be surprised by the need for Xmas presents :-p)
I already corrected the dates and it seems that monsters and villagers will keep us busy until the end of the year – should we maybe sprinkle in some adventurers or demons? Everyone just tell me if a mini catches your eye.
something more on warm vs cold colors: what I learned was that you should use either all warm or all cold colors, where warm colors will be easier to get a wow effect. Now that i have had time to think about it, what i did wrong with my first version was the beard was a warm yellow, whereas the rest was cold colors (cold being colors with white or grey mixed in, either by the paint manufacturer or by myself). Alternatively I could have mixed grey or white into the beard and it would have looked better as well.
Now looking at the other minis this way:
Michael: all pale colors, works very well. a very cold mini: Arctic circle.
Antonia: pale, but slightly warmer than Michael, I like the blond beard, notice it has slightly less white in there than Michael, making it match nicely with the slightly brighter warmer blue. Denmark.
Jim: bright orange with bright purple: a very different feel, more warmth, passion. This is a southern viking from Normandy or even Kiev.
Now Dirk has a viking that has a lesser version of my problem: the yellow and blue of the main garment are nice and bright, whereas the beard and trousers are colder, making the mini not quite come together. I like the choice of bright yellow, it is a difficult color to use and therefore nice to set yourself a challenge. But this mini shows why bright yellow is a challenge: you should be very bold in your other color choices. The reason why Dirk still pulled it off is that the total area of cold colors is relatively small compared to the bright colors. In my mini it was the other way around (lots of cold with a small bright beard) and somehow that clashes much more. I think Dirk’s must be a travelling Viking from Norway all the way to Spain.
That’s a very interesting way of analysing the color schemes! Even with travel destinations 😉
I read that in metal miniatures, even the undercoat can influence the color temperature, like if you use a stark white or more of a yellowish one. Of course most of us don’t undercoat Bones miniatures, but I’m sure that, as you said, mixing a bit of white in every used paint would unify the whole result strongly.
And yes Michael, October:
https://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/87882-reapercon-2019-pictures/&page=8
preview photos from kickstarter 5 minis!
I’m really curious how they’ll do international shipping this time, with the still-looming Brexit…
But all that aside I’m really looking forward to a new KS campaign, even if we can’t (or shouldn’t) pledge that much I always enjoy the rush and the comment section 😀
I loved reading everyone else’s comments! Both about their own as well as others’ minis. It is interesting that we tended toward similar (but not the same) colors. I’ll admit I considered almost all of everyone else’s color combos!
Instead of colors and geography, I’m going to give my opinion on expressions or attitude:
Dirk: Intimidating and determined. He has just demonstrated that he means business!
Antonia: Enigmatic, mysterious, and unreadable. Who knows what he intends?
Arjen: Angry but ready to stand his ground.
Michael: Energetic, confident, and looking for action.
Me: Stoic, maybe even a little cynical or world-weary.
Per all the commets, I’ve decided that my Sigurd is indeed a Rus Viking, perhaps from Kiev, who has spent some time even further south. Perhaps he was in Byzantine sevice in Constantinople, but now he is back in his homeland and a respected leader. He must have done well in the south: Purple fabric is rare and difficult to come by. Perhaps his tunic is even made of silk?