Ghost of the Dwarf King and Everliving Flames: Bones 5 Encounter Figures

      This past week I painted the "Ghost of the Dwarf King Durman the Mad", and two of the "Everliving Flame" pieces, from the Bones 5 The Dwarf King's Crypt Encounter set.  The set only comes with one of the Everliving Flame terrain pieces, but I ordered two of the Encounters as I wanted pairs of a number of the set's scenery items, as well as a bunch of the Dwarf Zombies that came with it.

     As you can tell from my past entries, I've really had a lot of fun experimenting with all the translucent figures that came in this Kickstarter.  This gave me an excuse to start working on the excellent Dwarf Kings Crypt set.  I was interested to see what I could do with the King's ghost which had been cast in blue.

         I prepped the figures in the usual way, soaking them in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying them.  I then glued the Dwarf King and the Flames to 1" primed metal washers, using Aleene's Tacky for the King, and some Gorilla Super Glue Gel glue for the Flames.  I then put the King into my painting grip, and glued the Flames to a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmer's School Glue.

          I started with the King, and began by painting the entire figure completely with Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.  Then, when the varnish was dry, I painted the figure completely again using thinned Citadel Contrast "Ultramarine Blue" to help provide some shadows in the recesses.

     When the "Ultramarine Blue was dry, I drybrushed the body with, first Citadel Dry "Hellion Green", and then Folk Art "Celadon Green", careful to avoid the weapon and the wisps coming from his left hand.  I then drybrushed the weapon, and the wisps in his left hand, using Crafter's Acrylic "Daffodil Yellow", and then Apple Barrel "Lemon Chiffon".  After that, I painted his eyes with Tamiya Color "Clear Red".  When dry, I added pupils with Reaper MSP "Holly Berry", and highlight dots with the "Lemon Chiffon".  Lastly, I painted his open mouth with Contrast "Black Templar".

     

     Next, I turned to the Eternal Flames. Like the Dwarf King,  I began by painting both the figures completely with Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.   When dry, I started on the flames, and painted the bottoms with Citadel Contrast "Iyanden Yellow", and then painted the midsections with Citadel Contrast "Gryph-Hound Orange". After that, I painted the tops of the flames with Citadel Contrast "Blood Angels Red", and then a tiny bit of Citadel Contrast "Black Templar" at the very tips.  

      I was really pleased with the flames until I painted the bases with Ceramcoat "Charcoal". Making the bases dark and opaque cut off a lot of the light that had helped brighten the translucent flames. 

     So, I decided I would need to paint the bases of the flames with regular acrylic paint to brighten them, and blend it with the more translucent Contrast paint as it went up.  So, I painted some areas with Reaper MSP "Hearth Glow, and then added some Crafter's Acrylic "Daffodil Yellow", and a little Apple Barrel "Lemon Chiffon".  I then added some dots of the "Lemon Chiffon" near the top to try and look like floating sparks. I then put a little of the "Black Templar" around the base of the flame to blend the bottom with the base of the braziers. 

     I then worked on highlighting the braziers, drybrushing with, first, Americana "Zinc", then, Crafter's Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey", and then a bit of Americana "Grey Sky".   After that, I tried to do a bit of an OSL (object source lighting) effect by drybrushing the tops of the braziers, as well as the bottom where the flames leaned over the edge, with Crafter's Acrylic "Pure Pumpkin", Crafter's Acrylic "Bright Yellow", and the "Daffodil Yellow". I lastly used a bit of Reaper MSP "Holly Berry"  

    When everything was dry, I used some white glue to glue some sand onto the base of the Dwarf King.  When this was dry I  painted it with the "Black Templar".  When that was dry,  I drybrushed the edges of the base with some of the Crafter's Acrylic "Tropical Blue", and then I blended in some Crafter's Acrylic "Cool Blue" closer to the figure, to again try a little OSL effect to make it look like the ghost was glowing.

      I let all the figures dry overnight and the next day I gave them a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.     

     I'm generally pleased with these figures.  I think the translucence helps give them a unique look.  The OSL I feel is not my best, but works okay.  I probably should have spent more time with it, but was eager to get these figures finished up.

Spirit Beast: Bones 4 Dreadmere Figure

     This past week I painted a pair of the Spirit Beasts from the Bones 4 Dreadmere Expansion.  There was something about this figure that made me think of the Patronuses in the Harry Potter books and movies (And, yes, that is the proper plural; I looked it up!)  So, I decided to try for that glowing white/blue appearance that is the key feature of their appearance.
         I prepped the figures in the usual way, soaking the parts in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added, then giving them a light scrub with a soft toothbrush, and then rinsing and drying them. I then assembled the figures with Gorilla Superglue gel.   After that, I glued them to 1.25" black-primed fender washers with Aleene's Tacky glue.  I then glued the washers onto a tongue depressor with a couple drops of Elmer's white glue.

   I was going to try these with my new Citadel Contrast Paint, as I thought that would be ideal to give them their blue shadows.  So, I began by prepping them by painting them entirely with Americana "Snow White".

     I then made a mix of some of the Citadel Contrast "Tallasar Blue", and some of the blue-tinged Citadel Contrast "Space Wolves Grey". I thinned this mix with a couple drops of water, and then applied it to the entire figures

     When the Contrast coat was dry, I drybrushed the figures with some of the "Snow White", and then went back and painted further highlights directly with a brush using the "Snow White".

