Freelance 3D artist Sam Silvers has dialled up the camp on the limited edition Age of Sigmar vampire miniature Anasta Malkorion, transforming her into a bedazzling drag queen. The project isn’t just in the name of fashion: Silvers will auction the Age of Sigmar mini as part of the Fabulous Marines Fundraiser, which raises money for the Trevor Project LGBTQ charity.
“When I first saw the mini and painted my first version of it, I saw the bald head, I saw the over-the-top outfit and I went immediately, This is the perfect base for a drag queen.” Silvers says. So that’s just what Silvers created, dialling up the camp on the Soulblight Gravelord vampire – a gender ambiguous mini from an Age of Sigmar army that already walks the fine line between high fashion and vaudeville – until she was a true queen.
“I have actually drilled magnets into the head of the miniature and crafted a few Greenstuff wigs for her that I could swap in and out”, Silvers adds.
Silvers plans to auction the model during June for Pride Month, as part of the Fabulous Marines fundraiser for the Trevor Project. “I realized to really hit that Drag Queen aesthetic and to really pull in the glam of that, I wanted sequins”. Silvers usually paints slowly, which was a problem for getting the miniature finished “before Pride Month ended. So I landed on glitter”.
Glitter certainly is a bold new option when picking paints for miniatures, but Silvers says it wasn’t too hard: “I pre-painted the panels I wanted [glitter] on in a metallic that was close to the base color of the glitter (so gaps wouldn’t look bad), painted on PVA glue, liberal sprinkling of glitter, then tapped the model to knock off any of the loose stuff. Let it dry overnight, knock off anything that didn’t stick with a soft brush, then it’s been hit with several coats of gloss varnish to try to lock everything in place.”
This isn’t Silvers’ first fundraising mini: “Last year I did a Lesbian Pride Sister of Battle to raise money for the Trevor Project and Fab Marines and wanted to step that up this year and put as much effort into it as I could. Trevor Project and many other fundraising charities like this mean a lot to me and I think a lot of other people in the hobby space. A lot of us in the hobby and nerd spheres know what it’s like to be ostracised. I just want kids to grow up feeling safe.”
The Trevor Project provides crisis services for LGBTQ young people, advocates on behalf of LGBTQ rights and concerns, provides public education, participates in research, and maintains the LGBTQ friendly social network Trevor Space.
The Fabulous Marines project is an annual fundraiser each June during Pride Month, which invites Warhammer fans to convert and paint miniatures and share them in a virtual pride parade with the #FabulousMarines hashtag, as well as coordinating fund-raising for the Trevor Project.
Fabulous as this model is, and much as we love the idea of Stormcast Eternals or Hedonites of Slaanesh utterly dripping with sequins, Silvers has a warning. There’s a price for making their mini look this good: “There is glitter everywhere. It’s in my hair, my clothes, my eyelashes, in my nose, the cats have glitter…”
One of the wonderful things about the Warhammer hobby is how it allows you to express your creativity. Sometimes that’s grimdark John Blanche inspired gothic weirdness, sometimes it’s dioramas and miniatures created from Citadel paint pots, and sometimes it’s a Space Marine Kill Team inspired by pride flags. The more diverse the Warhammer community is, the more incredible and creative works of art we get to see.