Vogtemanne – Painted

by Toni

The third main character for my Pilgrym setup is now finished along with couple of extras. Without any further forewords, meet Vogtemanne and the Twins.

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jocoff_essell
The original illustration of Vogtemanne.

I had pretty clear vision of the colour scheme for this one. The previous two characters, Adsum and Imettäjä, both had tri-colour combination used as a main frame – white, red and black. The same tri-colour combination would be chosen for Vogtemanne too. What I really wanted to do in Vogtemanne’s case was to pull out his sinister soul to life by using black as a main colour for his armour. It would also give him authority and firmness, something a character in his position would be much appreciated. His white hair, pale gritty face and white servo-skulls hanging from his armour would bring some cold contrast on him.

The face is again one of my best so far. When I was working on it (and oh boy did I used hours to get it right) I started calling him 40k Lee Marvin because of the close resemblance. Just see it yourselves. It was not my intention, but is really a nice coincidence since the roles played by the man were always very strong and defiant, something I believe this character would also breathe.

But what about the red skulls? Well, there is a story behind them too. Vogtemanne, who is in charge of the safety of the pilgryms in his party, uses servo-skulls to scout the narrow and dangerous corridors of the Terra for any suspicious activity. He brands his servo-skulls with blood red colour so that he can detect his skulls roaming ahead from a distance.

Here’s some more angles from the trio.

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I’ve started using white backdrop in my photos, which kind of rebels against the usual murky Iron Sleet photo shooting style. The white really helps dark coloured characters to pop out. I use elevated glass to give hazy reflections underneath the figures. It helps to give them a feel of quality.
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Trophy skulls of worthy opponents decorate the massive fur cloak of Vogtemanne. There’s a short poem written on the forehead of the Ork skull. It tells a tale of how the monstrous creature was slain in a style.
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The stairs of the golden temple are covered by the rusty dust and crushed corpses of the deceased pilgryms. It’s far from the glorious stories told to many who decide to take their long and daring journey of pilgrimage to Terra.
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“The Twins” scout the foreground of the entourage who have came to Terra from far far away.

 

Finally a group shot from all three finished main characters along with the servo-skulls. Have a nice Sunday evening!

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Toni

42 thoughts on “Vogtemanne – Painted”

  1. Wow, dude… fantastic work – this guy is stunningly good, and what a group! So much atmosphere and menace… love, love, love it. Nice touch with the photography as well mate, it really does set the minis off beautifully. Bravo!

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  3. Glorious! The three of them work so well together. I love the red painted servo skulls. I’ve never seen that approach before. Such an original idea that adds so much character to the group.

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    1. Cheers monkeyballistic. I think I saw a set of tribal trophy skulls with their forehead painted in red and thought “that’s cool, I want to try that in one of my miniature projects”. Then came Vogtemanne with all his skulls, which seemed like a perfect opportunity for such a task.

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  6. Wonderful character! I love the use of the servo skulls and it’s possibly the best Wulfrik based conversion I’ve seen yet. I love how your small character descriptions have as much weight as some of the more long-winded stories often seen around Inquisitor dramatis personae. Bravo sir.

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    1. Cheers Jordan! I think I’ve seen just one other 40k conversion made from Wulfrik. Glad to hear that you were able to catch a bit of his character from my short hints 🙂

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  8. Fabulous work Kari. The face is bloody marvelous!
    Like the others have already said, one of the best parts of this great looking retinue is how well they work together as a group.

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  10. Each of your models seems to get better and better. I absolutely love this new one. The face makes the model, particularly the hair. I certainly agree that he looks quite a bit like Lee Marvin, makes me think of the Dirty Dozen (and the Last Chancer models for that matter). The heavy focus on black is really striking, and wonderfully contrasted by the many white skulls, with lovely dull red painted on them. The twins are a nice addition too, showing what he uses the skulls for!

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    1. Thanks Wudugast! I took some liberties not to stick too much in the path shown by the illustration. Eg. I decided to let go of the X-scar on his face, which would have been very dominant.

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  15. Not sure what to say. This is so perfect; so you, so at the heart of what Pilgrym stands for. Deep, raw, fresh portrayal of the 42nd millennium and holy Terra. This model is the face, one of the best I’ve ever seen on a miniature and the rest is neat detail really. More!!! And really, seeing the gorgeous family shot, you do need a humble human or two in there to get away from the dystopian fantastic four wibe – unless that’s the plan 🙂

    Thanks for the inspiration Kari!

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    2. Thanks Migs!

      Terra as a subject raises the bar of designing strong and believable characters for 40k universe, since its just not another distant Hive world with its punks and gangs. Its freaking TERRA, the birthplace of man, the grave of the Emperor, the beginning and the end, the throne world, something you’d think is impossible to pull out of your head and make a visual representation of it…

      …or at least that’s how I felt like when I accepted the Pilgrym challenge. My first thoughts were “how the hell will I be able to create something so unique and remarkable that could make a stand in such a grand vision”. The legendary audience didn’t make it any easier. In the end I decided to take the courage in both hands and started doodling my ideas out of my head.

      It was a slow start for me, fueled by your inspiring models coming out like from a factory line, John’s fantastic Terran artwork and the masterful miniatures the rest of the community shared with us during their design processes. That made me think, one of the key essence in the Pilgrym is the peer support; Inspire and be inspired.

      Yeah, enough of that blathering… by the way, the HHHs are on their way, don’t worry! Three to be exact… a house guard of sorts.

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  16. Absolutely stunning work!
    The red on the skulls is a great contrast and one that i will try out next time a sit at my table!

    The whole group looks incredible together and im really excited to see them on a big crowded table!

    Also, i would like to second the wish for a close up on that face!

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  18. Face is just incredible – a real tough dude and all tooled up – love the red skull as well – I have a real one but it’s dark brown …..

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    1. Thank you! I would feel a bit hounted if I had one. I remember reading about HR Giger who used to play with a human skull when he was a kid. His father was a pharmaseutist if I recall correctly.

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  19. Incredible work Kari! Just as expected this group is so full of character, personality and atmosphere. Agree on what has been said about the face…amazing. Goes to show how important such focus areas can be to make a mini stand out from the masses.

    Looking very much forward to the House Guards.

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