Sunday, July 10, 2022

OWAC V - The Canus Gigas

As promised last time, my dwarf mercenaries welcome the Canus Gigas ("Grey Giant" in Classical), distant cousin of the Helvetus Gigas discovered in the canton of Lucerne (depicted below on one of the paintings of Lucerne's wooden bridges). 

The model is a Citadel C28 giant, holding a slightly converted trunk from the Gargant plastic kit. End of June, I was not satisfied with the result submitted to the OWAC. The fact that I've used an old pot of Reikland Fleshshade didn't help (for some reasons, it became very glossy), and but the main reason is my painting job, definitely lacking contrasts. When you look at the giant using a greyscale conversion, the flesh, the trunk and the clothes have very close values. Not good.

I have therefore decided to touch up the giant after June's entry. Essentially, I have tried to emphasize the flesh parts with washes of  black and dark red in the shadows, and more highlights on the shoulders and the forehead of the giant. I've also darkened the trunk a little bit with washes of dark brown, dark green and black, and reworked the tunique by removing the redish and greyish parts, that were distracting the eye of the observer (at least from my point of view).

All in all, I see some improvement, even if I'm well aware that I should spend more time on models like this one.


Now back to the dwarfs. The Gigas often needs some help to find the battlefield, as giants are not famous for their skills in manoeuvring. 

For the giant herders, I have picked 3 spare models of the Marauder Miniatures range and replaced their original weapons with the imperial wagon man-catcher, the fork of a squig herder, and what I was able to sculpt in greenstuff for the whip.


Now go! Right in front of you, stupid giant!


6 comments:

  1. Your dwarves are lucky, because if they had had to look after a real "Helvetus gigas" of the size shown in the painting, probably a whip, a trident and a *** - catcher would not have been enough ...
    We had already admired the gallery of new characters on the OWAC site, but we find that you always try to raise your already high level of painting (looking at the contrasts with a grayscale is a trick that we will steal from you, know that).
    For the giant, we agree that increasing the points of light is a significant improvement, especially on the face because it draws the eye to it. If we may, a suit made of more colourful patches might not have been a distraction in our opinion, but could actually make the giant's "uniform" match the coloured one of the dwarven army he belongs to.
    We also seem to understand that the giant's guardians do not belong to a single clan, but to at least two different clans: so is the giant a timeshare? Behind it is there the usual dwarven concern that one clan doesn't get too high on the other?

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    1. Thanks Rodor for your keen eye :) I have to admit I have hesitated about the red clothes for the trident holder, but seeing the wooden painting with a red Swiss in front of the Helvetius Gigas, I have convinced myself that it would be acceptable to add some variations in the costumes.

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  2. Jaeckel, that is spectacular work on one of my favourite sculpts of all time. I agree with Rodor that you manage to focus our attention exactly where it should be: on the giant's squinty, ugly, sunburned mug. Gorgeous!

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  3. Thanks Matthew :) Still not totally happy with the forehead, but that's enough for this one.

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  4. Je connais cette tête :) Belle réalisation, le visage est très réussi. J'aime beaucoup l'idée du géant "guidé" par les nains ! Merci pour le comparatif avec les tons de gris, très intéressant.

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