Back to the grind! As many of you know, I've been painting a bunch of undead miniatures for my Sunday Dungeons & Dragons game (see my previous Terrorgheist post for more details). Instead of pulling more Warhammer models from my pile of potential, I decided to go a different route and picked an old school miniature from my collection -- the Ral Partha "Giant Skeleton."
Ral Partha Giant Skeleton
The Ral Partha Giant Skeleton was sculpted by the incomparable Julie Guthrie, and was released the year I graduated from high school -- 1987. Righteous!
Back in the day, this model was considered big -- roughly 3 times the size of a standard Ral Partha 25mm miniature. The model is nice and heavy (made of lead after all) and looks horrifying in a good way. I love how the skeleton stands off balance, jaw slacked open and sword extended -- it looks like the monster just crawled from the grave and is lurching towards you.
First Step: Basing and Priming
Like just about every Ral Partha miniature, the Giant Skeleton came with an attached, integral base. I've never been a big fan of attached bases (unless they're exceptional, like the one for the recent Beholder model I painted). Instead of going through the hassle of removing the base (and generating lead dust in the process), I simply glued the model onto a square plastic base, added a few stones, and built Milliput around it to mimic earth.
After everything was nice and dry, I primed the model black and used the airbrush to apply a white zennithal highlight.
Second Step: Painting The Giant Skeleton
My first instinct was to paint this bad boy up quickly and easily with Speed Paints, washes, etc. It was only a skeleton after all, so how much time did I really want to invest in this painting project? Besides, I had a game coming up and many more models I wanted to paint for our weekly adventure...
In the end, I just couldn't do it -- I couldn't rush this project. The Ral Partha Giant Skeleton is a 38 year old classic, and I decided the model deserved more love.
Painting The Bones
I broke out the wet palette and my Kimera paints, and got to work on the bone.
- I first sketched all the shadows with Darkness (a gorgeous, deep purple)
- I then layered up Poison Green, Bone Khaki, and a kiss of Red Oxide
- For highlights, I used Bone Khaki + some Vallejo Pale Sand.
- Honestly, it took WAY longer than I thought, but the end result was an interesting, ancient looking bone that I feel does the model justice.
Painting The Cloth, Armor And Sword
I've mentioned in previous posts that I'm not very good at painting in a "grimdark" style. I love the aesthetic, but my grimdark typically comes out dull and boring, so I opted for bright jade for the tattered cloth (and for the eyes and teeth) to give the model a nice pop color.
For the armor plates, I envisioned red lacquered samurai armor. I thought the red would not only add some visual interest, but would contrast nicely with the jade.
- Cartacci Red + Phthalo Green for the shadows.
- Cartacci Red for the main color.
- Cartacci Red + Caucasian Skin for the highlights.
Again, this took much longer than I anticipated. I was happy with the result, but I needed to speed things up a bit if I wanted to finish the model in a reasonable amount of time, so for the chainmail armor I simply used a thin coat of Runic Grey SpeedPaint to add a subtle tint of color (note: I wanted to stay away from using metallic paint for this project, otherwise I could have painted the chainmail a metallic silver followed with a Nuln Oil wash).
The Sword
The Ral Partha Giant Skeleton has an interesting sword. Not only is it big with a sharpened edge and teeth on the top, it's held at a strange angle. For the upwards facing part of the sword, I did a bit of NMM (non-metallic metal) along the edge. For the downwards facing part, I just painted some object source light to capture the glow from the base (more on that next!).
Step 3: Painting The Giant Skeleton Base
I really liked how the Ral Partha mini was coming along. I was relaxing in my studio, listening to podcasts, and just going with the flow. Color choices and painting techniques came naturally, but I struggled with the base. I went back and forth with a few ideas, but I finally settled on the following:
- I applied a layer of Vallejo Rough Pumice to give the base a gritty texture.
- Once dry, I painted the base brown-black.
- I painted a yellow-green "magic-glow" effect in the center
- I applied dark earth and rust pigment powders to the non-glowing parts.
- I applied some green/blue tufts to give the base some life.
In the end, I was happy with the result. The base looks like graveyard dirt where something magical is happening.
Final Thoughts
I'm a notoriously slow painter, and by the time I finished, I probably put close to 10-12 hours into this project (that's a lot of time for a skeleton!). I could have used different techniques with SpeedPaint, washes, streaking grime, etc. and walked away with a fine looking model for my D&D game. That said, I'm glad I took the path that I did and for me, it was worth spending the time and not rushing the process. The Ral Partha Giant Skeleton is a special model from my youth and I'm pleased with how everything turned out.
Until next time friends and family. You're the best :)
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