I spent a bit of time today on the Talos. Touched up the black primer from last night, then went over it with Vallejo German Red Brown Primer. Next I found I was base coating it, and a bit later I was drybrushing the metallic layers, painting the slate and finally the dirt. So it’s (almost) finished.
I mean, I could call it finished. Spray varnish it, and then add some flock or tufts for colour on the base and it’d be quite a decent model.
So now I’m at the point of working out what more to do with/to/for it. And that’s where feedback is always welcome – even if I don’t use all of it.
Couldn’t resist a scale shot – he’s a BIG boy.
Now – as Cash mentioned in the comments when I was looking to work out which models I’d do for December, this figure wasn’t a stretch of my skills by any means. The assembly was a bit trying, so I could say I learned a little there on the use of my Dremel, which I was given as a birthday gift from Marouda several years ago but have barely used. But the figure… well, he’s just carefully drybrushed in layers. It’s a big, rough-cast bronze statue. Drybrushing is the perfect technique. Sure it was careful, and there are spot highlights, but drybrushing is drybrushing. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Now, though – I need to work out what to do to properly finish him.
I’m planning on giving him glowing bluish eyes, as I did with the Brass Bull. That much is easy.
The harder question is verdigris. And if so, what type and how much?
I think this is the “official” artwork for the Talos. They’ve applied the verdigris very sparingly – as almost a light spot wash.
There’s the dark (angels?) green wash that GW used to use on everything before they came out with a verdigris paint wash. Not especially realistic, but it looks good.
There’s also realistic, but that often doesn’t look so good. When it’s heavy, you end up with the Statue of Liberty’s distinct look. I’m after bright metal underneath, rather than dull.
Thoughts?
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
If it helps, I’m a fan of the GeeDub virdigis wash – it behaves nicely and looks effective…
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Yup. The potential problem is that it’s the same stuff I use for my glowing eyes, and so if I add glowing eyes they’ll need to be differentiated from the verdigris…
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See your point… How different does it look over white vs. over bronze?
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There’s really no colour difference – it just stands out more easily, especially in larger areas where it can pool around the sculpted bumps-for-eyes, leaving them a little lighter (and just go over them with thin white if need be!) I’m now in two minds about trying to give it glowing eyes or just leaving them as dark, dead-eyed hollows within the helmet – closer to Harryhausen’s one.
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I would add it here and there, but rather go towards turquoise than actual green. Looks better in my opinion.
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Yeah, the trouble is making sure it’s differentiated enough from the glowing eyes. Of course, I could skip the glowing eyes entirely and just go with the “dead” look of the bronze shadows. Mierce’s picture with the red eyes is clearly shopped, so not a real good guide there.
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Verdigris is a tough one. You don’t want the full ‘Statue of Liberty’ effect but I personally don’t think putting patches of pale green verdigris washes over shiny metallic paint works at all. The official Talos paint job looks totally unnatural to me.
I think if you applied patches of verdigris to the GW statue which is less shiny it would look better (but not great). When bronze statues weather they tarnish all over first and then the verdigris continues to build up over the years.
If you look at examples you also notice that the verdigris doesn’t just sit in the folds and creases of statues like a wash will, it also forms on areas that you would traditionally highlight. This means just using verdigris washes doesn’t look right, you have to use highlighting paint too (stippling/drybrushing is probably the best way to do that to avoid uniformity).
I’m looking forward to how you tackle it!
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Ultimately, I’m going to go with aesthetics over realism. I did a bunch of reading about how verdigris forms back when I did these but I really don’t want a truly realistic look here, as I doubt Marouda will like it nearly as much as subtle weathering – and given the price of the model, I ain’t buying a second one! I’m intending to go with something akin to Harryhausen’s Talos in terms of verdigris. Subtle, and just enough to break up the bronze a little. Varnish will dull him down a bit as well, once it’s all done, but parts will still be bright.
Do ya think I’m sexy?
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