Attacking Spira's Orc Mercenary [Bruce]

Sometimes our plans get away from us. When I initially picked up the Orc Mercenary from Spira, the objective was clear: take a break from Warhammer. Really, nothing more than that. The road into Essen had been long, and I was both ready for, and needed, something different. I didn't anticipate that I'd end up completing my longest project to date, nor the lessons I'd pick up along the way.

Oh, hey, by the way, I'm Bruce. You might know me from GitGud, or you might not; either is fine. Ultimately, I'm just a guy fumbling around, trying to improve in the hobby.

Finding a purpose

I mentioned above that the goal was fundamentally a break from Warhammer, and part of me, looking back, regrets that framing. My approach to painting doesn't really involve "mess around projects"; instead, I focus on making each piece as good as I possibly can, treating each as a potential competition entry. On reflection, I think I was burned out and might have benefited from a longer break rather than jumping straight into a bust. In future, I'll work harder to establish a sense of purpose before starting.

One of the first things that struck me when I began preparing the model was its texture. In my head, there had always been an ethereal softness to Spira's work, which lay slightly at odds with the textures and harder angles I found in the bust. On reflection, it was a dumb assumption. Lucas Pina Peniche's work is hand-sculpted, bringing with it the deliciously human imperfections that make his pieces so resonant. This revelation ultimately gave me my practice point for the piece: texture and blending.

Practice Points

You'll probably hear me refer to these more in future blogs. Essentially, a practice point is a key area of your work you're looking to improve or discover on a piece. For my Nurgle piece, it was "lean into your style." For my big robot, it was "dive into scale modelling painting techniques." For Freca, it was "precision." Allocating practice points gives you a greater sense of intentional improvement, focusing your learning and ultimately making you a better painter.

So the bust became all about texture and blending: cramming as much information into each aspect as possible while still ensuring it looked blended and pleasing to the eye.

Initial Work

Something I wanted to experiment with was a chromatic zenithal prime, which I'd heard David Colwell discuss in his interview with us. The idea is simple: instead of a black/white zenithal prime, you go for something chromatic and bright as hell.

The initial priming was done with VMS No Peel Primer Mahogany, my new favourite primer. I then hit it with a zenithal spray of Tamiya XF-2 Flat White (the king of white paints in the airbrush). Finally, I went over that with Golden SoFlat Cobalt Teal. The effect is something I'm incredibly happy with: bright and punchy, forcing you to shift into a saturated and interesting direction. I hoped it would really punch up what was to be a fantastical piece.. 

Paints

Much of my focus lately has been on working in saturated, bright, interesting colours, and my palette has slowly begun to reflect that. My primary workhorses are AK-Interactive 3rd Gens, but for this project I ended up using a lot more:

• AK Interactive 3rd Gen
• P3
• Golden SoFlat
• Golden High Flow
• Golden Fluid Acrylic
• Mini Colours 
• Scale Colour Artist
• Kimera Velvet Inks
• Citadel
• Mystery paint - mentioned later

Why so many? Honestly, I'm not sure, and I think in future I'll need to consider how to streamline my paint selections. Generally, I'm good enough now to mix close enough, and by having multiple mix-ins, I can keep the piece more organic and interesting, always creating crunchy visual interest. I will say that by now I know how to work all of these paints and never felt out of sorts with them.

Texture Texture Texture

Here's a horrible confession: I didn't use a brush bigger than a 0 on this piece, and much of the work was completed with a Raphael 3/0. The reason was simple. It forced me to make smaller marks, to work in the texture and really create something visually interesting.

The effect always took a long time to build up. Between stippling, scratching, and flat glazing, all I did was throw visual interest over the model in layers, working and working until I was satisfied with the result. This is where my eye really helped me, not letting me slack off when a piece was merely "good enough," instead forcing me to continue layering until the end result looked right.

This is hard enough on a 32mm project. On a bust, it takes time, and you have to enjoy the process to keep your sanity intact. Because I was chasing a result and working on my practice points, I felt I achieved this.

Messing Up

I hit a big stumbling block at the midpoint of the project, and what was worse was that I couldn't put my finger on what it was. Instead of stopping to work out the issue, I ploughed on, continuing to paint without understanding what was bugging me.

The answer eventually hit me as I glanced at the model in its little plastic prison on my desk: purple sleeves. The colour is complementary to green, while the rest of the scheme was largely harmonious. I'm not sure why I opted for purple initially, and I regret not sketching out the core values and chroma schemes early on. That's a lesson I'll take forward. Regardless, the sleeves had to go, and in fixing them, I solved a mental block that had been holding me back. Remember: fix your issues early.

This isn't to say you can't inject a complementary colour into a harmonious scheme. Indeed, I ended up doing exactly that with the potion on the orc's back. But there has to be a reason for it, not just a desire to mess around. Make sure your painting decisions are intentional.

Freehand and Fear

As the project reached its conclusion, I was struck by the need to include some patterned freehand on the cloth around the orc's head. But the fear of painting over an area that had taken considerable time reared its head. I'd had similar thoughts with past projects and let fear overwhelm me then. At first, I decided to leave it, telling myself it wouldn't make a difference.

As I continued, it bugged me more and more, to the point I knew I had to attempt the freehand work. Weirdly, what helped me push through the fear was simply using the right tool. I realised I was afraid of messing up the geometric triangles, but once they were in and correct, I'd be fine.

The solution I stumbled upon was using AK Gouache for the initial line work. Since you can reactivate the paint with water, I was free to get the lines in and then tidy up anything easily and quickly. It's a technique I'll definitely use again with future freehand.

Conclusions

With the project now complete, I'm in a strange no man's land I often inhabit after finishing, only seeing its flaws while still acknowledging and appreciating the work that went into it. The model does represent a level-up in my understanding of colour, texture, and application. Equally, some elements, like the shield, are aspects I truly love without caveat. I might come back to small elements before a competition like MPO, but equally, I might not, leaving this as a piece that represents where I was in time.

I wish I had something of a positive note to end on, but sometimes our work is messy, and the outcomes remain hidden in the fog. That's okay. That's life. The work is good. The lessons are many. The excitement for the next project is there.