"Look! It's Moving. It's Alive. It's Alive..."

This 40mm “Graven Images” model of Frankenstein’s Monster (Code CH101) has been an absolute pleasure to paint and is the first of my four submissions for Zomtober 2014. It comes from the late Jim Bowen’s “Cliffhanger” range, which focussed on early science fiction and fantasy characters from both literature and the cinema. Originally distributed by “Monolith Designs”, the miniatures are now owned by “Waugh Games” and are being re-released on their store’s website [http://www.waughgames.co.uk].

 

After initially undercoating the model with “Citadel” Abaddon Black, I applied a few layers of “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna to the figure’s trousers and jacket. I then washed these with the “Citadel” Shade Nuln Oil. As I wanted to try and give the creature a greenish hue, the face and hands were initially painted with “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey. I then washed the areas with ordinary tap water in order to make them wet and applied a combination of “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade and Thrakka Green. Because the areas of skin were already wet the Shade and Wash formed a good swirling mix over the undercoat. I also wanted to give the monster a ‘Boris Karloff’ look, all whites of the eyes, so simply draw a black line around the eye sockets and filled in the eyeballs with a dot or two of “Vallejo” white. The neck bolts were picked out with “Citadel” Boltgun metal and then washed with Nuln Oil and Agraz Earthshade.

My second and third submissions for Zomtober are plastic pre-painted “Wizids” models from their “Heroclix” line. Solomon Grundy is a ‘genuine’ zombie, and has actually taken a bit of time to even get this far as I’ve struggled to get his grey skin right; my earlier attempts all giving him a Hulk-like greenish glow. Fortunately as the majority of this clothing is black, he should be swiftly finished now I think I’ve got his undead skin wash right. The Living Mummy is another of the walking dead models I own which I thought would both be simple to paint, and fit in quite nicely with Zomtober. In addition I think he’d make an excellent team-up with Batman in a game of "7TV" as King Tut attempts to raid the Ancient Egyptian exhibition at Gotham City Museum.