Ender's Crafts: Painting a Kraken

Introduction

Commission work for a friend, to be used in MAGUS: the Kraken!

Prime and spray paint

Prime white, then spray paint Mephiston Red. I observed some irregularities; on the second layer, the spray paint started becoming porous. So I stopped there, and sprayed on a layer of Munitorum Varnish. It stopped flaking off after that; I sincerely hope that nothing bad will come of it.

I also tried to get some pre-shade going on by spraying the nether regions less; although I wasn't quite sure whether I'd actually use it.

Painting the body

I was inspired by a picture of an octopus in its natural habitat; it was all shades of red, orange, violet. I decided on practicing wet blending to achieve something like it.

But first, use Heavy Red to fix any areas where the spray paint did not cover well enough.

Armor plates

On the armor plates, blend Gory Red to Hexed Lichen.

This was another surprise, as the purple dried to a shade of dark brown. It was definitely not what I intended, but it looked quite nice, so I went with it.

I brought back some color by painting the edges (backwards and downwards) with Fresh Blood. This is a desatured light red, and did not clash with the vibrant Gory Red.

I tried stipling on some Druchii Violet on the back edge, to drag it towards purple, but this also dried to brown.

Finally, a fine edge highlight of Heavy Violet did the trick.

The flesh

I imagined a transition from red on the back to pink on the stomach. As such, start from Gory Red near the armor plates, and blend into Hot Orange. Towards the bend, this will blend further into Heavy Orange.

On the tail, I tried a different shade by going from Gory Red through Orange Fire to Heavy Orange. The orange was a bit lighter, and I liked the other shade better. On the right fin, I tried to involve some retarder medium for smoother blends, but it actually dried spotty. I had to repaint it later.

I decided on going towards this very light purple-y white on the stomach: Reaper Spectral White.

Blending into Gory Red on the end of the tail, where there wasn't enough space to go through the full color scale; and into Heavy Orange on the fins. This continues all along the stomach, up to the mouth.

Tentacles

Sponge Heavy Orange, Orange Fire, Hot Orange, Heavy Violet, Hexed Lichen.

Bloodletter glaze all over.

Body details

Mouth

Basecoat Heavy Skintone, inside and out.

Wash Carroburg Crimson, then glaze Heavy Skintone over the raised areas.

Highlight Elf Skintone, then drybrush Pale Flesh.

Eyes

Undercoat Black.

Basecoat Glorious Gold.

Glaze Lamenter's Yellow.

A spot of Fuegan Orange in the middle, the Bloodletter Glaze in the middle of that.

Black slits, with a white spot highlight and a Polished Gold lowlight.

Vents

Heavy Goldbrown inside. Glaze the outside with successive layers of Sun Yellow, and finally paint the edge without diluting the paint.

Agrax Earthshade on the inside, Cassandora Yellow on the outside.

Highlight the interiors with Heavy Goldbrown, then highlight the edges in Sun Yellow, then spot highlight Fluorescent Yellow.

Cysts

Basecoat Heavy Violet, then highlight each with a spot of Spectral White.

Wash Druchii Violet, then re-highlight with Spectral White.

Beak

Basecoat Beasty Brown, then glaze successive layers of Heavy Goldbrown for a transition effect.

Edge highlight the beak, and a bit stronger at the tip, with Sun Yellow.

The inside got a wash of Agrax Earthshade, thicker at the back of the mouth simulating the throat.

Lamenter's Yellow glaze on the outside, to mesh the yellows together.

Highlight Fluorescent Yellow.

Horns and fangs

Follow the painting tip. I went further: after glazing on the Bonewhite highlight, I did a line highlight with Off White.

Spray varnish the kraken before continuing. I still managed to rub the paint off here and there, which I corrected later.

Ship

Basecoat the wood with a variety of browns: Heavy Brown undercoat, then planks of Khaki, Leather Brown, Beasty Brown. Basecoat the ropes with Filthy Brown or Heavy Goldbrown.

Two layers of Agrax Earthshade.

Drybrush Heavy Brown, then lighter drybrush Khaki. Drybrush the rope with Filthy Brown.

If it were simple wood, it would be done.

Simulate waterlogged wood by stipling on a variety of green washes: Biel-Tan Green, Hexwraith Flame, Athonian Camoshade.

Light drybrush Khaki. The wood is complete.

Lots of small marine lifeforms all over the ship. I intend this to look colorful, like a coral reef. Undercoat White, then basecoat some in Bonewhite and some in Off White. This was mostly pointless, as there are no noticeable differences at the end.

Use a variety of washes: Drakenhof Nightshade, Druchii Violet, Carroburg Crimson, Fuegan Orange, Cassandora Yellow, Lamenter's Yellow. Also test the new technicals and contrasts I bought just for this purpose: Nighthaunt Gloom, Ork Flesh, Plaguebearer Flesh.

The technical and contrast paints did exactly what they were supposed to. Some washes also performed well, others... meh.

On a lesser project, I'd call it done... but here, go further and highlight each blob with a gradient.

Fuegan Orange: Orange Fire, Heavy Orange.
Ork Flesh: Escorpena Green, Escorpena Green + Dead Flesh
Plaguebearer Flesh: Dead Flesh, Escorpena Green + Dead Flesh
Carroburg Crimson: Warlord Purple, Warlord Purple + Squid Pink, Squid Pink
Druchii Violet: Heavy Violet, Spectral White
Drakenhof Nightshade/Nighthaunt Gloom: Magic Blue, Electric Blue
Cassandora Yellow/Lamenter's Yellow: Sun Yellow, Fluorescent Yellow.