We return to the tentacle boys and their ghostly shenanigans. This time the gang is completely assembled, bases are decorated. One could say they are primed, moisturised, hydrated, in their lane, ready to bring destruction to their undead foes.
For completeness’ sake, all the bases I also sculpted with Milliput and a cobble stone roller a dear friend of mine printed for me. The initial look was too “flat”, so I added more structure and dents on each cobble stone with my hobby-knife. Once the bases were cured, I also destroyed some of the cobble stones, and added random resin bits – the usual stuff: candles and skulls and candles on skulls. And fine sand, representing dust. A lot of dust.
Once I was happy with the bases, I glued on the models. The big screamer on its flying stand was the most complicated to attach to the base. To avoid priming or painting over the transparent stick holding the monster up, I covered it with liquid silicone. This could be easily peeled off again, once the paint job was finished.
All models were primed fully white – no zenithal shenanigans, and you will see in a minute why. Let’s bask in their “before picture” for a second.
I still plan on expanding the gathering. Maybe add a Revenant that really looks distinct from the other models, but for now I think the selection I have should be sufficient for starter lists.
Husk bombardment incoming, dear opponents.
The painting plan was pretty simple – to convey the other-worldly, eldritch horror, they needed to glow. Of course. Which means we are going for a light-to-dark-to-light paint job. This is totally an actual art term, if you ask me.
The colours I used were only five (all Army Painter):
- Power Node Glow
- Vermillion Red
- Matte Black
- The Darkness
- Ivory White
The main goal was to have a complementary effect of the blueish black of the The Darkness with the very bright red (almost magenta-pink) in the recesses between the tentacles. As a thematic contrast, all the eyes would then be painted with actual fleshy colours. The base layer was a mix of Power Node Glow with just a tiny bit of Vermillion Red, followed by dry brushing the model while adding Matte Black to the bright red paint until I dry brushed it with pure black. Then I started with The Darkness, and added with 2 more steps more Ivory White to it. At the end I gave the models even some light edge highlights with a very desaturated light blue. See the step-by-step on this little familiar:
I was asked how I did the eyes, and the photos show, it couldn’t be simpler. Base coating the eye ball white, then adding a circle with The Darkness, followed by another, smaller white circle within (to have a light undercoat for the Vermillion Red), followed by another smaller black circle. At the end I added one white dot in the corner of the pupil, to simulate a wet and glossy effect. With a super thin brush (I use a cheap nail art brush) I added some random red streaks that should represent blood vessels in the eye ball. Once done, I drenched the eye in gloss varnish and Mod Podge.
The Lich had two extras: claws and as the only model in the Gathering an actual skull. These needed to be highlighted somehow, and for the claws I decided that I would drive the highlights to an extreme, light blue to pure ivory white, while the skull would get a gold treatment – to really shine visibly and bright from the dark backdrop of the tentacles.
The colossal monster was the most fun but also the most tedious to paint. The mouths would not have the desired effect if one would just drybrush over the teeth. Hence, I highlighted the teeth individually, to an almost matte white. It took ages, but I love the result.
And with the black base rim, some dry brushing of the bases and some very light OSL, I called this project done for now, and present you the finished Mad Lich and the Gang. At some point, I will write up some lore on this Gathering. For now, have some photos.
Grob's Grotto 