I promise I’ll paint something by a different manufacturer soon… probably… but for now let’s take a look at how I painted the monster of the week… The Hook Horror!
As you can see I painted the base first, purely because I knew painting those cobbles would be a pain once the model was glued in place and I wanted to hold him by the base as much as possible.
The base was sculpted from procrete and painted exactly like the bases for the Fire Beetles. The skin was undercoated in Chocolate Brown, the armour plates in Chocolate Brown and Dark Grey mix (2/5 or something like that) and Khaki for the beak. The eyes changed colour later on so I’ll mention them then.
The first thing I did, which this picture does a poor job of illustrating is add Sand to the Chocolate Brown and Dark Grey mix. Only a small amount was added for each layer. I did four layers, adding white instead for the final layer until it looked like this… 
I made sure to pick out the scars and plate edges right from the start to deepen those recesses. Next I worked on the beak. First off the inside of the mouth was painted with Royal Purple, then the tongue was picked out in Royal Purple and White mix. 
I also added some purple around the eyes, but this was redone later too. Next I washed Violet Ink onto the tongue. The I highlighted the beak with Sand. 
After that I washed the beak with Flesh Wash ink and rehighlighted it with Sand. 
This is the same formula I used for the Owlbear, although on that model I did a couple more layers of Sand and White followed by a Yellow Ink wash to really add depth to the beak. Next I began to pick out the muscle blocks. 
I wanted to do something fun with these and yes that is as time consuming as it looks. Each leg took about 45 minutes or one episode of Battlestar. The lines were painted with a Chocolate Brown and Sand mix. Each Muscle was outlined and then banded to give it texture and definition. After I’d finished the first leg my head was hurting a lot so I went to sleep… The next day…
Some fairies came in the night and finished him off… The same outlining and banding technique was applied to the arms and face and the other leg. The underneath of the eyes were picked out in Blue Grey. The eyes were done with Sand, washed over with Flesh Wash ink and then picked out in Sand again.
As you can also see I attached the arms. This was done with a blob of super glue, on both the body and the arm. Then I rolled a small ball of procrete, placed it in the shoulder joint and then pressed the arm in. Because the procrete is porous the glue attaches instantly, giving a strong enough bond for me to continue working almost straight away. As the procrete dries inside the join it will form a rock solid connection between the two parts. 
Next I went over the middle of each Muscle with a Chocolate Brown and White mix. This took a lot less time as most of the hard work was already done and this was really just a highlight. Once that was finished I washed all of the skin with Leather Brown just to bring all the highlights down to a more muted and natural tone. 
With that done I set to work on the “Hooks” these I decided were bony protrusions so I painted them like bone. A base of Leather Brown, followed by Khaki and then a very bad example of a Khaki and White mix highlight as evidenced by this picture. 
This was then washed with Chocolate Brown. Built back up with a thin layer of Khaki. Then the edges were highlighted with Khaki and White and then pure White.
Then the whole thing was washed down again with Khaki. Like with the beak I could have continued with washing and highlighting had I needed more depth. Also I did the toes at this point. You can’t tell in these picks but they were simply Khaki lined with the Khaki and White mix. 
Finally I did the fur. This was simply done with Blue Grey, highlighted with Blue Grey and White mix, washed down with Dark Grey and rehighlighted with Blue Grey. It could have used a little more work, especially around the collar, but as I was approaching the 6 hour mark I’d stop caring.
And that was it.
I was pretty happy with the final result. The armour plates in particular really stand out on this model and I think the sculpted base works really well. Those muscle blocks were a pain to do but definitely worth the effort.
Thanks to everyone who posts comments on these by the way (or ticks the “I like” box) all praise and critique is welcome. If you have any questions or suggestions please just leave a comment in the box and I will reply.
No idea what I’m doing next but come back next week for more of… well… something…
The Duke.
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