Do you remember when I reviewed Horus Ascended and boldly promised to keep you updated on the painting progress? Well, it took a bit longer than expected, but I finally got started on this magnificent model. Here’s my current progress.
Large, complex models often wear me out after a while. I remember painting Magnus for the Horus Heresy Open Day in 2022, and due to the deadline, it was quite stressful. That’s probably why I’ve been putting off adding Horus to my Sons of Horus collection for so long. Garfy gave me the idea to paint the Warmaster piece by piece in small steps, like one day a week or one week per month. It sounded great, but I realised that I don’t function that way. When I start a model, I want to complete it in one go.
So it’s taken until now, but I finally want to tackle Horus. I will take a break for the new Skaven models from Skaventide, but after that, I vow to finish the model. I’ve decided to document my progress with some WIP posts along the way.
Currently, I’m almost done with Horus’ body. As you can see, I’m building and painting the model in several sub-assemblies. For the Warmaster’s armour, I’ve stuck closely to the original design, although I’ve added some bronze details to the golden trims. For the head, I opted for a copper-toned skin and thick eyebrows. Somehow, Horus gives me Lex Luthor vibes, especially as depicted in the Superman The Animated Series.
For his head, I primed it with Two Thin Coats Kronos Flesh, shaded it with Targor Rageshade, and then layered and highlighted it with TTC Kronos Flesh, TTC Ares Flesh, Warpaints Fanatic Amber Skin, and finally Flayed One Flesh. Apart from some minor touch-ups and, of course, the red glow effect that I need to add yet, I’m quite satisfied with it. I had also considered giving Horus glowing red eyes, but I imagine my version represents the Warmaster at an earlier stage of the Horus Heresy, when he still retained much of his humanity.
You can grab the complete step-by-step tutorial for my Sons of Horus scheme here in my Patreon shop (or by becoming an Autarch tier member). I also got other “grimdark” tutorials for Imperial Fists, Emperor’s Children, and Blood Angels there.
Next, I will paint the base and the fur, and here I want to stray away from the studio version a bit, so stay tuned.
Patreon bonus content: Check out my Patreon feed for additional WIP shots of Horus.
Feel free to leave a reaction, or drop a comment below, I’m also happy to answer any questions on our friendly hobby Discord server. Thanks a lot, and happy hobbying!
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