The Creature
- Ok, let’s start with the painting process. The main aim here is to paint this really textured and full of intricate volumes head in a really easy way that I have been developing recently for this kind of surfaces. I painted the face of the Magna Historica pirate exactly in the same way (but with different colors, of course). The system starts with the application of a series of washes, each one more controlled than the previous one, in order to put all the tones and shadows where we want. Here you can see the bust primed in white with an overall wash of Citadel Nurgling Green to set the tone:
Citadel Layer
[PREMIUM]
2. After that, an additional wash with Citadel Death World Forest in the main shadow areas in order to enhance the initial color. This tone is slightly more khaki than the first one:
Another additional “basecoat” wash with Citadel Steel Legion Drab, This color is a Khaki that even has a bit of orange, so it helps to enhance the overall tone a bit more. These additional tones are mainly aimed to the shadow areas, so you concentrate the effect there but, the trick is to also add a really thin wash over the highlights areas so the color is present everywhere. Next we’ll start adding shadows. So far it seems easy, isn’t it?
Another wash aimed to build the shadows and make them richer. This time I did it with Steel Legion Drab plus a bit of old Citadel Warlock Purple in order to make the face a bit warmer. As everybody knows, magenta and green tones work perfectly together:
Another one, this time applying really scarce amounts of pure Warlock purple. Remember, the more striking or dark the wash, the most controlled its application:
I bring back the green with some controlled washes in the middle tone areas with Steel Legion Drab plus a bit of old Citadel Scaly Green:
And I also took the liberty to add some touches of pure Scaly Green here and there to uneven the face and get even richer tones:
The final wash/shadow is some controlled dark purple added in the really dark recesses. I made it mixing Scaly Green and Warlock Purple so everything matches:
After the washes were done, I started cleaning a bit the transitions with the (now) middle tones, Nurgling Green, Death World Forest, Steel Legion Drab, and also incorporated highlights over the whole thing with three Scale 75 (matt) colours: Mojave White, Pale Skin and Tenere Yellow. I used mostly Pale Skin in the overall highlight areas, Tenere Yellow to integrate highlights with all the previous work and Mojave White for the final highlights and scratches that help with the definition. I concentrated the work in small areas and then moved to the adjacent ones, always adding touches here and there in order to balance the overall result:
The front view of the face more or less finished with the previous colors:
Some glazes with Old Citadel Bronzed Flesh in small areas in order to recover the warm touch:
I applied more glazing in the same areas, now adding also Old Citadel Fiery orange and Blood Red. I also painted the eyes in a very dark blue highlighted with Bronzed Flesh:
Finally, I moved to the rest of the flesh areas yet to be done, like the sides of the head, the ears and the neck, adding colors and final touches where needed:
The work so far. It took me around 6 hours to get this. I like this technique as you don’t have to make almost any mix or palette and it is really intuitive, quick and fun. Also, you can incorporate any color you wish very easily:
The basecoat for the hair is a mix of Vallejo’s German C. Black Brown and a bit of Black. As I start adding dark tones in certain parts, the face looks even paler in comparison:
Some highlights with pure German C. Black Brown:
Additional highlights adding Scale 75 Basic Flesh to the German C. Black Brown:
And this is the final look. I added yet additional highlights with pure Basic Flesh and some washes with Boreal Tree Green, Deep blue, African Shadow, Brown Leather and Black (all scale 75) towards the center of the head and the shadow areas:
Finally, it only remains to paint the coat. I started with a basecoat of Boreal Tree Green plus Brown Leather and Black:
After that, some shadows with Black and highlights adding Brown Leather to the previous mix. The coat has a cool rough texture and the idea is to get a worn and dirty look, so you don’t have to be very careful with blending:
And finally, I added some washes to add tonalities with Boreal Tree Green and Deep Blue. Also I added some dots here and there with light tones to add different shades to the highlighted worn parts with Arabic Shadow, Basic Flesh and Adriatic Blue.
For the final touch, I gently rubbed some dusty looking pigments by Vallejo with a big brush and painted a clean and uniform coat of Black to the lower part of the sculpture and the plinth.
That’s all folks!
