So much of House Delaque culture is controlled by dreams.
The dream of awakening, where pilgrims are drawn to the place of revelation.
The dream of light, where lords and beggars alike are stripped of their worldly pretenses and left naked before the great dreamer.
Each dreamer is different, and each truth a different shade of the lord that slumbers beneath the world. This clan is the Dream of Midnight, House Delaque’s agents of Shadow.
Painting Shadows.
The Delaque miniatures lend themselves to moody paint jobs. Cool tones, sitting from green through to magenta – all hues are fair game along this line. However, we have a choice. Do we stick with an analogous paint job to concentrate the emotional message of the viewer, or do we introduce another element for contrast?
Growing up with games like Metal Gear Solid, and Splinter Cell, I couldn’t help but introduce a warm hue to offset the cool hues used in the cloaks. I found the purple/ blue tones complemented the electric yellow of the eyes. To create a tinted, realistic surface I used Tamiya Clear Yellow over a lemon-yellow base. Not only does this beef up the saturation, but it also leaves a wonderfully glossy finish to the lens.
Anyone who paints a Delaque gang will of course love the visuals from Dark City. I wanted to introduce some elements, but not add an aggressive underlighting (I’ve been doing a lot of that recently). Instead, I got tricky. You’ll notice something sinister about the faces – but what is it?
Look at the light source, where does it emanate? That right! The light sits underneath the face, even though there is no obvious source. Like someone standing above a pool at midnight, with the moon reflecting from the surface. The skin was also inspired by corpses left to bloat in water, with puce purple and bruised blues – I do my research, and yes my search history may raise a few eyebrows.
There will of course be a glut of tutorials for these miniatures coming via the miniature painting courses, but I’m taking some time off over xmas, and you still have time to enjoy the advent calendar. Every day a new treat.
