Behir: Bones 3 Figure

    This past week I painted the Behir figure from the Bones 3 Stoneskull Expansion, as I continue to work my way through the remaining figures I haven't painted yet from that set while waiting for the arrival of Bones 4.  At this point, all I have left are the Kobolds and the big Iron Golem.
         I prepped the figure in the usual way, soaking the pieces in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying them.  Next, I assembled the figure using Gorilla Superglue gel.  I then glued the figure to a 3" fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue.   In my rush to begin, I forgot to pre-prime the washer; so after I glued the figure on, I painted the washer with a brush on clear primer.   The washer didn't fit in my painting grip, so I hand held the washer for painting.
   

     I began by painting the head and main body with Crafter's Acrylic "Tropical Blue", and then painted the top back portion and the body crest with Americana "Forest Green".  After that, I painted the belly scales with Folk Art "Celadon Green".

     Next, I painted the horns with Americana "Wedgewood Blue", and then painted the mouth with Crafter's Acrylic "Tutti Frutti".  I then painted the teeth with Crafter's Acrylic "Light Antique White", and the claws with Reaper MSP "Frosty Blue". 

      At this point, I repainted the main body scales with Folk Art Color Shift "Blue Flash".   I let the figure dry for a while, and then I gave the entire thing a wash with Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash.  When the wash was dry, I drybrushed the main body scales with the base "Blue Flash" mixed with a little Folk Art Pearl "Aqua Moire".  I then hit a few individual scales with just the "Aqua Moire".

        Next, I drybrushed the back and body crest with Folk Art "Color Shift "Green Flash", and then drybrushed the belly scales with the base "Celadon Green", and then a little Americana "Snow White".  I then hit each claw with a dab of the "Celadon Green" as well.  After that, I highlighted the legs with a mix of the "Tropical Blue", and Crafter's Acrylic "Cool Blue".  I worked on the head next, highlighting the mouth with Crafter's Acrylic "Cherry Blossom Pink", and the teeth with the "Snow White".    I then highlighted the horns with Ceramcoat "Denim Blue".  After that, I painted the eyes with Crafter's Acrylic "Margarita " and gave them Black pupils, and then used the Black to paint in the nostrils as well.   Lastly, I painted the entire base with Americana "Mississippi Mud".

     I let the figure dry overnight and the next day I gave it a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.    Then, when  the varnish was dry, I used some white glue to flock the base.  Another overnight dry, and I sprayed it with Testor's Dullcote".    When the Dullcote was dry, I painted the eyes with Americana "DuraClear Gloss Varnish".

         I'm really happy how this figure turned out.  I have to say though, the way it corkscrews around and has legs sticking out everywhere, it was a bit of challenge to paint.  This is one that might benefit from being painted disassembled first; or maybe assembled into top and bottom halves before painting.

Temple Dragon: Bones 3 Figure

    This past week, I continued to work through the remaining Bones 3 Stoneskull Expansion figures, and painted the Temple Dragon.    I am going to be painting a Drogon from Game of Thrones in the future, so saw this as an opportunity to test a color scheme.
        I prepped the figure in the usual way; soaking the parts it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying them.  I then assembled the figure using Gorilla Superglue Gel.  After that, I glued the figure to a black-primed 1.25" fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue, and then placed the figure in my painting grip.

    I began by painting the entire figure with Ceramcoat "Black".    When it was dry, I wet blended the wings, both top and underside, a three way transition from "Black", to Reaper MSP Bones "Cinnamon Red", to Americana "Burnt Orange".   I also used some thinned "Cinnamon Red" to paint the spines and scales along the back and the body around the wings.

     And here's how it looked when dry.

 

     Next, I went back over the body drybrushing it with the "Black" to try to give the red the appearance of being down in and between the scales and not on the tops.   I then painted the mouth with a mix of Americana "Shading Flesh" and Folk Art "Burgundy".  After that I painted the eye sockets and lips with Folk Art "Milkshake", and the teeth with Crafter's Acrylic "Light Antique White".

     Then after everything had a while to dry,  I gave the entire figure a wash with Citadel "Nuln Oil" Wash.   When the wash was dry, I drybrushed the dragon with, in succession; Americana "Neutral Grey", Crafter's Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey", and Folk Art "Platinum Gray".  After that, I painted the statue on which the dragon is perched upon with the "Light Antique White", and added some striations with the "Black".

