Leisynn, Mercenary Mage: Figure 209 of 266

  I got back to the Necromancer set this past week, and painted the Leisynn, Mercenary Mage figure.   I was apprehensive going in to this "not-Tim the Enchanter" figure, as it just seemed so busy with all the horns, the ornate staff and book, and the huge shoulder pads and skull-decorated hangings coming off of them.   I was further discouraged when halfway though painting him I discovered he has a mold line running down his face!  I knew I had to do him, so the only way to finish a figure is to start with the first color, and just keep adding one more color after that.  And so I began...
      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 white-primed 1" 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 figure entirely in Black.  I then drybrushed him with Apple Barrel "Rock Grey".  I then painted his skin with Folk Art "Milkshake"

 Next, I painted his beard with Americana "Zinc", and his staff with Crafter's Acrylic "Cinnamon Brown".   I painted the outer edges of his shoulder pads, the hangings that come off of them, and the cover of the book, all with Ceramcoat "Black Cherry".  Next, I painted the animal skulls with Ceramcoat "Territorial Beige", and the book pages with Ceramcoat "Raw Sienna".

   I then painted his horns with Americana "Mississippi Mud"; and the textured portions of his shoulder pads, as well as the corners, and decorations on the book cover, with the "Raw Sienna". I also went back and painted the skulls on the hangings with the "Zinc".   Then, after everything had a while to dry, I gave all the non-Black parts a wash with GW "Agrax Earthshade" wash using a wet brush.  

        When the wash was dry, I began work on the highlights.  I started with the two animal skulls, painting them first with Crafter's Edition "Taupe", and then with Americana "Buttermilk" followed with detail highlights using Crafter's Acrylic "Light Antique White". I then did the two sets of horns; first using the base "Mississippi Mud", then mixing in a little Folk Art "Barn Wood", and lastly plain "Barn Wood".  Next, I did his beard and hair, with first Crafter's Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey", and then detail highlights with Folk Art "Platinum Grey".  I moved to his face and hands next, first painting the eyes, then doing highlights with the base "Milkshake" followed by a little "Light Antique White" on the tip of his nose.

     I was going to make the pages of the book much lighter, but as I looked at them I decided I really like the heavily yellowed look they had.  So, I just gave the edges a little highlight hit with some Folk Art "Butter Pecan", and then painted the bookmark, and some of the big lettering on the pages with Crafter's Acrylic "Deep Red".  While I had the "Deep Red" out, I used it to highlight the edges of the shoulder pads and the attached hangings.  Next, I took some black and used it to write in tiny lines of text in the book.
  It was time to do the metallics now, so I used some Ceramcoat "Bronze"  to do his shoulder pads, and the markings and corners on the covers of the book. I also used it to do his belt buckle.  Next I used some Folk Art Metallics "Silver Sterling" to paint the skulls on his shoulder hanging.

I now worked on completing the staff.  I had wanted it to look like it was all carved from the same piece of wood, rather than the snake being separate, so I simply added highlights with Americana "Sable Brown".  I then painted in the snake's eyes using Crafter's Acrylic "Holiday Green", and then added tiny White highlight dots to them.   I wanted to try to make it look like a glow was emanating from the snake's mouth, so I first painted it with Crafter's Acrylic "Citrus Green", and then drybrushed the "Citrus Green" along the mouth's edges.  Next, while the "Citrus Green" was still wet,  I used White to paint the very center of the mouth, blending it in with the paint around it.  Lastly, I painted  some highlights on the tongue, teeth, and along the edges with Reaper MSP Bones "Dungeon Slime".  I finished up by painting the figure's base completely with White.
     When everything had overnight to dry, I gave the figure a coat of Ceramcoat "Matte Varnish".  Then, the next morning I flocked the white areas with Woodland Scenics "Snow" flock.  Later that afternoon I sprayed the figure with Testor's Dullcote.

       I actually grew to like this figure as I went along; and I think he turned out looking much better than I had expected.  I'm now torn as to which figure to use as my Frostgrave Necromancer; this figure, or Malek, who I completed a couple weeks ago.