Next, I painted the rocks they are standing on with Americana "Charcoal"; and when dry, gave them a light drybrushing with some Crafter's Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey".  After that, I drybrushed them with some Crafter's Acrylic "Cool Blue", and then added a few "Snow White" highlights.  Lastly, I painted the bases with Americana "Mississippi Mud".

     I let all the figures dry overnight and the next day I gave them a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.    Then, when  the varnish was dry, I used some white glue to flock the bases.  Another overnight dry, and I sprayed them with Testor's "Dullcote".  

    The shot below, using the camera's flash, helps improve the "glowing" effect I think. :)

    Not too bad, but not quite as glowy as I would like.  Still I think it gets the idea of "Spirit Beast" across well enough.

   

Ghost Pirates: Bones 4 Figures

   This past week I worked on the Ghost Pirates set from the Bones 4 Core Set.   The Core Set came with 5 of these figures, and I ordered a second set so I would have a unit of 10 for larger games. I painted the second 5 the exact same way that I painted the first 5, so did not include progress shots of them; but I did include them in the group photos at the end.
   I prepped the figures in the usual way; soaking them in a dish of water with a couple drops of dish-soap added and then rinsing and drying.   I then glued each one to an unprimed 1" fender washer, with Aleene's Tacky glue.  I then glued the figures to a number of tongue depressors with a couple drops of the Elmer's glue each.

 

       I began by painting the washers with Americana "Metal Primer".  I then painted the figures completely with Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish; as I  planned to use ink on them, and the matte varnish gives the ink something to hold on to better than the bare plastic.  When the matte varnish was dry, I applied a heavily thinned wash of Citadel "Green" Ink to the figures, trying to keep it just on the pirates themselves and not on the "scenery" pieces on the bases.

Note, I added a coat of un-thinned "Green" ink to the bottles the righthand pirate is carrying to give them a green glass look.

      When the ink was was dry, I painted their eyes with tiny dots of Americana "Margarita", and then painted the bases with Americana "Bittersweet Chocolate".

     Next, I drybrushed the scenic bases with a 50-50 mix of Americana "Neutral Grey" and Americana "Mississippi Mud".  This was followed with a lighter drybrushing using Folk Art "Barn Wood", and a last highlight drybrushing with Americana "Dove Grey".  I then painted the skulls on the bases with, first, Americana "Khaki Tan", and then drybrushed with Crafter's Acrylic "Light Antique White".  Lastly, I painted the rest of the base and washer with the Mississippi Mud".
    I let the figures dry overnight and the next day I gave them a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish.    Then, when  the varnish was dry, I used some white glue to apply a fine sand mixture to the bases.  I decided not to spray varnish these as I have had some issues in the past with the translucent figures getting a little tacky after a while; so I'm just going to go with the brush on matte varnish. I did put a little Americana "DuraClear Gloss" varnish on the bottles the drinking pirate is holding to make them look like glass.

This is the original five I painted as shown above.

These are the original five as well.

And here's the whole crew.

     I'm really happy with these.  They turned out just as I had hoped.    The translucents are always a challenge to strike the right balance between keeping the translucency and applying shadow and highlight, and I think I hit a happy balance here.

Drys, Dryad: Bones II Figure

     This past week I painted the Drys, Dryad, figure from the Bones II, Sylvan Creatures set.  Since I was in kind of a Frostgrave frame of mind when I was thinking about painting her, I decided I would try to paint her up in winter colors, like a dryad that has been unexpectedly awoken from her Winter sleep and is not happy about it;  so I attempted to give her a pale and cold look.
      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 tree with Americana "Bittersweet Chocolate", and then painted the dryad with Folk Art "Barn Wood".   I then painted her sword with Folk Art Teddy Bear Brown", and her hair with Folk Art "Gray Green".

      I then painted the leaves in her hair with Apple Barrel "Apple Maple Syrup".  Then, after everything had a while to dry, I gave the entire figure a wash using Citadel "Agrax Earthshade" wash using a wet brush.  When the wash was dry, I drybrushed the tree with Apple Barrel "Rock Grey".

     I then highlighted her skin with the base "Barn Wood", and then with the "Barn Wood" with a little "Crafter's Acrylic "Light Antique White" added to it.  After that, I painted her nipples with Americana "Mississippi Mud".   I then worked on highlighting her hair, first with Folk Art "Porcelain White", and then with Americana "Reindeer Moss Green".  I then did some detail highlights on the hair with the "Light Antique White".    Then I highlighted the leaves in her hair with Apple Barrel "Lemon Chiffon"and then I painted her eyes.
     I painted what I interpreted as rocks on the base with Americana "Zinc", and then painted what I thought was a skull, with Americana "Khaki".  While they dried, I worked on giving her sword a light drybrushing with Ceramcoat "Bronze".  I then went back and gave the rocks and skull a wash with Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash.  Then, when the wash was dry, I highlighted the rocks with the "Rock Grey", and the skull with the "Light Antique White".  Lastly, I painted the areas of the base that were't the roots, rocks, or skull, with White.

     I let the figure dry overnight and the next day I gave her a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish. Another overnight dry, and I sprayed her with Testor's Dullcote". When the Dullcote was dry, I went back and applied the a mix of snow flock, white paint, and white glue to some of the branches and the base.

     I'm really happy with how this figure turned out.  I think it has the cold, awoken-in-the-middle-of-winter look I wanted.