Killer Fungi: Bones 4 Darkreach Figure

     This past week I painted the two translucent "Killer Fungi" from the Bones 4 Darkreach Expansion.     I had been holding these back since I painted the rest of the Darkreach mushrooms, in hopes that I could figure out some way to illuminate them, without having to include a huge base to hide the battery & electronics; but I finally abandoned that plan because I was tired of them sitting in my waiting-to-be-painted shelf.   This also led me to decide to start making a concerted effort to work my way through the remainder of my Darkreach figures since I had painted a lot of them already.

     I began by giving both the mushrooms a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.  When dry, I gave the one on the left a coat of Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash, and the one on the right a coat of thinned Iron Wind Metals "Dark Blue" ink.    

     When the washes were dry, I drybrushed the one on the left with Reaper MSP Bones "Dungeon Slime".  I then painted the underside of the cap, and the tentacles on the righthand one with Crafter's Acrylic "Purple Passion".  While the tentacles were still wet, I blended Americana "Cranberry Wine" in on the ends of the tentacles

I realized I couldn't really paint the roots of the mushrooms without painting the bases first, so I took the time at this point to paint the bases on both the mushrooms with Americana "Mississippi Mud".   I then painted the bottom of the domed mushroom with Apple Barrel "Apple Lavender", and also used the color to drybrush the top.   While that dried, I used some Citadel "Agrax Earthshade" wash to apply a coat to the underside and roots of the conical mushroom.   I then went back and used the "Nuln Oil" wash to give a coat to the tentacles, underside, and roots of the domed mushroom.

     When the washes were dry, I drybrushed the conical one with some Americana "Margarita" to help it pop.  I then drybrushed the domed one's tentacles, underside, and roots with some of the base "Apple Lavender"  mixed with some Reaper MSP "Breast Cancer Awareness Pink".   After that, I highlighted the ends of the domed mushroom's tentacles with some Ceramcoat "Opaque Red".
      I let the mushrooms dry overnight and the next day I gave them and their bases a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.

     I'm pretty happy with these two fungi.  I'm glad I went ahead and got them finished up.

Fungal Guardian: Bones 4 Darkreach Figure

  This past week I painted the Fungal Guardian from the Bones 4 Darkreach Expansion set.  This will conclude the mushroom people from that set that I am painting.  There were two small mushroom "children" called Fungoids in the set, but I felt they were too cartoony and almost Chibi looking, and didn't fit with the rest stylistically.
        I prepped the figure in the usual way; soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added and then rinsing and drying.   I then trimmed the base a little and glued the figure to a black primed 1.25" fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue.  I then set the washer in my painting grip.

     I began by painting the entire body with Folk Art "Celadon Green".  I then painted the cap with Crafter's Acrylic "Navy Blue", and the tendrils with Folk Art "Cloudy Day".

     Next, I painted the growth on the back of the head, and the two little nodules on the right hand, with Crafter's Acrylic "Orange Spice".  I let the figure dry for a while and then I gave the entire thing, except the growth on the back of the head, a coat of Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash.  When the wash was dry, I then gave the growth on the back of the head a coat of Citadel "Agrax Earthshade" wash.

     After all he washes were good and dry, I highlighted the cap by drybrushing it with, first, Ceramcoat "Denim Blue", and then some Apple Barrel "Apple Scotch Blue".   I then panted the eyes with Crafter's Acrylic "Daffodil Yellow"; and next did the highlights on the body with the base "Celadon Green", followed by some lighter highlights with Americana "Snow White".  After that, I highlighted the tendrils with Crafter's Acrylic "Cool Blue". I also highlighted the growth on his head with the base "Orange Spice" and then some Crafter's acrylic "Pure Pumpkin".
    Next, I painted the entire base with Americana "Zinc".  When dry, I gave the base a coat of some of the "Nuln Oil" wash.  When the wash was dry, I gave it a light drybrush with some Americana "Neutral Grey" followed by Americana "Dove Grey"
      I let the figure dry overnight and the next day I gave it a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.     Then, another overnight dry, and I sprayed it with Testor's Dullcote".

