Valten - Exalted of Sigmar

Finally I am happy to post the first miniature painted in 2022!

I have not been painting much lately, and when I did, progress was extremely slow. I really do not know why, but the mojo was not flowing as it used to.

Only lately I have been inclined to paint again, so I am hoping I will get a nice streak the next few months.

This miniature was released in 2003 so it can already be considered oldhammer I think, although for me it will always be "quite new". This one is the old metal version and not the slightly new Finecast model, it is out of print for a while and I believe it is still quite sought after.

It has been sitting on my pile of shame for years, but not since 2003, I believe I got him somewhere around 2016 or so.

For this miniature I wanted to push my limits and spend as much time as I felt I needed for each component. That is why I chose NMM and not TMM for the metals, since I know using NMM is way out of my comfort zone and the only way to get better at it is practice.

I have spent countless hours watching videos on how to paint, streaming sessions and reading tutorials and one thing became clear about my own technique, aside from the fact that I am not a very good painter: I do not have enough contrast on my miniatures. As a result, they usually end up looking quite bland and are rarely an eye-catcher. Therefore, I decided to go for more contrast, use zenital lighting, and in general paint with lighter, brighter colours.

In the end I am quite happy with the result, it really stands out next to my other Fantasy Characters which are way darker. Still, the transitions are not as smooth as they should be, the NMM is poorly executed and I chose wrong colours for the red/brown leather. I am quite happy on the other hand with the work on the horse's skin and eyes, which is something I usually do not enjoy much.

Here are the final pictures, which vary wildly in quality, as I am a very poor photographer. A few with black and a few with white backdrop, as it really changes the colours of the miniature.

Painted in 2022