Dark Elves Sorceress riding Dark Pegasus - Part 2

Darl Elves sorceress riding Dark Pegasus

A further victim of a busy year. I had hoped to finish the final article about painting my Dark Elves Sorceress riding Dark Pegasus earlier. But as mentioned before, my real life required to reduce my spare time in 2021 and my hobby activities and this blog was the first thing I had to silence down. Consequently, I was not able to finish many articles in the last six months. However, things have become better and since a couple of weeks I am back. Time to finish some negelted articles and update some series. The first will be creating my banner for my Dark Elves Sorceress riding Dark Pegasus which I did around one year ago. If you missed the first part of this article, please check this Link here.

The Sorceress riding Dark Pegasus was already painted in January/February 2020. The only parts missing were her banner pole and the banner itself. I took a smal break from the miniature and finished my Dark Elves Warrior Command Crew. With its Standard Bearer I get some additional experience creating the paper banner and thought I was ready for the one of the sorceress. I started designing and painting her banner in the end of March 2020. But my firsdt approach failed and lost the motivation. I concentrated on my unreleased Dar Elves sorceress and Dark Elves Dark Riders instead. With finishing the Dark riders banner I got new motivation and returned to the Sorceress banner end of October 2020. After revision and optimaization of the sketch I painted and finished the Banner. The result was already visible in the picture of my Army Shot in the beginning of 2021. Read here now the detailed story of designing and creating the Banner and see the final pictures of the Sorceress riding Dark Pegasus.

Preliminary Considerations  

From White Dwarf #190

The original Sorceress riding Dark Pegasus came in a box released in White Dwarf #190 in September 1995. Beside the miniature the box also contained a self-adhesive banner which was probably designed by Alan Merrett and painted by Neil Hodgson as most of the Dark Elves shield and banner icons. While I like the majority of these banners a lot, the one from this Sorceress is the weakest in my opinion. I assume the old looking hairy skull should show a stylised hag before blood night. However, I think the icon did not fit for a sorceress and hair and stylised snake ending horns somehow look weird. On the other side the general idea of the skull looking at the brogen heart is nice. But, the banner miss the clarity of the rest of the banner range. Having in mind the parts I like on them I decided to adapt the parts I disliked and design a new version of it, fitting to the banner range. 

Dark Elves Battle Standard

For that I used the Medusa showing Battle Standard. This design became the banner of Ghrond and therefore the banner of the home of the Dark Elves Sorceresses later in Games Workshops Dark Elves history. This made it the perfect icon for a Sorceress. I took the idea of the skulled Medusa head and the original banner design from the Sorceress riding Dark Pegasus and sketched a new banner icon containing the ideas and designs I liked. I started with some simple pen sketches I did during my lunch breaks. After I got a feeling for the otiginal skull design from the Sorceress banner I added the snake hair and the horns from the medusa design. After I had a rough idea of the arrangement I painted one version into the original banner frame.

       

First sketches of the banner design ideas

 

I scanned that version and used photoshop to mirror the icon into the other side of the banner frame.

 

Using of Photoshop to mirror the design

 

This version was printed in a very light grey tones.

Very light print of the banner and its design used for painting

I cut out the banner design carefully and used it for a first try to paint it.

Banner ready for painting

 

 

First Approach

For the painting I cut out the banner as I did with my latest one for the Dark Elves Warriors and started adding colour. Unfortunately, I quickly ran into problems. The paper starts twisting and the colour application became very speckled. What was wrong? It was a different kind of paper I used here. In my previous version I used thicker very qualitative paper with a weight of 100 g because the banner was a one sided hanging banner with straps. The banner here was a double sided one. For that I used thinner standard paper as the banner will get thicker when glueing both sides together. That was the reason it was less stable against twisting. In addition the surface quickly absorbed the water from the colour leading to speckles.

First try and first fail to paint this version of the banner

Probably, with some patience I would be able to save the banner as adding more an more colour would seal the surface and stop further twisting. Moistering the backside and puting it between a thick book for a couple of days would bend it even. But when posting the work in progress banner into my painting group I got some serious critic for the design itself which makes me start thinking to start from scratch. This critic said the snakes of the Medusa head should look into the direction of the heart. It was quickly clear that this would change the whole quality of the banner, as this would increase the interaction between the elements and tell a more comprehensive story.
 

