5 June 2022

Black Troll Render


Man, I wish I'd found this chap in time for Monster May(hem). Oh well.

I bought this troll back in 2019 after spotting it while browsing Armorcast's site. I thought it was a pretty cool sculpt and began painting it immediately, until it became another one of those minis that just ends up getting chucked into the Magical Box of Unloved Lead for some reason.

I found him while looking for something to paint yesterday. He looked pretty forlorn, with just a coat of white primer, his hair painted black and his body half-covered in a crappy layer of Heavy Black Green. I decided he'd make an ideal way to spend a couple of hours given I woke up at 6am. He's such a gnarly sculpt that I thought he was designed by Bob Olley, but it's actually by Clint Staples.

I googled "black troll render" as I have no idea what one is, and according to d20pfsrd.com, "these trolls are a cut above a common troll in terms of combat ability, but even less intelligent. They wear armor made from the hides of creatures they hunted and killed". I assume the "render" bit refers to his clawed metal gauntlet.

After painting the Marsh Troll and Rocky green, Reddit green-blue and Largulp in flesh tones, I wanted to go in a different direction with this guy. I contemplated black/grey but in the end I picked up my pot of barely-used Forest Flesh, which happily covered the green in only a couple of thin coats.

I shaded the skin with Agrax Earthshade, which did a great job of pulling out all his scaly details. Once dry I mixed some Ivory into the Forest Flesh and drybrushed it on, and then added more Ivory and went over it again. With his skin basically done I turned my attention to all the metal bits, including the nasty-looking gauntlet, painting them Stormy Grey followed by a coat of Iron Warriors and a wash with Nuln Oil. A light drybrush with Plate Metal brought out the details.

His claws, nails and horns were done with Bone Shadow, Bonewhite and Seraphim Sepia, with some more Ivory for the final highlights. The human skull decorating his groin was painted the same way, and his loincloth is Black Red and Khorne Red.

I have no idea what this scaly thing is so it just got painted Black Grey, along with all the rest of his hair. It was drybrushed with Stormy Grey, Blue Grey and a touch of Ghost Grey. The straps holding on his armour were given a coat of Orange Brown and highlighted with Light Brown.

He's basically done but I wanted to add a lighter tone to the most raised areas of his skin, so I cracked open my pot of Ungor Flesh to go over his upper arms and face.

I used another oval base to tie him in with the Marsh Troll and Largulp. After covering it with modelling paste and sticking in some stones, I covered it with Stirling Battlemire as I wanted a muddy look. While the mud dried I mixed up some different flock colours and then sprinkled them over random daubs of PVA. A couple of tufts and the base was finished, and it looks pretty good, suitably bleak and desolate.

It's a moth, man

We had a cool visitor yesterday morning — a luna moth hanging out on our deck. It didn't move for ages, so I had time to get my phone and a banana for scale, and grab a photo. They really are beautiful creatures.

18 comments:

  1. Excellent stuff, Matt. Lovely palette choices. He actually reminds me of Calibos from the original Clash Of The Titans film, especially with the skin colour and metal hand - as he lost his to Perseus.

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    1. Cheers, Simon! You're right, he does have a bit of Calibos about him with that yellowish-brown skin tone.

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  2. Wow, what a couple of monsters! The troll is scary and imposing, I think you did a great job on the palette, basing and everything. I love it. That moth is enormous! :O

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    1. Thanks, Suber! I'm well happy with the troll and the base, and I'm looking for another troll to paint :-) The moth is huge, it gave me a bit of a start when I first saw it!

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  3. Another smasher mate, as Simon said he does hove a resemblance to Calibos, though to me he looks like his and Freddy Krugers love child with that glove!

    Also there is a definite Bob Olley vibe to the sculpt and that's no bad thing either!

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks, Roger, and yes he definitely looks like an Olley sculpt!

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  4. He looks great Matt. I like what you did with his skin, it really brought out the textures.
    Nice Moth, but the banana's seen better days!

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    1. Cheers, Justin! The skin came out really well, and Agrax Earthshade really brought out all the details and made it easier to see what I was drybrushing. The banana still tasted good LOL!

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  5. I can only echo what everyone else has said: smashing work on a beautiful miniature. I'm glad that Olley-esque influences have seeped into the work of other sculptors. I'll have to check out Clint Staples' other work.
    I also really appreciate how you break down what paints you used to achieve the effects you got. Thanks for that.

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    1. Thanks, Matthew! The troll's definitely got a touch of the Olley about it which only serves to make it better to me. Glad you found the paint breakdown helpful!

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  6. A miniature I've seen before many times, but never seen painted. Fantastic job. I love the colors you chose. And as for Calibos...you guys are giving me an idea...

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    1. Cheers, Keith! Are you having an idea for Forgotten Heroes by any chance? :-)

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  7. The troll came out nicely! I like the skintones you chose and he certainly has quite the sneer too! :) That is a very pretty moth. I don't think I've ever seen one that looks that nice to be honest!

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    1. I'm very happy with the colours I used for his skin, Jeff, going with something a bit different really worked. The luna moth is the second one I've seen this summer, they really are beautiful and scarily large.

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  8. After lying in the unloved box for so long this Troll has redeemed himself as one of the most ineresting paint-jobs you've ever done - l it , but it's also enhance by its base too - such a great piece.

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    1. Thanks for the kind words, Joe, they mean a lot :-)

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  9. Excellent work on the Troll Matt, and the Moth is awesome.

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    1. Cheers, Dave, the troll came out great and the moth was a nice surprise!

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