Abaddon the Despoiler – Warmaster of Chaos
Well, this is it. The third instalment. The tri, in the triptych of pieces dedicated to the most influential character in Warhammer lore.
This is a depiction of Abaddon at the height of the 13th Black Crusade. This is him, fully empowered in his dark regalia, every gift of the dark gods a crown upon his brow.
Before we get into the details let’s set the record straight – this is a fan sculpt and is absolutely in no way, shape or form for sale. No STL’s – no physical sculpts – not for sale.
Now with that out of the way lets look at some of the details of this monster of a sculpt. Whenever you paint an Abaddon you are aware of a few core details – The howling abyss of Drach’nyen, the Black and Gold of a legion reborn, and the weapon that murdered two Primarchs and wounded a god unto death: The Talon of Horus.
Drach’nyen – the end of Empires. The wound at the heart of reality.
This weapon is a big deal. It’s a foundational myth of the 40k universe, and a weapon that can rend reality apart. The controting shifting faces along the surface of the blade remind me of the internal artwork of the Talon of Horus, and the Blafck Legion. I believe this design came from the original Realms of Chaos book, but I cannot find a visual of it anywhere! I believe it is a depiction of the warp, a window behind the veil of madness.
Depicting this blade was challenging. I wanted to do something interesting with the light sources. I didn’t think that it was reflect light in a natural way – I didn’t want it to reflect light at all. I wanted it to be a window into madness, however – by shunting the spectrum out of this mortal coil, it meant that it would look out of sync with all the other colour choices made on Abaddon.
The entire piece is undercut with magenta. This is a very unsettling colour to splice into the colour choices and tones of the pierce. It’s not only unnatural, but it gives Abaddon a rancid quality. Nothing is wholesome, or entirely wedded to this reality any longer.
The light sourcing for the sword comes from above and below, as well as puncturing the eyes with a jump in value. It took me 3 different attempts to nail what I was looking for! Thank god for spares.
Black and Gold Reborn
This model presented a series of problems, like a series of impossible battles to win a war (if you get that refference, you’re part of the Black Legion). Black and Gold – do I go NMM, or TMM? How far should I push the black? As soon as you add a gradient and a splash of colour, you are no longer painting black. Indeed, can you ever paint black? Display/ compeition black is a diffrent style conceptually to army painting black, which would put it at odds with most of the Black Legion i’ve painted so far.
I didn’t let myself worry too much if the armour read as pure black – I wanted to push the surfaces to show off the scars and micro abrasions. A dash of ink to add to the vibrancy and I was then able to play off the colour nuance. As soon as you add colour, you give yourself possibilities – using compliments, warm cool, saturation – a whole spectrum becomes open to you as soon as you add colour.
In the next article we’ll take a closer look at the art that inspired the paint job. We’ll be analysing the NMM and the most lethal weapon in the universe – the TALON OF HORUS.
