Mr. Wrinkles, take two

   
    Having the opportunity to repaint a piece that I painted in the past is something that I've wanted to do quite often. However, time is something that has kept me from actually doing it; that, and the fact that many of the pieces that I've painted over the years are in somebody else's collection, which may be on the other side of the continent, or even on the other side of the planet! There's one such piece that's at home in my display cabinet, though. I look at it in the evening when I sit and think on my couch, and each time I see it, I want to give it a few more hours time on my work bench to take it to where I now think it should be.  The piece is Mr. Wrinkles, sculpted by Jon Payne.

  Jon has fast become one of my favorite sculptors, and I eagerly await for him to reveal the creative, twisted, and expressive characters he consistently produces. I purchased a casting of Mr. Wrinkles from Jon at the 2013 Monsterpalooza show in Burbank, CA. I finished Mr. Wrinkles late that year. While I was fairly happy with it, the more I looked at my paint work,  I realized that he seemed far too warm and ruddy toned for my liking. The desire to take him out of the display case and spend a few hours with him became a daily occurrence, and I finally relented a few weeks ago. 

                                    



                                                             Mr. Wrinkles 2013 paint

                


 I spent time pushing back the warm skin tones in certain areas, lightening the high points, and accenting the wrinkles. I also pushed some of the shadows a little darker than I had done previously. As you can see below, the result is much cooler in tone, and much more to my liking. I think it was time well spent. Thank you for looking :)
  

                                                 


                                                            Updated Mr. Wrinkles 2014

                                                           

                                                  

Wilford

  Howdy-do, Ladies and Gents? I recently painted another member of a strange, reclusive family which may live in the deep hollows of the Appalachians, sculpted by John Schuster, and his name is Wilford. 

                   Jethro
He and Jethro, another character sculpted by John which I painted earlier in the year, are cousins (see left). John Schuster is fantastic at sculpting these incredibly detailed characters, and I really enjoyed painting this one. He makes me think of an enraged Ernest Borgnine!








                                                                         Wilford

    

 
       

Arctic Blood Beast

Here's another cool piece from artist Anthony Watkins. When Anthony asked me to paint this and the Fraust Wyrm (see previous post), he asked me if I could paint the big horned beast so that it looked like it lived in a snowbound waste. I thought it was a great suggestion, and I'm glad he proposed the idea. So much so, that I decided to also paint the dragon trophy with an icy theme as well. 

 I took a few photos and realized that if I was going to call it the Arctic Blood Beast I really needed to add some choking bloody ribbons inside that gaping maw. So I did. Lots of it, too. I imagined that the brute sawed through some flabby seal-like creature that was taking a nap on an ice covered rock with that terrible mouth. 

 

Fraust Wyrm

 





 This is a very nice piece of resin from the studio of Anthony Watkins. I call him Fraust, pronounced "frost". I wanted to use a color scheme that I hadn't seen too many times before; something to evoke thoughts of a Dragon that might roam about an icy wasteland, crawling across jagged snow capped mountain spurs.
 Since I chose to paint the dragon with cool tones, I wanted to be sure and paint the eyes so they'd be a stark contrast. So I chose intense, fiery colors for the eyes. I very nearly repainted them a lime green, which I still think would've looked really nice, but my Girlfriend encouraged me not to. And I'm glad I took her advice.

  If you're interested in this piece, send Anthony an e-mail at: antwatkins@cox.net To see much more of Anthony's fantastical characters and amazing dragons, visit his Facebook page.






  

Executioner

  This is an ass kicking little bust sculpted by Jarrod and Brandon Shiflett titled, Executioner. I'd guess it to be a beefy 1/6 scale, and just a hair under six inches in height. The kit is two solid medium gray resin pieces, body and axe, and it keys together perfectly compliments of caster Ahren Gauthier. I spent twenty minutes scraping the seam lines with a hobby knife and I was straight to painting. This mean little bugger has a lot of Simon Bisley energy throughout, and wanted to paint it with some rotten greens, yellows and spectral blues. I had some real fun painting this rad little beast, and I cannot say enough good things about it, either. If you're a fan of Frank Frazetta or Simon Bisley styled pieces, or powerfully sculpted pieces in general, this bust is an absolute must have.

          

   

 

Jethro and Prolapse

   Here are two little pieces from sculptor John Schuster, Jethro and Prolapse. Both pieces are about 3.5 inches tall. Prolapse, heck...I don't think that Proactiv could put a dent in that. And Jethro? Well, life can be cruel...

Hellfire!

 
                This is one BAD-ASSED hunk of Demonic resin called, "Hellfire. Sculpted by Anthony Watkins. To the tip of his horns, the bust is right at 11", and cast in solid white resin. From the moment I opened this big ugly bastard I knew that I wanted to paint him Red. Straight up traditionally satanic, Heavy Metal demon Red. But I threw in other colors to spice it up a bit, too. I really enjoyed using all sorts of reds, magenta's, fiery oranges and deep bloody colors on it. The rippling chest muscles and straining neck tendons really set this piece off. What a BEAST! Anthony also sculpts some of the gnarliest looking dragons I've seen, too. The guys is an amazing sculptor. Have a look see at his Facebook page to see some of his sculptural work. Anthony's Facebook Page. Or send him an e-mail to ask about his Hellfire bust: antwatkins@cox.net