Merrow (Aquatic Troll): Bones 3 Figure

    This past week I painted the Merrow figure from the Bones 3 Stoneskull Expansion set.   
    I prepped this figure in the usual way; soaking the parts 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.  When dry, I glued his arms to his body, and when dry, I trimmed his base a little and then glued the figure to a black-primed 1.5" fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue. I then placed the figure in my painting grip.

      As I looked at the figure, I decided I wanted to play up his aquatic nature, and thought it might be fun to paint him like a frog; and then I thought it might also be neat to do him in wild colors like a Poison Dart Frog.  Looking at pictures of colorful frogs, I decided in the end to copy the coloration of a Red-eyed Tree Frog.

     I began by painting his body, except his chest and stomach, with Americana "Festive Green".  When dry, I gave it a wash with Iron Wind Metals "Dark Green" ink.  When the ink was dry, I drybrushed him with some Crafter's Acrylic "Wild Green", and some Reaper MSP Bones "Dungeon Slime".

     Next, I painted his chest and belly with Americana "Bleached Sand", his hands and feet with Crafter's Acrylic "Pure Pumpkin, and his fins with Crafter's Acrylic "Tropical Blue".

     I then painted the netting draped over him with Ceramcoat "Territorial Beige", and his loincloth with Folk Art "Dapple Grey".  After that, I painted the shaft of his billhook with Americana "Mississippi Mud". 

      Next, I painted the roping on his weapon with Folk Art "Butter Pecan", and then I painted the little shells and baubles on his netting an assortment of about five different colors that I just grabbed randomly off on my table.     When everything was dry, I gave his feet and hands a wash with some Citadel "Reikland Fleshshade" wash.   When that wash was dry, I then gave a wash to his netting, loincloth, and billhook, with Citadel "Agrax Earthshade" wash.

     I then gave the fins on his arms and legs a wash with some Iron Wind Metals "Mid Blue" ink.  When all the washes were dry, I painted his eyes Reaper MSP "Holly Berry", and as I was doing it, realized I hadn't painted his teeth, so I did those with some Americana "Antique White, and when dry, gave them a wash with the "Agrax Earthshade".  When dry, I highlighted them with some Crafter's Acrylic "Light Antique White".

While I was using the "Light Antique White", I also used it to clean up some of the bigger wash stains on his belly, and do some general belly highlighting.   I realized I hadn't painted his claws, and so did those with some Americana "Terra Cotta".  When dry, I gave them  a wash with the Agrax Earthshade".  Next, I highlighted his hands and feet with Americana "Tangerine". I didn't feel it was light enough, so went back an touched it up with some of the "Tangerine" mixed with some Crafter's Acrylic "Daffodil Yellow". After that, I highlighted the claws with some Accent "Golden Oxide".   I then highlighted his fins with some Americana "Salem Blue", and his loin cloth with some of the original "Dapple Grey" mixed with some Americana "Jade Green".   Next, I highlighted the shaft of his billhook with Americana "Khaki Tan", and the rope binding with some Reaper MSP "Olive Skin Highlight".  I painted the metal part of the weapon with some Americana "Zinc", and when dry, went over it with some Folk Art Metallics "Gunmetal Grey".  When that was dry, I gave it a wash with some Citadel "Nuln Oil wash; and when that dried, I did a few highlights with Ceramcoat "Metallic Silver". 

    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".  After the Dullcote was dry, I applied a little watered-down Woodland Scenics "Water Effects" to the edge of the base, to give a slight swamp effect.

    I'm really happy with this fellow, and in my opinion I think the non-traditional color scheme looks kind of cool.