Painting the Leviathan

[Dblood]

This big boy has been sitting all primed and ready for a while, but now id the time to actually do some painting. The color scheme will be like the Cephalid Telepath, with blues, gold and red, with green tints.

The first step was to prime in white and add some base coats in thin paint and washes. The tentacles were painted with turquoise+white, mixed with some Liquitex flow-aid and matte medium. This was followed up with a few glazes of dark blue ink (GW Asurman Blue wash) on the bottom of the tentacles where the suckers are, and in between all of them. I accidentally used purple instead of blue at one point but that will be fixed later, or kept it it looks good.

The carapace armor plates were given a single coat of Reaper MSP golden highlight, a basic light gold. The gold scale armor and anklets were given a thin coat of a yellow-brown, Vallejo Game color scurf brown, although any mix of yellow and brown probably would have worked fine. The idea is to have something simple to build up on, although the later glazes will end up changing the colors considerably. In the end, the base coat is simply what will show through the later color glazes.

So this is where the figure stands now. Not real nice to look at, but it's a WIP.

 

[Aureo]

Your blues are very pretty...I want to steal them. irate: Looking forward to seeing how you finish up the light areas.

 

[freakinacage]

it's nice to see a wip from you!

 

[BPI]

I do like this mini Dblood, nice choice :good: I shall follow with interest

Cheers, B.

 

[delta 408]

Most interesting. It looks good so far.

Cheers!

 

[cheelfy]

I really like this mini. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you're gonna do with this guy.

 

[A Luna]

Interesting, sicne I have the same model aswell that has been primed and sitting on my desk for a long time. Nice inspiration here for me I guess.

 

[Dblood]

The second "sitting" of the leviathan was mainly washes of color to tint the crapace and scale armor. The carapace was given a wash of burnt sienna paint, mixed with Liquitex flow aid and matte medium (AKA "wash mix")to give it some more thickness.

The scale armor skirt was give a wash of a dark blue-green paint mixed. This was made with black + yellow + a touch of dark blue as well as the wash mix. More black was added where the wash was applied in the shadows. A final thin glaze of yellow-brown was applied as a highlight on the scales near the center. This was done while the dark green was semi-wet so there was a little bit of blending that automatically occurred.

The glazes take a few hours to be totally set in all of the cracks and crevices, so this is all that was done.

 

[Dblood]

The third sitting involved shading down the main colors. The objective is to have a basic dark/mid/light transition for the figure, made up of many differnet color mixes. The carapace is shaded with a mix of dark brown (raw umber) and purple (dioxazine purple) with the "wash mix", applying from the bottom up. The effec...t further up from the bottom is more like a glaze at this point, as there is not as much liquid as compared to a wash. black + purple was painted at the underside of plates and in the cracks.

The tentacles were give additional blue glazes where they meet the body, and the base was painted with a layer of tan, with a touch of green. The scale armor was glazed with green+blue around the beltline.

 

[freakinacage]

looking good!

 

[Tagamoga]

Great painting!

Greetings, Taggi

 

[cheelfy]

Really nice painting so far.

 

[Axel91]

That looks so beautifuly scaley and slimey it's an absolute joy to look at. Thanks!

 

[Dblood]

The fourth sitting was mainly for highlighting the carapace and gold scales and anklets. These highlights will be shaded down with glazes of color later, but for now they help to show the texture of the miniature.

The main highlight color is ivory, painted in thin layers on some sections of the carapace, and at full thickness on the edges. The gold is done in non-metallic paint, highlighted with yellow + ivory, with some additional shading with dark brown + yellow and blue/green inks. A small dot of white was added about midway up the gold scales to indicate a reflection hotspot. This was only done on the brightest scales in the center.

 

[Prophecy07]

I love this mini so much that words can't describe it. Your paint job is really bringing it out too. I wish there were more in the series than just this guy and the seer (another great sculpt). I just might have to go buy them.

 

[Dblood]

The fifth sitting is where the figure really start to take shape and the color are unified a bit more. The tentacles were cleaned up with white and turquoise, blending up to almost pure while. They were then glazes with green ink where they joined the body. The tips of the tentacles were glazed with purple ink. Finally..., a very light glaze of golden yellow was applied to the tops of the tentacles over the green but not over the purple. When this dried, small dots of golden yellow were painted all over the tentacles, stopping before the purple. The edges of the tentacles were highlighted with thinned white and small lines were applied crosswise along the length to give some texture.

The carapace was given some glazes of green ink around the barnacles for a little bit of algae. This will be built up later with green paint. Some additional glazes of burnt sienna paint were applied to tone down then highlights. Spines were given some additional white highlights.

The next sitting will probably finish off the model, and will include adding some variety to the bone/shell details, like the breathing tubes (bringing water up from a storage place under the back of the carapace), belt and other little bits. The eyes, of course, are the final touch, as they bring the model to life.

 

[Dblood]

The final steps can often be the hardest, as there are always mistakes to fix and new ideas that come up. To finish up the leviathan, all of the overhanging parts, such as the carapace and tentacles, were given additional shadows of blue and bark brown. The bone belt and breathing tubes were done with a mix of tan and brown, highlighted up with white. Forest green was applied in thin glazes, and highlighted with green+ivory to make the algae around the barnacles and tie together the whole figure. The eyes were done with dark yellow, highlighted with white. A pupil line, typical of octopi, was done in black, with a thin line of white painted under it. The base was washed with dark brown with a touch of blue and green, and highlights were done with ivory. A tinge of pink was put in the conch for color.

The photo of the finished figure was taken into photoshop to place onto an abstract background to complete the project and get it ready for the store. Bam, official Dragonblood Leviathan. Time to rest a bit.

 

[freakinacage]

niiiice! he looks pretty grim

 

[Dblood]

I love this mini so much that words can't describe it. Your paint job is really bringing it out too. I wish there were more in the series than just this guy and the seer (another great sculpt). I just might have to go buy them.

Thanks for the nice words! There are actually three heavy warrior types coming out in a couple of weeks. The first one should already be cast up, shown below.

After that, the plan is to have some light troops with fewer mutations and a bit of gladiatorial feel to the design.

Beyond that, I really want to get Bob Olley to start on this one, but I have to see if he is wanting to work on something so detailed again after the previous ones.

 

[SkelettetS]

very nice job Dblood, that miniature is a brute!