Revision of the Sketch and Final Version

After a couple of days thinking about the needed modifications I gave them a try and used photoshop to rearrange the head position. The new view direction worked fine but the empty space between head and fram further increased. Further modifications were necesarry to make this look good. Therefore, I filled the space with more snake hair and covered that neck part.  

Revised banner design with rearranged head and additional snake hair

 The final design worked well. However, the latest bad experience in banner painting were still in my head. Therefore, I lost my motivation to continue working on this version and put it asaide. It needed a couple of months and some more experience on creating and painting banners to start from scratch. That point was reached after I sucessfully painted my Dark Elves Black Riders Banner. Highly motivated and armed with some new techniques I started that banner anew. 

The Banner was a joy to paint and I had a very fast progress on it. In just one Session I painted a first rough version of the right side. The result looked good but it became clear that the empty space where the shoulder and neck would be situated still looked confusing. Again I used the Battle Standard as reference an added the red shoulder armour from the original design.

The additional element worked fine and served its purpose. However, because the black backgound was already painted on the right side, it became slightly darker on this side of the banner. Having everything together and working now I finsihed the whole banner by doing a lot of detail work in the final steps.

Finally, I compared my final version with my first try and was very happy how my skills developed during that year. That Banner was really a great design and I can´t wait to add it to the Sorceress banner pole.

Comparison of my final banner with the first approach

Final Pictures

As always I cut ou the banner and used PVA glue to add it to the banner pole. Still wet from the glue I bent it in waves to add some dynamic. After the banner had dryed for a day I added the golden edge and some additonal shading to the banner to adapt it to the light situation. Finally, I added some damage in the rear lower corner to give it a bit used look.

Then it was time to add the banner pole to the Sorceress. Carefully, I glued the pole to the backrest. For that I did not used the original knob because this does not fit without bending the banner pole. Instead I glued it on top allowing me to put the banner straight on the backrest without damaging the pole. After everything was done I sat a long time in front of this iconic miniature and starred at what I had created. The result impressed me very much and the miniature was the centerpoint of my Dark Elves Army. She look like a true Herohammer representative of her age, but judge yourself.  

 

This miniature really had a long journey. I still remember that the first one I painted back in 1998 became a victim of black undercoat instead of vanish. A fatal failure and thorn in my side leading to a bath of aceton a couple of years later. But instead of a new painting she was abandoned in a black box of 5th Edition miniatures. The try to make her a center piece of my 6th Edition army failed and she never was finished. I am more than happy that this shame is deleted in my long list of fails. Now she is having her deserved place in my cabinet leading an army of respectable Dark Elves.

I hope you like the final result as well. As always let me know what you think in the comments.

All the Best,
GeOrc

Dark Elves Sorceress riding Dark Pegasus - Part 1

 Dark Elves Sorceress riding Dark Pegasus

It is the third time I am starting this posting and it´s a bit funny that the first miniature I write about in 2021 is the first I painted in 2020. That all is a bit representative for a curse lying on this miniature and indeed we have a very special relationship. But let´s go back to the start, lets go back into the into the year 1999. The loyal blog readers already know that I started late in the 5th Edition with the Warhammer Hobby with this Dark Elves army. The Bestiary of the 5th Edition I got from some school friends was the thing who catched me back in the day. Here the Sorceress riding Dark Pegasus decorated the army shot and the Dark Elves entry. Unfortunately, her box was already discontinued and the miniature was Mail Order only. She was one of the few things I was able to order when trying to complete the range the official way. I was more than happy to have her in my hands and painted her as good as my 20 year old self was able to achive. I painted her close to the studio paint job and was very happy with the final result. Definatly, not good enough in her eyes and her curse was sure.

 

I dug deep in my picture vault and found these two shots from my old website. That´s all what´s left from this ancient shame.

