My first completed model for Monster March over at Path of an Outcast is this Giant Spider from Massive Darkness. I’d started this one late last year as the third step in giant spiders after finishing the Spawn of Ungoliant and Spider models from Journeys in Middle-Earth, but as with so many things, my interest waned over time as I got distracted by other things or just had my painting mojo ko’ed for awhile. My thought was that at this scale, I could use this model in the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game as a proxy for Shelob if needed, as it’s an acceptable size for friendly games. It could even fit in with some Drow, if needed!
Besides that, it’s something I could (and would) figure out a way to proxy into games like KoW and AoS, and perhaps even use in games of Massive Darkness 1 & 2!
So you may be wondering: Why is this spider Pink and Purple? Well, dear reader, the rationale is the same one that led me to paint the Spiders Teal & Green and the Spawn of Ungoliant Yellow/Green with Magenta/Pink. For tabletop “friendliness”. I could have painted all of these in a pretty realistic manner, but since Marouda is repulsed by spiders, I’m not super-fond of them myself, and we’re not exactly the only people around with those sorts of feelings, they need to be models that people can both handle being on the tabletop and literally handle as they move around in games.
And so with that as my self-imposed brief, I wanted to make this model look “realistic”, but with a colouration that’s “not somethin’ from ’round these parts”. So googling around, I found some images by a bloke called Peter Baker of his MD Giant Spider, liked it a lot, and as it looks great and fits my use case criteria, decided to rip his scheme off.
Since I wasn’t directly copying Peter’s scheme as a reference, I painted the legs in inverted colours to his spider. I also had the thorax in the same pink as the head and abdomen, but after re-referencing Peter’s spider changed it to a purple, since it’s a carapace – though since doing that I do regret it a little as it looked good on my model – better I think than the purple does. It wasn’t until later that I realised that the model that inspired this one looks to be inspired by the old-school Genestealer colouration.
I’m pretty happy with how the mottling came out on the spider’s abdomen. The thorax looked similar before I purpled it, though it does at least still look okay.
As per usual, Berkeley provides us with a scale shot. It’s a big beastie, though there are bigger and chunkier Giant Spider models out there (foreshadowing for a future challenge perhaps?)
Anyway, despite my slight misgivings about the repainted thorax, I’m still pretty happy with this one! More Monster March Models to come!
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
Great: you found two others who are not crazy about large spiders (D always asks to skip the part of “The Hobbit” with giant spiders when we watch the movie…). The sculpture is very realistic and the fact that you have chosen the pink/purple colours does not make us exclaim “how lovely!”, because it reminds us of the disturbing colours of an alien creature. In short, we would say that the result is very effective; but we believe your arachnophobic playmates will be as pleased to wield the giant spider as Thorin’s company to come face to face with those critters in Mirkwood!
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Haha I don’t think it’s too much of a challenge to find people who aren’t especially fond of large spiders! The trick with so many of these monsters – and arachnids especially – is to find schemes that can still work when applied in a certain way to look naturalistic even if they don’t entirely look realistic! 🙂
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Superb mate – there’s a grim fleshiness to it that, while it isn’t naturalistic, is certainly unsettling! I really like that the thorax contrasts with the head & abdomen too, it really helps the model pop ❤️
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Thanks Alex! The scheme worked out really surprisingly (well, I did check the other bloke’s model first) well!
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Oh that is so creepy! I think that colour scheme works far too well! 🙂
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Thanks John! Creepy but not something to be mistaken for a real one was the aim! 😀
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Awesome looking spider mate, the colours work really well, reminds me of the Camel spider, but that was tan and brown, in the way you’ve used the colours.
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Thanks Dave! yeah, I used to paint my spideys in more natural colours, but then it turned out that everyone hated them being on the table for some reason so had to find a new direction…
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If it means people don’t mind them on the table that has to be a good thing.
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This could work well with Emperors Children arm too maybe,just think if Fabius actually did go apeshit crazy and let one of his cew members morph into a giant spider. Chilling stuff man, great job!
