Female vampire ... pirates? highwaymen? from Bad Squiddo Games

[Pingo 109315]

(Note: I actually started these a while back, though they are not done yet. This is a bit less of a WIP thread than a how-I-got-here-so-far thread, which I will update as I get my old pictures organized. Questions and comments and critiques are, as always, welcome.)

 

Last summer Bad Squiddo Games hosted a brief Kickstarter, "My Last Sunrise," of an assortment of Gothic horror minis centered around vampires. These two stood out to me as a little beyond the Hammer horror ethos of most of the other figures. While I was painting them I thought of them as "Feral Vampires," although when I just rechecked they are called "Vampire Thralls."

 

I dunno. They don't look very thrall-like to me.

 

Their tag line in the Kickstarter was "Float about in my night dress cooing for scraps? No way. I hunt my own meal."

 

Anyhow, they have a fun, odd, lady pirate or highwayman look.

 

All paints used are Golden Matte Fluid Acrylics. Color mixes are (usually) noted, but not exact ratios.

 

Questions are welcomed and I will try to answer them. Critiques are appreciated.

 

This is a slight deviation from how I prime figures. Normally I prime them with Titanium White (which I did here) and then wash over them with Burnt Umber to bring out the details. These I wanted kind of cold-looking, so I washed them with a cold dark grey mixed from Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue.

 

That's them on the left. For a while I was including Bad Squiddo's "Dracula" in the photos, so you get a free peek at that too.

 

 

And as per usual, the first thing I did was their skin. In contrast to the skin of living humans, I have been painting vampire skin in stark black-and-white mixed from Titanium White and Carbon Black. The very first layer is thinned Titanium White, then pale shadows of the lightest grey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pingo 109315]

After noodling around with greys and whites for a while, once the skin began to look more or less okay, I painted in some features, a little crudely at first. The lips are at the moment straight Red Oxide.

 

I painted the eyes by lining the sockets with Carbon Black, then mixing a cream color from Titanium White and Yellow Ochre. I used that color to paint the sclera (no irises) and the fangs and teeth. For the eyes, I glazed over the color with a mix of Quinacridone Magenta with a tiny bit of Red Oxide mixed in. I highlighted their lips with a pink mixed from the cream color and the lip color.

 

[malefactus 54411]

You do have The Touch for the Living Impaired Folk. There is something about your technique that goes beyond their appearance & gives a glimpse of their nature. 

Another WONDERFUL START!

[Pingo 109315]

2 hours ago, malefactus said:

You do have The Touch for the Living Impaired Folk. There is something about your technique that goes beyond their appearance & gives a glimpse of their nature. 

Another WONDERFUL START!

 

Thanks for your kind words of encouragement. 

 

It's interesting to paint creatures that aren't human but are trying to look and act sort of like them.

 

I try to make each figure individual, as it would think of itself. Even a skeleton in an army of skeletons was a person once and has a backstory.

[Pingo 109315]

I tidied up their faces.

 

 

 

I decided what the heck, I will make one of them blonde. In my opinion blonde vampires look extra creepy.

 

The blonde base color was a drab mix of Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre, and Titanium White. The brunette base color was pure Burnt Umber.

 

 

 

I used the same colors as the blonde mix in different ratios to make highlight colors. I have found the secret of success to blonde hair is to paint it far drabber than you think it should look.

 

 

 

I washed the brunette's hair with a blackish color mixed from Phthalocyanine Blue and Burnt Umber, and highlighted it with greys mixed from Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Sienna, and Titanium White.

 

 

 

Then I washed it all over with Burnt Umber and highlighted with Burnt Umber mixed with Titanium White.

 

 

 

 

And I just kept going with transparent washes of Burnt Umber and Phthalo Blue mixed with Burnt Umber, and highlighting with neutral greys which I then glazed more color over, until her hair looked more or less like this.

 

 

And here's the two of them so far:

 

 

 

 

[Glitterwolf 204914]

Blonde Vampires are awesome!

 

Think of Harmony and Darla from Buffy for instance..

 

You know I love Vamps..

So I'm following all of your vampire threads.

 

I recently purchased another Female Vampire Bust..

So all ideas are absorbed till I feel confident enough to tackle her!

 

 

Edited January 15, 2018 by Glitterwolf

[Pingo 109315]

I laid some Red Oxide and some greys mixed from Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Sienna, and Titanium White on their clothes.

 

 

I painted the silver gauntlets and rapiers.

 

I shaded the red with a little translucent purple mixed from Ultramarine Blue and Quinacridone Magenta with a tiny bit of Titanium White mixed in.

 

 

Moar purple!

 

 

I have found one can get a rich red color by laying in Red Oxide (which is strong and opaque, but a little orange-brownish) and layering over it with Quinacridone Magenta (which is weak and transparent and pink-violet).  This is also shaded with a purple mix.

 

 

This is actually their current state, so now this is a true WIP thread!

 

 

 

 

Edited January 17, 2018 by Pingo

[WhiteWulfe 41193]

Ooooh, that is a rather gorgeous purple red cloak! 

Edited January 17, 2018 by WhiteWulfe

[Glitterwolf 204914]

I agree!

Lovely!

[Pingo 109315]

I painted the brunette feral vampire's trousers a translucent (i.e. underpainting colors show through and have effect) violet mixed from Ultramarine Blue, Quinacridone Crimson, and Titanium White, highlighted with mixes of the same.

 

I used the mix without Titanium White, which is transparent, to add some shadows to her red top.

 

 

I mixed a medium blue from Ultramarine Blue and Titanium White, subdued a bit with a small admixture of Burnt Sienna, and used it to add some further color to the trousers and the cloth hanging from her waist.

 

 

[Glitterwolf 204914]

Looks awesome!

 

[Pingo 109315]

I came back to them and did some more painting.

 

I decided to treat their corsetry like armor.

 

 

 

 

 

[Pingo 109315]

And I ... er, threw on some more paint (details available upon request) and I think I might be done with them.