Back in the day I used some vanish to seal my painted miniatures and I made that embarassing mistake to take the can with chaos black instead of the vanish. I noticed it at once, but it was already to late. A multitude of fine black droplets covered a big part of the miniature. I was not much and I decided to life with it. But that fault never let me go. Years later in the mid of the 6th Edition, I stripped off the colour and tried to convert the Sorceress into a contemporary miniature using the Pegasus but replacing the most of the Sorceress by a Dark Eldar Sucubus. A conversion which was never finished and her parts always remembered me her story and that shame. Long before I started the repainting of my 4th Edition Dark Elves Army I had bought a second copy of her to erase that shame from my collection. Again she had to wait. When finally starting this project she was one of the first minatures I had on my workbench and which I started to prepare. It was about time to get her all the love she deserves. But having waited that long, she wanted it to be perfect! The perfect base, the perfect painting, the perfect banner and finally the perfect pictures! Read now the detailed story of my curse to make her perfect.

 

History of the Sorceress

Eavy Metal site of The Sorceress

I am known to do always a lot of research for the here presented old- and middlehammer miniatures. However, for the Sorceress, there is not much that I was able to find out. The Sorceress was designed late in the release schedule. That late, that she missed a display shot in the Armybook. That fit to the working procedure of Marauder Miniatures and Aly as he always designed the Core Troopers first and the Characters later. The Sorceress was then released in October 1995 beside the Dark Elf General on Cold One and the Repeater Bolt Thrower, all presented in the White Dwarf #190. She got an awesome shot together with her Dark Elves Army fighting the Undead presented on the back of the Cover page. Additionally, she got her own Eavy Metal page showing her in all her glory and with a print of her back Banner. The design followed the typical Dark Elves look of the range with big hair, an impressive backrest and a big Banner. Her design shares a lot of similarities with the Morathi description and also used some details of her artwork. Therefore, it was rumored if she was planned to reflect this character. But beside other special characters she never get that titel written on her box showing that even if Games Workshop intended to do a Morathi miniature they decieded to go with a generic Sorceress riding a Dark Pegasus. Probably Alys design was to far off from Mark Gibbons iconic design which is one of the most impressive ones from the Amrybook and cemented her look for an era.

      

Backsite of the Cover from White Dward #190

Preparation of the miniature

I started by carefully cleaning all parts. As always on mounted miniatures keep the rider parts seperated from each other and from the beast itself. The pegasus I glued together. All bigger beasts of this age needed a lot of intensive care by gap filling and resculpting some loss of details which oftern occures when separating the miniatures for the molding process. Therefore, I spent a lot of time to built the Pegasus and to repair everything properly. Because the pose and wing position cover a lot of the impressive beast when fixed directly on a base I decided to place the miniature on a higher position. For that I get a High Elves obelisc from the Sky Cutter set and tried to position the miniature as close to the edge as possible. I wanted it looking like the Pagasus just jump off into the flight. The whole miniature is very heavy and required to fill the obelisc with steel balls to get some counter weight. Additionally, the bottome of 40 mm Base itself was undermined and a steel disc was added. It is balanced that perfectly that it has to stand on totally even ground otherwise it fell off. The adding of the banner pole finally added the necessary weight to stabilize it properly. Here you can see the final miniature before starting the painting:

 

 Painting the Sorceress

 The original studio painting of the miniature was done by Stuart Thomas and the banner by Neil Hodgson. Stuart did an incredible job on this complex miniature to make the Sorceress an army centerpiece. His work is a great source of inspiration and there is not much that I would make different. Transfering his work into a contemporary paintjob would require to get rid of some colours on the backrest and Pegausu which make the project to colourful. The colour choice of the Sorceress itself is timeless and I decided to copy that very close to the original. Because of the backrest the miniature was painted in two pieces but both in parallel. I started this project during a painting weekend  at Mr. Dorns Mansion in Dresden. It was a funny weekend with a lot of good food, some beers and of course miniature hobby. The painted the daytimes and played games in the evenings. The miniature itself made me enthusiastic and the guys pushed me further so I had much progress after these two days.

