Monday, January 6, 2014

Labella DeMornay, Banshee: Figure 57 of 265

Having completed the red translucent fire set, and getting some very pleasing results with the last two figures that I painted from that set, I decided it might be fun to start work on the green translucent ghosts set. So I picked out the Labella DeMornay figure from the Haunts set to start with.   I soaked her overnight in some water with dish soap in it, and then scrubbed the figure with an old soft toothbrush and rinsed it.  I let it dry, and then glued it to a 1" black primed fender washer with Aeleen's Tacky glue.  I then glued the washer to a tongue depressor with a couple dros of Elmers white glue, for ease of handling while painting.
In thinking about how I wanted to paint this figure, I decided I wanted to do it as a traditional white ghost, (just like Casper :) ).  I wanted to make it look like it was 'soldifying' out of the green vaporous trail rising from the ground.  So, to begin with I watered down some white paint to make a wash, and added a bit of dish soap to help it flow better into the creases and crevices of the figure.  I applied the wash to the whole figure, and then hung the figure upside down (see photo below), because I wanted the white wash to gather at the top of the figure and be thinner at the bottom.
After this had dried, I applied the wash a second time, but this time only to the figure from the knees up to make the white thicker and more covering on the top half of the figure;  and again I hung it upside down. to dry.
I now made a wash with Folk Art "Dapple Gray" paint by adding water and a little drop of dish soap, and applied this to the top half f the figure.  I also did some random streaks with this wash in some of the deeper crevices on the bottom half of the figure.
After the "Dapple Grey" wash dried, I went back and drybrushed the figure with white paint; heavier at the top and getting lighter as I worked my way down to the area of the figure's knees.
When I was finshed this, I went back and filled in the figures mouth with thinned black paint. I also painted the eyes with GW "Goblin Green" and added pupils with Americana "Olive Green". I then added a tiny white highlight pinpoint to each pupil.   Lastly, I painted the base of the figure with Ceramcoat "Walnut",  to help hide the translucent nature of it before I flocked over it.  After the figure dried overnight, I painted the whole thing with Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish". When this dried, I flocked the bases.
Normally, at this point I would spray the figure with Testor's Dullcote", but because it has been so freezing cold and snowy and rainy here, I have not had an opportunity to do any spraying in the past week. So that is why you may see some sheen on the figure.  I will spray it later when I have a warm day here
I'm very pleased with how this figure has turned out.  I think the blending of the translucent to opaque turned out well, and helped to give the "look" I was going for.

Figure 57 of 265: Complete (almost!)

5 comments:

  1. Very creative idea. It turned out better than I would have thought. Doing washes with white and greys always causes me fits.

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    1. Thanks for the positive comments. I have to say I think this is the first time I've ever done a white wash. I usually use washes to darken and create shadows. I find you really need to toss a lot of what you think out the window when working with these translucents.

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  2. I had to look long at hard at the picture to make out the details. Would love to see it, and the other translucent, in the flesh since I have the impression that it is hard to them justice with a picture.

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    1. You're right, I'm finding that photographing these is as hard as painting them is.
      If you ever plan to attend an HMGS-East Convention, I'd be happy to bring them for viewing.

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    2. Thanks for the offer, but it is the wrong Lancaster ;-)

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