Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Homer Jungle Statue

This post originally appeared on the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.



With all of the responsibilities that come with being an adult, I haven't had a ton of time to paint over the last few weeks, but I did manage to steal a glance at this weeks theme challenge. I was pretty surprised to see it had something to do with "Homer Terrain". That was sure to be a unique set of entries, and I wracked my brain trying to figure out something that would stand out from the crowd.

Naturally, most entries will likely depict a terrain feature from one of Homer's epic poems. There were sure to be plenty of Trojan Horses, Gates of Troy, and Greek Beach Camps. I thought we might even see something pulled from the Odyssey (maybe a Cyclops cave or two?), but I decided to go a bit farther afield. I thought I could get a more liberal interpretation of the "Homer" theme for my terrain piece, and I considered doing Fenway Park, with a 28mm outfielder unable to snatch a "homer" as it sailed the Green Monster. That seemed beyond my skills though (and wouldn't really lend itself to a wargame), but I spotted a cheap plastic knick knack depicting Homer Simpson as a snack food Buddha. Inspired by his zen-like countenance, I decided to base my terrain on the toy. A perfect start for a conversion into a mysterious jungle idol, carved by some long dead civilization of peculiar lemon colored tribesmen!



I built a small dais from wood and foamcore, and gave the whole thing a stippled coat of spackle/dry wall compound to mimic the weathered stone of the idol.



A dark gray primer gave the whole piece a uniform, stone-like base to begin painting.



I used a variety of grays and browns, with the faintest hints of yellow, green and pink (no doubt remnants of the festive paintjob the idol once must have sported).

"Mmmmmm.... soft pretzel......"


I used numerous brown and gray washes to weather it, and added quite a bit of flock and tufts to represent the encroaching jungle foliage that will one day engulf the statue.

I don't like to take all of my wargaming so seriously, and plan on using this idol for some tongue-in-cheek Rogue Trader or Fantasy gaming. A unique subject for a unique category! Altogether, I was pretty pleased at how it turned out.

"None shall defile the Golden Emperor!"


Wait....

"Home" Terrain????

Doh!

11 comments:

  1. Nailed it mate. It's a bloody beaut. Nice job on this one. Cheers

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  2. Absolutely superb! What a brilliant entry this was, great fun.

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    1. It's silly, but the dreadful seriousness that infects some aspects of the hobby can get a bit wearing. Glad you liked it!

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  3. This is so awesome, good job! Nicely executed, too. I like the stippled on weathering.

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    1. Thanks Andy! Terrain isn't my favorite aspect of the hobby, but this was a quick fun build :)

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  4. Now that's a piece of terrain that really gets me all enthused to play RT. A very cool, creative idol. Well done John :)

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    1. Right on! Not quite fitting with the current grim dark version of 40K, but I always loved the goofier aspects of Rogue Trader. Maybe we'll see Inquisitor Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau duking it out with some spacing monkeys atop this statue at some point :)

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  5. As I said on the AHPC blog, I thought this was marvellously clever and witty, and fully in keeping with the tongue-in-cheek nature of pulp gaming. Your modelling skills are top shelf.

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