Mini of the Week 7-17-15

Welcome back to Mini of the Week, where every Friday I will find a miniature from around the web that exemplifies an aspect of our hobby and share it with you.

Be'lakor by Yellow One on Cool Mini or Not

This has to be some of the creepiest and most realistic looking demon skin I have ever seen, if demon skin can even be said to be realistic. I love the mottled texture it has, it reminds me of some sort of undersea creature. The color choices on this Be'lakor are fantastic all the way around. I really like the reds and purples that were used. At first I thought the hands were supposed to be bloody, but I think that is just supposed to be his skin there, which is a nice effect. Using purples for the shadows really lends the mini an unearthly feel, perfect for a demon who claims mastery over shadows.

The lighting effect in his eyes and the chaos star are done expertly and act as a fantastic focal point for the model. Extending the light effect through the crevices of his chest and ab muscles is a nice touch and helps give the impression that his entire inner core is alight. One of the things that really stood out to me is how crisp the skulls on his wings look. Be'lakor is a fantastic sculpt and still holds its own against most modern minis. Having said that, those skulls were sculpted extremely soft in detail. I painted one of these guys several years ago and I remember how frustrated I was with the skulls since they had little to no hard lines to pick out. Yellow One overcame that with his painting skills, so kudos to him. The base is fairly simple, which is not horrible, but I do wish there had been a little more attention payed to it. All in all this is the creepiest, most unearthly and demonic Be'lakor I have ever seen. The realism in the paint job is outstanding.

Be sure to check out more views of it on Cool Mini or Not and show the artist some love if you like it. 

Until next time,

Tyler M.

What do you think of this model? If you have any models or have seen any around the web that you feel deserve to be the Mini of the Week feel free to send them to me at tylerm@mengelminiatures.com with the title "Mini of the Week" and a brief description of how you painted it or a link to where you found it. There is also a dedicated board on the Mengel Miniatures Forum for Mini of the Week where you can discuss past entries or post of minis you think are deserving of the title.