Monsters and Martians Hi-Res Double-Feature

Today I have a pair of creatures to share with you, each painted in very different ways (which I will cover later). First though, I'd like to share the Kobold Murmillo warrior! It has donned some classic gladiatorial armor, (and a somewhat anachronistic shield) and is for mayhem. I had a lot of fun with this one, diving into a ton of different materials and textures:

It also wasn't meant to be so complicated, but in the end we ended up adding patina'd bronze, battered metal, smooth leather, coarse linen, unclipped nails, and polished wood, all together in one little package. It was just such an interesting challenge and a fun little character to work on. It involves several layers of the cycle of light, color, blend, repeat, something that can be a little time-consuming, but offers a ton of control.

Next, I have a new spread from our space pest control guide:

"They burrow into and feed on ship hulls. Kill them early during your rotation, you won't want to meet them again after they've grown..."

The Giant Space Worm and Larva are painted very differently from the Kobold at the top. Due to the time and modularity constraints of the project, these figures must be painted MUCH faster! To accommodate this I have trimmed down my usual method of hundreds of layers and steps, to just one layer, painted in 3 steps total. It is a barebones method, where anything superfluous has been boiled away.

In the step-by-step image above:

• 1. is a simple establishing of shapes and basic colors with a fully opaque brush. My focus here is getting the shapes right and establishing some split complementary colors that look good together.

• 2. is a lighting pass where shapes are pulled out and dimensionalized a bit. My goal here is to make sure the lighting is good.

• 3. is a detail pass, with sharp little brushes and some mixer brushes to blend overly-harsh passages together. My goal here is making sure the details read well.

It is the most barebones process I've been able to be happy with (so far!). It has been a great learning experience and has definitely helped speed up my work overall. Obviously it ends up feeling a bit different from the monster method, having a slightly more comic vibe to it. (which hopefully works well for the setting of the game) This Martian method offers SPEEEEEEED and reworkability, while the Monster method the kobold was rendered in offers far more CONTROL and nuance at the cost of being much slower and time-consuming.

I hope you've enjoyed these!