Monday, October 12, 2015

Painting Worgen, part 2: finishing touches and unsuitable plastic

I honestly thought this was going to get longer... but, here it is. After I've concluded my experiments with fur, I decided to quickly finish the group of Worgen. Unfortunately, the plastic they're made of isn't the same kind as the one wargaming miniatures are made from. That's not to say it's worse; it's just a lot more malleable. It would never break due to a fall; it would bounce like rubber. Staffs and swords likewise won't break when handled, just bend. This, however, makes the plastic worse for painting. The layer of paint is a lot more rigid than the plastic under it, and doesn't bend; so it breaks. I've had paint falling off in large bits after a fall that wouldn't even scratch a regular miniature:

I'll try to compensate with a layer of varnish after I finish everything; then again, it might not help.
In any case, I decided to simplify further painting to reduce wasted time and effort in case the paint will just fall off of everything.
As to why are the Worgen color-coded by their "clothes"? That's because in the boardgame they're used in, the color of the plastic miniature signals the strength of the monster, with green being the weakest, and blue and red being stronger versions. I didn't want to leave the base unpainted, or any other method that would "break" the look-and-feel; so I went by the method below:


They all wear bands of linen on their arms and legs, as well as a torn loincloth. So I painted these bits of cloth after the original color of the plastic. I painted the leather belt and pouches appropriately; and I painted the armored elbow piece in chainmail silver or bronze, depending on what would contrast better with the fur color.
Of course, these parts look unrealistically plain, so I added a generous layer of wash:
This was the first time that I applied wash only to specific parts of a miniature, instead of an overall coat. The reason, obviously, was to add shades and highlights to the clothing bits, but not to ruin the fur. A bit of wash on the mouth and teeth, and gleaming red eyes complete the look of these guys.
You may also notice that I fixed the one with the black drybrush over the white basecoat. I really didn't like the look of it, so I applied black wash to the miniature, hoping to improve it. And it worked! It's the 4th from the left. The wash darkened the white layer nicely, so the contrast isn't as huge anymore. I later used the same method to improve the Worgen with brown fur. It suffered from the opposite problem: too little contrast. From a distance, the drybrushing wasn't visible at all. Again, the wash darkened the basecoat - check out the picture below. As a sidenote, I've seen black wash referred to as "liquid talent" on a forum. Sure, that's snarky - but hey! it's true. It almost looks like it can improve anything.

I then bathed these guys in a coat of matte varnish, hoping to ward off deterioration. A valiant effort, though ultimately unsuccessful. While carrying them to their final destination, I dropped one - and half a hand already shows the original color of the plastic. Take a look at their final form:


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