Super Dungeon Explore Vol. 8: Royal Paladin

This is a pretty big day for the Super Dungeon Explore project. As an attempt to revitalize my painting after a long fall of little hobbying, I decided to break my rule and paint up the first of my heroes. My original intent was to save them all until the end of the project, but I think, having painted all of the Kobolds, I can reward myself a bit.

I opted to paint up the Paladin first, as he has been one of our most frequently used heroes. I wanted the Paladin to be distinctly knight-like, but I was worried that painting him entirely silver and gold would keep him from standing out against all those Kobolds he will shortly be surrounded in. Instead, I made his armor a bright ivory with gold trim. 

I recently discovered Vallejo Model Air metallics and I have made the switch over completely. I don't know the chemistry behind it, but it seems to me that most metallic paints look too chunky. I don't think that's the right way to put it, but it seems like the pigments in most metallic paints are just too large. The exception to this seems to be the Vallejo Model Air line, and they have a pretty good selection as well, though i have yet to find a perfect replacement for GW's old Tin Bitz. 

As always when working with gold, I undercoated with a dark brown first, which has the effect of making the gold look deeper and warmer. This is especially needed when working with the VMA gold, as the paints are very thin. 

I went with a very traditional look for the rest of the Paladin, bright blonde hair (i did this using more sandy colors and not yellows), bright blue eyes and a very deep royal blue for the cape and shield. I went back and forth between a very deep red and a deep blue for the contrast color, but eventually decided that blue would stand out much more against the various reds of the dragons and kobolds.

As for the Paladin himself, I used a lighter skintone, which I highlighted and then shaded with Vallejo Game Fleshtone wash. I kept the wash light, and really just enough to outline the Paladins eyes for that anime effect. I was excited, and secretly dreading, painting the eyes for these heroes, which is probably the more accurate reason for my leaving them until last. In a moment of bravery however, I dove in and got to work on them. They actually ended up looking pretty good and being less difficult than I anticipated. I am very pleased with how they turned out and somewhat less apprehensive of the ones still to do.

So, most importantly, did the Paladin revitalize my painting muscles? Yes it absolutely did! I'm back on track now and looking forward to SDE with fully painted models. 

More to Come.

-Nick