This one's a special model - and it took me forever to paint. Meet Yvraine, the emissary of Ynnead, the Eldar god of the dead in the Warhammer 40k universe. She’s a major character in the Ynnari faction and kind of bridges the gap between the ancient Aeldari and their newly awakened death god. This was actually my first ever 40k commission, and diving into her story really pulled me in - she’s fascinating.

Painting her was a real challenge for a bunch of reasons - and not just because it was my 40k debut. First off, she’s tiny. Some of the details are insanely small. I never realized how small until I had her in hand - I’d only ever seen her in solo photos with nothing to compare for scale. Second - the gems. There are over 100! On her dress, hair, belt, sword, outfit… it was a test of patience and precision for sure. Every mistake meant basically starting over. I also got to try a new technique - stippling - which looks amazing on fabric. Her dress turned out so good with that texture! And let's not forget - she has a cat! (Okay, I know it's not really a cat, but come on – it totally looks like one.) I’m a huge cat lover, so painting her furry companion was probably my favorite part. I got to practice fur texture too, which was fun.

I’m proud of some parts more than others - and being a perfectionist, I’d probably keep tweaking her forever if I could. But at some point, you gotta call it done. Most importantly, the client is happy and felt that I captured the vibe and atmosphere from the example they sent me. Hopefully this won’t be my last model from the 40k universe - I’d love to show you more in the future!