27 August 2021

Zombie dog handler

I think this 'orrible chap and his decaying doggo were started in May last year. After finding him while tidying up my shelves and storage (our spare room is a bomb site of crap right now) I thought it was about time I got him finished.

Why Reaper thought a zombie walking a zombie dog was a good idea is beyond me, but I do like it. The sculpt is by Bob Olley and has his classic gnarly look, which can make them a bit of a pain to paint. I've got two other sets of Olley Reaper zombies (here and here) and despite hating them when I first bought them, they all make for great additions to my undead horde once they're painted. In honour of his creator I've named him Olly.

He was about 98% finished when I found him. All I had to do was wash Olly's skin with Green and Purple tones, paint the leash, give the whole model a once-over with matte varnish and then do the base.

The pupper was originally going to be yellow, like a Lab, but I soon gave up on that idea and went for a sheepdog look. Or, as Alicia put it, "Why is he walking a cow?"

The base was still unpainted plastic, so the first thing to do was coat it with Heavy Black Green, drybrush it with Park Green Flat and then cover all that hard work with PVA and flock. I added a couple of tufts and some flowers, and now Olly is walking his putrefying pooch through a nice park.

Zombified or not, Olly would make for a scary figure; he really does have a "chav with a couple of ASBOs" look about him.

14 comments:

  1. Very, very nice Matt - if a Zombie dog-walker can be called such a thing. Lovely contrast of colours between the flesh, clothing and dog. Really good stuff imho.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers! I remember being a bit stuck for colours so I just went with red and blue.

      Delete
  2. Excellent work Matt, must be nice to finally finish it, after rediscovering the model. Very funny your good lady thought it was a cow, would have said more of a goat myself, but great colour scheme.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Dave! I'd actually completely forgotten about him so it was a bit of a surprise to find him in a random box. Finishing him was easy and meant I could put off doing the laundry for a bit LOL!

      Delete
  3. I love him, but along with M,Copplestone I'm also a giddy fanboy for Bob Olley too. We used to sell his "Olley's Armies" range at shows for him and he had a very similar zombie/zombie dog figure in his range too.

    Cheers Roger.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've come to appreciate Olley's gnarly sculpts a lot more since I painted my first three, and this one struck me as a bit odd at first (why would a zombie be walking a dog??) but now he's painted up and based I'm very happy with him.

      Delete
  4. A great pair, that I've never seen before and a stunning bit of brushwork too, imho.I think the pair work well together.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks very much, Joe, I really appreciate that! Olly really does suit his rotting Rover!

      Delete
  5. Nice work getting an older piece done. The sculpt really is horrifying and you did a great job painting and basing these two!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers! My only issue with it now is that the base is way too nice and doesn't really have a zombie apocalypse look to it, but I can live with it.

      Delete
  6. I originally thought "Hey, nice Collie!", but then read your lady's take of it being a cow and think that's a way better idea! LOL

    Fab contrast between the dead minis and the pretty basing mate. Good job!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Dai! Yes, the dog has a bovine look about him, leaving me wishing I'd gone with the yellow Lab look. Still, it sort of works as a Collie.

      Delete
  7. That pooch looks great Matt, though he may pounce on his handler as he looks like he could do with a bone or two!

    Fantastic basing. Adds great contrast to the piece - all serene down below compared to zombified horror up top, love it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! The base is possibly a bit too "nice" for the figures, but just because it's the zombie apocalypse doesn't mean nature's gone all nasty too!

      Delete