Sunday, February 11, 2018

Darvin the Bergjaeger

After completing the crossbowmen, I decided to start a new regiment of shooters: the scouts, also known as "Bergjaeger" in the Warhammer Fantasy Armies book.
These are trackers and hunters from the mountain regions of the Empire. They are exceptionally resourceful and much valued as scouts.
Possibly resourceful, but undoubtedly shabbily dressed according to the illustration (let's keep that in mind for the selection of models).


When Pfeildorf is in danger, trappers and hunters come down from the Grey Mountains, knowing that the city council can be very generous for its allies. Indeed, even if the city has its own contingents of archers, mustered among the population, with the support of the Bowyers’ and Fletchers’ Guild, the experience and camouflage skills of these hardened hillmen are much valued.

OK. Considering these few elements of context, I knew that I couldn't re-use the same colors as the remainder of the army (they're not from Pfeildorf), and I also needed to paint them in "camouflage" tones. Initially, I wanted to use desaturated brown and green tones, with a bright red for the tails of arrows (well, not so bright actually). As you can see on the Citadel "Dog of Wars" model, Darvin, the result wasn't very convincing.

Discussions with my pal Haekel made me realise that even if I used different colors, all of them had more or less the same value (or lightness), resulting in a rather dull model. It's easier to see in black and white: check the arrows, the green shirt and the brown hood, we can barely make the difference!


To improve the contrasts, I've given up the red tails idea, darkened the trousers, lightened the shirt and used a colder brown for the hood to make the face stand out. And, although it is barely visible on the picture, I've also reddened the noise to add a small touch of colour.


"Better, but the feet and the trousers are too clean!" said Haekel.

So, here is the final version, with more mud (VMC Leather Brown) on the lower parts. I hope you like it, as this guy should define the color scheme for the whole band.

12 comments:

  1. Je ne connaissais pas la technique consistant à passer la photo en niveau de gris pour apprécier le contraste, et je trouve cela très convaincant. Oui, la 2e version est plus intéressante que la première. Les pieds font un peu hobbit, mais bon, c'est la sculpture qui veut ça. Le visage est remarquable, chapeau.

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    1. Oui, le N&B aide parfois à voir ce qui "ne marche pas" sur une peinture. Pour les contrastes en particulier, ça permet de passer outre ce qu'on croit "vif" avec une couleur (le rouge dans le premier essai).

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  2. Great work--the final version reads much better and would probably look better a lot better at a distance, though the original one looks pretty good in the photo ;)

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  3. Décidément, ce jeune Haekel est a plus d'une corde à son arc :P
    La dernière version est super ! Plus lisible et bien campagnarde...

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  4. Stunning work, Jaeckel. Such brilliant details! Such soiled trousers!

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    1. Thanks Matthew. Check the next updates, I'm planning to add some Talisman figures ;)

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  5. Très intéressante recherche sur les couleurs, instructif ! Par contre je n'arrive pas à trancher, il y à des teintes qui me plaisent sur les 2 versions :)

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    1. De toute façon, il va falloir que je varie un peu les teintes sur les différentes figurines de l'unité : ce sont des trappeurs et des chasseurs, pas vraiment le genre à mettre un uniforme :)

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