Defender of the Brew

So I thought I'd share one of my older models this week: The Defender of the Brew.

I won this Empire character at Alamo in 2009 and never planned to use it for anything. On a whim I decided to paint it up for then-BoLS con in 2010. I was still only just figuring out painting; I was using Wal-Mart brushes instead of the Winsor-Newton Series 7s I use now, and I had no idea how to highlight red without it turning pink. The only skill I felt confident in showing off was non-metallic metal, which I slathered across every surface I could. This was also the year I said I wasn't going to bother with basing, so he just has flock glued there. I painted it in a hotel room while on the road for business, just using the paints I had brought along. 

To give the model some kind of narrative, when I got home I carved a hillside out of foam and put some barrels on top of it. I did this almost as an afterthought, knowing the model was only going to be judged on its own and the display didn't matter, but I loved the result. The seeds for my 2013 Orc army - and the name of this blog - were planted in this model.

Looking back at it, this model goes to what I'd call my tabletop standard now. The red needs another highlight or two, he has lazy eye syndrome, and the sash should have been some kind of neat freehand tartan effect. The NMM is solid - not spectacular, but solid - and the barrels are only half highlighted compared to what I do now. The basing makes me shudder. Another few hours of work really would have helped this guy out.

Still, it was a fun concept, and I thought it worth sharing. Enjoy!