Grenadier Orcus WIP, please comment

[Avelorn]

Love the painting so far! The skin and eyes especially..

 

[Tinweasel]

Thanks, all, for the comments - I\'m pulling out all the stops on this one and it\'s really been an exercise for me to try out new color mixtures...

@ supervike - I really liked your paint job as an inspiration. Before I started on this one, I trolled the gallery to see what other folks had done and yours definitely stands out. Interesting to see the patterning on the wings of your version of the figure - they must\'ve added texture to it.

Anyhow, here\'s the most recent WIP:

Sorry the pic\'s a little out of focus - apparently the camera likes his face more than the base or the sceptre... go figure.

 

[supervike]

I had no idea there were \'2\' versions of this fella until you posted this.

Your version is much cooler, sculpt wize, but your paintjob has made it even more so. Its creepy and unsettling now.

I\'m following this WIP with much interest. Well done, Mr. Weasel.lol

 

[Tinweasel]

Starting to get into the home stretch here:

While I prefer the new color to the previous black edging, I still felt the orange base border was a little plain so I decorated it.

I\'m still undecided as to how to paint his sceptre/wand - per old-school D&D fluff, it\'s supposed to be iron, I think - I could get creative with weathering and rust. I was also thinking of something along the lines of black marble with verdigris-covered copper for the metal banding. Either way, the skull on it\'s done and I\'ve got the eyes in it finished.

Anyone have any other suggestions on his sceptre?

Its creepy and unsettling now.

Thanks! That\'s kinda the effect I\'ve been aiming for. Was talking about the figure with my wife, and we\'re thinking maybe he needs a bit of \"grunge\" added - caked blood on the claws and teeth, poss. dripping saliva, maybe scratches here and there. Dunno... for the sake of playing around with new colors and such, I\'d be game for painting that sort of stuff.

 

[matty1001]

Those eyes! And the smoothness of your blending! This is fantastic!

I personally wouldn\'t add any grunge, i think the paintjob is to clean for it. You could add a bit in photoshop or similar and see how it works out.

 

[AsgardUK]

Fantastic, what a mini, and a supurb paint job, like many others, they eyes really stand out to me they are awsome but i also think you have used great colour choice.

All Bow\'eth Down To Thy Horn\'ed God !!!:twisted:

 

[M. D. Van Norman]

That is some outstanding work. I’ll look forward to seeing your interpretation of the iron rod.

I also like the idea of something dripping from his mouth or nostrils. That would add to his creepy, ghoulish appearance. Just don’t overdo it.

How tall is the model? A lot of those old-school monster figures were undersized.

 

[Tinweasel]

It\'s been a little while since I\'ve had more than a half hour here or there to work on him, but here\'s an updated picture:

I\'m painting the ribs of the wings in the same skin progression as what I did on the rest of his body. I\'m taking the membranes of the wings up in the same colors to a certain extent, as I plan on blending in a flesh-tinted black towards the middle of each.

That is some outstanding work. I’ll look forward to seeing your interpretation of the iron rod.

Thanks! I\'ve been kicking around a few ideas as I want to do it sufficient justice but still have it tie in with the rest of the figure. As of now, though, it\'s simply painted straight black - I was leaning towards iron with maybe striated stone as decorative pieces, but wouldn\'t you know it; the one rounded piece I was going to have stand out as painted stone actually has studs/gems on it that I didn\'t notice until I did a guide wash. Guess that kinda limits the amount of decorative patterning... I\'m thinking that straight iron overall would look a little boring, so I think I\'ll be painting it in striated stone primarily with just the bands in (weathered) iron. I\'m thinking with a marble effect right next to the skull (being attached to a straight hexagonal-shaped rod part) that ought to cut down some of the \"abruptness\" which would occur also if I did the whole thing in blackened metal.

Suggestions would be appreciated, though...

I also like the idea of something dripping from his mouth or nostrils. That would add to his creepy, ghoulish appearance. Just don’t overdo it.

How tall is the model? A lot of those old-school monster figures were undersized.

My wife and I were throwing around ideas (thinking it gross or not, she actually sat down and studied the painting, and we discussed some possibilities), and you\'re not the only person that\'s suggested some \"dirtying\" or \"chaos\" to be added. I\'m thinking caked filth around the nails and teeth, maybe saliva drooling from his mouth as his jaw overhangs by a good 1/8\" or so.

As for height, he\'s about 2 1/4\" from base to tip of wings at 25mm scale, so he\'s a good man-and-a-half compared to my other Grenadier and Ral Partha figures... still about twice as tall as a \"heroic scale\" GW model, even.

 

[Tinweasel]

Essentially, the wing membranes were painted with 2-3 coats of glazing with stippling to create texture on the wings where previously there was none. The \"ribs\" of the wings themselves are painted up to the same level as the rest of the skin.

I\'m undecided, though, whether I like the look of the wings or not and what to do about it - whether to add more black to my paint mixture for shading in the depressions painted on the wings, or lighter colors and use the current color as the shadow shade and work up highlights from there.


Suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[misterjustin]

Just incredible work. It really makes me look at this old model in a new light.

 

[electrolito 77]

I would say the texture needs to be played with a bit more on the membrane of the wings, it looks too dark and plain. The rest of the model looks great and to echo everyone, makes me look at this ini in a whole different way! I like the eyes the most on this figure...

 

[treide]

Looking great. I think the wing membranes should be lighter.

 

[M. D. Van Norman]

Any progress?

 

[Tinweasel]

None since basecoating the wing membranes, but since Golden Demons are over and it looks like I won\'t be entering a figure into my local GW Hobby Center Lord of the Rings painting competition, he\'s next on the block along with finishing a squad of Necrons so I can actually play 40K for the first time in 2 decades!

(I was working on a figure for the competition, but they\'re now wanting me to help judge and teach a painting seminar on the day. Waiting to hear back from the GW Regional Manager to sort out the details...)

 

[M. D. Van Norman]

What!? You can play games with these things?

Seriously, though, I think I’m hopeless when it comes to 40k. I started my Black Legion army in A.D. 1995, but I’ve only finished two squads and one daemon. At least I’m using my latest submission in an ongoing D&D campaign.