Gürmuz, the barbarian + academic bust review

Hi, everybody and welcome back!

Lately, I got more busts then I am able to paint but I want to at least, show them to you all and share my opinion about them.

Warning, brace yourself for a long one!

My latest acquisition is Gürmiz, by Hera Models. I got this bust during their anniversary event, so it came as a pack with the academic orc bust and got a nice discount. The bust is sculpted by Raul Garcia Latorre and it is based on the concept art of Victor Guerra.

Sadly, the anniversary sale has ended and everything went back to their normal prices. This means that Gürmuz, a limited edition bust, sells for €50 and that the academic orc bust can be bought for €27. (or your regional equivalent)

Let's do this unboxing! I will start with the smaller but not less impressive academic orc bust.

Safely packaged in a hard cardboard container

The bust is about 5cm tall and it depicts a part of the naked torso and scarred face of Gürmuz. It is cast in a nice dark resin and doesn't require any clean up. It is designed for practice and made in a way to make it as easy as possible for the painter to start painting. I can imagine this being a great bust to use for workshops.

Frontal view of this beautiful sculpt!

Truly a face only a mother can love

Semi-profile pic of his good side

To see a sped-up example video on how to paint it check this video by DiegueteStudio.
If you want to buy the Academic orc bust for yourself click this link. The price is €27 plus shipping.

Now on to the full bust!

Gürmuz, the barbarian is a limited edition bust with a total of only 125 copies available. Because it is a limited edition bust, it comes with some extra's in the box, like a certificate of authenticity, a special poker card, and a sticker.

There is no backstory available for Gürmuz, the barbarian. The only things I am able to tell is that he kind of looks like Azog, the white orc, from the movie The Hobbit, but without the scars. His armor is sophisticated for an orc. His shoulder pauldron seems to be made of layered leather, his garment is lined with a fur collar and he wears a decorative torq necklace around his neck.

The whole figure comes in two pieces, the full model plus his upper teeth. I think the teeth were taken out for ease of removing the bust from the mold without breaking them off. It comes in a hard cardboard box protected by thick layers of foam. This model also comes with a showcase base (a diagonally cut, circular plinth) 

The base is also safely packed in the foam

The cast is what I've come to expect from Hera Models, superb! There are no mold lines on the model that require cleaning up and the details are super crisp! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

Without teeth, he's even uglier! 

Oh... My... God... check those stitches! 

Just look at all those lovely different textures to paint!

As you can see that is one sexy looking orc! Wait that is a weird sentence... But it is a beautiful bust! 

He is currently still available, although I don't know how many copies there are left. If you want him, follow this link to pick him up! It will cost you €50 but it is most definitely worth it! 

So if you made it this far, thank you for bearing with me! Haha. There were a lot of pictures and a lot of things I wanted to say about these busts.

If you are new at painting busts, I recommend picking up this (or any other) an academic bust. They are usually a bit cheaper than a full bust and it makes for great practice to get used to the scale and how to build up volume by using shadows, mid-tones, and highlights! 

That's it for this article! If you got this bust and if you painted it up, feel free to link to your work in the comment section! I'd love to see your work!

I want to thank you for reading and I hope I will see you all next time!