DuskRaider's 40K Nurgle - An Experiment in Flesh and Machine

[rednekkboss]

The Dark Mechanicus are inspiring. Wow! Just Wow! 

[DuskRaider]

Thank you everyone. Admittedly I wasn't sure about these and I do feel like I rushed a bit at the end but I guess they turned out alright after all.

 

It seems I have somehow either really angered or really pleased Grandfather Nurgle because immediately after I posted these I began work on the Knights. Immediately after THAT I got so sick I've been bed ridden since about now. So another 36 hours lost. I am cursed, brothers. Cursed.

[Chazzmos]

Just absolutely loving the knights and armigers. I'm about to start making some and this is giving me buckets of inspiration and ideas to steal.

 

With the big whitish pustules on the second knight, did you just make those out of milliput?

 

It's actually grey not black. I know my black doesn't look very black either, lol. I followed FW's recipe... for the base color, which is Vallejo German Grey. Then I give it an undiluted wash of Drakenhof Nightshade and mix 50/50 German Grey with Citadel Administratum Grey and apply it in my usual technique. After that, another wash. Then a mix of 75/25 Administratum Grey / German Grey applied in my technique, then finally a mix of about 90/10 Admin Grey / German Grey and do the drybrush swirl. There were some comments on the Armiger that it didn't look highlighted and I agree, so I rectified the issue with the big guys.

Is this the recipe you used for your troops above as well? It's a nice grey!

 

UPDATE: And I really hope you feel better soon so you can keep churning out amazeballs models!

Edited November 12, 2018 by Chazzmos

[Augustus b'Raass]

Stunning work, my friend! Those Protectorate Servitors turned out even creepier than I hoped. Also, that Ualak is my favourite of the whole bunch. :tu:

 

Now go and finish their bases! :p 

[DuskRaider]

Thanks guys!

 

@Chazz: the buboes were actually a gift from a friend, they're from the Spellcrow Nurgle vehicle upgrade kit. They were kind of last minute since the Knight didn't really say "Nurgle". Still doesn't too much and I like that. As for the clothing, it's similar but fewer steps. I think I only did two mixes of the German Grey and Administratum Grey with a final Admin Grey highlight. I wanted it to look a bit different since it's cloth.

 

@Auggy: ugh... I hate bases. I'm not even sure how I'm going to do them. I may just use yhe Sector Imperialis or whatever bases GW sells.

 

I want to go back over the Protectorate face masks and add some more detail eventually, I'm just running out of time now. Currently I'm painting the gold trim on the Knights and then the armour panels will be finished, then it's onto the Gnarlmaw Tree and all of the rust. Hopefully within a couple weeks they'll be done and I'll move onto the Gellerpox Mutants.

[Bryan Blaire]

The servitors you have made for the Dark Mechanicum are simply darkly inspired, sir, and amazing! I hope that when I finally get back to my Extinction Angels, the Chaos Gods speak to me as clearly as they have you! :devil: :lol: Your work is fantastic with a disturbing edge, and I think that Armiger is brilliantly wicked!

[Chazzmos]

Thanks for the quick reply :D  Those buboes look pretty good, but I think I might just have to green stuff over some smaller balls and bulk them out, I don't think I can afford the Spellcrow ones, but they look good.

 

I was actually out and about and popped in to buy some German Grey and then say some 'Pale Grey Blue' which I picked up.  I picked well, as apparently it's the Administratum Grey equivalent!

[DuskRaider]

Hail, my dark brethren. I bring glad tidings and an update.

 

I was split on whether I wanted to withhold any updates on these until completion or if I wanted to reveal all of the progress I've made on both of my Knights so I've gone with both in a way... I'm showing the paint progress on the Gnarlmaw Knight but the other shall be kept secret until it walks among us. 

 

I don't know if I'm the only one, but while I'm modeling and painting my pieces I come up with unique origin and immersion details for everything. This Knight is no different, especially the Gnarlmaw which has latched onto it. There's still plenty of detail to be picked out (buboes, etc.) but the base "bark" is the foundation on which everything else is built upon. The Gnarlmaw's bark "hide" is an ecosystem all it's own, home to innumerable fungi, moss, bacteria and other various flora and fauna. I wanted to convey this in the coloration as well as tie it to the various wooden components you'll find elsewhere in my armies, such as the Fabricator Locum's Staff as well as the various Sorcerers and odd ranged weaponry. These would be crafted from Gnarlmaw lumber, known as "Rotwood". The sap is highly poisonous and the material itself extremely durable. 

