Miniature Showcase

Creepy Legs

This was the next step after the Macabre base of last week. The legs are half of the enormous monster that sits on that base. I wanted to give it the feeling of a certain bug filled demon from a certain Christmas/Halloween movie I cannot name. I began with a simple base coat for the skin and worked from there.

I started off with a Lich skin base, a very brown green. I added about three layers to get the opacity I wanted. This was with using water to thin the paint and make sure it applied evenly. This helps keep the details in the miniature visible. Nothing is worse than a miniature with no details. They are what make unique paint jobs, unique. It won’t be noticeable at all once the miniature is done but I love the bumps on the bottom of the foot, like warts or something.

I finished the base color by filling in any areas that I might have missed. For highlights in the skin, I added a Zombie skin color dry brush effect to the legs. This color combo will be used for the entire monster throughout the painting process. This helps lighten some areas and deepen the existing shadows in the miniature. This is still not then end of the skin process. There is still one more thing to add for now.

I added a lovely new wash effect called “Mouldy Wash”. I applied it liberally and let it pool in all the creases and crevices. It added a really gross, juicy effect to the flesh of the beast. Even though the bottom of the foot isn’t going to be visible once it’s finished, I still painted it in the same fashion as the rest of the skin. It helps maintain the reality of the skin and I am a stickler for completion like that.

The next step was the leather covers on the ankles of the monster. I used a new effect paint called “Rigid Leather” and I am really liking the effect it creates. Again, I painted the bottoms of parts that might not be visible at the end. But, just because something might not be visible doesn’t mean someone won’t look for discrepancies. I eliminate those by painting as thoroughly as possible.

Next was the lovely apron the monster has at its waist. I painted the cloth part a very light brown and used a brown wash to give it a dirty and used look. Washes help a lot with aging, dirtying, or adding light shadows. In this case, the cloth looks word and dirty with the mud from the ground below on the base. I also added a light dry brush of light brown on the leather to give it its own worn look. For the middle parts, I painted them in the “Rigid Leather” effect paint adding some dry brush there as well, using a different light brown that the bottom leather. It gives a difference to the leather, showing that it could have come from different sources.

I finished the legs by painting the belt holding the apron in place. There are small rings of bronze and shards of bone threaded through it. I used a black wash to add some again to the bones. I painted the toenails of the monster in the same bone color as the shards with the same black wash effect. Once done, I affixed the legs to the base with a little super glue. That’s is half of this terrible creature almost done. As a final effect I added some blood effect paint to the apron and the foot in the mud.

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