I haven't done much hobby for a while now but the new(ish) sculpts for the Soulblight Gravelords have stoked my bloodpaintlust and encouraged me to brush the cobwebs from my hobby cupboard and give them a go. I've decided to document my progress with my new army project, so here's the first entry of what I hope will be a regularly updated painting and gaming log.

As with any of my army projects, I've started with the model that's provided the muse for the whole undertaking; in this case Radukar the Beast. I love the pose and composition of this model so much; he looks so feral and menacing. It was an absolute joy to put together and paint.

I wanted to keep the colours quite dark and desuturated for this army, with mainly browns, greys and slate blues contrasted with pale skin and blood effects. 

For the skin I followed something very close to the suggested recipe in the army book - Rakarth Flesh, a wash of Guilliman Flesh contrast paint and Lahmian Medium, and then layered up with several thinned glazes of Rakarth Flesh and Pallid Wych Flesh. I shaded the feet down with glazes of Snakebite Leather, Mechanicum Grey and Wildwood contrast paints. I've found contrast paints thinned with Lahmian medium (rather than contrast medium) to make excellent glazes for tinting flesh tones and creating decent blends quite quickly.

The metal is Leadbelcher for the steel, and Liberator Gold for the gold parts with more contrast paints glazes (mainly Mechanicum Grey, Black Templar and Snakebite Leather).

The wolf pelt was Grey Seer, with Apothecary White, and Mechanicum Grey glazes, Nuln oil on the darker parts, and then highlighted up with Dawnstone and Celestra Grey.

The blue cloth was Dark Reaper, Nuln Oil, and highlights with Dark Reaper mixed with Thunderhawk Blue, and finally an all-over glaze of Terradon Turquoise for a bit more saturation. I followed a similar recipe for the blue gauntlets, but mixed a bit of Waaagh Flesh into the Dark Reaper and left off the final glaze to give a green-grey tone.

The facial markings and scars are Screamer Pink washed with Barak Nar Burgundy and lots of Lahmian Medium, and the streak markings on the forehead where highlighted with Mephiston Red.

Any comments and critiques are welcome - I'm always open to suggestions to improve my painting, so please let me know what you think.