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Good spot, mate! – I could see old Fabulous doing some weird as shit experiments and having something like this come out! Chaos Spawn for my (eventual) Slaanesh and Emperor’s Children armies – sold!
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I really like it — the color choice is neat and stands out, and it looks nasty!!
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Thanks! It certainly does! 😀
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Eeeek!! That’s scary! First thing I thought is that it looked like it was flayed, which added an extra layer of creepiness. The Genestealer reference is also something to appreciate, I really think that this unusual scheme works on this model much better than expected!
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Thanks mate – that’s certainly an interesting concept to consider for a future model down the line. Maybe for a demonic arachnid of some sort if I have something that fits the bill.
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I don’t know that the pink colors really make this spider look any less scary or lifelike, mate. It came out looking very nice (and dangerous!) indeed!
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Well, I still wouldn’t want to spend much time hanging out with it if it were real. Maybe a full can of spray and a large stick to squish it as soon as it slowed down!
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Looks great and a really nice model! I have to say, as a non-arachnophobe (quite the opposite, in fact!), this thing look creepier than any real life spider! Almost looks like someone ‘skinned’ a spider!
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Thanks mate – There’s a bunch of thinned ice yellow stippling across the pink to give it a bit of a more “natural” feel.
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Way to make the creepiest pink I’ve ever seen!
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Thanks Mark! Covering a spider is a pretty effective way to make almost any colour look creepy, I reckon!
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I like the colours, I think it makes it stand-out from the usual run-of-the-mill spider, and it’s a nice size too.
The base looks fantastic. I’m pretty naff at basing and I’d love to put something out like that. Great work mate.
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Thanks! The base is super simple – just some slate shards glued down, one of the Vallejo or AK pastes, drybrushed with browns and then greys on the rocks – and then some weathering pigment added at the end.
Seeing the quality of your painted models, I have no doubt that you could be turning out bases like this (and far better) incredibly quickly!
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Thanks mate, but basing just doesn’t come natural. I can’t vision what I want to do and so it ends up a bit of a mess – I’m currently having a bit of a mare basing some Walking Dead figures, wait until you see them!😞
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Honestly, the best advice I can give you is to just take it slow and simple – PVA and sand and paint and drybrush – or one of GW’s (or AK/Vallejo’s) basing texture pastes – and paint (or wash) and drybrush.
Once you’re comfortable with that it’s just a matter of adding a bit of extra this and that as you go and then start to focus on more specific types of bases for specific places, textures or biomes.
I’ve found that “urban roads” or “urban concrete” is quick and easy. Let me know if it would be useful and I’ll throw up a quick tutorial next time I’m basing such a model (I did a few this weekend, so it won’t be until next weekend likely until I am able to do some more again – but won’t be too long)…
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That would be awesome, I need all the help I can get, thanks mate, much appreciated.
It’s the placing of the extras that I get stuck at. Whatever I do never looks quite right. Problem is, a lot of the minis I’ve been doing recently have either been transferred to transparent bases or, like the Marvel figures, they come on predesigned bases. I think I just need more practice!
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Practice is the biggest part of it, like anything else. I tend to add extras based on where the model touches the ground and how. Extra debris helps to make the MCP figures mesh into their bases since an otherwise pristinely clean base that then suddenly has a pile of ricks on it looks jarring to me – so I tend to just extend their debris while toning it down to “blend” with the larger base round.
When it comes to models like this spider, I just look for spaces that seem too “empty” and either drop a rock in or make a mental note to add a tuft later but also think about either not obscuring or deliberately obscuring the feet with tufts. I also often place tufts nestled in with a rock since it looks a bit more natural as rocks would offer some shelter/cover to the tiny plant sprouting from the earth. I also often tear commercial tufts into smaller, more irregular shaped ones so they don’t all look like perfectly round bits of grass dropped in.
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Great advice mate, thanks, I’ll be giving it a go.🤞
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