Claudia Rodriguez "The Sculpt" - Norse Goddesses Part 1

Back in the saddle I finally decided it was time to make a start on those Valhalla miniatures that I’ve been banging on about for ages. I had originally intended to paint them all to a competition level like I had with my Kingdom Death Monster White Speaker Pinup, but with twenty-four miniatures to do that felt a bit too daunting. So I scaled back my plans to something I felt was a bit more manageable. 

For the first batch, I selected Eir, Gullveig, Hel and Ran mostly because they were all single pieces that didn’t require assembly. 

Eir

Eir is only attested in three sources so it’s a little difficult to say for certain what role she played in Norse mythology. There is even some disagreement as to whether she was a full-fledged goddess or just one of the valkyries. Just about the only thing we know for certain is that she is associated with healing. 

For a bit of fun, I cut the end off a wine cork to make a little plinth. I roughed up the edges with a craft knife then stuck Eir to the cork, which in turn I stuck to a 25mm base. I then used some milliput to blend the edge and fill any gaps between the cork and the base. With that done the whole model and base were primed black. 

I started, as I often do, by working from the inside out and basecoated her skin with a couple of coats of Cadian Fleshtone and her hair with Jokaero Orange. The bangles on her wrists and thigh I painted with Scale75 Dwarven Gold. For her dress, I decided on a blue colour scheme to contrast the warmer tones of her skin, hair and later with the bird on her hand. With this in mind, I basecoated her dress with a few thin coats of Temple Guard Blue. Then so that it wasn’t one solid colour, I painted her hood and sleeves with Macragge Blue. As I wanted the dress to be the main focus of the model I painted her satchel with Caliban Green. For the remaining details, I painted her shoe and belt with Mournfang Brown, her staff with Army Painter Oak Brown and the bird with Vallejo Scarlet Red. Finally, the rocky plinth that she is standing on I painted with Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone. 

By way of washes, the skin and gold got a wash of Reikland Fleshshade while the staff and leathers got a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone. Everything else got a wash of Nuln Oil. From there I could make a start on the layering and highlighting. I layered the dress with some Temple Guard Blue so that it didn’t look so stained. For the skin I layered with Cadian Fleshtone then highlighted with a mix of Cadian Fleshtone and Kislev Flesh. For the rocky plinth I simply gave it a drybrush with Dawnstone. To finish off the model I added a few blobs of Valhallan Blizzard texture paint and stuck down an Army Painter Meadow Flowers tuft. 

Gullveig

If we didn’t know much about Eir, we know even less about Gullveig. She is only mentioned in a single source, the Poetic Edda, in which she is stabbed, then burnt and born again three times. It is even theorised that Gullveig is simply another name for Freyja. 

Whatever her origins the model has one foot raised so I dug through my basing bits to see if there was anything she could stand on. I eventually found an appropriately sized piece of slate that I superglued down to the base and Gullveig on top of that. I then dabbed on a few patches of superglue and sprinkled on some smaller pieces of slate, once that was dry I then sealed them down with a bit more superglue. Once it had all dried I primed her black. 

The artwork depicts her with quite pale skin so I started by basecoating it with a few thin coats of Kislev Flesh. Her dress I painted with Corvus Black which I lined with Vallejo Heavy Goldbrown and Vallejo Scarlet Red for her sash. The wolf skull she is holding is painted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. I then applied a bit of Astrogranite texture paint to the base around the rocks. Once that was dry I basecoated the rocks and Gullveig’s hair with Mechanicus Standard Grey. Once that dried I went over the hair with a couple of thin coats of Ulthuan Grey. 

The dress and base I washed with Nuln Oil, the skin with the ever present Reikland Fleshshade and the wolf skull with Army Painter Strong Tone. Her hair I painted with a coat of Apothecary White contrast paint. As before I then layered with the original base colours and highlighted the dress with some Mechanicus Standard Grey. The base I highlighted with a drybrush of Dawnstone. Like Eir I also dabbed on a few patches of Valhallan Blizzard texture paint. Unlike Eir, this time I washed it with a coat of Scale75 Instant Colour Ancestral Blue. This darkened the snow more than I was expecting it to, so I brought back some of the brightness with a drybrush of Ceramite White. 

Hel

Unlike Eir and Gullveig, Hel is well known in Norse mythology. The ruler of the Norse underworld, also called Hel. It is to her anyone who dies of sickness or old age is sent. 

For the model itself I didn’t do anything special for the base, the pile of skulls seemed fitting enough. I did however leave the head and cloak separate from the rest of the body for ease of painting. As with the rest, the components were primed black. 

And like the rest I also started by painting her skin. For this, I used Two Thin Coats Griffon Claw to give it that undead appearance. For her hair, I painted it with Mechanicus Standard Grey. At this point, I decided to go in a more colourful direction with Hel lest she end up looking like Gullveig. With that in mind, I painted her cloak with a couple coats of Xereus Purple and her clothes with Vallejo Scarlet Red. Her belt I painted with Mourfang Brown and the coins around her waist with Scale75 Dwarven Gold. To contrast the warm tones of her clothing I painted her exposed bones with Thousand Sons Blue, which also helped to illustrate the magical nature of Hel and to differentiate her bones from the skulls on her base. 

For the remaining details I painted her pile of skulls with a few thin coats of Army Painter Skeleton Bone and her weapon handle with Army Painter Oak Brown. It looks like an axe but the head seems quite thick like a hammer. In any case I painted the head and her crown with Leadbelcher. The head and crown, I then painted with a coat of Talassar Blue contrast paint, again to add to that magical nature of Hel. As a final step before washes I put some Vallejo Brown Thick Mud on her base. 

Once everything was dry I washed Hel’s bones with Drakenhof Nightshade and the gold with Reikland Fleshshade. The pile of skulls and base I washed with Army Painter Strong Tone. Everything else was washed with Nuln Oil. As with the others it was then a case of layering again with the basecoat colours. I then also drybrushed the pile of skulls and the base with some Tyrant Skull. 

Ran

The last one in my batch was Ran, who along with her husband Gymir, are personifications of the sea. Whilst she is mentioned numerous times in various sources, it is usually more in passing to drowned individuals. As she uses her net to capture and drown sailors. 

Like most of the others in this batch the model is a single piece, so I stuck her to a spare 25mm base and primed her black. Again like most of the others I started with the skin, which I painted with a few thin coats of Cadian Fleshtone. As the waves she is standing in would inevitably be some variation of blue I painted her top with Vallejo Russian Uniform; a nice muted almost sea green colour, and I painted her skirt with Mechanicus Standard Grey. To offset the drab colours I painted her hair with Vallejo Pale Sand, a very vibrant almost beach blonde colour. Her net I painted with Army Painter Oak Brown and any gold details with Scale75 Dwarven Gold. Finally, the sea water around her feet I painted with a couple of thin coats of Thousand Sons Blue which has a nice greenish tint to it.

With the basecoats done I could move onto the washes. As always, I washed the skin and gold details with Reikland Fleshshade.Her clothes and hair I washed with Nuln Oil and the net with Army Painter Strong Tone. Finally, I washed the waves with Athonian Camoshade which did a nice job of adding to the green tint as well as muting the brightness of the Thousand Sons Blue. As with the others I then set to layering back up with the original base colours. I finished off the waves by drybrushing some Ceramite White on the crests. 

Final thoughts

I’m glad I finally got these painted, having been banging on about them for the last few years. It is a shame though that I didn’t get to do the competition level of painting that I have originally indeed, but I know I would have very quickly burnt out of the hobby again. In any case I’m pleased with how they did turn out, I especially like how well Ran’s waves turned out.