Squarg the Frog Rider - Part 2

I've been steadily working on my frog mini over the past two weeks since I posted my last pictures. He is now finished. So it's time to post some up-to date pics of the work on 'Project Squarg'. I've continued to paint the frog with sucessive layers of transparent glazes and I'm very pleased with the result.

The leather of the harness and saddle has been painted by the conventional layering of highlights and shadows, but an extra layer of weathering was then applied with GW washes. Although most of this work will be covered up by the rider, it gave me the opportunity to test out the effect. Squarg himself will be featuring a fair bit of worn leather because I want to give him lots of character.  
I'm a big fan of NMM but I think it would look too cartoonish for what I'm trying to achieve on this particular mini. It's a long time since I've used metalic paint and it's just as tricky as I remember. But I'm pleased with how it has turned out on the frog's harness. I intend to use true metalics on my next project so the limited areas of metal on Squarg will serve as useful practise.
 

In the week after Easter I didn't feel in a painting mood. Rather than forcing the issue, I switched my attention to constructing the base for this project. I had an idea of what I wanted to achieve, so I assembled the materials I needed and experimented with the composition.
The core of the base is a wooden cube that I have carved with a dremmel. I built up the under-structure with cork. To introduce a bit of character, and texture, I glued pieces of bark (picked up on a country walk) onto this sub-structure. Next I filled in the gaps with milliput. The tree and branch elements, made from assorted plant roots, were then glued onto the base and blended in with more milliput. Like Squarg, the mushrooms and toadstools come from Blacksmith Miniatures. There is still quite a bit of work to do, I want to build up more and varied textures before I paint the base. But I think I've made a good start.