     I'm happy with how this one turned out.  I like the splash of color the orange adds.  I'll be glad to take a break from painting mushroom now. :)
     Below is my Darkreach Mushroom-folk and Shrieking Mushroom collection (minus the Fungoids.)   There are also a pair of translucent purple mushrooms in the Darkreach set, but I'm waiting on those; as I'm trying to figure out a way to illuminate them...

Fungal Bruiser: Bones 4 Darkreach Figure

  Continuing on the Mushroom train,  this past week I painted the Fungal Bruiser from the Bones 4 Darkreach Expansion.
       I prepped the figure in the usual way, soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying it.  I then trimmed the base a little and glued the figure to a black-primed 1.5" fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue, and then placed the figure in my painting grip.

      I  began by painting the body of the figure with Folk Art "Porcelain White".  I then painted the cap as well as his mouth and tongue, with Ceramcoat "Black", and then did the tendrils on his head and arms with Vallejo Model Color "Brown Violet".

       Next, I painted the little mushrooms on the base with Americana "Bleached Sand", and gave them spots with Americana "Wedgewood Blue".  I then painted his claws with Americana "Reindeer Moss Green".   After everything had dried for a while, I gave the entire figure, and the little base mushrooms, a wash with Citadel "Nuln Oil".   When the wash was dry  I drybrushed the cap with Folk Art "Dapple Grey", and gave his tongue a highlight with Duncan "Olive Green". I also painted his eyes using Americana "Antique White" for the "whites"

     I then highlighted the tendrils on his head, arms and back using a mix of the base "Brown Violet" and Some Reaper MSP Bones "Dungeon Slime".   After that, I worked on highlighting his body; first using the base "Porcelain White", then using a mix of the "Porcelain White" and some Crafter's Acrylic "Light Antique White", and then some of the plain "Light Antique White".
     I next painted the base with Americana "Neutral Grey", and after it had time to dry, I gave it a coat of the "Nuln Oil" (In retrospect I just should have included this back before I gave the whole figure the "Nuln Oil" wash, and applied the wash to everything at the same time.  But sometimes I don't think things through entirely... ).  When the wash was dry, I drybrushed the base with first Apple Barrel "Rock Grey", and then Americana "Dove Grey".
    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 it with Testor's Dullcote".

    I'm pleased with how this guy turned out.  He will make a nice addition to my expanding Mushroom Court.

Shrieking Fungus 1, 2, & 3: Bones 4 Darkreach Figures

     This past week I also painted the three Shrieking Fungus figures from the Bones 4 Darkreach Expansion set.
      I prepped the figures in the usual way; soaking them in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added and then rinsing and drying.   I then glued each one to a black primed 1" fender washer, with Aleene's Tacky glue.  I then glued the figures to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of the Elmer's glue each.

      I began by painting the left one entirely with Crafter's Acrylic "Light Antique White". With the center one I did just the stem with Folk Art "Porcelain White"; and with the third one I also just did the stem, this time with Folk Art "Milkshake"

      Next, I painted the top of the center one with Americana "Fawn", and the top of the righthand one with Folk Art "Cloudy Day".  I then did the openings on the top of the lefthand one; and the "mouths" as well as the top spots on the righthand, one with Americana "Shading Flesh".   After that, I painted the "teeth" on the righthand one with Americana "Bleached Sand".

     I then gave the lefthand one a wash with very thinned Iron Wind Metals "Purple" ink, the center one was wash with Citadel "Reikland Fleshhade" wash, and the righthand one a wash with Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash.

      When the washes were dry, I drybrushed the first one with the base "Light Antique White", and then a little Americana "Snow White". I moved on to the second one, drybrushing that with the base "Porcelain White".  I then did the third one, carefully highlighting the stem with the "Milkshake", and the cap with the 'Cloudy Day".  I then went back and went over the lips and spots on the top again with the "Shading Flesh", and the teeth with some of the "Light Antique White".

     I painted the bases with a 50-50 mix of Americana "Neutral Grey" and Americana "Mississippi Mud".   When dry, I gave the bases a coat of some of the "Nuln Oil" wash.  

    I'm pleased with how these turned out.  They were a quick and fun little project to do.

