Black Castle

I finally finished the werewolf I was working on for the last Black Castle Model. The first black castle model was completed over 7 years ago and marked the first of the Confrontation chess pieces I painted (see pic below). The quality of the two are much more similar than the pawn models mentioned three posts down. The big difference is the non metallic metals technique (notice the heavy-yellow gold in the old castle below). The skin and clothes are actually quite similar and there is good reason. I used the wet-blending technique I started 7 years ago instead of the feathering technique that many of my modern models have received. The wet blending technique requires me to keep at least three different shades of paint on the palette at one time as I blend the transitions between the different shades on the model. I stopped using this technique because I often felt rushed when trying to finish before all three+ colors dried out. The feathering technique requires much less haste. Nevertheless, the inconsistent results of the feathering technique have been frustrating and I think this model with be the first of many as I re-explore and improve on my wet-blending technique.

One final note: the dull cote I've come to like has been failing me recently. The last 10+ models have all finished with a much shinier coat than I would like. Subsequent coats do not help and a different spray bottle turned out the same. For the past 10+ years I have been coating the models with a gloss coat followed by a dull coat to get the durability benefits from the gloss coat while the dull coat removes the shine. The next model will forgo the gloss coat for two dull coats as an experiment.