Be'lakor, the Dark Master

Last month, I started painting Be'lakor, the Dark Master and I also posted an update about it. Well, it is finished now and I can proudly say that this is one of the best paintjobs that I've done recently. During the past few months, I have managed to paint a lot more models than I thought possible and I am very happy because of that. In the span of 5 weeks, I've painted Be'lakor, Yndrasta and almost finished my Knight-Vexillor with Banner of Apotheosis. I still work in smaller batches (from 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on time available) and I try to keep it consistent as much as possible. The results are definitely showing - and I think I will be able to finish quite a few miniatures by the end of the year.

As for Be'lakor, I really like the model and paintjob itself was fun and very enjoyable - especially because I was able to paint most of the model using drybrushing (my favorite technique). The colour scheme I chose is a bit different from the original one - as I mentioned in the previous update, I think that the original scheme is too dark and you have a hard time trying to visually separate the different parts of the model. In the same time, I tried not to go to another extreme and make model too bright, because Be'lakor is, after all, the Dark Master (so I tried to keep it "dark", but not too dark). Below are the pictures of the fully painted model.

And besides looking great, Be'lakor can be included in several of my Warhammer 40K armies, so I look forward to fielding it (I really want to try Disciples of Be'lakor list). Unfortunately, seems like the most interesting list that I wanted to try in Age of Sigmar - Legion of the First Prince - will be completely changed in the new battletome, so I won't be able to run demonic legion in AoS once the new book is released. Ah well, Be'lakor will now have to hang out with my Chaos Warriors, Knights and Varanguard (and that should be a pretty good company after all :D )

Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned taking a break when working on a particularly complex paintjob and painting something completely different during that break. This was an advice on miniature painting that have read somewhere long time ago - but started using it only recently. Now I wish I've done that earlier!

In the past, I've struggled a lot with some of the models that I've painted, because certain phases of the process were either very complex and demanding or easy but time-consuming (and usually, utterly boring). Also, there were situations when I had time to paint, but I simply did not feel like it. In all of these situations, I usually pushed myself to continue working on the model - but, on multiple occasions, that led to the results that I was not happy with. And it's really bad f you take a look at the model later, knowing that you half-assed it. It's normal to burn out a bit when you work on something demanding for a longer periods of time, but forcing yourself is really not the solution. What I should have done was taking a break. And during that break, you either do something else and leave painting aside, or (if you still want to paint) you work on a different model. There is a good chance that you will feel refreshed and motivated when you return to the model that you were originally working on.   

And that is exactly what I did when I decided to make a break from painting Be'lakor, the Dark Master.

As I have mentioned in my previous post, I really enjoyed working on Be'lakor. I have also painted most of the model very quickly (which motivated me a lot), but when I needed to paint his wings, I had to stop and think on what exactly I wanted to do with them. And because I liked the model a lot, I did not want to hurry. And so - I made a break.

During this break, I did a bit of research on how to paint demonic wings (by looking at a lot of pictures of not only Be'lakor, but other similar models as well) and I kept momentum when it comes to painting by working on Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear. I knew from the start how I wanted to paint Yndrasta and I also knew that I could finish the model fairly quickly. The whole paintjob took 6 - 8 hours (done as multiple smaller sessions over the course of the week) and I was very satisfied with the result. In the same time, working on something entirely different kept the painting (as an activity) fresh and fun. It is important to note that, if you want to do something similar, this "plan B" should be a less complex/smaller model - it may not be a good idea to switch from working on one complex model to another. I would aim for something smaller in scope, that would shake the things up and give you an opportunity to actually finish something. The worst possible scenario is to start working on two difficult models - and give up on both of them out of frustration.

 

So, here's how my Yndrasta looks like:

And since I have figured out how I want Be'lakor's wings to look like - I can't wait to finish the model now!