Time for an update! Progress has been slow and steady. See Part 1 and Part 2 to see how slow and steady. I'm still hoping to get this project done by Halloween.
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| Test fit of what's been painted so far. |
My goal last month was to get the main body ready for assembly. I decided to go for broke and paint green necrotic glowing effects on the figure. My inspiration for the idea can be seen here. This meant getting the brown and off-white layers down on the skeleton and the green layers on the areas in between. I also made a first pass at the glow effects on the main body.
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| Test fit (front). Long tail is long. |
Getting that bright "glowing" green was a challenge. My research into achieving a glowing effect turned up a couple of essential points. Much of it involves color theory and thinking about how light moves around. The area generating the glow should be the lightest tone used. "Light" in this context meaning as close to white as possible. The areas lit by the glow should shade darker as they get further away from the source. This required multiple layers and several passes to get right.
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| Close up of the glowing areas. I might need to knock back the glowing effect on the ribs. |
The base color for the green glowing areas is Reaper 09294 Alien Goo. I applied a mix of it and FolkArt 869 Glass & Tile Medium directly to the white plastic to act as a primer. Next I drybrushed on some FolkArt 644 Grass Green on the edges of the glowing areas and on the surrounding bones. Unfortunately, this darkened the glowing areas too much. I thinned down some more Alien Goo to lighten the glowing areas, but this turned out to lighten the overall appearance too much. I went back and forth between the Grass Green and Alien Goo until I found a balance that I could live with. Finally, I highlighted the innermost glowing areas with some thinned down Reaper 09287 Neon Yellow. Despite the name, Neon Yellow does contain enough green to blend with the other colors used. This achieved the gradation that I was looking for.
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| Brown base layer on the head. Reminds me of chocolate. Why did I type that? Now I want a snack. |
I started on the head and wings this month. The skeletal areas received the FolkArt 231 Real Brown / FolkArt 869 Glass & Tile Medium mix used on the rest of the figure. The coverage is uneven, but my main concern is getting the color down to the recesses. The raised areas will be covered up with the off-white I've been using for the bone color. Painting in the green areas are next.
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| Close up showing a couple of issues. Note the color differences between the pieces and the patchy coverage in some of the recessed areas. |
Taking the photos for this post seemed as a good a time to take stock as any. I assembled the painted parts on the base. I once again realized that this thing is going to take an enormous amount of space to display. I also noticed a couple of issues with the paint job. The first was expected - the colors of each piece don't match precisely. This is a consequence of mixing my own paints and doing each piece over a period of time. Some color variation was going to happen. The second was that the brown areas on some of the pieces are looking patchy. I'm not sure what caused it. However, I am planning on applying a wash to the entire figure prior to detailing. The goal is to mask any color variations. It should also fill in the recesses.
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| Kaladrax Reborn will be on the prowl for adventurers soon enough. |
I should have the head and wings painted to the same level as the rest of the figure by the end of September. With a little luck, I may also have the wash layer down. After that are any other corrections, applying the green glow effects on the rest of the figure and base, sealing in the paint job, and deciding where I can store this thing.
The next post in this series will be out in October.
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