The first steps of painting on the Sorceress

 

I started with my usual skin tone and with the basic colours for the clothes. Here I used also Liche Purple as base but used a plain version with modification of glazes with Warlock Purple. For the bluish grey I used the old Shadow Grey which is much more saturated and a bit darker is the Russ Grey. Both worked perfectly to copy Stuarts style. It was a joy to see his beautiful colour scheme with some natural light distribution. I moved further and added the NMM parts for the backrest and the sword. Finally I was able to add some colour to details like gems and hair on this weekend. I decided to go with red gems only to stay in my usual army colours. The hair was painted plain white without colour nuances as the Witch Elves wear them. When we parted on Sunday the miniature showed already in which direction this project would go and I was very happy with the result. The monday after I was able to smooth some blendings and add more colours to the details. The sword was painted as her studio reference as a normal one but with some additional reflections. I looked forward to marry both parts and continue the work on one piece.    

The Sorceress after two days of painting at the hobby weekend in Dresden

 

Monday night, after 3 days of painting I was already able to join the parts. It required a further painting session to finish her and paint the back of the backrest. The result looked already very stunning and I had to share some first picture in the social media.

The Sorceress after 3 days of painting.

Painting the Pegasus

Painting the Sorceress worked very well. The hobby weekend in Dresden was very good to focus on her and I rushed through the painting. Because of the fast progress I was highly motivated to finish the whole miniature before mid of February, because the meeting with Aly was already planned and I wanted to surprise him with something very big. Therefore, I quickly moved on and started the work on the Pegasus.

The Pegasus ready for some colour

I started the painting with the body of the horse. I did this similar to the my painting of the Dark Horses from the Dark Riders using Russ Grey as basis for my highlights. Because I wanted it less colourful than Stuarts version I replaced the green scales by purple ones to stay closeer to an overall dark cold look. For the membranes I used my typical leather receipt which is a cold skin tone. It based on Tallarn Flesh (Foundation Colour) which gets shaed with Scorched Brown and highlighted with Bleached Bone (1:1 Mix of Ushabti Bone:Screaming Skull with a tiny bit of Golden Yellow). Finally, the whole leather here membran surfaces were washed with a glaze of Liche Purple. I used a lighter version of this receipt for the top and a darker version for the bottom of the membranes, respectively. The colours worked fantastically together and I was very happy with the result.

 

 

 First Colour tests on the Pegasus

After havin successfully tested all colours the diligence work started. There was need to paint the bottom sides of the membrane and on more wing. Also the second side of the Pegasus wanted some colour. I had a lot of fun with the scales and the hair from mane and tail because the highlights were a welcome variation to the moronic blending of the membranes.

 

After two weeks and several painting sessions all areas were processes and the main work was done 

Even if the membranes were a terrible work their great appearance always kept me motivated to continue painting them. When the work gets to boring I added some colours to the details and painted the face, eyes, horns and hooves. For the latter I based the colour on Graveyard Earth to contrast them from the main colours of the Pegasus.

I love that top view on the wings and I am more than happy with light on the wings

Now only the base was missing. It was only two days before the Tactica Event ind Hamburg and going off to meet Aly. I remember that everything now paced very fast. I hade some days vacation in front of the Tactica Event and used the time to finish the miniature. My wife was already off to visit my parents in law. So there was plenty of Hobby time to finish this project and pack my luggage. Therefore, I have not much work in progress pictures. I took these after glueing the Pegasus on the finished base.

Finished Base with fixed Pegasus. Finally, it holds without the weight of the Sorceress

 

Final Pictures

The main miniature was finished Friday night. I was not able to do the banner pole and the banner in that time and I knew this would cost me some further weeks of hard work. However, The main parts were finished and just in time before I would left the next day into direction Hamburg. I took the time to make some final pictures before she disappeared with the rest of my stuff I would show Aly in my transport box.

 

I hope you enjoyed this project so far. I really rushed through painting her and she was done in 3 weeks only. At this point I did not know that being able to finish her would need a whole year. For the moment I was lucky and it was a pleasure to show this big miniature to Aly. He liked her a lot and his positive feedback was a great honor. She also get a lot of positive reactions from the Oldhammer and Middlehammer Community. Especially, the positive Feedback from Stuart wasa joy to read. All that was motivation to move on with the banner pole and banner but it should come otherwiese.

 
Stay tuned for part two which is all about banner design and Freehand painting.

As always I would be happy to read your thoughts in the comments.

Kind Regards,

GeOrc