 

I've got a long way to go yet, but getting the base coloration completed on the Tree is a huge step toward getting there. Let me know what you think!

 

[Pandoras Bitz Box]

I've been waiting for this since I sent you a message about it ages ago. Looks great man, how did you find incorporating it into the knights back? Also what's your plan for the carapace mounted weapon?

 

I really like the flesh tube exhausts, really nice. Nice placement of the Bell too. What's the "face" from.

 

Looking forward to progress on this, is it your main project right now?

 

...Sorry, that was a lot of questions.

[DuskRaider]

Thanks bud! As far as mating the Tree and the Knight... lots of cutting and fitting. There's little Knight carapace under the Tree itself. I had to sculpt the base of the Tree as the model itself doesn't have one, it's incorporated into the base. The left-hand side of the Tree has cut-outs for the carapace to fit snug on the upper torso as well as allowing the left arm to plug in without interference.

 

There's a lot of green stuff and aluminum foil used to build the base and larger root system on the carapace itself.

 

As far as a carapace weapon? I'm not even worried about it. At this point only one of the Knights has the ability to take one due to modification or design, so it is what it is.

 

The tubes were originally supposed to end in skulls but the ends are simply too small and it would have just been more work than I felt like doing to have it look decent. They're leftovers from the Beast of Nurgle and they match the tubes on the top of the Tree so it just made sense. They'll be painted pinks, purples and blues like on some of the Death Guard.

 

These are my main focus now since they're part of my Call of Chaos vow. Once they're finished, it's the Gellerpox Mutants and then I'm done... IF I can get it all done by December 15th.

[KrautScientist]

Really looking forward to seeing this guy painted! :)

[Sgt. Blank]

Wow! I'll admit I didn't quite understand what you were up to with this until seeing the tree trunk painted - I was confident that whatever it was, it would be awesome but this is better than expected.

 

I think you've done a tremendous job blending the two kits and the paintwork on the tree looks organic and rotted - the texture is a nice contrast with the materials of the knight. Looking forward to the finished product!

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

This already looks a lot better with some paint on it. 

[DuskRaider]

If it makes you feel any better, I'm in the same boat as you guys lol. I was (and to be honest, still kind of am) uncertain about the direction this project was taking. The more I paint the Tree, the more it seems to come into focus however. Believe it or not, I'm almost done with it (the Gnarlmaw), then it's on to rust and they'll be done.

 

Actually, I need to paint the casings on the Avenger Gatling Cannons. I was going to do them in rust as well, but after consideration I've decided to make them the grey-blue of the Household's heraldry. THEN it's on to the rust... the part I hate the most.

[Pandoras Bitz Box]

It's great how a layer of paint can really sell a conversion. Before that l, you can see the work you've put in but you can always have that feeling, "is this going to look ok when it's finished?", Especially where there are very different materials involved. The a layer undercoat and already everything is uniform... And as soon as you have your colours scheme on there, with blocks of colour overlapping married materials of your own design, it finally comes together! (That being said... Im dreading painting my friends Knight)

 

I suspect that yours will be no different, your more than capable, but if you have any doubts, throw some more pics up here and ask fo feedback, that's what we are here for. We aren't going to let you put hours and hours of your life into Fielding a piece of garbage! It's going well. I really like the concept and I'm really looking forward to seeing the whole thing assembled.

 

The only thing I would be worried about it's such a large, detailed and cool feature it will make other areas look very plain. Are you going to have any other things growing on the Knight? Corrupt plants, twigs, or fungus?

[DuskRaider]

Yeah, the paint really helped unite the various types of material together for the most part. There's still a bit of a gap on one of the branches but I'm not worried about it.

 

As far as other foliage... No, this is it. Originally I was going to add Creeping Vines or actual moss but I couldn't get it to work. The only flora on the Knight is the Gnarlmaw and I have some background story for it to make some of the other parts make more sense.

