Noctuna Malefic bust

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
So this is a build that i am working for quite a while now and i showed it on the facebook page already but i didn't have a thread yet
At the moment the bust itself is finished but i decided that just putting it on a stand would be a bit boring so i will be making a vignette for it but more on that later
For now i will show the bust or rather 3 quarter figure and the painting proces

So this is the bust i made

It is a bust based on Luz from the Malefic times books
The same character that they have several figures of in 2 other scales
The kit comes in a nice metal box with the parts sandwiched in between 2 sponges for safe keeping




These are all the parts
Not that many parts but then again most figures and busts only have a few parts
The only problem i had was with the sword as the blade was bend because of the way it was in the box
The sword was on the bottom of the box and the body was on top of it so that pressed on the blade
But with some hot water you can soften it and bend it back


The first step was to glue all the parts to sticks to make painting and priming easier


After a coat of grey Ultimate primer i started with the eyes
I use ivory for the white as a base then i painted the black outline
The iris was painted with Vallejo dark prussian blue
Then the centre was painted by adding some ivory to the blue to get a lighter shade
And finally a little dot of blaack to finish it
Once the paint was dry i uwed some masking fluid to protect the eyes from any other paints that may get damaged or get painted over them


Then the flesh base color was brushed on


Then some shadow colors where added
It looks pretty harsh now but it will look better in the end


And finally the highlight color
This was applied with the airbrush but this light color was applied heavier in some places like the forehead that would appear lighter anyway
I used the flesh color set from Andrea for this
A very nice set of quality paints in my opinion


The flesh colors where also used on parts of the clothing as there are several holes and tears in those


When the black is added they are now visible


Then the brown for the leather and cloth parts was painted on
I used vallejo medium brown as a base and with the help of buff and dark brown i added the highlights and shadows
The cloth and leather both have the same steps but to finish the leather i used Vallejo smoke
This gives more depth and adds a bit of a shine to it aswell


Then the metals where painted
I used 3 colors from the mr metal color range
I used stainless steel for the armor on the arms and the centre of the blade
The edges of the blade where painted in aluminium while the handle and spikes are painted in dark iron
Those where then buffed to get the nice metallic effect
The only drawback is that the buffing causes metallic dust and that was stuck on the leather parts so i needed to repaint a few spots


A closer look at the armor on the arms and hands


The hair was painted using the white set from Andrea
The highlight is white so all the others are darker
But this character has white hair so the darker colors add some depth


The effect of the smoke is a bit more visible here


The black was shaded aswell using the Andrea black set
This has black and several dark greys for highlights


And then the parts where put together
The only part i painted the last part ,the lips
For this i used a Vallejo color but i'm not sure wich one
I think it is carmine red but i thinned it to a wash thickness and aplied several coats













And this is how it looks at the moment
So the bust as they call it is finished except for the base
For the base i have a plan but that isn't build yet
My idea is to build a part of a church that is flooded
This way i can make a fairly impressive scene with some things i want to try out
I want to make a pillar or collum and a wall with a stained glass window in it
And maybe a part of a church bench sticking out of the water
The idea of using water is actually from someone else as i saw a picture of this bust online and the painter added water effect to make sense of the missing legs
I just don't know who to credit for the idea as there was no name attached to the picture
For the bench i can use plain and simple balsa wood and for the rest i can use styrodur foam or balsa foam depending on what i have left
The water will be done with Vallejo water effects and paints while the stained glass will be painted with highly thinned paints on a clear sheet of styrene
But i will show how i will do that in the next update
I still need to start the base after all and only planned it so far

And that is all i have for now
Thanks for stopping by and having a look
Take care and untill next time
Cheers
Mark

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
So after quite some time i returned to this build
I was planni g to make a fairly big base for this figure and gave it a couple of tries
But those where not quite the way i had imagined
So in the end all my previous ideas went out the window and i decided to use a simple wooden stand
Now i think there is nothing wrong with those but i wanted something different then a stained wooden stand that still shows the woodgrain
I mean those look nice to but i like some variation in the stands i use for my figures and busts
And then i came up with the idea to paint it like a piece of marble
Unlike a real marble stand this is much cheaper and much easier to get hold of

So how did i do it and what do you need
First of the stuff i used
1 wooden stand with a wider base ,others will do aswell either wood,resin or styrene
2 brushes ,1 small and 1 large
A piece of sponge
Some paints ,i used black ,sky grey and white from Vallejo for a black marble effect but you can make it into a brown or white marble aswell using different colors
Some clear coat or varnish of your choise

They way i made this stand

I started out by giving the wooden stand a black base
Then i used the sponge to add some color to the black
I mainly used the sky grey but this gives a pretty strong effect so once the grey was dry i repeated the proces with black to make it darker again


Then it is time for the most distinctive feature of marble
The lines
I used white for this wich was thinned with water to get more control and a finer line then with regular unthinned paint


And finally a coat of varnish for a nice finish
Now i do want to note 1 thing
Because i was a bit over enthausiastic i didn't sand the base to a smooth finish
So i do advise to sand the base to a smooth finish for a better effect

But that is all it takes to give a simple plain wooden stand the appearence of a rather expensive marble stand


And finally i glued the figure to the base

So that concludes this build
It didn't turned out the way i thought it would at the start but still i tried something new and had fun in the proces
Thanks for stopping by and having a look
Take care
Cheers
Mark

[mincemeat]

Hey Mark,

Just saw this, great work! I'm glad I saw the technique you used for the base and I'm sorry your original vision didn't work out. I have the same trouble! Keep on painting!

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you very much Mincemeat