Sunday, January 25, 2015

'Myth' from IannickM -'Manticore'


Since I'm currently working on a Oldhammer fantasy project this bonus round fitted right in. A good number of Chaos creatures in the Warhammer world take their origins in various mythological creatures, such as Chimeras, griffons, etc. I just had to decide which creature to paint! 


I settled on the dreaded Manticore creature, a myth of Persian origin, where its name was "man-eater". It had the body of a lion, a human head with three rows of sharp teeth (like a shark), bat-like wings, and a trumpet-like voice. 


As mentioned above, it is a Chaos creature in Warhammer and as such will be a nice addition to my Chaos bestiary. This particular figure was sculpted by the master Jes Goodwin in the mid-80s and is probably my favourite Manticore sculpt. It was made back in the days where Citadel actually made stand-alone creatures and not just hero's mounts. It is smaller than the recent offerings by GW, but I find this lack of gigantism makes it look more realistic, if one can say such a thing of a fantasy creature.



I went pretty conventional on the painting, with a classic beige for the lion body and some dark purple wings. The base was made with cork, accompanied by the remnants of a skeleton to add a little atmosphere to the piece (he is a man eater after all).



7 comments:

  1. Take me back a bit,. had one of these myself many moons ago, long since sold on...

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  2. The manticore was always one of the scarier mythical beasties for me as a child, probably something to do with that humanoid face and its permanent expression of bad temper, and this Jes Goodwin sculpt managed to capture it perfectly.

    This is excellent work, and the tawny coat is especially well-rendered!

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  3. Classic miniature. Nicely painted and I like the colours you chose. cheers

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  4. Very clean brushwork! I like your color choices, and boy does that sculpt bring back memories!

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