Rockgut Troggoth – Part 2

Once the filling and sanding side of model preparation was done I decided to give my Troggoth a light coat of primer. I did this not only to provide a key for the paint, but also to show up any flaws in the gap filling. It can be very hard to tell if all the gaps and seams have been dealt with when the model and filler are contrasting colours. Primer evens out the colour difference and makes any surface imperfections easy to see. My primer of choice is Tamiya fine surface primer in light grey.

The filled mini before priming

The mini after priming

My 1987 Troll was painted green and I always considered that the right colour for Trolls but things have moved on over the years. For one thing a green Troll could easily look rather Nurgleish and, although a Nurgle Troggoth could look great, I fancied a change of palette. I’ve painted a lot of Nurgle and its good to do something different every now and again. The new models feature a variety of interesting textures with a strong contrast between their smooth front and their rocky back. An overall paint scheme based in nature seemed to be a good approach for this model. Consequently I felt that a colour scheme using brown and grey earth tones would be interesting and appropriate. So I set about a little research to find some reference.

During my research, and quite unintentionally, I stumbled across some of Paul Bonner’s artwork and something clicked! I wouldn’t normally use the work of an artist as inspiration but I really loved his approach, and the new Rockgut Troggoths already seemed to have a little bit of Paul Bonner’s artwork in their DNA. While I didn’t want to create a straight copy of any particular painting my colour palette, and the overall feel of my paint scheme, are definitely inspired by Paul’s painting.

I decided to use the brown tones globally in my shadows. This unites the contrasting textures and also helps to create a muted and natural feel. This was especially important as I decided to use Bugmans Glow in the flesh tones. Bugmans is a great colour as it brings warmth and a feeling of life to flesh tones, without being too red, but it can, sometimes, look a bit over saturated.

The grey shades would, naturally enough, be used on the rough, rocky parts of the Troggoth. I used a fairly cool grey to contrast with the warm, pinker, flesh. The use of brown in the shadows not only unites all the different textures but give the rocky textures a more organic feel. This seems appropriate because it’s rocky skin rather than just rock.

The colours palette used to create the Troggoth's skin tones

It took me a while to get to grips with my colour palette and develop the balance and atmosphere I was looking for. I wanted to use my colours is such a way as to create some realistic variation in the skin tones. As with my Megaboss I wanted to create some sort of markings or pattern on my Troggoth. I decided the best place for this would be at the boundary between the rocky back and the fleshy front. A band of mottled brown spots now separates these areas and adds a touch of drama to the scheme without overpowering it.

My flesh tones are rounded off with some touches of red and blue carefully glazed and stippled into the shadows. This adds some extra contrast and interest to the palette. In addition these colours help to make the flesh tones look more ‘alive’.

In addition to the stony parts of the Troggoth the miniature features several pieces of actual stone in the form of amulets, armour and, most notably, a stone dwarf head the Troggoth is about to throw. I decided to give this a subtly different tone to the grey stony parts of the Troggoth and opted for a grey/green tone. The colour is subtle but in contrast to the warm flesh tones the green will be more obvious than it might otherwise be.

Drybrushed underpainting

Edge highlights and glazes over drybrushing

All of the stony parts on this mini have benefitted from careful drybrushing. I’ve used this, as I often do, as a sort of underpainting. I drybrushed my greys over a dark brown base and then refined them with some edge highlights and glazes. This has the effect of sharpening the definition on the drybrushing without covering up the texture.

Drybrushed underpainting

Edge highlights and glazes over drybrushing