Dark Elf Wizard: Bones 4 Darkreach Figure

     This past week I painted the "Dark Elf Wizard" from the Bones 4 Darkreach Expansion.  This is the last of the Dark Elf figures I had left to do from this expansion.

      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 brown-primed 1" fender washer with Aleene's Tacky glue, and then placed the figure in my painting grip.

(I forgot to take a photo before I started painting, so here is the one from the Reaper online store.)

     I began by painting the wizard's armor with Ceramcoat "Black".  When dry, I drybrushed the armor with Folk Art Color Shift "Black Flash".   When the "Black Flash" was dry,  I went over it again with a drybrush of  "Folk Art "Pure Gold".  After that I painted the face and hands with Reaper MSP "Dark Elf Skin".

     Next, I painted his under-robes with Crafter's Acrylic "Storm Cloud Grey", and then his over-robes and the outer layer of his cape with the "Black".  After that, I painted the triangular panels on the front of his robes with Reaper MSP "Coal Black", and then the lining of his cape with Americana "Festive Green"

     I then painted his staff with Accent "Midnight Blue", and his hair with Americana "Grey Sky".  I followed that with painting his scroll holder, the fittings on his staff, and the decorations on the front panel of his robes with Americana "Antique Gold", and then the skull in the staff with Americana "Bleached Sand".   I then painted a spiderweb pattern on his under-robes using the "Black", and then went over it with Apple Barrel "Apple Lavender" leaving black edges to form an outline.  I felt it looked too pink, so I went over it again with Anita's "Violet"to try and make it look more purple.

     I still wasn't happy, and felt it was just too light in color, and combined with the green looked more merry than sinister.  So, I changed direction and tried Reaper MSP "Fresh Blood" for the webbing.  That looked much better, but I felt the red gave him a bit of a Christmasy looked when combined with the green.  So I returned to the idea of purple again, this time trying my darkest purple, Crafter's Acrylic "African Violet".  The black outlining was lost with the dark purple, but I finally felt it was looking like I wanted it to.   To finish up the base painting, I went over all the parts I had painted with the "Antique Gold" using Folk Art Brushed Metal "Brushed Bronze".

     I let the figure dry for a while, and then gave the entire thing a coat of Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash. Then, when the wash was dry, I painted the eyes, then highlighted the face, and hands, with the base "Dark Elf Skin", and some Reaper MSP "Dark Elf Highlight". 

         Next, I highlighted the under-robe with the "Grey Sky", and then went over the spiderweb pattern with some Folk Art Color Shift "Purple Flash".  After that, I highlighted the lining of the cape with Nicole's "Neon Green", and highlighted the over robes with Ceramcoat "Charcoal" and some Amricana "Zinc".

     I then highlighted the triangular panels on the front of the outfit, as well as the belt and pouches, using a mix of Ceramcoat "Denim Blue", Folk Art "Cloudy Day", and a little Crafter's Acrylic "Cool Blue".  Next, I moved around the outer part of the cape, and highlighted that with a mix of Apple Barrel "Apple Black Green", and the "Leaf Green". With the cape done, I highlighted the hair using Americana "Snow White".  

    After that, I highlighted the staff with Crafter's Acrylic "Navy Blue", and then highlighted the skull with Crafter's Acrylic "Light Antique White".  I moved to the metal parts of the figure next, highlighting them with Folk Art "Pure Gold", and Ceramcoat "Wedding Gold".  

     I wrapped things up by painting the large ring hanging from his belt with Folk Art "Metallic Amethyst".  I then attempted a glowing effect on the skull's eyes using the "Neon Green" and the "Snow White".  Lastly, I painted the entire base with Americana "Mississippi Mud".

      I let the figure dry overnight and the next day I gave it a coat of Americana "DuraClear Matte" varnish. I then used some white glue to glue some fine sand to the base.  When the sand was dry, I painted it with a coat of Americana "Charcoal Grey". When this was dry, I drybrushed the sand with the "Mississippi Mud", and then with some Apple Barrel "Rock Grey"; lastly I drybrushed it with a little Americana "Dove Grey".

      Another overnight dry, and I sprayed the figure with Testor's Dullcote".

          I'm pleased with how he turned out; and in the end, after a few false starts,  I'm happy with how the web pattern on his under-robe looks.  

     Here's a look at the whole group of Dark Elves from the Darkreach Expansion.