Gloom Creeper

I have no idea what this thing is, but I love it.

Work is again getting in the way of my hobby, but happily I've been able to paint some minis in between slaving away, sleeping and eating. I just haven't got around to posting them yet, so here's the first of what I desperately hope will be some more regular posts.

I picked up the Gloom Stalker from Etsy back in May, although it didn't show up in the mail until early June and was too late for Monster May(hem). Great. It took about a week to paint, with me cracking out the brushes either early in the morning before work or for about an hour after shifts.  

After spray-priming it light grey, I kicked off with the monster bit first. The purple bits were basecoated with Violet and then heavily drybrushed with Hexed Lichen to bring out the detail, although as this is a PVA print it brought out some of the print lines too. Once the first highlights had dried I hit it with a lighter drybrush of Purple and then I added some White for the final highlights.

I went back in with Druchii Violet to add some shadows and then started on the green bits.

I wanted a bright green so I started with a basecoat of Goblin Green washed with Biel-Tan Green to shade it. Moot Green is a wonderfully vibrant colour so I used it to heavily drybrush the green areas to really bring out all the scales on its tentacles. I tried drybrushing the Moot Green up over the purple areas to make a transition between the colours and I think it worked.

I added a small amount of White to the Moot Green... wait, no I didn't, I went with Scorpy Green first, which is somehow even more vibrant than Moot Green. Then I added some White and went over it again for the final highlights and finally I defined some of the shadows with more Biel-Tan where I'd been a bit too enthusiastic with the drybrushing.

I gave all the painted parts a coat of matte varnish and left it to dry.

Next up was the creeper's weird crown thing and mushrooms. The crown was basecoated with Rhinox Hide and then painted Bronze before being highlighted with Brass and a touch of Canoptek Alloy.

The teeth(?) sticking out of the crown got a coat of Bonewhite followed by a wash with Agrax Earthshade, and then highlighted with Off-White and a touch of White. I did the creeper's stumpy teeth the same way.

All the 'shroom stalks are Tan, Serpahim Sepia and Beige. The caps are just Mephiston Red and Vermilion with some White dots applied with the end of a toothpick.

The insides of the tentacles were straightforward: Slaanesh Grey works as a basic colour, and then I painted the suckers Warlord Purple, which is a hot pink, and gave the rims a coat of Pink.

Finally it was time for the creeper's rocky base. It got a basecoat of German Grey, a wash with Nuln Oil, and then a careful drybrushing with Neutral Grey, Eshin Grey and a touch of Ghost Grey. I didn't bother with brown tones on the rock to match the scenery I'd already made for my Night Goblins, and which I really need to set up and post here, but I did go over a few areas with a light drybrush of Bonewhite to add some variation.

I had to go over a few areas of the tentacles where I'd got grey on them, but once they were done the creeper was finished.

In keeping with recent tradition here's a random female mini for scale, in this case sci-fi- sniper Sarah Blitzer. The creeper is a whopping mini, easily four inches tall, and was a lot of fun to paint. Despite its size and the different colours and textures it was pretty easy to do and the end result looks great.