Savage Worlds "Desert Thing", Bones II Figure

This week I also completed the "Desert Thing" monster from the Bones II Savage Worlds set.  My plan is to use it with my Mars figures (A mash-up of Space 1889 style stuff and Edgar Rice Burroughs) so I wanted to paint it in a reddish scheme.  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.  I wanted to work on this more like a terrain piece, so instead of  a washer, I cut down  one of the large plastic bases that came with the Kickstarter to use as the base.  I traced the figure's mouth part onto the base, and masked  it off with some masking tape.

     I then sprayed the base with flat black spray paint; and when it was dry I pulled off the masking tape, and then glued the mouth piece on with some superglue.

When that step was dry, I glued the tentacles into he mouth with superglue and let them dry .  I made a mistake at this point. I painted the creature black, then remembered that I had wanted the base to be rocky, and that would need to be painted black too. So, I should have glued my course sand mix on before I painted the creature black.  Without thinking, I immediately went and brushed Elmer's white glue all over the base to dunk it in my sand mix, not bothering to check to see if the black paint I had just applied to the creature was fully dry (it wasn't); so, when I dunked the glue-covered base in the sand mix, a bunch of sand stuck to part of the creature (See the photo below)  I tried to brush it off as best I could, but  a lot was still stuck.  I hoped that it wouldn't be noticeable once everything was painted.

     So, after the sand mix was dry, I painted everything black.

After the black was dry, I gave the base and outer mouth a heavy drybrushing with Folk Art "Barnyard Red".

     After the "Barnyard Red" was dry, I gave the base and outer mouth a further drybrushing with Ceramcoat "Raw Sienna", and then Americana "Buttermilk"

     Next, I painted the immediate mouth area and interior gums with Americana "Shading Flesh", and I kind of did a feathering on the edges so it blended into the outer mouth/base of the monster.  I then painted the teeth with the "Buttermilk", and the tentacles with the Raw Sienna"

When that step had had time to dry, I then gave the mouth area and tentacles a wash with GW "Agrax Earthshade" wash using a wet brush.

     When the wash was dry, I did some highlighting. First, I drybrushed the tentacles with Ceramcoat "Maple Sugar Tan".  Then I added highlights to the teeth with the "Buttermilk".  I let the piece dry overnight, then the next morning I gave the figure a coat of  Ceramcoat "Matt Varnish".  That afternoon I sprayed it with "Testor's Dullcote".  After the Dullcote had time to dry overnight, I went back and painted the inner gums and teeth with Americana "DuraClear Gloss Varnish". 

    I'm pleased with how this turned out. I'm thinking about making just a plain rocky base to match this, so I can casually set it on the table during a game.  Then, players will think it's just a piece of rough terrain, and will get a surprise if they move their figures too close.