Loonboss on a Giant Cave Squig
Project Log #03 - Complete!
Model designed by Games Workshop
Products used:
General Supplies:
Monument Hobbies Primer: Black
Monument Hobbies Pro Affix
Unfinished Wood Plaque
Hobby Items (Knife, Sanding Sticks, Brushes, etc.)
Mod Podge Gloss (for Squig mouth)
UHU All Purpose Adhesive (for Squig drool)
Bold Pyrrole Red
Bold Titanium White
Bright Jade
Burgundy
Burnt Orange
Burnt Red
Coal Black
Dark Flesh
Dark Grey Blue
Dark Purple
Faded Plum
Golden Yellow
Jade
Magenta
Orange
Pink
Purple
Transparent Blue
Transparent Green
Transparent Orange
Transparent Purple
Turquoise
Warm Yellow
Aged Bone (09059)
Bathalian Chitin (09292) - DISCONTINUED
Bone Shadow (09058)
Dragon Black (09437)
Ginger Cookie (09659) - DISCONTINUED
Golden Skin (09092)
Kraken Purple (89531)
Olive Skin Shadow (09220) - DISCONTINUED
Polished Bone (09060)
Ruddy Leather (09109)
Cool Mix Flowers
Warm Mix Flowers Burnt Overgrown Tufts
Desert Overgrown Tufts
Blue Wash
Flesh Wash
Purple Wash
Red Wash
Other Paints:
Citadel - Blood for the Blood God Technical
Citadel - Agrax Earthshade Shade
Citadel - Nuln Oil Shade
Green Stuff World - Light Rust Liquid Pigment
Green Stuff World - Medium Rust Liquid Pigment
Hey, hi, hello, and happy time zone!
This project has been 2 years in the making. Seriously though. I started painted this guy back in 2020 with a friend from the UK (Paul Batchelor) and never got around to finishing him up. Originally, I wanted to create this large diorama piece that had a bunch of the Squigs from Games Workshop, but it was difficult to justify the high cost of the GW models for a game I was very unlikely to play. Still, I love several of the models from Games Workshop, and have another 2 models that I will be working on....eventually. The main idea behind the pieces, 2 years later, was a removable display base for this guy. With in mind that I was going to sell him, I repeated my Wendigo project, but for my Loonboss.
This was essentially where I had left this guy for two years. I had half of the squig's body painted, the squig's mouth and tongue painted, and the Loonboss' green skin painted. That was it. When I finally decided to come back and finish this model, I had to not only try and color match, but try and remember how I painted the skin on the other side. Ultimately though, it was easier to paint over some of the work I had done previously. Coloring matching was pretty easy, as I knew I had used the purples and Jade from Monument Hobbies. After that it was smooth sailing.... Until I attempted NMM armor...
Now, non-metallic metal is not a technique that I am exactly an expert in. I have attempted it two other times outside of this project, and they were pretty easy, mostly. For this guy, I wasn't sold on the NMM when I first finished it. At the time, I hadn't added any additional colors to reflect the environment, but I still felt like my shadows were too harsh for the metal. It wasn't perfect, and I had to set the model down for the night. When I came back the next day, I still didn't really care for it, but I sat down anyway and busted out the colors for the environment. I also adjusted the shadows and highlights at this point as well. Adding these few things did help with me not completely hating it...but I still wasn't happy.
So, how did I fix it? Well... I added some rust liquid pigments from Green Stuff World and some blood technical paint from Citadel to help dirty up the armor. Was this a sort of easy out from hating the NMM? Yes, it probably was, but at the end of the day, I am happier with the dirty/bloody look to the armor than I was keeping it just straight metal. Knocking out the metal was a big part of the project, and the rest was pretty much smooth sailing. Once I had finished up the main model, I moved on to the display base. I made sure to do all the ground painting in one sitting so that I would be able to match the colors better, and I have to say... it turned out great!
I really do enjoy doing these sort of projects, even though this is only the second one I have done like this. They make great little display pieces for those cool boss or figures, but also allow you to still play with them in any games. My main goal at this point was just to finish up the model. It was the home stretch, which meant I was hyperfixated on this project. That being said, at this point, I had been up way too late and decided to call it a night. The next day, I finished up this piece.
The mushrooms were probably my favorite bit to paint on this base (and the crow was my least favorite...) and then adding the basing materials, which you can see in the finished pictures above. When I get to this point in a project, I just sort of roll with it. I had no plan really going into how I wanted to add basing material to this piece. So, I just grabbed my favorite grass tufts from Huge Miniatures (and some flowers from them as well) and other flocking bits, and just went to town. In the end, I really feel like it all came together and created one great piece.
Overall, I am really happy with the end results of this project. 2 years after I started painting this Loonboss, I wouldn't have guessed that this was how I would finish painting it. I love the color scheme that I created throughout the piece, and I really tried to use those same colors on the display base. I wanted to create something that was fun and a bit whimsical, and I feel like I accomplished this, while still being able to have the main figure be playable. I definitely plan to do more projects like this with game pieces in the future. That's all I have for you this time, so until the next project...