Monday, July 9, 2018

Kassandra of the Blade: Bones 3 Figure Conversion. Painted as Snow White

   This past week, I painted Kassandra of the Blade from the Bones 3 Core Set.   A couple weeks ago, I found myself painting up a Disney Monopoly Snow White figure to command a unit of Dwarf Miners (Long story you can read about here: Princess Snow), and I was really struck by the simple but effective primary color scheme of Snow White's outfit.  I immediately decided I wanted to paint a Bones female fighter figure with the same palette.
         So, I pawed through my boxes of unpainted Bones, and fell upon Kassandra of the Blade as the most suitable of what I had.      I prepped this 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" fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue. I then placed the figure in my painting grip. 
       The one thing I didn't like about her was the dual-wielding of swords.  In my opinion there are too many fantasy figures that are wielding two weapons. I like simple.  So I decided to chop off her left hand and replace it before I started painting her.
      Then came the decision of what to replace it with.  I considered a shield for a while, then in looking through my box of Bones transplant donors I came across Sarah the Seeress, whose staff hand had gone to make my Highland Heroine into a Frostgrave Apprentice, leaving her with just her left hand holding an orb of some sort. At first I thought, no, why would Snow White be holding a crystal ball; but then it hit me: paint it like an apple.
     So it was an easy matter to cut off Kssandra's left hand at the wrist and glue on Sarah's hand with the orb.
      I began by painting her face and hands with Crafter's Acrylic "Flesh".  I then painted her pants with Apple Barrel Yellow" and to help carry the yellow color of Snow White's skirt further, I painted her boots with Accent "Mustard Seed" . After that, I painted her tunic with Americana "True Blue".
     Next, I painted the lining of her cape with Reaper MSP Bones "Cinnamon Red" and the apple with Ceramcoat "Black Cherry".  Then, after everything had a chance to dry, I gave her face, hands, apple, cape and pants all a wash with some Citadel "Reikland Fleshshade" wash.  When that was dry, I gave her boots a wash with some Citadel "Agrax Earthshade" wash.
     When the washes were dry, I painted the back of her cape with Accent "Real Umber", and her scarf with Americana "Dove Grey".   After that, I painted her hair and the pouch at her waist with Black.
     Next, when everything was dry, I gave the outside of her cape a wash with the "Agrax Earthshade"; and when that was dry, I gave her tunic and scarf a wash with Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash.  When the washes were dry, I painted her eyes, eyebrows, and lips, and then did the highlights on her face and hands.  I also did some highlights on the apple with some of the "Black Cherry" mixed with a little Crafter's Acrylic "Tutti Frutti"; and then painted a leaf on the apple using Reaper MSP "Christmas Wreath", and highlighted it a with a little Americana "Festive Green" and Crafter's Acrylic "Wild Green".
     Then, I highlighted her hair with Citadel "The Fang", and some Folk Art "Cloudy Day".  After that, I highlighted her pants with Crafter's Acrylic "Daffodil Yellow", and then her boots with Americana "Moon Yellow".
     Next, I highlighted her tunic with the base "True Blue" mixed with Americana "Salem Blue", and I highlighted her scarf with White.   I then highlighted the inside of the cape with Reaper MSP "Holly Berry", and for the really high highlights I mixed in a little of the "Daffodil Yellow". After that, I worked on the outside of the cape, highlighting it with the base "Accent "Real Umber" mixed with Americana "Sable Brown".    I then painted her sword blade with Americana "Zinc", and the sword guard and the bracelet on her left arm with some of the "Mustard Seed".  I then went back and went over the sword blade again with Folk Art Metallics "Gunmetal Grey", and then highlighted it with Ceramcoat "Metallic Silver".  I then went back over the bracelet and sword hilt with Cermcoat "Bronze", and highlighted it with Ceramcoat "Wedding Gold".
     Lastly, I painted the figure's integral base with the "Bittersweet Chocolate".
     I let the figure dry overnight and the next day I gave it a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.    Then, when  the varnish was dry, I used some white glue to flock the base.  Another overnight dry, and I sprayed it with Testor's Dullcote".   When the Dullcote was dry, applied a little gloss varnish to the apple.


     I'm really happy with how she turned out.  I think the color scheme works really well, and this goes right to the top of the list of best faces I've done I think.

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