...and that's how you destroy a Nighthaunt.

For some reason, I really like the Nighthaunts manufactured by Games Workshop.  I subscribed to Rob Baer's/Spikey Bits Patreon for a while at the tier where you received some swag and when I did, I requested and graciously received my first Nighthaunt.  Cool!  BTW, Rob Baer is part of the Pantheon of Hobby gods we have here, but I digress.  I also liked the way that GW was painting these bad boys up with their Hexwraith Flame and Nighthaunt Gloom paints, so picked those up.

To get started, I spray primed TAP Matte White.  Put a coat of Nighthaunt Gloom down, quickly realized I wanted it thinner, so I essentially glazed it down.  Great!  Put a few more coats on there, dry brushed up with Reaper Master Series Rainy Gray, then put a Secret Weapon Miniatures Cool Gray wash on the recesses.  Feeling proud of myself and letting the wash dry, I moved to the green flames.  Thinned down the Hexwraith Flame, slapped it down a few times and said, "I like it!"  Here's the pics:

...and here is a pic of materials used so far:

L to R:  Vallejo thinner medium, Secret Weapon Cool Gray, Scale Color Rainy Gray, GW Nighthaunt Gloom and Hexwraith Flame.

...and then the roller foam we keep on the top shelf of this hobby space decided to roll down.

Well...I guess he is done.  I'm missing some sections of his arm and the staff.  As small as they are, I'm thinking maybe some brass rods to recreate them, but honestly, for my skill level it's too small to drill through the hand, or to glue to the staff, so I'm counting him done and destroyed.  The plan was to highlight up through gray and then white.  I'll put those next steps in when I crack open the Start Collecting Malignants Box.

Reaper Mini: Lou the Chibi Chtulu (Bonesylvanian model)

Lou, Bonesylvanian Chibi Cht

ulu

In an honest effort to stretch myself artistically/hobbywise, I'm trying 2 things here.  First, get outside of my own rigid thinking that colors don't have to start/stop at particular areas.  For example, an arm doesn't have to be one color only shaded and highlighted.  So, I slapped colors on randomly.  I thinned them quite a bit to try to get transitions, but also, I wanted to work on glazing to try to transition smoothly.  Right now, it's a hot mess and needs lots of work.  Let's see how this goes.

I used Scale Color Violet, Tesla Blue, Sunset Purple, and Caribbean Blue for base coat.  Then Citadel Hexwraith Flame to give a wash.  This all goes against my rational brain, so stretching...stretching.  Oh, and I thinned either with Vallejo Thinner Medium, or just keep a lot of water in my brush from cleaning.

Colors and paints used for base coat and first wash.

Here's what it looks like with the first slap of paint...and I did just slap it on there.

                                  

                         

Ok, so I went to the Reaper Mini forums asking for some help.  Now, many more colors have been added:

The suggestion I received on the forums included many layers of glazing (still working on getting that technique down) and/or using a transparent blue to tie the colors in together.  I stared with the transparent blue:  tamiya color on the left.  It darkened Lou up more than I wanted, but I liked what was going on.  So I started glazing with the Scale Color Sunset Purple, and Caribbean Blue to bring a little brightness back in.  Transparent blue some more, a little more glaze.  Still darker than I wanted so I began dry brushing the Caribbean Blue.  Liked it.  Pulled out that light green on the far left, Scale Color Autumn Green, and highlighted with it.  Really liked that.  I then used some Tamiya Clear Yellow to help blend that in a little more and hopefully cut out the "roughness" of the dry brush.  This is how it looks at this stage.  I'm going to pull that Autumn green out again and do another Clear Yellow, then move onto the finishing touches.

        

So, the process continued to glaze various shades of blue, purple, and green.  I really liked the Autumn Green highlight so I kept working on it and glazing with either transparent yellow or blue until I had it where I liked.

I then painted the eyes and toenails/claws/talons black, and coated with a Citadel's 'ardcoat brush-on sealer.  This was to prep them for a couple of coats of Green Stuff World's Colorshift Metal Storm Surge Green.  I do not have an airbrush so my color shift doesn't look as awesome as when they pull it off with an airbrush, but I do love these paints...if only for the idea of what they do, which I haven't fully succeeded with yet.  The base is a Simple Reaper Master Series Rainy Gray, some places of Scale 75 Rainy Gray, and a Secret Weapon Miniatures Armor Wash.  ...and I'm calling Lou done.  Overall pleased with the outcome, even if I had a brighter image in my head of how he would look when I was completed with him.  Here he is:

 

 

I do have a cheap light box on the way to hopefully get better pictures.  There's some washout on his head.  Will update pictures in a while if I can get better/more accurate pics.