     Next, when the statue had time to dry, I gave it a wash with the "Nuln Oil" too.  I then highlighted it with Americana "Snow White", and used this color to highlight the teeth too.  I painted in the eyes, trying to add a little Accent "Mustard Seed" to the pupils to give them a gold-flecked looked.
       Lastly, I painted the washer base with Americana "Zinc".
      I let the figure dry overnight and the gave it  a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.  Another overnight dry, and I sprayed it with Testor's Dullcote".     

Shown with a Reaper human figure to give a sense of scale.

     All in all I'm really happy with how this dragon turned out.   I think he looks suitably fierce, and I think the color gradations in his wings turned out looking pretty good.

Dragon Plant: Bones 3 Figure

     This past week I finished up the Dragon Plant figure from the Bones 3 Stoneskull Expansion set.   Since I had really liked how my Death Star Lilies had turned out,  I thought I would use a similar color scheme.  This would also give me the option of using them as a mother and babies at some point.
     I prepped the figure in the usual way; soaking the parts in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying them.   When dry, I assembled the figure with  Gorilla Superglue.  I then glued the figure to a black-primed 2" fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue, and then glued the washer-mounted figure to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of the Elmer's glue.

     I began by painting the body of the plant with Americana "Forest Green".  When dry, I drybrushed it with some Crafter's Acrylic "Holiday Green", and then some Crafter's Acrylic "Wild Green".  I then used some of the "Wild Green" to highlight some of the tendrils on the plants appendages.

     Next, I painted the vines on the plant with Crafter's Acrylic "Citrus Green" and then painted the Leaves with Crafter's Acrylic "African Violet".

     After everything had a few hours to dry, I gave the entire body a wash with Citadel "Dark Green" ink using a wet brush.  When the ink wash was dry, I went back over the tendrils with the "Wild Green", and back over the vines with the "Citrus Green".  I then drybrushed the leaves with the "Forest Green".

     I moved to the "head" and this point, painting the outside of the bloom with Americana "Margarita".  I then applied some thinned Crafter's Acrylic "Purple Passion" to the ribbed areas on the bloom.  When this was dry, I drybrushed over it again with the "Margarita", and then drybrushed the whole bloom with some Apple Barrel "Lemon Chiffon". After that, I painted the inside of the bloom, the edges of the "petals", and the base of the pistil "tongue", with Ceramcoat "Opaque Red".

     Next, I took some Crafter's Acrylic "Tutti Frutti", and blended it into the red base of the pistil, and then painted the rest of the pistil with it as well. When dry, I gave the entire pistil a wash with some Iron Wind Metals "Purple" ink using a wet brush.  While this dried, I painted the "teeth" along he edge of the petals with Americana "Bleached Sand", and then went back over them with White highlights.   When the pistil wash was dry, I went back over it and did highlights on each of the little bumps using Crafter's Acrylic "Cherry Blossom Pink".
     Lastly, I painted the washer base with Ceramcoat "Walnut".
     I let the figure dry overnight and the next morning I gave it a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish. When that was dry, I flocked the base. Another overnight dry, and I sprayed it with Testor's Dullcote".

       I can't say that I am a huge fan of this figure.   I find the pose and sculpt in general to be rather awkward and simplistic.  And, this is another one of those really hard figures to photograph, as there is no true "front".   I think it could have been executed better.  That all being said, my heart wasn't in the paint job, and while I think it turned out okay, I'm not to thrilled with it.

Dragon Tortoise: Bones II Large Figure

     This past week I painted the large Dragon Tortoise figure from the Bones II, Expansion Set 1.  In planning my color scheme for this, I Googled images of snapping turtles, and scrolled through those for a while to get an idea of what the real thing looked like.

       I prepped the figure in the usual way; soaking the pieces in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying them.   I then assembled the model using Gorilla superglue. When the superglue was set, I then glued the figure to a black-primed 2" fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue.

     I began by painting his skin with Folk Art "Barn Wood", and his shell with Model Color "USA Olive Drab".   I then made a mix of the two colors to paint his arm, leg, and tail scales, as well as the top of his head, blending it into the lower lighter part of the head.  After that, I painted the inside of his mouth with Apple Barrel "Apple Light Pink".

     Next, I painted his claws and toenails with Americana "Khaki Tan", and his teeth with Americana "Bleached Sand".   I then mixed some of the "USA Olive Drab" with some Accent "Golden Harvest", and blended the tops of his shell spikes as well as the edges of the shell, working from the base "USA Olive Drab" up to pure "Golden Harvest" on the tips and edges.

