Knosso Prond is one of my favourite models from the Rogue Trader box set and an absolute gift to fans of the grubby underbelly of the 41st Millennium. For a painter she’s an absolutely gorgeous miniature and a far more complex challenge than she first appears, whilst those of us who enjoy the dark corners of the setting can always use a death cult assassin around. As a result she’s been on my “to paint” list for a while so getting her finished off for Fembruary felt like the obvious move.
The one thing I didn’t really like about her was the head she’s lugging around, surely a cliché which has long ceased to be worth repeating, so I gave her a second knife instead (you can never have too many of those after all).
Convert or Die 
February 22nd, 2019 at 7:50 am
Excellent! I had to ditch the severed head, too, but I just went with her right hand out in sort of a low guard position. I like how well her Model works with a bunch of different colour schemes. I’ve seen her painted several different ways and they all looked good.
I also like that yours doesn’t emphasize her nipples the way the GW version does. I’m not sure if you rounded them down a bit, but at least they don’t look like they’re sharper than her sword. It’s a small thing (OK, two small things), but it’s the detail that, for whatever reason, bugs me most of anything in that set.
I’ve painted Prond already, but I do still have Vhane, Shalkus, and Minst who I could do for Fembruary. Need to get a jump on that, tho. I’ve been so focused on the GSC for Squaduary that I haven’t really done any painting on much of anything else.
February 22nd, 2019 at 6:34 pm
Yeah, I saw your Prond – nice work by the way! 🙂
No, I didn’t do anything with her nipples, just painted them so they were less prominent. I used to know a guy who was obsessed with toning down the breasts on miniatures, greenstuffing on extra armour, covering them up, etc. He always tried to present it as if he was taking a stand against the over-sexualised presentation of female miniatures in the hobby but it was clear to a lot of us that it went way further than it needed to and seemed to be indicative of some very messed up ideas he had towards women, like he was somehow defacing them or cutting them out of his life and the feminism was just a veneer that he used to fool himself that the problem lay with wider society and not inside his own head. Anyway it gave me the creeps and it left a lasting impression, so even now when it comes to covering miniatures I really can’t do anything with the breasts without feeling weird about it. Chopping off hands, heads, legs (even though both of my parents are amputees so that one should be a bit more visceral for me) – not a problem, but I couldn’t do anything with her breasts without thinking of that guy and getting the creeps so paint solution it was!
I was hoping to get Vhane and Minst done by the end of the month as well but I think I’m running out of time, especially as I still need to finish the Khorne Slaughterpriest and some Skaven. Their time will come though, Minst especially deserves to be painted soon.
February 22nd, 2019 at 11:41 pm
Yeah, I can see how something like that would make it an unpleasant way to go. Creepers can screw up just about anything by association 😦
Amusingly, in my case, you can’t really call this one desexualization, because I actually prefer the look of more rounded breasts. It annoyed me on an aesthetic level, not a social/symbolic/politicized level.
February 22nd, 2019 at 8:05 am
This is lovely painting on a lovely model. Agree that the severed head is such a tired thing nowadays – a bit like as a kid I felt the need to paint blood on every weapon.
February 22nd, 2019 at 6:39 pm
Cheers! Yeah, I think the “blood spattered weapons” phase is one we all go through. Honestly I still get tempted to do it with every model – and it’s only going to get tougher with all these Khorne models to do (in fact I may have just painted exactly that earlier!).
February 22nd, 2019 at 9:25 am
Ha, I’d never noticed her armoured butt-cheeks before. Nice work, dude. I like the little flashes of green.
February 22nd, 2019 at 6:36 pm
Aye, someone left a pin on her chair once and she’s never forgotten it… Glad you like her, I did enjoy putting in the little spots of green at the end.
February 22nd, 2019 at 11:19 pm
Given where else that texture shows up on the Model, I don’t think it’s extra armour. I figured it was something non-slip, for better hold on bench seats in rough-moving vehicles or something. There was a bit about that in one of the Shira Calpurnia novels, as I recall.
February 22nd, 2019 at 11:58 am
Nice job dude – she looks great in blue, and that second blade really adds to the oriental vibe of the mini in a most pleasing way 🙂
March 2nd, 2019 at 1:44 pm
Thanks mate – yeah, I thought it made her look more like a martial artist. I read somewhere about how hard it actually is to fight with a blade in each hand so I try to avoid it most of the time but I thought it would work well here to really emphasis her skill.
February 22nd, 2019 at 6:00 pm
Good figure with a lot of detail to pick out when painting, very nice job.
March 2nd, 2019 at 1:44 pm
Thank you 😀
February 22nd, 2019 at 7:01 pm
Really dig the colour choices dude. Nice execution to and yay to more knives!
March 2nd, 2019 at 1:49 pm
Cheers! Yeah, I was worried she’d come out a bit dark but in the end I think she really works nicely.
February 22nd, 2019 at 11:16 pm
Very nice- the two knives were a good call.
Cheers,
Pete.
March 2nd, 2019 at 1:49 pm
Thank you!
February 23rd, 2019 at 9:20 am
Oh man, it looks bloody awesome.
March 2nd, 2019 at 1:46 pm
Thank you very much 😀
February 23rd, 2019 at 10:47 am
Wow man, really beautiful work.
March 2nd, 2019 at 1:45 pm
Cheers dude!
February 23rd, 2019 at 10:30 pm
Superb painting mate !
March 2nd, 2019 at 1:45 pm
Thank you!
March 1st, 2019 at 3:28 pm
Cracking job! May I ask what knife you used for her?
March 2nd, 2019 at 1:50 pm
Thanks very much! It’s a spare from the Escher kit.