Tribe of the Peaks - The Frozen Sack Clan (Updated w/pics 8/20/13)

Hey all! I've been lurking around here for ages and thought I'd finally start a painting gnoblog now that I've gotten around to putting paint on my fatties.

Here is a little of the "theme" of the army:  The clan has remained in the highest reaches of the mountains for so long that they have begun to turn into yhetees. Their leader, Bolgrun the Frozen Mountain, and his frost-breathing shamans have found a way to survive the harsh climate and make use of the deadly predators that lie in the peaks.

I want to convey (through the painting) that these are not necessarily "hermit" type ogres where they just stay near the peaks, but they instead descend into the mid to lower mountain ranges to defend their territory. I envisioned the army marching through a hidden, shallow valley within the mountains. Snow blankets the floor and herds of Thundertusk and Stonehorns can be seen milling about the base of the valley. This would be their food stock and armory so to speak, but seeing as how they are ogres and not necessarily the smartest stones in the pond, this area would be a decent distance from their clan grounds, and so they would be constantly afoot to guard it from invaders and other ogre tribes.

So without further delay, here are some pics of my first test Ogre. I have had a good amount of feedback on my local game store forums, but wanted to also see what you all thought!



I know the skin is a bit rough..it was my first time trying to go from a dark to a light across such a wide array (was 6 or 7 layers lol), but I think it turned out half way decent. I was going for a fleshy, but frozen feel. The pants I am not sold on the blue, and in reality they don't match nearly that closely to the blue on the skin. As for the metals, the brass/bronze actually has three layers, but again...craptastic photo kinda washes it all out. This is also my first time doing any sort of snow...so it was definitely weird putting it on there...any tips on that would be great if it looks shoddy.

I have had suggestion to change the skin to just a grey instead of building all the way up to a flesh color, as well as a suggestion to change the pant color, though I am unsure as to what at this time.

I think the skin will look better once I've gotten a bit better at layering across so many colors, but I'm certainly open to any suggestions/tips!


Thanks for looking guys! 

That is a very cool looking guy! Very well done. My only thoughts would be to reinforce the link between your ogres and the yhetees. This is obviously up to you but I think that you sculpted that hair so nicely that you should add more. Maybe some with like a triangle of hair on his back (more natural looking of course). For some (again just some thoughts) you could make them more yhetee like. So get a rat ogre kit and use some of their feet on some ogres, bursting through the shoes. For others, you can use the mouths of the rat ogres to elongate their jaws (more underworld were wolf-e style but still would look awesome). I understand that sculpting skill is required so if you are inexperienced then don't try it. Just some ideas. I really like your snow so keep it up.
Good luck and carry on how you please!
Grum.

Thanks for the reply, Grumfug!

I did at first have the idea to completely cover them in hair, but with as little greenstuff skill as I have, and the fear of them looking waaaay too funky, I decided against it. I did vary the hair between all my ogres, so no two ogres have the same patches of hair.

I absolutely love the yhetee models, and use them frequently (though, they never really do much lol), so I wanted to theme the army off them to a certain degree. I suppose using the terms "starting to turn into yhetees" is a bit vague, but my thought process was that they were starting to grow these thick patches of fur, then next in progression would be the thinness and the elongation of the body. If that makes sense...lol.

Yeah I do know what you mean:). Maybe you could replace a few of their faces with yhetee faces? It could be quite cool. I think your green stuff ability is pretty good and I didn't mean to infer otherwise, just stating that it could be difficult. Combining the yhetee and ogre model is a challenge seeing how different they are, stocky and tubby compared with tall and lithe. I had the idea that you could take an ogre head then cut the jaw off. Using green stuff, re attach it but really open. Elongate the teeth and maybe put some fur on the bottom of his chin? You could use him as a bellower?

Hmm..yeah that's not a bad idea. I might try that with the left over battalion I have. Thanks!

No worries and please post the results!
Good luck!
Grum

I like it but would consider going with either Orange (Complement) or Purple/Green (Harmonic) for the pants. [I personally would go with an Orange/Blue scheme...super pleasing to the eye. Plus orange isn't used often in miniature painting.]

I do like the skin though! Very interesting in starting witha a blue base and working up to a "cool white". I'm not exactly sure what you want for an end result with the skin but I might add either a bit of a light tan or a (very very) light pink to add a bit of color so they don't look so...undead.

Here's a Gnoblar for such an interesting paint scheme, and what looks like a promising start to a COOL OK army!

Thanks! I'm actually going to be trying out purple for the pants tonight. The photos are really bad and wash out a lot of the final highlights...there is actually an almost pink fleshtone as the very last highlight on the skin.

I'll hopefully have the next couple test models done by Saturday and have some pics posted up for you all.


Cheers!

Well, I ended up getting my second "skintone" scheme test model done. I think I somehow managed to take even worse pictures this time around...sorry guys  . I'm apparently awful at taking pictures lol.

