These Age of Sigmar Shovel Knight conversions are the work of Juan Hidalgo, a miniature painting tutor and hobby YouTuber. Inspired by his love of the 8-bit styled retro platformer, Hidalgo has created conversions for Shovel Knight, King Knight, Shield Knight, and Specter Knight, and doesn’t plan to stop there.
Hidalgo says he got the idea when he saw someone else convert a Stormcast Eternal into Shovel Knight: “I thought to myself, I need to do that! So I did and I kept on going.”
Each conversion starts with a Stormcast Eternal model, from which Hidalgo trims away a lot of details, before adding distinctive Shovel Knight features using Greenstuff modelling putty. Hidalgo says he isn’t sure exactly how long each conversion takes, just that “each one has been more complex than the previous one”. He adds that painting takes “around 20-30 hours” per model.
The models are painted in the ‘non-metallic metal’ or NMM style. NMM is a technique for painting miniatures that creates the appearance of metallic reflections but uses only matte colours, and has its roots in classical painting techniques for depicting metal, particularly polished armour.
Hidalgo says the key to NMM is to create extreme contrast between light and dark, saying “if you are not sure if it’s enough, then it’s not enough”. He credits Darren Latham and Gareth Nicholas with developing the NMM technique he uses, which involves painting the model as if it is lit from four sources. “It’s not the most realistic”, Hidalgo says, “but it gives a great, consistent result all around”.
Hidalgo says his next Shovel Knight conversion is Plague Knight. You can keep track of his creations on his YouTube channel, which is supported by his Patreon, and Hidalgo also offers online and in-person painting tuition.
We’d love to see other Warhammer Age of Sigmar Armies get a retro platformer conversion: Super Meat Boy meets Khorne Bloodbound; Echo the Dolphin themed Idoneth Deepkin; Ghouls ‘n Ghosts meets Soulblight Gravelords…