The Dreaded Snowy Owlbear

[Grim]

I finished this guy up litterally just before leaving for a Sci Fi Con this last weekend.  I may do a bit more with the base, but I haven't decided yet.

 

As always, questions/comments/critique welcome!

 

 

and to show off the base, here's one angled up a bit:

 

[Inarah]

Very nice.

[araziel]

Cooool (see what I did there?)

 

Seeing all these different takes on the monsters I kinda wish I had gotten more of some of them.

Might have to get an owlbear and werewolf and several others to do alternate themes once day :P

 

I say do the snow thing to the base. I use glass microballoons and PVA myself, but I guess baking soda(?) is what most folks use.

[Grim]

Cooool (see what I did there?)

 

Seeing all these different takes on the monsters I kinda wish I had gotten more of some of them.

Might have to get an owlbear and werewolf and several others to do alternate themes once day :P

 

I say do the snow thing to the base. I use glass microballoons and PVA myself, but I guess baking soda(?) is what most folks use.

 

Yeah, the base is baking soda mixed with elmer's glue, painted white.  I rather like it for a fine surface like snow, sand, or graveyard dirt.  The whole base is built up with air-dried clay.  I used "Barnabus Frost" cut off his base to make the footprints, but they only really stand out (and not well) on the last pic.

 

I went with a "cool white" for the mini, using bluish grey as a shadow coat.  I think this was a mistake, honestly, it doesn't look quite right - but not enough of a mistake to warrant repainting it.

[ub3r_n3rd]

Good job! Love me some owlbears, one of my fav all time monsters. It's nice seeing it as a snow owlbear rather than the run of the mill brown one.

[araziel]

Yeah, the base is baking soda mixed with elmer's glue, painted white.  I rather like it for a fine surface like snow, sand, or graveyard dirt.  The whole base is built up with air-dried clay.  I used "Barnabus Frost" cut off his base to make the footprints, but they only really stand out (and not well) on the last pic.

 

I went with a "cool white" for the mini, using bluish grey as a shadow coat.  I think this was a mistake, honestly, it doesn't look quite right - but not enough of a mistake to warrant repainting it.

 

 

Ooh, it is baking soda'd already?

I guess painting over it kinda made it look strange to me. Mostly I've seen people just mix white paint in, or maybe they sprinkle baking soda on top of PVA, I honestly don't know. To me it seems to usually leave a rougher texture than your base has though. Again I don't use it myself, but at least in the images it reads a bit "flat" for snow to me. Maybe hard-packed old snow? I dunno.

 

I still think some sort of subtle texture over the entire surface, like a recent snowfall would make, would be really neat :P

 

I actually really like the color scheme of the owlbear itself, so I'd say leave that alone. Only thing about the paint job is that he looks a bit cross eyed/crazy, but then again I don't think I've seen an owlbear yet that doesn't. Mine also keep looking absolutely crazy every time I paint in their eyes over (and over) again.

 

Also didn't notice the footprints at first, nice touch! Explains what he's chasing.

[jdizzy001]

That is a well painted model. With eyes so large consider adding a spot of white to the eye, where the pupil meets the iris. That spot of white would add a lot of life to the mini and simulate a point of light reflecting on the large eyes.

[Grim]

 

Yeah, the base is baking soda mixed with elmer's glue, painted white.  I rather like it for a fine surface like snow, sand, or graveyard dirt.  The whole base is built up with air-dried clay.  I used "Barnabus Frost" cut off his base to make the footprints, but they only really stand out (and not well) on the last pic.

 

I went with a "cool white" for the mini, using bluish grey as a shadow coat.  I think this was a mistake, honestly, it doesn't look quite right - but not enough of a mistake to warrant repainting it.

 

 

Ooh, it is baking soda'd already?

I guess painting over it kinda made it look strange to me. Mostly I've seen people just mix white paint in, or maybe they sprinkle baking soda on top of PVA, I honestly don't know. To me it seems to usually leave a rougher texture than your base has though. Again I don't use it myself, but at least in the images it reads a bit "flat" for snow to me. Maybe hard-packed old snow? I dunno.

 

I still think some sort of subtle texture over the entire surface, like a recent snowfall would make, would be really neat :P

 

I actually really like the color scheme of the owlbear itself, so I'd say leave that alone. Only thing about the paint job is that he looks a bit cross eyed/crazy, but then again I don't think I've seen an owlbear yet that doesn't. Mine also keep looking absolutely crazy every time I paint in their eyes over (and over) again.

