Hello world,
Another post, that means another finished army commission! Back from Adepticon and spring in the air, feeling rejuvenated and that poured into this project. More black! I love painting black. Like painting anything really, but black is fun. Sort of like painting everything as a giant opal gem.
The request for this project was simply "black and yellow." Otherwise the client wanted to be completely surprised by the pictures. I have done everything at this point, from "by the box" to complete and utter surprise, and would say that the two and everything in between all are valid and fun for me. What usually matters end of the day is the person on the end getting what they are after, the foggy picture in their mind they can sort of see and that is just enough for it to be clear in my own. However sometimes there isn't one, or the guy just wants to have fun. I would never push a surprise army on someone, but sometimes it just "clicks." In terms of how they think and feel and our communication. When all the pieces fall together it is a pretty magical thing and unique experience compared to other lines projects follow.
It also allows for a lot of experimentation. Usually over and over in my head, on test models and swatches. Like a giant jigsaw puzzle of color. Choosing the right pieces, seeing if this one or that one fits, In the end it comes out very balanced, all the kinks worked out.
I have been playing a lot of Old School 93-94 format Magic lately, which includes The Dark in it's set pool. The Dark isn't the most valuable set, or start any mechanical or flavor legacies for down the line. When I was a kid though, it always was my favorite set, but back then I never knew why. It was just a feeling.
Now that I am older and revisiting these old sets (although this isn't the first time), having a better understanding I can see it for what it was. A lot of sets have themes, set tribes, story arcs. But The Dark was special because it was really just a big art experiment for Jesper Myfors, and his brain is what made it all so great.
Cards like Holy Light, Exorcist, and of course Witch Hunter are some great examples. It was evocative but also disturbingly abstract. Like a Tool video. Anyway, I give examples of white cards because within that set, white is especially the perfect balance of light and dark. Which was the whole point of the set, to show a little bit of darkness in each color, not just black. Looking at these cards and being inspired by that concept, it bled a little into this army. While the art style of course didn't, the idea of a little bit of dark in the light made sense for an army in this set of colors, so I ran with it.
So, we have a group of redemptive Stormcast. Brooding and dark but Chaotic Good. A little bit of chaos in the otherwise pure knights. In some modelling cases, literally.
Hope you enjoyed, and on to the next one! Which is Ulthwe. See you then, and thank you.
