Painting: Ana Polanšćak Gargoyle

Gargoyle and Hess Poison-breath.

After a few months of little hobby activity, I finally convinced myself to get out some paints. To get back into the swing of painting again, I wanted to find a pretty simple model, one that I could finish in one or two painting sessions. In 2019, I had a great time testing out some GW Contrast paints on two of Ana Polanšćak’s models, a Blood Fiend and Skull Familiar. I realized I still had a diminutive Gargoyle she also designed for the Harwood Hobbies Kickstarter, and decided it would be a great model to get me excited about the painting process again!

The green was achieved primarily by glazing Citadel Caliban Green over a zenithal preshade.

The little mushrooms were painted with Flesh Tearers and Gryph-Hound Orange Contrast paints.

When considering how to paint the model, I decided it would be fun to experiment with dark green, to approximate it being created out of jade. This would also serve as good practice for me eventually painting some Dark Angels I made a while back. To start, I airbrushed the model black before applying a zenital coat of neutral gray, followed by a small amount of Daler Rowney White ink from directly above the model. To achieve the green, I diluted some Citadel Caliban Green and glazed it over the zenithal preshading. This maintained the color modulation established with the preshading/zenithal coat. I used a little Vallejo Black Ink mixed with Caliban Green to further darken some of the shadows and lower areas. To add a little more color modulation to the green, I glazed a small amount of Vallejo Game Color Sick Green on some of the upper parts of the model, like the forehead and wings. Finally, to do some edge highlights, I mixed some Vallejo Game Color Glacier Blue into Caliban Green. I did not want to simply mix in white paint for highlighting, since it desaturates the color. Glacier Blue is great for mixing cool highlights (Ice Yellow is good for warm ones).

Blood fiend, Skull familiar, and Gargoyle, all designed by Ana Polanšćak from Gardens of Hecate (from left to right).

A chilling bone tree overlooks the jade gargoyle and stalking Blood Fiend.

I am pleased with how the little gargoyle turned out after only a few short painting sessions. I really like how the green looks, and feel I can adapt it to painting Dark Angels in the future. Additionally, It is really satisfying to finish painting another one of Ana Polanšćak’s charming collection of models! Let me know what you think!

- Eric Wier