Claudia Rodriguez "The Sculpt" - Valhalla II Part 1

Having gotten some good results from my speedpainting process that I used on the Valkyries in the previous set of Valhalla Miniatures, I figured I could knock out the second set in no time. 

For the first group I decided on Urd, Verdandi and Idun: three ladies in dresses. So without further adieu I stuck them down to bases and primed them with Colour Forge Standard Grey. 

Urd

Unfortunately, the thread has snapped

First up is Urd, who is one of the Norns in Norse mythology. The Norns are responsible for destinies, in fact Urd quite literally means “fate”. As with other mythological personifications of destiny, such as the Greek Moirai or the Roman Parcae, there are three Norns that weave destinies: the past (Urd), present (Verdandi) and future (Skuld). 

As Urd is depicted hunched over and covered almost entirely by her cloak, she seemed like the logical place to start. I started by painting her skin with Two Thin Coats Griffon Claw and her hair with Ulthuan Grey as befitting an old crone. I then tidied up with Two Thin Coats Dungeon Stone and gave the model a zenithal highlight with Liquitex Titanium White acrylic ink through my airbrush. By base coating the skin first I can maintain some of its vibrancy, otherwise painting transparent flesh colours over a grey undercoat results in a very washed out skin colour. Urd may be old but she’s not dead, so I wanted the skin to still have some warmth to it. To further reinforce this, I gave the skin a wash of Reikland Fleshshade. 

As Urd is the stereotypical old crone I decided to paint her cloak with an even layer of Black Templar contrast paint, and to bring out the texture of her hair I painted it with Apothecary White. To break up all the cold black on the model, I painted her satchel with Gore-Grunta Fur and the vine over her shoulder with Death Guard Green. To bring some attention to it, I painted the thread that weaves through her hands with Scale75 Dwarven Gold. Lastly, I painted the rocks with Basilicanum Grey. 

Verdandi

Next is Verdandi who, as mentioned above, is another of the Norns. As she is the Norn of the present she has a more youthful appearance than Urd. With that in mind I base coated her skin with a couple thin coats of Kislev Flesh, then as above I gave the model a zenithal highlight with Liquitex Titanium White acrylic ink through my airbrush. Then to bring out the detail on the skin I gave it a wash of Reikland Fleshshade. 

Moving onto her clothes, if you can call them that, she appears to just be wearing a sheet of some sort. Regardless, I painted it with Army Painter Speedpaint Raging Sea, a nice vibrant turquoise colour. In keeping with the vibrant theme, I decided that Verdandi is a redhead so I painted her hair with Gryph-Hound Orange. For the vines I decided to go with Warpstone Glow instead of Death Guard Green as, you guessed it, the former is a much more vibrant green. For the flowers I figured that red would clash too much but a muted pink would be ideal. With that in mind, I mixed Two Thin Coats Sword Hilt Burgundy about fifty-fifty with Army Painter Matt White and carefully applied it to all the flowers on the model. Like Urd I painted the thread with Scale75 Dwarven Gold. Lastly, I painted the rocks with Basilicanum Grey. 

Idun

Idun is the odd one out here as she is not a Norn. She is, arguably, the most important deity in Norse mythology as it is her apples that provide eternal youthfulness to the gods and goddesses. In fact when Idun is kidnapped the remaining gods quickly grow old and grey. 

As with the others I started by base coating her skin, this time using Cadian Fleshtone as it’s a nice healthy pink colour. Then as always I gave the model a zenithal highlight with Liquitex Titanium White acrylic ink through my airbrush followed by a wash of Reikland Fleshshade on the skin. 

I envisioned Idun being quite fair so I gave her blonde hair by painting it with Skeleton Horde contrast paint. Partly because I had just bought it and I wanted to see what it was like I painted her dress with Militarum Green, a fairly muted colour. I thought it worked quite nicely given Idun’s association with fertility. To contrast the green I painted her scarf (or perhaps it’s a shawl) with Army Painter Speedpaint Purple Swarm. The basket I painted with Snakebite Leather and her belt I painted with Gore-Grunta Fur. For the apple themselves, I painted them with Blood Angels Red, a nice rich red that really stands out. The earth on the base I painted with some slightly thinned Wyldwood. I then went back and painted the leaves on the base and on the apples with Warpstone Glow. Lastly, I picked out her jewellery with Scale75 Dwarven Gold.