Fungal Queen: Bones 4 Darkreach Figure

     This past week I painted the Fungal Queen figure from the Bones 4 Darkreach Expansion set.   I'm considering an "Island of the Living Mushrooms" scenario for our Ghost Archipelago campaign, and wanted to start working on the Mushroom folk from the Darkreach set.  I didn't want to jump right in with the big Queen figure until I worked out exactly how I wanted to paint these; so last week I painted the Fungal Handmaiden as a trial for some ideas I had, and I  was happy enough with the results to start work on the Queen.
      I prepped the figure in the usual way, soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying it.  I then glued the figure to a black-primed 1.5" fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue, and then placed the figure in my painting grip.   I didn't glue the mushroom cap on at this point, because it really would have blocked access to her head, and conversely the underside of the cap.

     I began by painting the entire figure with Americana "Snow White".

     When the "Snow White" was dry, I gave her "dress" a wash with very thinned Crafter's Acrylic "Purple Passion".  When the wash was dry, I touched up areas where is had spread onto the "Snow White", and then gave her skin a wash with Citadel "Reikland Fleshshade" wash.    I decided the train of her dress looked to bland, so went over alternating bands with Iron Wind Metals "Purple" Ink.

     Next, I realized she had glove-like tendrils on her hands, so I painted those with thinned "Purple Passion", and gave them a light coat of thinned "Purple" Ink to help define them.   I then touched hup her hair with the "Snow White", and when dry, went over it with some thinned Americana "Neutral Grey".  After that, I highlighted her clothing with a little Apple Barrel "Apple Lavender", and some of the "Apple Lavender" mixed with some of the "Snow White". I then painted the stalagmites at her feet with Americana "Mississippi Mud". 

     I also at this time painted the underside of the mushroom cap with the "Snow White", and when dry, went over it with the thinned "Neutral Grey".

     I painted her face like I had done the Fungal Handmaiden, and then highlighted her skin with a mix of Crafter's Acrylic "Light Antique White" and a little of the "Reikland Fleshshade"  I then did lighter highlights with the base "Snow White".  I also highlighted her hair, and the undrside of the cap with the base "Snow White".

     I went over the Stalagmites with Citadel "Agrax Earthsahde" and when dry, drybrushed them with Folk Art "Butter Pecan, and then the lighter Americana "Bleached Sand".  I also decided to add more bling to her train, and went over the bands I had used the Purple" ink on using Folk Art "Color Shift "Purple Flash".   I then painted the washer base with a mix of the "Mississippi Mud" and the "Neutral Grey"
      At this point I drybryshed the underside of the cap with the base "Snow White", and then glued the cap on the Queen's head using Gorilla Superglue Gel".   After the Glue set for a while, I painted the entire top of it with the "Apple Lavender".  When the "Apple Lavender" was dry, I then drybrushed it with the darker Crafter's Acrylic "African Violet", trying just to hit the little raised geometric areas.  When done, I then worked with a small brush at cleaning up where the "African Violet" drybrushing had gotten on the narrow "Apple Lavender" channels, and then filling in by hand those geometric areas of the "African Violet" that hadn't been fully hit with the drybrushing of the color.
     I let the figure dry overnight and the next day I gave her a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.  Another overnight dry, and I sprayed her with Testor's "Dullcote".

     For the most part I'm really happy with how she turned out.  I wish I had spent a little more time with the tendrils on her hands, and in getting the highlights on the underside of the cap up to a brighter true white. But for my gaming purposes I am content.  Now on to some more of the mushroom court!

Fungal Handmaiden: Bones 4 Darkreach Figure.

     This past week I also painted the Fungal Handmaiden from the Bones 4 Darkreach Expansion set.   I'm considering an "Island of the Living Mushrooms" scenario for our Ghost Archipelago campaign, and wanted to start working on the Mushroom folk from the Darkreach set.  I didn't want to jump right in with the big Queen figure until I worked out exactly how I wanted to paint these.  I had seen someone on the Reaper Forum who had done their mushrooms in very pale muted colors, and I wanted to try for something a little like that as well.
      I prepped the figure in the usual way; soaking it in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added and then rinsing and drying.   I then glued the figure to a black primed 1" fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue.  I then set the washer in my painting grip.

