Sir Gorgonz

Do you like mice? Do you like fantasy armour? Do you like non-metallic metal? Then you might be on the right blog post. This is the gloriously chubby Sir Gorgonz in the Dungeons & Mice range from Ennenne Studio (although their Instagram account is more useful) and was a model both a friend and I picked up as a little "paint off" for fun.

I wanted to work on improving my NMM. I've included three angles, as you can see how my interest waned on the project after puzzling out how I wanted the main two viewing angles to look. But the third view is a less interesting element anyway, and this isn't for competition, more to get back into the swing of things after not painting a lot in the past month.

 Very happy with the result, and it's probably my most convincing non-metallic effect to-date, albeit hasty in places. 

   

 Normally I forgot about work in progress shots, but for once I remembered! Happy days.

I started by trying to determine where I wanted the light to come from. Initially I was a little too high, and lost any interesting elements under the "beak" of the helmet. But it's a useful reference.

Blocking in with yellows and browns to see if it's about right. The helmet shape made it interesting to determine where brighter points would be. Puzzles are fun. Also, so is the word helmet.

Adding the light from the sword, and thinking about where it would glow on the yellow of the armour. Do I want the blade to be brighter at the top or bottom? I opted for the tip to make a point of interest to glow against the ground. Should blue glow make the yellow armour green, or would it just overpower the yellow?

Nearly there now, adding in a darker point between the glow and the armour. The separation between areas sells the effect much better.

Vashkor Drool

 Vashkor Drool. Yes, it's another ork but this sculpt had a name!

 Is it a good name? Certainly not, but it's fitting for that era of Ork where they just opted for daft names rather than overthinking the big angry name. Also, the sculptors were knocking these gems out every ten seconds, so you run out of the good names pretty quickly.

I'm trying to paint what matters on these sculpts, and so much is swallowed by shadow or recess that I've ignored those elements and tried to draw the eye to the elements that matter. Conversely, I made my life difficult by painting dark edges on the shoulder panels to add much needed depth ... why do I do this to myself?

The yellow's a little softer than the last Ork I painted, as I want some variety between them. It shouldn't feel uniform, more ragtag, and from my 2020 army project, they were definitely too consistent in colour. 

  

Overall I like this model, rough edges and all.

Ork Boss

I love orks. Imagine my surprise that I've not painted many in the last few years, or at least posted pictures of them! One in four years? I should hand in my Ork Appreciation Society membership card. Then again, after my Armies on Parade madness in 2020, it's probably not a surprise I subconsciously needed time away from them.

Anyway. It is now October, or Orktober to give it its rightful name, and that seems the right time to address that. This handsome fellow is firmly finished not perfect. The horns need something doing but I really like the aggressive contrast of pure black against the yellow so I will mull further before doing anything. We can agree the yellow is the star of the show and everything else is incidental.

  

Yes, I'm aware I've already started a number of posts on army projects this year and this was NOT in that list. It's okay! This is merely a temporary distraction while I procrastinate finishing pieces for Scale Model Challenge (https://www.scalemodelchallenge.com/) this coming weekend. Oh god, what have I done ...

Setting standards

Over the past year I've tied myself in knots overthinking painting of models, with my brain demanding that each one should be produced to the best of my ability but in reality that would see only a handful of models completed every year at most.

Ignoring the fact that perfection is unobtainable in painting, it seems unrealistic to set a standard for myself where I fail before even beginning! So I'm working harder to call a piece done, even if just for the time being, such as my Flower Queen (https://www.nerodine.com/2025/07/flower-queen-ii.html) which still needs further work.

Rather I'd prefer to have a lot tabletop projects done to a reasonable standard and finished not perfect. Reaching this realisation has not been an easy road, because my brain is wired to be stupid on matters like this. But I'll endeavour to be better at working around it, rather than being blocked by it.