06/03/2022

Lich Sorcerer

 Another single mini today, but a totally different one!

I got this Lich Lord from a kickstarter campaign by DieHard Miniatures (please go check their web in case you haven't. They have some awesome oldschool-looking miniatures!)

Like this one, for exaple

At first I was unsure of how to paint it. I made a few failed experiments, in fact, but I didn't find what I was looking for. Essentially because I didn't even know what was I looking for!!

All my attempts were mildly old school looking, but it took me some time to realise that I simply wasn't comfortable with the palette I was using. It was too colourful, there were too many colours and they were all too bright. I was making the mistake of confusing old school with colour explosion.

When I came to terms with myself I took a deep breath and simply painted by instinct. I was subconsciously expecting this Lich to look dark, so dark it was. But that doesn't mean grimdark. Well, let me explain with pics:

If I left it this way it would be grimdark

But different variations of the same colour made me feel better

I felt more comfortable this way, using only green. I had been using green, red and blue, and there was not a single combination that worked for me. Once I finally had an idea of where to take the mini, it all was pretty easier.

As an obvious powerful sorcerer of old, his ragged clothes had to look somehow rich, so I improvised some embroidery here and there.

Not too original, but worked for me

I finally thought this was taking me somewhere

I think he's even smiling, feeling fashionable

I think you should see more hues of green than the ones appearing in the pic!

The green lich sorcerer finally looked like this:

Boo!
How on Earth I made the camera focus on the feet but made the face blurry remains a mystery to me. I'm just noticing as I write this post.

Not spectacular, but enough for my skills
 
So let me show him alongside the other Undead character I have:

Undead leadership

Maybe I should start an Undead army?
 
Well, I don't think I'll start a new army anytime soon, but... what is time to such eternal creatures?
 
 
PS: I'm editing the post to provide a scale comparison shot. I'm afraid I'm just using what I have at hand, i.e. a HeroQuest mini, a Bretonnian (so you can see how the Lich stands beside a cavalry unit) and a Space Marine (i.e., the scale of all things warhammer):

Confusing and incoherent pic

It's maybe slightly taller than classic minis, but fits in perfectly, so I'm totally recommending it!

22 comments:

  1. Oh, that mini is so great! With your painting looking awesome!
    Best

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    1. Thank you so much! I'm enjoying of painting standalone projects again :D

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  2. That's a cool miniature! I like the symbols on his cloak. Maybe you should start an undead army...

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    1. Thank you! It wasn't especially planned, but I couldn't leave it just plain, could I?
      Oh, you are a bad influence...

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  3. Excellent work Suber, you've achieved a richness to the robes while still be old and ragged.

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    1. Thanks! I wasn't sure if it was going to work. I tried to paint the trimming dark and desaturated, I hope I achieved a believable effect!

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  4. Badass model!
    Really makes me wanna re-start old Mordheim peoject. Thanks for inspiration 😉

    Btw:
    What's the name of gizmo you used for "Kings of popularity"?
    I cannot find anything which would also show that miniature picture 😒

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    1. Ooops!
      I thought it's alist of others' blogs.

      My mistake 😉

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    2. Thank you very much! I'd love to see a Mordheim by you!!
      About the blog, I'm not quite sure about your question! The one you say is my popular posts, right (I guess boosted by bots!)
      On the blog list widget there's a specific option allowing to show the miniature.
      Blogger recently modified that widget and now it shows just 10 blogs by default instead of the wole list, but I haven't found the way to change that :S

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  5. No ... we did it again! We were concluding a quiet Sunday at home, thinking about how to finish a couple of miniatures that have been on the work table for two months, when we had the bad idea of ​​seeing your last post, and above all to accept your invitation to see the DieHard Miniatures website. We immediately fell in love with about a hundred other miniatures, which we now consider essential to add to our "pile of shame" to be painted. Will it be a severe symptom?
    Apart from that, thanks for pointing out this manufacturer, whom we didn't know and who makes very fascinating miniatures (well, Tim Prow is among the sculptors ...).
    Your lich sorcerer already has a lot of character as a sculpture, but you have managed to give it an aspect of ancient opulence with your painting. Even the variety of dull colors with which it is presented on the DieHard website is not bad, but your sorcerer, with the deep green embroidered dress and the darker tones is on another level. At this point, however, he will want at least an entire army under his command, so I'm afraid you already know what's going to happen ...
    We take this opportunity to ask you the dimensions of the miniatures of this manufacturer: are they 28 mm at eye level? Do they mix well with older Citadel miniatures?

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    1. Haha, then my mission has succeeded! Mwahaha!
      I love their ranges and I guess I'll have to get a few more minis from them :D
      I'll take a few comparison pics during the week and will edit the post, so you can get an idea of its size :)

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  6. We must all struggle with coming up with colors... but you settled on some excellent ones! Great work, and I particularly like the embroidery. Good job Suber!

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    1. Thank you very much! I faced a lot of doubts, but in the end I think it all works :D

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  7. Great looking liche lord,lovely colour pallet!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thank you! The mini is really lovely and totally old school looking, so almost anything was going to work :D

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  8. "I think he's even smiling, feeling fashionable" ... lol :)
    With regard to your wish that viewers could actually see the colors in the photo that we actually see with our naked eye, I feel your pain. Most of us, me included, seem to always face this conundrum. Sometimes after painting something I look at my work and feel good about myself, but after taking photos of it I then feel terrible and incompetent :P :)
    All that being said ... good work Suber ^_^

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    1. Thank you! Ahhh, the despairing world of photography!! :S

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  9. El ejército de las tinieblas, ese es el tamaño adecuado, para una horda de esqueletos. Por debajo de esa cifra, queda pobre, jajaja.
    Me encantan los ejércitos de No Muertos, desde que los veía en los informes de Batalla de la WD. No conocía esa referencia de Nigromante y es genial, para un proyecto futuro que me gustaría poner en marcha.

    Muchas gracias por enseñarla y hacer las comparativas, así puedo hacerme una idea, de cómo quedará si la pillo.

    Por cierto, el “efecto bordados” de la capa, me gusta mucho, en la simplicidad del trazo, radica lo bonito del mismo. Insinúas las formas del patrón, en una capa, con muchos pliegues. Algo jodido de lograr y que quede realista.

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    1. ¡Jaja, gracias! Sí, creo que un puñado de esqueletos me hace falta ;)
      Tengo que ver mis opciones, hmmm...

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  10. Like Foureyedmonster, I too despair when I see the pics I take and they in no way match up to seeing my paintjobs in person. A curse indeed...

    This lich is a fantastic sculpt and your painting made him even more interesting a character. Your freehand efforts on his fabrics add that extra "I'm the boss damnit" aspect to him. I hope he'll lead terrible sorties into the living world some day in your games!

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    1. O and I'd not heard of Diehard Miniatures before! Some really great sculpts to be found! (Just a shame shipping from the UK is probably costly...)

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    2. Thank you! It all was quite an impulse, a "dammit, I've got this mini for so long, about time I do something!"
      I still have quite a bunch from DieHard, I'll hopefully lick some paint on them anytime soon(ish)!

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