Abyst Summoned!

Here we see Abyst's sword "Wail". The old AD&D Module "Queen of the Demonweb Pits" had a great little detail in it that inspired this: as the characters descended into the Abyss, they noticed the walls and ceilings of the stairwell were made from the souls of the damned, writhing in eternal torment... I thought Abyst would craft such a sword for himself: made of the soul-stuff of sinners, who were damned to feel the pain the sword inflicted on others. I was also inspired by the painting of Derek Schubert, who uses masterful little details like wailing faces on his miniatures (check out the demon gate in Forge Magazine #3, if you can track down the OOP issue...)

The wings were much simpler: just a gradient from yellow-orange to red & black at the top. I painted them off the main body to be able to get a good transition without the rest of the mini in the way. The only thing I don't like about them was the experimental "interference" acrylic paint on the claws: I didn't want my usual plain black claws, but I'm not 100% happy with this idea...

CALLED FROM THE NETHER REALMS
With the figure prep and base construction out of the way, I was free to paint Abyst and assemble the whole thing. Here's some shots of the finished piece:

Here we see Abyst's sword "Wail". The old AD&D Module "Queen of the Demonweb Pits" had a great little detail in it that inspired this: as the characters descended into the Abyss, they noticed the walls and ceilings of the stairwell were made from the souls of the damned, writhing in eternal torment... I thought Abyst would craft such a sword for himself: made of the soul-stuff of sinners, who were damned to feel the pain the sword inflicted on others. I was also inspired by the painting of Derek Schubert, who uses masterful little details like wailing faces on his miniatures (check out the demon gate in Forge Magazine #3, if you can track down the OOP issue...) The wings were much simpler: just a gradient from yellow-orange to red & black at the top. I painted them off the main body to be able to get a good transition without the rest of the mini in the way. The only thing I don't like about them was the experimental "interference" acrylic paint on the claws: I didn't want my usual plain black claws, but I'm not 100% happy with this idea...

These four shots show the finished mini (unlit on left, lit on right), now with the writing "I am here... what dost thou wishest?" to add a little flavor to the otherwise plain black base (if you're curious, it's a quote from the Hawkwind album Chronicle of the Black Sword, after the chaos god Arioch was summoned by Elric of Melnibone). Even here I had to deal with the Curse! The spray coating I normally use on everthing (Testor's Semi-Gloss) went on way too glossy! Made him look plastic coated... It took 3-4 layers of Testor's Dull Coate to make it look reasonable, though parts (staff's horns, etc). still look too glossy to me. The final curse came when I went to glue Abyst onto the resin: the Zap-a-Gap superglue wouldn't dry! I don't know whether it was a reaction with the resin I used, or left over latex masking, but it didn't want to set... I finally gave in and used my old reliable 5 minute epoxy.

Or, for even more dramatic lighting, here's some shots taken in the dark.