Charon

Welcome to another "I started this mini about a year ago and finished it a couple of days ago" post.

Charon caught my eye on Etsy way back in May 2024, and so I snapped him up. Even though he's named after the Greek mythological figure that ferries dead souls across the River Styx, he bears pretty much no relation to that character and doesn't look like the nautical type.

After being primed black all over, I had to come up with some colours for him. I wanted something dark so I went for a basecoat of Violet for his cloak highlighted with Hexed Lichen and Purple and then washed all over with Druchii Violet to keep it darker.

All of his metal armour areas were given a basecoat of Neutral Grey before being painted Runefang Steel and a given a wash of Nuln Oil. I highlighted all the edges and pointy bits with Stormhost Silver and a touch of Vallejo Silver, which is a bit brighter.

The ribbon things hanging off his armour were done with Ivory and Off-White, and I filled in the embossed letters with more Druchii Violet.

I decided to go with a more regular flesh tone for his face and skin, so they got a coat of my own flesh mix and a wash with Guilliman Flesh to shade the deeper areas. I added some Pallid Wych Flesh to lighten it and used that for the highlights, and then used small amounts of Wych Flesh for the final touchups.

I've never liked painting 3D printed flames and these were no exception. I didn't want the usual red/orange/yellow look so to keep things more fantastical I painted them White and then used Terradon Turquoise contrast for the bottom and Aethermatic Blue for the top. I tried to blend them where they met but I don't think I pulled it off.

The raven sitting on Charon's scythe is just Black highlighted with Neutral and Celestra Greys and a final coat of Druchii Violet to give it a bit of a tint.

The mythological Charon doesn't have wings and as they're a separate piece I could have left them off. Again they were painted with black primer, and I just lightly drybrushed them White using a makeup brush and then gave them a coat of Magos Purple contrast. Of all Citadel's contrast paints I've had the least success with the purples, be it Shyish, Magos or Leviathon, and the wings turned out much the way I thought they would: decidedly mediocre. I probably should have left them off.

Finally, to base him I stuck some cork to a 50mm base and painted the whole thing Black. I drybrushed the cork with Celestra Grey and the visible bits of the base with White, and then gave the whole thing a once-over with Mantis Warriors Green as I thought the striking contrast between the green and purple would really pop.

Over a year after starting on Charon, I'm really happy with how he turned out. He's certainly a cool-looking mini and despite the wings, he looks good and certainly stands out on my shelves.