Galladon the Wizard of the Sea: 5 of 264

I returned this week to the last of the first three BONES I selected to begin this project with: Galladon the Wizard, show in the center of the photo below.  I must admit I had been putting this figure off because of the complicated nature of the sculpt, with it's many layered robes, big overhanging hat, and scroll. Unfortunately, this figure lived up to my worries, and was a very difficult figure to paint for a couple of reasons; first is the aforementioned large floppy hat which makes painting the back of the head and the shoulders very difficult, and secondly is the long beard which is not sculpted directly to the chest but actually hangs out a few millimeters from it. I assume the head was cast as a separate piece and glued to the body to allow such an undercut. Anyway, this large protruding beard, made painting the chest, belt, and his right arm very difficult.  None the less, I began; figuring the way to go was small steps. Working a little on the figure then switching to something else, and then coming back to it.

  Now, when I first glanced at this figure as I was sorting my Vampire Box, I thought he had a fish on his staff because of what I thought was a large tail fin.  So, as I had been mentally plotting my paint scheme for this figure I got in my head to do something ocean or sea related.  I already had thought out a palette of sea tones when, in studying the figure to plot my painting plan of attack, I noticed it was a dragon's head on his staff, not a fish.  I decided I wasn't going to let this stop me; and it did honestly look a lot like a fish, so I trimmed off a few of the more knobby looking horns on the dragon head, and tried to leave only what looked like fins. 
  I did no prep work on this figure other than gluing it onto a  black-primed fender washer.  I began, as I usually do with the flesh.  I painted his face and hands with Americana 'Shading Flesh' and then gave it a wash with Windsor Newton 'Peat Brown' ink.Then I did some highlights with the 'Shading Flesh' color again.  Next, I did his outer robe with  Apple Barrel 'Apple Blue Spruce' and his hooded cape with Apple Barrel 'Apple Scotch Blue'. When these had dried, I gave both a wash with Iron Wind Metals ' Deep Turquoise' ink,  and then went back and did highlights with the base colors with a little Americana 'Buttermilk' mixed in.  Next step was to do the under robe in Games Workshop 'Enchanted Blue',  followed by a wash of IWM "Dark Blue' ink. Afterwards I did some highlights with the 'Enchanted Blue' with some of the 'Apple Scotch Blue' mixed in.

With the robes done I began to work on the small parts of the figure.  I next did the hat and the band on the hooded cape with Americana 'Khaki Tan', followed by a wash of the 'Peat Brown' ink. Highlights were done with a mix of the 'Khaki Tan' and 'Buttermilk' drybrushed over the hat, and the raised areas of the band on the cape. Doing the bits that were too close to another color with a regular thin brush. The hat band was done the same as the hooded cape was.  The beard was done in GW 'Codex Grey' followed by a drybrush with GW 'Fortress Grey' and then a final light going over with  the 'Fortress Grey' with a bit of White mixed in.  I also painted the cuffs of the outer robe with GW 'Chainmail' doing highlights, as well as the buttons on the under robe, with GW 'Mithril Silver'.

The scroll was done with Folk Art 'Porcelain White' with a 'Peat brown ink wash, followed by a dry brush with the 'Porcelain White' with a bit of regular White mixed in.  The staff was done with Americana 'Mississippi Mud', followed by a drybrush of Folk Art 'Barn Wood' to try and give it a drift wood appearance.  The belt, pouch,  and shoe were done with Folk Art 'Navy Blue' followed by highlights painted on with GW 'Shadow Grey'. I then did the cloth tied around the staff with the same colors I had done the under robe. Finally I did the metal fittings on the staff with Delta Ceramcoat 'Metallic Copper', followed by a wash with GW 'Dark Green' ink to try and give it a corroded look. I also did some lettering on the cloth tied around the staff with the 'Metallic Copper' and did some lettering on the scroll with GW 'Enchanted Blue' and Black paint using a very thin brush.

When everything had dried overnight, I gave the figure a coat with Delta Ceramcoat 'Matte Varnish' as a first layer of protection. To carry through with the sea theme I used sand as a ground cover on the base, adding just a bit of flock around the outer edge to help it blend in with my green ground cloth.  I also glued on a tiny sea shell to complete the motif. Lastly, I gave everything a spray with Testor's Dullcoat.

Though a lot of work, I'm very pleased with how the figure came out.  And I think the sea themed colors look good on it.

Figure 5 of 264: Complete