finishes his 40mm Norse Gods project.
After some thought, I decided to abandon the "war paint" idea for the howler. The Simians have a Roman motif, and war paint and tattoos are definately more barbarian! I felt that the satchel and loicloth had brought enough color to the model to keep it from being dull, in addition to his fur being a brighter orange than I'd originally pictured. (War paint and tattoos are a great way to add color and interest to an unarmored figure, however.)
I painted the howler's scroll case with Vallejo Buff, and then washed it with W&N Nut Brown again.
Monkeys have eyes much like ours, and so I decided to try to just paint in a white eye with a black pupil as I would on a human figure. I've always felt that no eye at all is better than a "fried egg" eye, or even just a sloppy looking one; if I'd been unable to get a well-placed eye on these guys, I'd just have shadowed the eyesockets and left it at that. They came out looking fine, though, and a good eye really brings a figure to life.
Vallejo Brassy Brass (what an awful name - it's more bright copper than brass, anyway) was my choice for the endcaps of the scroll cases and the buttons on the satchels.
This brings us finally to the base treatments. On small bases like these I don't usually do a lot of extra sculpting, as I feel it can dwarf the figure or draw attention away from it. On a big base I might add some pebbles or small gravel, molding around them with ribbon epoxy to make them look sunken in the ground. Instead, on small bases I start with a base coat of Vallejo Goblin Green all over; I then brush some Elmer's white glue over about 50% of the base, and dip it in Citadel's Sand.
After that dries and the excess is brushed off, I get a brush loaded up with more Goblin Green, and spread it around on the bare parts of the base, as well as dabbing it around on the sand. Then I dunk it in Woodland Scenics grass - I think I use their Meadow mixture. Anyway, the effect is that the grass is growing in patches over the top of the sandy surface - gives it more texture, less of a "mowed golf course" look, without detracting from the figures.
That's pretty much it! A shot of Armory matte finish to protect both the figure and the base treatment, and they're done. Can't wait to see the rest of the Simians in action!