Undead animals (and Humans!) are always a challenge: realistic rotting flesh, or Hollywood/fantasy?…
I bought a pack of 25mm sized Zombie Dogs, several years ago, for my fantasy games. They were made for the short-lived, Zombies! miniatures game. Like your Dire Wolves, they had some exposed muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, and some internal organs, too. Did I mention that I had 100 of the identical model to paint?…
Getting started was a nightmare -- Blank Page Syndrome hit me hard. They sat with nothing but a primer coat for a l-o-n-g time… Ack!
I decided to make them more realistic. To do that, I searched the Internet for photos of real-life rotting corpses, to get an idea on colors for their dead skin (fur does not really change colors unless it is stained with something -- EEEwww!), dead organs, etc. Surprisingly, rotting flesh does not really change colors all that much, until mold grows on it…
I lucked out because the miniatures were actually rather small. I decided that there was no way in Sheol I was going to paint every single nuanced organ exposed on every figure! I decided to dab a small amount of red-to-brown paint on their exposed guts. I painted their fur in groups, with each group getting the same basic fur color (groups of 10… times 10!). I painted some of them with white eyes (one eye on each model was bulging out of socket, slightly -- noticeable if the orbit was painted white to light gray); their mouths were a mixture of bone, tongue, and mostly intact flesh; their legs were a mixture of intact, exposed muscles, and bare bone.
If you are not already aware, I am an Army Painter, and I employ simple block painting, followed by brushing on MinWax oil-based wash using a dark brown stain-varnish. My mini's are GEtGW quality (Good Enough to Game With, at arm's length).
I avoided painting these Zombie Dog figures for many years. When I finally got over the Blank Page Syndrome, they painted up rather quickly!
As the Russian General said in WW II,
"Quantity has a quality all its own."
Your models look good. At arm's length, on the tabletop, they will look even better. You finished painting a nice Unit for your games. Now…
Get them onto the battlefield, and show your opponents what these rotting, mangy corpses can do to the Living! Cheers!
discovers a previously unrevealed paint job.
