Building my first Knight...and creating his legend

[march10k]

So let's start with the fluff...with the unfortunate demise of WHFB, and with my feeling that the imperial knights are sooooo Marienburg in flavor...yet, the freeblades are kinda bretonian...and overall, a vibe of the elite houses of Altdorf, I thought immediately of the WHFB "uniforms and heraldry of the empire" book as a source of inspiration.

My concept is a confederation, not settled yet on a cluster or a single planet, of independent houses (most with a single knight, perhaps a few with more than three) called Neu Altdorf (tongue firmly in cheek!) that has an uneasy relationship with the Imperium, being more on the side of humanity than on the side of the rotten bureaucracy that must with regret be given significant credit for maintaining the relevance of the human species.

My specific knight wears the colors of Altdorf (again with the satire) and Sigmar's twin-tailed comet, but paired with something more near and dear to my real-world heart. You see, my ancestors come from Ellwangen, Germany, which happens to feature a red saltire (an 'x') on a blue field (go Altdorf!) with a yellow fleur de lis in each of the four fields created by the saltire.

To dress up the Comet, I quartered the area in red and blue, just because.

Here's the result, on a leg plate:

The primary color will be the blue, as will be seen in armor plates not featuring heraldry... (like that kneepad...I'm nervous about the panels that don't have edging I can paint gold!)

Edited January 12, 2016 by march10k

[Pearson73]

Looking good, a very striking scheme.

[Frater Cornelius]

Dayum, I like the Fleur-de-lis. The comet might need a bit of work though. Maybe some details? I can not place what I would improve about it, but it jumps out as it is.

[CommodusXIII]

An outline around it (the comet) could help make it pop.

[march10k]

Thanks!  The comet came off as...flat to me, as well.  I struggled with how to give it more definition, and ultimately gave up...I like the idea of an outline, except that it would obliterate the feathered edges of the tails.  I'm leaning more towards some implied depth/texture on the ball-o-fire, but I'm coming up blank on ideas and concerned that I'll do more harm than good.   I'm also hopeful that when people are looking at the completed knight, as opposed to focused on the heraldry on the leg plates, the comet will scream "incomplete" less loudly.  You notice a wilted leaf when looking at a branch...when you look at an entire tree, it disappears!

[march10k]

And...next WIP pic!

The comet's lack of "texture" is starting not to stand out so much...but now it's the blue armor plates with no gold rim sticking out! I'm hoping that by the time the model is finished, there will be enough other things vying for the critic's attention (and a critical mass of flat blue plates sans gold edging) that it no longer sticks out....

[CommodusXIII]

It looks odd at first, but once you have the carapace and arms around it you'll barely notice.

[Frater Cornelius]

How did you do your Gold, anyway? As for the crotch plate, why not do it half blue half red. I think it is less the lack of thw trim and more the lack of red that jumps out. Edited January 13, 2016 by Immersturm

[march10k]

Hmmm...  I'll wait till the model is done, but the idea of doing half of the >>codpiece<< red has merit.  I want to see if the pure blue still looks wrong in the context of the rest of the knight (I'm planning a lot of that blue), or if I'll need to look for additional opportunities to add red.  I'm not convinced that it's the lack of red, I think it is the lack of gold, the blue/gold kneepads look good to me, but I am willing to see if adding red improves things where no gold is feasible, if that's still a concern for me later.

 

As for the gold, it's some cheaptastic acryllic with metallic flakes suspended in it, painted over an undercoat of Averland Sunset.

[Master Avoghai]

I note that the piece of armor on the wraist has a beginning of enlightnings, do you plan to do some for the blue and the red of the legs?

 

Also, the gold seems a little too bright for me, do you plan to make a wash treatment with brown wash?

[march10k]

I note that the piece of armor on the wraist has a beginning of enlightnings, do you plan to do some for the blue and the red of the legs?

 

Also, the gold seems a little too bright for me, do you plan to make a wash treatment with brown wash?

I hadn't planned to highlight the blue and red in the heraldry of the leg panels, for lack of edges, but now that you mention it, it would make them pop a bit more to highlight the borders between the two colors...but I won't likely highlight where the colors are edged with gold.

 

No plans to mute the gold on the legs, there isn't really that much of it in the context of the whole model...yet.  I think it's a combination of the lighting and the fact that the only thing in the photo is the frontal view of the legs, which is quite heavy with gold.  I am a bit apprehensive about the gold that will appear on the forward edge of the top plate and on the shoulder pads, in those, I might tone it down with a wash or more likely blend in a small amount of brown to darken it without risking the uneven application of the wash.

[march10k]

Aaaand more progress...I'm not sure how much of the mechanicals will be visible in the end

[CommodusXIII]

The piping and structural supports won't be readily visible, so it's not strictly necessary to pick out when painting.  However, I do and it looks great when someone takes a close look.

[march10k]

The personal heraldry doesn't go that well with the color scheme, but that's not unfluffy...

I'm thinking half of the thistle on the rear half of the left (as you look at the model, where the avenger will be) shoulder pad, paired with the right half of the quartered/comet shinguard motif, and the left half of the saltire/fleur de lis motif on the front half of the right shoulder pad, not sure what I'll do with the back half, perhaps the right half of a large fluer de lis on a background to be determined, but not red or blue, perhaps silver...

Edited January 23, 2016 by march10k

[Terminus]

I like it, but those leg hydraulics were clearly designed by Slaanesh. Heresy!

[march10k]

It's possible that the knight might occasionally be called to support my 30k army...which isn't loyalist 

 

But actually, my kids picked out the pink and teal colors as stocking stuffers for me.  Naturally, a 4 year old and a 6 year old aren't going to gravitate towards drab greens and browns 

Edited January 24, 2016 by march10k

[Terminus]

Hey, whatever works!

 

Also, your children are heretics. Please deliver them to the nearest Commissariat for processing.

Edited January 24, 2016 by Terminus

[march10k]

your children are heretics

Say that again...

And the GAU-8 is done...

[WarriorFish]

Love the heraldic colours and patterns you're using :tu: Might steal some ideas for my own Knight :)

[march10k]

Snow days make for more painting! Now, just the shoulder pads remain...

[Tiger9gamer]

I wish I had the talent and patience for this... excellent job!

[march10k]

more patience than talent...and patience is reserved for $100+ centerpiece models, lol

[march10k]

AAAAAAAND he's finished!

[WarriorFish]

Well done! Really want to get back to my Knight now, unfortunately I have this thing called "work" to be doing at the moment :lol: How soon until he hits the table top?

[Tyriks]

Man, this looks awesome!  I wish I could afford to pick up a knight sometime soon.  Yours looks awesome!