Dark Watcher: Bones 4 Darkreach Figure

     This past week I painted the Dark Watcher figure from the Bones 4 Darkreach Expansion.

     I prepped the "Dark Watcher" in the usual way, soaking the pieces in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added; then giving the pieces a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying everything.  I then glued the two halves of the head together and glued the tongue in, then glued the head to the base using Gorilla Superglue gel. I then glued the figure to a brown-primed 1.25" fender washer using Aleene's Tacky glue, and then glued the washer to the top of a large pill bottle with a couple drops of Elmers white glue.

      I debated how to paint this.  The obvious choice would be some dark color; grey, green, blue, brown, typical for subterranean monsters, but having already painted a couple monsters from this expansion that way, I wanted to try something different.  So I then thought about going with a more pale, almost albino look, to represent a creature that has never been exposed to sunlight and evolved in the dark.  I Googled photos of various albino animals to give myself an idea of what to try for.

     I began by painting the rocky base with Ceramcoat "Charcoal Grey".  When dry, I drybrushed it with Folk Art "Rock Grey", and Americana "Grey Sky". 

     Next, I painted the entire head with Americana "Snow White".  When dry, I gave the entire head a coat of Citadel Contrast "Apothecary White".   When dry, I drybrushed the head with the "Snow White", and then used a brush to do even further "Snow White" highlights.  I then painted the inside of the mouth with Americana "Cranberry Wine".

     I quickly decided that the mouth looked too strong of a color for my liking, so I repainted it with a mix of the "Cranberry Wine" and some Crafter's Acrylic  "Cherry Blossom Pink".  I then highlighted it with just the "Cherry Blossom Pink" followed with further highlights using Apple Barrel "Apple Lt. Pink".  After that, I painted the very back of his throat with some Citadel Contrast "Templar Black" to try and give it some depth. I followed that with painting his teeth with Americana "Bleached Sand", and his horns with Folk Art "Gray Green".

    I let the figure dry for a while, and then applied a coat of Citadel "Agrax Earthshade" wash to the teeth, and  a coat of Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash to the horns.   After that, I painted the eyeball with Crafter's Acrylic "Light Antique White". 

     Next, I painted the outer iris with Folk Art "Cloudy Day", then painted the inner iris with Crafter's Acrylic "Cool Blue".  I then painted the pupil with Ceramcoat "Black", and afterwards did highlights on the teeth with the base "Bleached Sand" followed by a little Ceramcoat "White".   After that, I highlighted the horns with the base "Grey Green", followed by some Folk Art "Porcelain White". 

       I let the figure dry overnight and the next day I gave it a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.   Another overnight dry, and I sprayed the figure with Testor's Dullcote". When the "Dullcote" was dry, I went back and repainted the eye and the inside of the mouth with a little Americana "DuraClear Gloss" varnish.

     I'm pleased with how this fellow turned out.  The mold line running across his teeth bugs me, but there was no way I was going to get involved in the insane amount of time it would take to try and clear all that out.  (What a crazy place to put a mold line!) In the end I think the mouth perhaps is still too dark in color for an albino creature, but I think in general he looks ok. 

Behold the Beholder: Figure 78 of 265

Over the weekend, I was able to complete the Beholder figure from the 30 New Bones set.  I've had this figure sitting on my painting table for a while now, as I was never able to really decide on a color scheme for it.  I finally figured the only way to get it done was to just plunge in.
       To begin with, the figure had not been pre-assembled well in the factory. (I've noticed this with a number of the pre-assembled figures.) There was a noticeable gap where the upper face/mouth part joined the rest of the body. So, very carefully, I took a hobby knife and pried the upper mouth part away from the rest of the figure, slowly working around the joint and loosening the glue that held it in place.  Eventually I got it free, and after several test fittings, and trimming of the tab on the face section that fit in the slot on the body, I was able to make it fit relatively tight.  I then glued it in place with super-glue.
     I then went about preparing it in the usual way; soaking in some water with a little dish soap added, then giving a light scrub with a soft toothbrush to remove any left over mold-release agent, and then rinsing and drying.  After it was good and dry, I sprayed it with Krylon Camouflage Flat Black with Fusion, and glued the figure to a black-primed 1.25" fender washer using Aleene's Tacky glue. I then glued the washer with a couple drops of Elmer's white glue to a tongue depressor.

  As I thought about the colors I wanted the figure to be, I decided I didn't want it to be too psychedelic in coloring, but I didn't want it to be too drab either, so I tried to split the difference.  I began by grabbing my bottle of Folk Art "Medium Gray" and painting the body/head of the monster . I then painted the tentacles Apple Barrel "Apple Lavender", and, before they were completely dry, I got the idea to go back and add a short section of darker purple, with Anita's "Violet" paint, at the very end; attempting to blend it in with the still wet lighter purple.  I now moved to the mouth painting the interior of the mouth and the gums with Americana "Shading Flesh".  I then painted the teeth with Folk Art "Porcelain White".

After the paint had time to dry, I gave the whole figure a coat of thinned Winsor-Newton "Peat Brown" ink.

I then went back and drybrushed the body/head with the original "Medium Gray", and the tentacles with the "Apple Lavender".  I added some highlights to the tongue and gums with the original "Shading Flesh", and the teeth with the "Porcelain White".  I then went back and added a little pure white to a bit of the "Porcelain White" to lighten it a little, and added some further highlighting to the teeth.

I now painted all the eyes, on the head/body, and the ends of the tentacles.  I began by painting them all white.  I then went back and added irises to them all with Americana "True Blue".  Lastly, I added black pupils to each of them.

Next I worked on the scenic base.  I began by drybrushing the whole thing with Folk Art "Poppy Seed". I then went back and gave it a lighter drybrushing with Folk Art "Gray Green".

 I then  painted the dirt between the rocks with Crafters Edition "Spice Brown", and then gave it a light drybrushing with Americana "Sable Brown".  Lastly, I painted the skull with American "Buttermilk", and the sword with Ceramcoat "Metallic Pewter." I painted the sword's grip black, and hilt with Ceramcoat "Bronze".  I then added a couple splotches of rust on the blade with Duncan "Aged Metal: Iron"
    After the paint had overnight to dry, I painted it with  coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".  When this was dry I flocked the base; and after the flock had a bit to dry, I sprayed the whole thing with Testor's "Dullcote spray paint.  After the "Dullcote" had dried overnight, I went back and I painted all the eyes with Americana "Gloss Varnish" to make them more realistic looking.

I'm generally pleased with how the Beholder turned out.  My one complaint is that I wish I had painted the main eyeball looking downward instead of gazing straight ahead; so he would appear more like he was looking directly at any human sized attacker, and not peering over their head.  I got the iris so nice and centered and circular though, I don't dare go back and redo it, as I would only mess it up.

Figure 78: Complete