Monday, January 13, 2014

Spirit: Figure 58 of 265

Having been so satisfied with my efforts on one of the green translucent figures last week, I thought I would try another this week.  So I selected the Spirit figure from the Haunts set to work on.  I've seen a few pictures online of this figure painted, and it always seems like folks leave the body in the translucent material, and paint the hands and head.  Just to be different, I though I would try it the other way around, painting the body, and leaving the head and hands translucent.
   To begin with, I soaked the figure in dish soap and water, and then gave it a light scrub with a soft toothbrush and rinsed it. I then glued it to a 1" black-primed fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue.  When dry, I glued the washer to a tongue depressor with a couple small dots of Elmer's white glue for ease of handing during painting.
   I began painting by giving the head and hands/arms a wash with some GW Dark Green ink with a little water added.  When dry I painted the body and the eye sockets with black paint.
I was worried the face looked a little dark and flat, so I tried adding some light green highlights to it with Americana "Olive Green" paint. I also tried adding some very diluted black ink to the mouth to help delineate the teeth.   Next I drybrushed the body with GW "Codex Grey".
Lastly, I added some dryrbushed highlights to the black body around the neck and sleeves, and some of the other upturned areas, using GW "Goblin Green", with a lighter drybrush of the "Jade Green" on top, to give the appearance of a glow coming from the figure.
  I then painted the integral base of the figure with a dark brown paint to help obscure it after it was flocked.  After the figure had dried overnight, I gave it a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".  When this was dry, I flocked the base.  Finally, I sprayed the figure with Testor's "Dullcote"
Well, this figure has to go in the disappointment category.  The green ink wash turned out much darker than I wanted; and this fact combined with the large almond-shaped eyes and the shape of the head makes the figure look more like an alien than a spirit in my mind.  Also, there is a huge mold line running across the body that I really didn't really notice until I drybrushed the figure, and by then it was too late. (I need to be more careful in looking for these lines before I start painting.  But they're so hard to see on the white Bones and the Translucents)   Lastly, I think I overdid the glow effect, or maybe needed to do it in a bit more concentrated area. It appears just splotchy and not  glow-y.
     I'm not saying its a terrible figure; it's still perfectly serviceable. It's just not the vision I had in my mind when I started with it.

Figure 58 of 265: Complete.

Be sure to tune in Thursday, when I hope to get another SoBaH Bones battle report posted from a pair of games I had this past Saturday.

6 comments:

  1. Great work! Just have to base mine and I am done, we did similar techniques.

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    1. Thanks! Glad to hear you like it, and that you did something similar.

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  2. I stripped this guy about five times so... yeah. A coat of Pledge FloorCare Finish (aka. Future Floor Wax) makes the translucents nicely glassy.

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    1. Wow, I admire your perseverance. I'm curious what you used to safely strip the translucents.

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    2. Thankfully, if your first coat is Pledge, you can strip it with Pledge! (: Scrub with an old toothbrush to get rid of the last of the paint. I should try "priming" with Pledge then applying QuickShade!

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