     I was planning on doing this figure in a series of washes, so I began by painting the entire figure with Americana "Snow White"

     I then gave the "clothing" a wash with very thinned Ceramcoat "Denim Blue".  After that, I did the top of the cap with a wash of very thinned Americana "True Blue".

     Next, I used the "Snow White" to touch up areas of the face, arms, hair and underside of the cap where the blues had mistakenly spread.   I then gave the face and arms a wash with some Citadel "Reikland Fleshshade" wash.  When that was dry, I gave the underside of her cap and her hair a wash with the very thinned Americana "Antique White".   I then painted her eyes using Americana " Light Cinnamon" for the socket shadows and Accent "Real Umber" for the pupil dots.

    I then highlighted the face and arms with Crafter's Acrylic "Light Antique White", and highlighted the hair and underside of the cap with Americana "Bleached Sand".  After that, I painted the specks on top of the cap with the "Snow White".   
     It was now time to work on the rocky outcropping the mushroom was growing from.  I began by painting the outcropping and rest of the base with Americana "Zinc".  When dry, I gave the base a coat of some Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash. When the wash was dry, I gave it alght drybrush with 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.     Then, another overnight dry, and I sprayed it with Testor's Dullcote".

     I'm really happy with how she came out.  I like the effect of the pale washes and they were relatively easy to do..

Mushroom King and Mushroom Men: Bones II Figures

     This week I also finished up the Mushroom King and Mushroom Men from the Bones II Expansion Set I.  I decided to paint them all at one time, since they all were getting the exact same paint scheme.
      I prepped the figures in the usual way; soaking them 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 glued the figures to black-primed fender washers with Aleene's Tacky glue; 1.5" for the King, 1.25" for the middle-sized mushroom, and 1" for the smallest.   When the glue was dry, I glued the figures to a tongue depressor with a couple drops each of the Elmer's glue.

     I began by painting the entire bodies of the figures with plain White. Next, I painted the caps with GW "Blood Red". I then painted the small shelf fungus growing down their sides with Apple Barrel "Apple Parchment".

       I then went back to the White, and painted the small dots on their caps.  On the King, I painted his staff with Americana "Mississippi Mud".  I also painted the stems of the mushrooms growing on his head, and the ones growing on his staff, with Americana "Buttermilk".  I painted the caps of the mushrooms growing on the King's head with Apple Barrel "Yellow".  The more granular growth growing on his cap I painted with Apple Barrel "Burnt Sienna".  I then painted some of the mushroom caps on his staff with Accent "Mustard Seed", and others with Americana "Tangerine".  I painted the small cluster mushrooms on the staff with Americana "Reindeer Moss Green".

     After the paint had time to dry, I gave all the figures a head to toe wash with GW "Agrax Earthshade" wash using a wet brush.

    When the wash was dry, I went back and  carefully drybrushed the bodies of the mushrooms, avoiding as best I could the red caps, and the shelf fungus on their backs. I then took a regular brush and did further highlights where needed, and highlighted the white dots on the caps.  I followed this with highlighting the caps themselves with the base "Blood Red".   I then used all the base colors I had used on the smaller mushroom caps to highlight them on the King's head and staff.  Next, I mixed a little of the "Yellow" and "Burnt Sienna" and used this mix to lightly drybrush the granular growth on the King's cap.  At this point I also realized that one of the things on the King's cap was a snail shell (I think!), so I painted it with Americana "Zinc" and then drybrushed it with Duncan "Slate Grey".
    Continuing,  I did highlights on the staff itself with the base "Mississippi Mud", and the shelf mushrooms on their backs with the base "Apple Parchment".  I finished off with adding tiny dots, using Apple Barrel "Apple Scotch Blue", to the mushrooms I had painted with the "Mustard Seed" on the Kings staff ; and then lastly, giving  each mushroom a set of beady Black eyes. I painted the figures' white integral bases with Ceramcoat "Walnut"
      I let the figures sit all day, and that evening I gave them a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".  The next morning  I flocked the bases, and that afternoon I gave the figures a coat of Testor's "Dullcote" spray varnish.

     I'm very pleased with how these little fellows turned out.  They certainly are something completely different! :)