 

Also didn't notice the footprints at first, nice touch! Explains what he's chasing.

 

 

 

Oh, I mis-read your comment. Yeah, it is, but I mixed the soda with the glue beforehand and so it dissolved slightly. It definetely has a "hard packed" look. I may dress it up a bit, sure. That's a good idea. It also came out rougher than I would like it, in places.  I can see if I can add some subtle shading to the "snow" as well.

 

Thanks for the comment on the color scheme.  It was the result of going back many times and lightening the overly-dark blue-gray I started with.  I swear, up until last Wednesday morning, he looked like Grover.

 

 

That is a well painted model. With eyes so large consider adding a spot of white to the eye, where the pupil meets the iris. That spot of white would add a lot of life to the mini and simulate a point of light reflecting on the large eyes.

 

D'oh!  I meant to do that but I completely forgot to do so.  Thanks!

 

I'll post another picture when I've made a few modifications.  Right now I'm on a commissioned Mason Thornwarden (the older metal version) that my friend wants by Saturday, so it may be a while.

[Kormydigar]

Nice work.   I'm currently painting one of  my metal Chainmail owlbears up in a snowy theme. He is going to be a pet to a tribe of yeti.  Great minds think alike.

Edited January 22, 2014 by Kormydigar

[Grim]

I know it's been some time, but I thought I would post some tweaks I've done to this guy.  I added a bit more fake snow (glue and baking soda) to the base to smooth it out a bit, I added dots to the eyes and a line of drool as per a tutorial I found here.

 

[Pragma]

I love the idea of a snowy owlpolarbear. Good choice to do the eyes in blue rather than the natural yellow, and the white dot really gives the eyes a lot of depth. My only critique is that the placement of dark spots on the feathers seems a little bit random. On a real bird I would expect them to line up a bit with the feathers, and maybe to have different patterns in different parts of the body. But the overall effect is excellent. I was already thinking about doing a snowy owl theme for this guy, but now I have to do it.

[Grim]

I love the idea of a snowy owlpolarbear. Good choice to do the eyes in blue rather than the natural yellow, and the white dot really gives the eyes a lot of depth. My only critique is that the placement of dark spots on the feathers seems a little bit random. On a real bird I would expect them to line up a bit with the feathers, and maybe to have different patterns in different parts of the body. But the overall effect is excellent. I was already thinking about doing a snowy owl theme for this guy, but now I have to do it.

I looked at a number of pictures and went with a very vaguely symmetrical pattern.  The black spots seem to largely fall at the end of the feathers, but this guy doesn't actually have much in the way of feathers, mostly he is covered in fur.  I do agree that it reads more like "leopard spots" than spots on a snowy owl - c'est la vie!  Live and learn.

 

Oh, and I did see a snowy owl with blue eyes, at least in the pictures, though most of them were in fact yellow.  I thought yellow would have added too much warmth, and I was definitely going for a very "cold" feeling with this guy.

 

Thanks for the comments!

[Grim]

I love the idea of a snowy owlpolarbear. Good choice to do the eyes in blue rather than the natural yellow, and the white dot really gives the eyes a lot of depth. My only critique is that the placement of dark spots on the feathers seems a little bit random. On a real bird I would expect them to line up a bit with the feathers, and maybe to have different patterns in different parts of the body. But the overall effect is excellent. I was already thinking about doing a snowy owl theme for this guy, but now I have to do it.

I've been giving it some thought, and I think the spots would work out well if you did it in rough arcs on the body, evoking feathers.  A young male or female owlbear would have nearly solid bands, while a older male would have sparse bands.

 

If you do it, I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks like that!

[Pragma]

I think the blue-eyed snowy owl is photoshopped, but it was still a good choice for the cold look. Having looked at the mini, I can see that he doesn't have much in terms of feathers. Just on the tail, and a little bit under one arm. The idea of arcs is a good one - I suspect that dry brushing might be helpful so that the spots line up with the texture of the fur a bit more? I don't really know, because I haven't tried it yet. I look forward to painting this one, but I am moving very slowly through my bones so I'm not sure when I will get to it.

[Jasonator]

Lots of fun !

Love the eyes !