      After everything had a while to dry, I gave the entire model a wash with Citadel "Agrax Earthshade" wash using a wet brush.  When the wash was dry, I painted his eyes with Apple Barrel "Lemon Chiffon", and then mixed a little of the "Lemon Chiffon" with some of the "USA Olive Drab", and used that to paint a cross on the eye, followed by a Black pupil.  I then highlighted his teeth with Crafter's Acrylic  "Light Antique White."

    After the teeth,  I highlighted the tongue with the base "Light Apple Pink",  and then the "Light Apple Pink" with a little White added.  Next, I highlighted the skin with a drybrushing of the base "Barn Wood", and I highlighted the shell as well as the neck, head, arm, leg and tail  scales all with a drybrushing of  the "Golden Harvest". I then highlighted the claws and toenails with some of the base  "Khaki Tan" mixed with a little Americana "Bleached Sand".  Lastly, I painted the area of base around each food with some Ceramcoat "Walnut".
    I let the figure dry overnight and the next day I gave him a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish. When dry, I flocked the base. Another overnight dry, and I sprayed him with Testor's Dullcote".

     He's not quite how I had envisioned it in my mind's eye before I started, but I'm generally happy nonetheless.  And it's always  great to get another of these large figures completed!

Kalladrax: Bones I Dragon as Frostgrave Terrain Piece

   A while back I saw a thread on the Reaper Forum, where the poster was painting up his Kalladrax undead skeletal dragon to use as Frostgrave terrain; and I thought that it was a really cool idea, and I decided I wanted to do the same for my Frostgrave games as well.  So, I picked up a copy of Kalladrax on eBay and this past week I got started on the project.
   I prepped the figure in the usual way; soaking all the pieces in a large bowl of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then I gave them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsed and dried them.  I then glued the body, head, and legs together.  I also glued one of the tail sections to the spiked tail end.  The model comes with about 2' of tail in three sections, which I thought was way too long for my purposes; so I set the longest of the three sections aside to test painting schemes on.  Below you can see my experimentation.  I decided to go with the one on the left which was Anita's "Baby Blue", followed by a Citadel "Nuln Oil" shade wash. Then when the wash was dry, I drybrushed with Americana "Bleached Sand", Crafter's Acrylic "Light Antique White", and White.

      So I began by painting all the dragon's bones with Anita's "Baby Blue".

 I then gave everything a wash with Citadel "Nuln Oil" shade wash using a wet brush.

     I then began the drybrushing of the skeleton; first with the "Bleached Sand", then the "Light Antique White", and lastly plain White.

    I painted the dried and rotting wing remnants with Folk Art "Poppy Seed", and then painted the talons and tail spikes with Citadel "The Fang".  When everything was dry, I drybrushed the wings with Folk Art "Gray Green", and then with Folk Art "Celadon Green".  I then drybrushed the tail spikes and talons with Folk Art "Cloudy Day".

I used Black to paint the holes in the skull and in between the ribs.  I then painted the horns an claws with "The Fang", and drybrushed with "Cloudy Day".

    I painted the stonework on the base with DecoArt Traditions "Dark Grey", and then painted the head, and the border on the pillar behind the head, with Ceramcoat "Turquoise".   The treasure chest I painted with DecoArt Traditions "Raw Umber".  When that all was dry, I gave everything a wash with Citadel "Nuln Oil" shade using a wet brush.

  When the wash was dry, I drybrushed the ruins with  Crafter's Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey", and then Folk Art "Platinum Grey", and lastly some of the "Light Antique White".   Next, I gave the "bronze" pieces a wash with some of the "Celadon Green" which I heavily thinned.  When this wash was dry, I lightly drybrushed those sections with Ceramcoat "Bronze".

     Lastly, I painted everything with White that hadn't been painted yet (That is, all the "snow" areas).  When that was dry, I brushed the White areas with Elmer's white glue, and applied Woodlands Scenic "Snow Flock".
     I was concerned about the whole weight of the dragon being supported on two spindly legs, so I drilled a hole in the top of the ruins and inserted a small section of acrylic rod to help support the dragon's belly.

 I then glued all the parts together using Gorilla Super Glue.  I applied a few Water Effects icicles to the piece before I realized that I hadn't given it its final spray of Dullcote.  I will probably apply some more icicles once I do that, but the weather has been too humid here to do a lot of spraying lately.
(As always, you can click on any photo to see it larger.)

     I'm really happy with how this piece came out.  I think it will be quite the show-stopper when used as the centerpiece on my Frostgrave table at upcoming conventions.