First: Thanks to everyone who took part in Monster May(hem), formerly called Monster Month, but now irrevocably changed, thanks to Roger. You guys are awesome, and there were many impressive and inspirational submissions. It’s my hope to continue this annually. I’ve hosted some challenges in the past, but this one seems to be the one that resonated best with people. In addition to my good buddies Roger (Dick Garrison) and Jeremy (Carrion Crow), I got to meet some new hobbyists, like Matt from PM Painting and Ken from Blue Moose Arts; as well as deepen my acquaintance with Dave from Wargames Terain Workshop, Harry from War Across the Ages, and returning participant Coyotepunc, who once converted a Toob tapir into a wizard (still love that). So, bring on Monster May(hem) 2021!
One of the great things about Zoom meetings where I don’t need to be on camera is that I can do whatever I want while “listening” to whatever drivel someone spouts off. This morning, I decided to paint one of the two monsters I didn’t get to by the end of the month (i.e. yesterday).
This is the “Dung Monster”, by Reaper. It’s their version of the Otyugh, a classic (if somewhat disgusting) Dungeons and Dragons monster. Otyughs live in filth, mostly trash and shit. This is what they usually eat, too (unless some tasty adventurers are doing a dump dive); so you can imagine the smell coming out of that massive cakehole must be pretty horrific.
This miniature came together quite by accident. I wasn’t planning on painting him for Monster May(hem)…in fact, I forgot I even had him. That’s because he was part of that same Craigslist lot that gave me the Marauder Giant I painted yesterday (2 posts in 2 days. BOOM.). I accidentally mixed too much Magic Sculpt while filling the gaps in the giant, so I had to use it lest it dry out (that shit’s not cheap). I rooted around in my insanity pile…kind of like an otyugh roots around in well, shit…and found him. I put him together and thought…”well, if there’s time this month…”
I decided there was time. This thing wasn’t gonna sit on my desk for another year, not when I had an interminably boring Zoom meeting to sit through. So I painted him.
This guy is actually a pretty old Reaper miniature, and he’s all metal, as his current price tag will attest ($12.99!) For those of you who want your own shit monster but don’t want to pay that much, you can find a different version in the Bones range for about 4 bucks. It also looks quite good, but different.
So, how did I achieve this particular shade of putrescence? I gave him a base coat of Vallejo Brown Violet (the violet part of which eludes me), then highlighted him with Army Painter Hemp Rope, followed by Army Painter Sulfide Ochre. Then, I gave it a final highlight of Citadel Zamesi Desert before washing the whole thing in Citadel Athonian Camoshade. Not bad for a couple of hours work, and certainly preferable to sitting through a Zoom meeting without painting anything.
I still have one monster on my desk that I didn’t get to last month. You can expect to see it soon, because like this ugly fellah here, that guy isn’t sitting on my desk for another year, either.
Fantastic work Keith, and great use of a boring meeting to ! LOL
Don’t remember this creature from my D&D days but then our DM was rather fixated on Dark Elves.
An interesting array of paints you used, not really used army painter much, as the couple I’ve bought in the past were very thick and didn’t dilute well, what’s your thoughts on them ?
I haven’t found them to be so, Dave. I use Citadel, Vallejo and Reaper paints in pretty much equal proportions and I like them all, sometimes for different things (Vallejo makes way better metallics than GW, IMO). I don’t have many Army Painter paints, actually…but most of the FLGS’s around here seem to have an easier time stocking the AP line than Vallejo, for some reason.
Dave, I bought a boxed set of 50 Army Painter paints as a quick (and cheap — it was $90) way of having lots of colours when I got back into the painting hobby two years ago.
On the whole they’re OK, but some were abysmal. Off the top of my head, Ultramarine Blue was like Elmer’s glue, even when mixed with water or acrylic medium, and dried glossy. Angel Green was so low-pigment that it was pretty much invisible even after three coats. Alien Purple had the same issue. There were a few others that caused issues, including one that took about two days to dry.
On the other hand, Dragon Red is great, the browns and greys are pretty good, Black and White are excellent and the washes they do are superb.
I’ve been replacing my AP paints with Vallejo over the last 18 months and it has to be said that they are way, way better.
Thank you for your feedback Keith and Matt, my normal go to is Vallejo, but also use Coat d’arms reds and have a selection of GW as their easier to pick up.
As for stockists of Vallejo being a problem it’s due to the UK distributor who requires you to buy so much on your first order that makes it prohibitive, as I looked into stocking them myself, made sense with the amount I go through, and half the time the UK distributor doesn’t return emails either, very unprofessional !
Dave, that explains why my friend in the UK can’t find Vallejo paints. I’ve been recommending them to him but his local game/hobby store just doesn’t stock them, I guess for the reasons you outlined.
My FLGS has stopped stocking Reaper paints. There’s nothing wrong with them or Reaper as a whole, but apparently the owner realised that for every pot of Reaper they sold, they sold eight Vallejo and 12 Citadel. So he decided to stop selling them. Happily he still sells Reaper minis as they are excellent.
Love that model, and something of a metaphor for the world at present as it does seem to be going to …. at the moment and the politicians seem intent on feeding us more!
Back to the fig though and great colour choices, I too had never heard of a Otyugh either, though my D+D knowledge is pretty sketchy!
I imagine there have been worse things done during conference calls than painting!
Cheers Roger.
Thanks, Roger. I was tempted to attend the call in my sweats and without a shave, since no one could see me. But I’m trying to at least keep enough of a routine so it still feels like I’m a professional. Besides…what if I accidentally turned on my webcam?
But no way was I gonna just sit there when I could take my laptop to my painting desk and plug away.
That is a truly disgusting looking mini — great job! And a good use of work time to get something important done.
I have a pot of Brown Violet and am also baffled as to where the “violet” bit comes from.
Monster Month May(hem) was great. I’m looking forward to May 2021!
Thanks again for taking part and for all your fine work, Matt. Anything we can all do to encourage each other is a good thing, imho!
Thanks, Keith, I appreciate that. It was a ton of fun!