Another day, another impulse buy. I liked this chap partly because he looks like those odd little buggers in the movie 9 and because he's just creepy.
Reaper's Stitch Golem has been hiding out in the Magical Box of Unloved Lead for probably over a year. Back then I'd started painting him with Vallejo Golden Brown and Army Painter Leather Brown. These colours proved to be terrible, as Gold Brown is basically yellow and Leather Brown is crap. In frustration I chucked him into storage and forgot about him until a couple of days ago, when I decided to give him another shot.
This time I actually thought about what colours to use. His sacking is painted Vallejo Khaki, washed with Sepia Tone and highlighted with Khaki mixed with a little Silver Grey to get a darker, almost dusty look.
The smoother patches and head were painted Chocolate Brown as I still wanted them to look like leather. Once I'd shaded it with Umber Wash I used (or at least attempted) the same layering I'd done on Benedikt's cloak, using thinned Burnt Umber, Mahogany, and Cavalry browns. The final highlight was a mix of Cavalry and Light browns and then all the leather bits were given two more coats of thinned Sepia Wash to tone them down and tie them together.
I painted his one eye Ivory just to break up all the brown in his face.
The stitches and buttons were painted Bonewhite and given a dab of Army Painter Soft Tone to darken them slightly. His teeth, needle and claw are done with Oily Steel highlighted with Chainmail. I wanted to add some age to him, so his the metal bits had some Vallejo Dry Rust applied and then some Rust was gently dabbed on. A once-over with matt varnish and he was done.
My one regret is not hacking off the integral base and sticking him on a 30mm round one. As the golem is a plastic Bones figure it would have been easy to do, but I didn't think of it until he was finished. I just painted the base Neutral Grey, shaded it with Black Wash and carefully highlighted it with Neutral and Ash greys.
Right, back to that bloody cottage.
Excellent work Matt, the definition between the areas is fantastic, and ties together brilliantly.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to do old leather at any point, try painting the highlights in little lines, gives the effect of cracking in the leather.
Thoroughly enjoyed the movie 9, and can see why you'd associate this mini with the film
Cheers, Dave! 9 is a pretty decent little movie, isn't it? I hadn't thought about a cracked look for the leather, and it's a good idea. I was worried that the highlights on the leather wouldn't work (my layering skills seem to come and go) but it turned out OK.
DeleteWonderful job on this miniature, Matt. I've been tempted to buy him myself a few times, but I've yet to give in. Your paint job is making that harder to do. The sacking in particular really stands out.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Keith, that means a lot. It's a pretty straightforward paintjob and probably took two hours in all to complete. I'm just happy it worked this time.
DeleteLovely bit of work Matt, looks like a creepy version of "Sadsack" a character from a kids cartoon over here called "The Raggy Dolls".
ReplyDeleteNow get on with that cottage!
Cheers Roger.
You're right, he does look a bit like that character. And I remember watching that cartoon, although why I did that considering I was 14-15 at the time is a mystery.
DeleteI'm getting on with the cottage :-)
I too have been tempted by this miniature, although not entirely sure what I'd use it for. Excellent work on the painting - not sure I'd be able to match the leathery look, though...
ReplyDeleteThanks! The leather was a bit daunting as it was done after the sacking, so I wanted to make it look just as good. I think I should have done maybe one other coat of layering but I was happy with it. It's a great little mini, and Reaper also does two smaller versions which are now on my wishlist.
Delete