Hello,
this is one of the few special projects we finished this year. Most of the time we paint small scale gaming miniatures but as a painter, I love large scale miniatures. Sometimes, I just can’t help myself to paint some of them as a gift. This year was no different.
The Idea
I wanted to paint a birthday gift for a friend who has their whole arm tattooed in images from Alice in Wonderland movie from 2010. Obviously, I couldn’t find miniatures matching the exact style of the movie, but when I saw the Caterpillar made by Creepytables I knew it’s cool enough to qualify as a gift.
Since the model design was different than the original I wanted to at least match the color scheme. Although, I draw more inspiration from the actual tattoo than from the movie’s art.
The Model
The Caterpillar itself is made by a small company from Poland called Creepytables. It comes in two sizes, 15cm or 22cm limited edition, I thought the smaller version was the perfect fit. It was shipped in a neat box, so I could start my work only after a few short days.
The model was fairly easy to assemble. It could sit a little better on the stump base, but it wasn’t hard to correct with a little bit of Miliput.
Overall I was really happy with my choice and eager to start painting.
Day 1 – The Face
I decided it’s the most important detail, so I dedicated a separate session to get it right. You may notice that I decide to leave the tiny “mustache” unassembled. I did it because there was no way to pin them and I was sure that it will break off in transportation. The main color for the skin is Caspian Blue from Scale Color, I mixed it with black for shadows and with white for highlight. It’s nothing special, but I think it works well. I also glazed his jaw with a little bit of Blood Red. Only his right eye is clearly visible. I made the pupil jade to match the bootle’s green glass.
Day 2 – The Eyes
Another important detail. I wanted to make them look creepy, so yellow was an obvious choice. The eyes are essentially a mix of Basic Yellow, and Blood Red. The skin around the eyes was a mix of Royal Purple, Basic Yellow, and Blood Red. The green is just the effect of yellow on Caspian Blue, I thought it looks cool, so I left it.
Day 3 – The Water Pipe
I had the plan to paint the water pipe in copper but turned out that I had no paint left, so I went with Old Gold from Vallejo. I glazed it with Magohany from Vallejo Air to add a hint of red. I also added a little bit of patina glazing it with Jade Green. The bottle is made with Black Forest Green. I got the inspiration for painting the bubbles from @lgomezpradal on Instagram.
Day 4 – Stump and details
On the final day, I just had to paint his base, hat, polish a few remaining details, and put it all together. I wanted to finish it up as fast as possible, so I didn’t bother to write down any details. :)
Overall it was a great project and a well-received birthday gift. I really recommend you to check out the Creepytables range.
Cheers
Mateusz