As someone with a long-term interest in Irish mythology, I didn’t need much encouragement to revisit it for a Wargames Illustrated article, especially not when it meant that I got to paint up some of the official Jim FitzPatrick collectible miniatures from Lucid Eye as well!
Jim FitzPatrick is a bit of a legend in my book, having written and illustrated two wonderful retellings of Irish myths alongside a varied art career covering political figures, album covers and landscape alongside the aforementioned mythology.
A few years back, Lucid Eye publications released an official range of miniatures based on some of the mythological characters illustrated by Jim; faithfully sculpted by Steve Saleh, these large (35-40mm+) models required more effort than I usually put into painting a single figure, but the extra graft pays off.
After a white undercoat, they had base layers of various GW Contrast Paints and acrylics (mostly Army Painter Fanatic) before I sat down with Jim’s art and painstaking tried to recreate some of the detail.
After a base coat/ wash of main colours, everything was built up in layers.
Nuada’s checked cloak was particularly testing but I got there in the end! Here’s the stages of painting:
Once completed, they took a trip down to the Wargames Illustrated studio for their guest appearance in the Second Battle of Moy Tura, which will be part of an article due in issue 450 (available April and at the Salute show).
However, I also wanted to pair them up with the Jon Hodgson Backdrops books – very appropriate as Jon also happens to be a big fan of Jim FitzPatrick’s work! Having invested in four of the A3 books, it was great fun to try out the different backdrops behind each figure.
Next up is Lugh, the greatest warrior-craftsman of the Tuatha de Danaan. I’ll confess that I painted him up (a few years back) in a slightly different colour scheme to Jim’s original art, but I’m tempted to get another one to match his appearance in The Silver Arm.
As well as these four characters from The Book of Conquests / The Silver Arm, I had a couple of others to work on. Erin, Goddess of Ireland was quite a challenge (in a different way to Nuada’s cloak), mostly involving picking out the various pieces of detail at the bottom of her dress. I decided to match the yellow and purple with complementary flowers using Gamers’ Grass tufts.
My final miniature was one based on Jim’s most recent large-scale piece, a rendition of Cuchulain, the famous Hound of Ulster.
With these completed, it was time for a break from detailed painting for a bit! Look out for the article on Irish mythology and a scenario for Midgard Heroic Battles in Wargames Illustrated 450, and don’t forget to check out Jim’s website for prints and further information about his art and career.
If you fancy a crack at the miniatures, they are on the Lucid Eye website, and Jon’s backdrops are available for purchase as books from Handiwork Games. Cheers!
mogsymakes 