 

As for the Tree making the rest of it look plain? Well yeah. House Makabius doesn't really have flashy heraldry like some of the others, so it's not difficult to make the Tree outshine it. But that's okay! The Gnarlmaw is supposed to be the main focus of the model. It'll still have muted or desaturated coloration except for a few focal points, kind of like the mutated Knight I had done prior. When you look at that model, your eyes are drawn to the corrupt flesh first and foremost.

 

This was kind of what I was concerned with when I left the bottom half just corroded, but it just makes sense. It'll make even more sense when I include the fluff blurb with the finished product.

[hushrong]

The gnarlmaw knight is looking fantastic!

[Augustus b'Raass]

That's looking brilliant already. Glad you started it!

 

Hidden Content

Hail, my dark brethren. I bring glad tidings and an update.

 

I was split on whether I wanted to withhold any updates on these until completion or if I wanted to reveal all of the progress I've made on both of my Knights so I've gone with both in a way... I'm showing the paint progress on the Gnarlmaw Knight but the other shall be kept secret until it walks among us. 

 

I don't know if I'm the only one, but while I'm modeling and painting my pieces I come up with unique origin and immersion details for everything. This Knight is no different, especially the Gnarlmaw which has latched onto it. There's still plenty of detail to be picked out (buboes, etc.) but the base "bark" is the foundation on which everything else is built upon. The Gnarlmaw's bark "hide" is an ecosystem all it's own, home to innumerable fungi, moss, bacteria and other various flora and fauna. I wanted to convey this in the coloration as well as tie it to the various wooden components you'll find elsewhere in my armies, such as the Fabricator Locum's Staff as well as the various Sorcerers and odd ranged weaponry. These would be crafted from Gnarlmaw lumber, known as "Rotwood". The sap is highly poisonous and the material itself extremely durable. 

 

I've got a long way to go yet, but getting the base coloration completed on the Tree is a huge step toward getting there. Let me know what you think!

 

[DuskRaider]

Well you'll be glad to know the Gnarlmaw and various other details are complete, then! I've moved onto the rust portion of this and I'm hating life. Typhus Corrosion absolutely destroys brushes, I hate it with a passion but it's essential :(

[Kor Dalron]

That Nurgle Knight is just so beautifully horrid I love it!

 

And my condolences on your poor brushes.

[Cryptix]

If you live nearby a school with an art program, try talking to some of the teachers there*. One of the people at my FLGS is an art teacher and so I get brushes used by the students but are still good from him.

 

*Please don't just walk onto campus and ask...

[DuskRaider]

I actually buy cheap garbage brushes from Walmart for this reason. Still sucks watching a brush get murdered by a single paint session, though. Painting with this stuff is like trying to copy the Mona Lisa using Napalm. 

[Evil Eye]

I actually buy cheap garbage brushes from Walmart for this reason. Still sucks watching a brush get murdered by a single paint session, though. Painting with this stuff is like trying to copy the Mona Lisa using Napalm. 

I think I might have to sig that last sentence.

 

And yeah Typhus Corrosion does nasty things to brushes, it gets great effects but dear lord it lives up to its name.

[DuskRaider]

Hahaha, sig away! I learned my lesson after sacrificing some wicked expensive brushes the first time around. Then again, I've been told I abuse my brushes by the owner and employers of my FLGS. These guys hand bathe their 20 year old brushes and all this weird crap.

[DuskRaider]

I know my output lately has been... lacking. Life has gotten in the way more than usual and the hobby is suffering because of it (damn you, life). I also know I said I wouldn't share anymore until the Knights were done, however... the Gods are truly conspiring against me. My Typhus Corrosion has run out and I am unable to make it to my FLGS any time soon so I had to resort to ordering online. In the meantime, I figure hell, I'm a generous tyrant, why not share with my acolytes?

 

The Gnarlmaw is finished. Pay no attention to the bells (those which haven't fallen off   ) or rusty chains / oxygen tanks on ye olde absorbed pilot. As you can see, I went very  vibrant with the polyp / anemone thingies and the giant spore pods on the tree itself. Much fluff has been jotted down for these and I shall spin you many a yarn soon enough but for now, take this and let me know what you think. Your feedback (and souls) nourish me.

 

Also apologies for the less than perfect pictures, I'm not at home so I don't have the fancy codex background or anything.