Here are some detail shots of Golgotha taken a few weeks before the 2004 UK Golden Demon. At the time of the photo, the mini was not finished and a few details and slightly different posing was later added. The orginal concept was to have the demon (which looks like a devil) stomping on an imperial cyber cherub (looks like an angel) to continue the heaven hell theme--but I ran out of time and instead substituted an Imperial symbol. One day I will probably finish the concept.



One of the goals of the mini was to challenge the boundaries between traditional art and mini-painting. I think that Gothic/Medieval Christian art is the most powerful imagery in history. It moves me. The serious "real world" religious references depicted in this mini gives it more force than the strict fictional GW imagery for which we have no real emotional connection. To convey a sense of ancient evil from the past, I adopted recognizable stylistic elements from the Gothic, Byzantine, Rennaisance time periods and adopted the complex, overwrought style (frescoes and epic imagery) from these periods. Each image is a double entendre' that refers to events in Christianity and the 40k Universe--much like the 40k fluff.



Overall, the mini is painted to resemble a classic Medieval Triptic with the wings and body forming the panels. Heaven is depicted in the highest point of the mini (top left front wing), purgatory (in the mid front wings); and hell (the red armor color with tormented souls and demons) at the lowest point.



One thing that is lost in the pictures is that the wings are painted extremely dark and in a "green scale." From more than 16 inches the freehand images are not definable and look like organic mottled green and brown dead skin. It is only after you get close and under high light do the images of purgatory become alive and noticeable. However, the pics you see are highly illuminated so you can see the detail and the effect is lost. This was to keep the complex imagery from being overwhelming and focus the eye on the banners--leaving a treat when you get close.



Finally, an another goal was that I wanted to challenge the "paint by numbers" approach of mini-painting where we simply fill in paint in the lines provided us by a mini sculptor. I stripped the mini of its details and created my own details using freehands and false textures. In this connection, one neat thing is that the horns of the mini are perfectly smooth but looked ridged through painting effects.



I will eventually write an article that goes into far more depth into the mini. There are a few tricks that are not visible in these pics that I saved for the article.



I hope you find this a little different and interesting--afterall that is what makes art and minipainting entertaining.



Victor Hardy