TJ here with another insane conversion monster painted and ready for battle. Today I am showing off the panther (or lamprey) Maulerfiend conversion I made from the Glottkin arms. Let's take a look:
This conversion was insanely fun and despite a little nervousness on my part (I haven't painted anything this big in a while), the model came out better than I expected.
The flesh was painted using my old Corrupted Flesh Tutorial. After the initial flesh was painted I went back and painted all of the boils and the wounded flesh.
Looking at the model from above, it really came together and the large sculpted mid section blends very well with the parts from the Glottkin.
I loved the details and the textures of this model. GW gave me a million little boils to paint, crazy veins, teeth, horns, metal and torn muscle tissue. I added some great textures as well with the cables (courtesy of the GSI Tentacle Maker) AND one very large wound ...
The gaping hole in the model's side was sculpted in layers and that really came out when it was time to paint. I got to play with all kinds of colors as I blended the wound together. It is a great way for me to highlight the amount of sculpting effort that went into this model. For a link to the conversion article, click here.
Here is a peak at the underside of the rib cage from the other side of the model.
I think this model would have looked much different a few years ago due to the GW paint selection. I used every glaze and shade they now produce (except the green ones) as I painted this model and I learned a lot about filtering colors using those paints as well.
The real new paint for me was the GW technical paint Blood For The Blood God. BftBG is a simulated blood mixture that stays glossy and lends the appearance of fresh blood.
When I finished painting the majority of the model, it seemed a little clean and peaceful for such an ugly monster. I then added the BftBG using a stipling brush (one I made, not any particular one) and added it where it seemed appropriate.
The mouth was a prime target for my initial BftBG work and the teeth are a perfect example of the type of realism you can achieve with careful application.
There is a little BftBG in many of the wounds to help amp up the irritated look and to show that these wounds are stretching and breaking open as the beast tracks its prey. The tail is a great place to showcase the many textures and various types of flesh effects present in this model. Here you can see the use of many of the shades, glosses and BftBG, along with the finished product of several basic painting techniques.
The base is the product of a ton of drybrushing. The entire base was painted Stormvermin Fur, then drybrushed with Dawnstone, Fortress Grey and Ushabti Bone in that order. The browns and blacks and reds were all added afterwards with powders (I use weathering powders from Secret Weapon and Forge World).
I kept the base simple and muted in terms of color palette to contrast the loud model. Close inspection reveals little Easter eggs like some sculpted cobblestone and some details in the shattered statue.
I usually go light on the powders, but was heavy handed this time so I could work the colors into the deep crevasses of the base. This left everything a little muted. If you find yourself in this situation just wet the end of a finger (spit works, haha) and wipe down the higher surfaces and it should clean up nicely.
Here is a view of the base from the other side.
The section of wall that I used had a huge broken section on the pillar, which I wanted to use to anchor the model and to also create the effect of the model's fist breaking the stone as in trots over it. I made little chips using green Stuff and placed them around the area as shattered chips of the pillar, which seems to have worked out as I planned.
All in all, the model takes a gruesome place in my Chaos Marine/ Daemon army, the Army of the Apocalypse. It has all the right elements going for it to hang with the Minotaur, the Spawngrinder and all the others! As always, your comments and feedback are greatly appreciated.