I went with a grey skintone this time around, and kept everything else the same. Yes, I am aware the boots look like crap, it's late and I'll fix them tomorrow 




Thanks for looking guys!

That looks really awesome! The boots are a little funny... Otherwise I think it is a novel idea and creativity goes along way towards a good looking army! My only slight, emphasising the slight, quibble is in some few places, the layering is very obvious. Now I only notice as these photos are close up and I do something similar. A way to overcome it is to dry brush skin tone (your special brand skin!) back over the line very slightly. Otherwise it is a very promising model and am loving the fur. Well done!
Grum.

I think the boots and fur need a wash of Devlan Mud (new wash name unknown to me sorry) to soften that extreme highlight you've got going on (and add a bit of color and depth to the fur).

Otherwise great job so far, and keep up the good work.

I think the boots and fur need a wash of Devlan Mud (new wash name unknown to me sorry) to soften that extreme highlight you've got going on (and add a bit of color and depth to the fur).

Otherwise great job so far, and keep up the good work.

It now called Agrax Earthshade for future ref.    Here's the GW conversion chart to help you in future.  (Stuck to my favourites.)

http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m2320032a_Citadel_Conversion_Chart

  Also love the theme for the army of semi yetti's.  Look fantastic.  Can't wait to see more. 

An update!

I know it's been awhile, but I finally have a couple finished things to post up here. Everything else is just sitting with basecoats and washes but no highlights at the moment.

I do apologize for the photo quality...I'm being lazy with these.

I've got the final test ogre (purple pants with original skin test) model, and a test sabertusk, so here they are. There is a bit of light washing from my monitor on the ogre... 



For the Sabertusk I was going for a snow leopard-ish approach, but I didn't really get the whole fur technique down until about half way through, so the next couple will turn out a little better. I hope anyway lol.


Thanks for looking! (not sure why the sabertusk pic keeps getting blown up so large...I shrank it 4 times...

I really dig these. You've got a unique style, stick with it!
Both the grey and the flesh tones look good. The grey is colder, but both are interesting.
That Sabretusk came out great, good job on the leopard spots!

Thanks!

I should have my general done either tonight or tomorrow for you guys. :-)

I think the skin in the last test is brilliant, in terms of neatness and really capturing the feel of frozen and cold But, I do prefer the skintone itself in the second test - the grey shade.

Nonetheless, I love this theme, it's wonderfully original! Can't wait to see more!

JJ

Hey all! An update for you!

I didn't get my general completely finished, so instead I've come to give you a few pictures of my Mournfang Banner Bearer.

He still has a few things to go back and highlight, like the metal and some bone areas as well as some random rope parts, but for the most part it is done. I am debating leaving the banner the way it is instead of possibly mucking it up with a crazy freehand (a really neat and precise freehand I think would look odd, considering the fact that they are supposed to be going feral....I did have an idea to do "cave painting" type stuff on all the banners in the army, but still undecided on that.)

Again these pictures are taken with my phone and in poor lighting...so a lot of the highlights get washed out, but you get the general idea.




Thanks for looking guys! I should have my general and possibly a group shot of the mournfang for you next time!

Awesome!
Love the skin,wasn't sold on the idea with your test model, but you've got a lot better and that ogre on the fang looks great.
Gnoblar for creativity!

Looks awesome!
I'm struggling to get my Mournfang fur to look that smooth, what's your secret? 
I think the banner would be fine as-is. Its clean but it doesn't look unfinished.

Thanks for the kind words!

@Keelhauled: Thanks for the Gnob! I'll put him to good use 

@8bitMummies:  For the Mournfang fur I actually drybrushed it on, but for the areas where it was just solid (like on its rump) I just painted the color on, except watered down.

I started with a really heavy drybrush...it was really more like dragging the brush in a downward fashion without getting any paint off the brush first, and then I lessened each layer after that until I was actually drybrushing the final two highlights on. It was about 6 layers if I remember right.

I really like the idea and the ogres so far. The second ogre with grey skin indeed looks like his been quite a while in extreme cold, but I also like the third test ogre with purple pants and purplish shadows. He is somehow more alive, but still suffering from really cold atmosphere. Anyways the white hair is very nice idea

The fluff is actually so nice it would be nice to make one frozen wanderer as a Maneater for my own army, if you don't mind After Mereen Pitfighter Maneater and Yedi Maneater..

I really like the idea and the ogres so far. The second ogre with grey skin indeed looks like his been quite a while in extreme cold, but I also like the third test ogre with purple pants and purplish shadows. He is somehow more alive, but still suffering from really cold atmosphere. Anyways the white hair is very nice idea

The fluff is actually so nice it would be nice to make one frozen wanderer as a Maneater for my own army, if you don't mind After Mereen Pitfighter Maneater and Yedi Maneater..

Thanks for the kind words! Go for it! I'd love to see it mixed in with some other ogres :-)


I should have an update here sometime soon. Work has been nuts and haven't had much free time lately.