The Call of the Wild

As June is creeping ever closer, I thought I really ought to sit down and get my Wendigo finished before the end of May – especially as I failed to complete my monsters for last year’s Monster May(hem).

And as Forgotten Heroes 2021 is due to start on the 1st June, I need to clear the decks for that project.

Work stuff got in the way, as it does, along with this side project:

That’s right, baby, more beer! 5 gallons of Irish Stout to be precise. I may have strayed a little from the recipe – by adding a tin of dark treacle to the mix – but I am confident this won’t fuck it up.

Well, as confident as I can be, bearing in mind this is only my second brew.

Anyway, enough beer talk, on to the monster…

When we last saw it, it looked like this;

I decided that a Burnt Umber wash was called for on the entire model, as this should give a good base for the next step.

This does work a treat combined with the Linen I used for the bones and antlers, as it does give an aged bone look.

It also tones down the Chocolate Brown I’d used for the base and gave some shading to the model.

Once this had dried, I broke of the White paint and a small sponge. This was used to gently dab all exposed parts of the monster, which gave a bit of a mottled appearance to the plain bits and acts as dry-brushing on the raised parts.

I then moved on to the base, dry-brushing with Jungle Green, Goblin Green and Orc Brown to give the impression of vegetation.

The teeth and exposed rib cage were given a wash of hand mixed pink, and the ‘mane’ given a wash of Marine Dark Blue. The latter was not watered down quite far enough, so out came the sponge again to mottle the fur.

The final touches were to add some Cherry Red to the lower jaw and the tips of each clawed hand, to suggest that the spirit of cannibalism had been rooting around in someone’s chest cavity and paint the eyes with Classic Gold, as when you’re driving at night and your headlights pick out a deer or fox by the roadside, it does look like their eyes are glowing gold.

I think the sponging has worked quite well, as it has added some texturing to what was a flat surface and also makes it looks like it has been dusted with snow, which is appropriate given that it is a creature of the Great White North.

Pretty pleased with how it turned out, as it does look suitably horrific.

My next post will be the first for Forgotten Heroes 2021, which with be the 6th year we’ve indulged in this madness, where I shall be introducing my chosen subject and explaining how I intend to create him.

Joining me this year (so far) are Dave from Wargamessculptors Blog, Simon from Fantorical, Roger from Rantings from Under the Wargaming Table, Keith from Dead Dick’s Tavern & Temporary Lodging, Alan from Golden Age Heroes and Harry from War Across the Ages. They will ge joined by Matt from PM Painting and Tom from The Good Ground.

So, to paraphrase Cap “Assemblers… Assemble!”

And if anyone else wants to get involved, just comment on this post and I’ll add you to the list.