Zombie Characters/Bosses (Tengu stuff added 22/03/2011)

[cheetor]

Excellent work.Got my frothers undead in the pile....will have to dig them out look so good painted up.Great stuff!

Thanks!  The Frothers survivors are probably the pick of the bunch I reckon, but the zombies are fun too.

Lets have your skin recipe to add to the mix then, really like the little girl, patient zero and the hunters so spill the beans!

Glad that you like them



Hunters & Patient Zero
Base coat GW Astronomican Grey/Codex Grey mix
A drybrush of pure Astronomican grey (mostly this is to give a guide as to where to highlight in the stage after next)
A lighter drybrush of pure white (very light here, for the same reason as above).
Highlight with thinned Astronomican to pull the grey into the white.
Further layered highlight with thinned down pure white.
Wash with thinned Ogryn Flesh if it looks too chalky.
Figures regularly (but not always) get a wash of Devlan Mud in the process of washing other parts of the figure.  I think that Patient Zero and the Hunters got that, but I couldnt swear to it.


Girls (and pretty much all the basic zombies that I paint at the moment)
Basecoat GW Hormagaunt purple
Wash with GW Leviathan purple
Drybrush with Leviathan/Dheneb Stone mix
Drybrush with GW Dheneb Stone (this will look chalky.  It will be reined in in the next stage.)
Highlight with thinned Dheneb stone to blend the purple to the stone, using the drybrush as a guide
Highlight with Bleached Bone.


I think thats it.  Not very complicated and it doesnt require a high skill level or anything.

[abhorsen950]

Nice stuff,
Great jobb

[AKULA]

Good job Cheetor - nice to see someone else's take on the Frother's minis.

 

[cheetor]

Jockeys this time:





I am unaware of any existing miniatures available which are designed to represent a Jockey.  I thought that it would be fun to put a couple together from parts of other figures to go with my Hunters and Witches.  I based the figures that I put together on what I have seen of Jockeys in the video game (which isnt much, I just played it for an hour or two once) and mainly from the picture below.




The Jockey as it appears in Left 4 Dead 2



I noticed recently that the plastic GW Crypt Ghouls have similarly hunched backs to Jockeys.  The ghoul heads, while nice are a bit too recognisable and not human enough for my tastes.  The also have pointed ears which I really wanted to avoid.  They are bald too and I wanted the Jockeys to have hair so that they looked just a little bit different to the ghouls as they are supplied in the box.

With that in mind I replaced the ghoul heads with West Wind metal zombie heads.  It was a simple thing to do, but I am quite pleased with how they turned out.  I kept the ghoul heads for use in my upcoming modern vampire project.

Jockeys tend to squat a bit, and so the poses of the ghouls are just a little more upright than that of Jockeys.  I didnt think that it would be worth the effort involved in reposing the Jockey legs however, so I left them as is.





In addition to odd clumps of body hair, Crypt Ghouls are also adorned with a lot of sharpened bones.  Some are strapped to the model and others have been stuck through the models flesh like a piercing.

Ghouls that mutilate themselves is something that I hadnt ever really heard of before recently, but the last two sets of plastic ghoul miniatures that I have seen (the GW and the Mantic ones) both feature this self-mutilation motif.  It must be "the new black" for ghouls.

Anyway, it was an easy enough job to remove the bones and make any of the remaining bits along with the hair look like scraps of clothing.





I am ok with the idea of Jockeys (and a couple of the other L4D "special" zeds, notably Hunters) having enough wherewithall to sort of dress themselves: they seem to be smarter than the average zombie.  Therefore I didnt get too worked up about the idea of the strapping and rags that they are wearing.  Who knows, maybe after the zompocalypse is over maybe the dominant society will be a Jockey one?

Finally, the Crypt Ghoul figures are quite heavily scarred.  In the case of Jockeys, again I am not too stressed at the concept of them retaining some ability to heal themselves (probably at an accelerated, Resident Evil Tyrant-like rate).

I didnt do a terribly good job of painting the scars.  The second Jockey has a whole lot more of them. As the second figure was the prototype Jockey that I made, I also like his pose less than the first guy shown. The first Jockey shown is my favourite by a long shot as a result: I actually kinda hate the second blonde Jockey because of his goofy, "classic undead" pose, but I have no intention of putting together another regardless.  Two Jockeys is probably one more than I will ever use in games anyway.

The next L4D zombies that I get together will probably either be Smokers or, more likely, Chargers.  I had parts to make my own Chargers but as Hasslefree have decided to release a figure that will put my efforts to shame, I may postpone the Chargers and go for another "special" zed type instead.

Comments, criticisms all happily accepted

[Lowtardog]

THey are spot on I looked at a box of these in GW today but never thought of this use great job mate

[cheetor]

THey are spot on I looked at a box of these in GW today but never thought of this use great job mate

Thanks!  Your suggestion in another thread to use "Gollum" figures was a good idea too.  I dont *think* that Jockeys are that titchy though.

That being said, if I had had a couple of Gollum figures knocking around then I am certain that they would have ended up being drafted

[Commander Vyper]

Very nice idea and execution.

Not looking to buy a whole box so as an aside if anyone's got a couple of these knocking about send me a PM.

The Commander

[cheetor]

Very nice idea and execution.

Thanks  

I am going to try and complete my L4D/L4D2 "special" zombie set as a medium term goal, although I have some more mundane "fast" zombies to finish off next (assuming that I can stop painting my post-apoc/sci-fi western stuff).

Not looking to buy a whole box so as an aside if anyone's got a couple of these knocking about send me a PM.

PM'ed.

[supervike]

Ok, Cheetor, you are officially my new hero!!

 

I've been wanting to get those Black Cat minis for some time....but I like things to 'scale up'...

Can you take a shot of your hunter with any of the Frothers zombies?  (if you get the time or inclination, that is)

The Jockeys are absolutley perfect!  (scale pic of those would be nice as well)



Between you, Akula, and the Commander....I'm finding ALL kinds of zombie inspiration....

[cheetor]

Ok, Cheetor, you are officially my new hero!!

Aw, shucks

I've been wanting to get those Black Cat minis for some time....but I like things to 'scale up'...

I am not *very* preoccupied with scale stuff, although certain things do bug me.  Regardless I have no problems with mixing the Black Cat "Hoodies" (my "Hunters") with any of my other zombie figures.

Can you take a shot of your hunter with any of the Frothers zombies?  (if you get the time or inclination, that is)

It turns out that I have both time and inclination today   The light at home was a bit crap however, so the colour repro is a bit off.  For scale purposes the photos should be more than adequate nonetheless.



L to R: Frothers, Hasslefree, Black Cat Bases, Foundry (she is on rollerblades, thats why she is quite tall.  Probably not the best choice for scale comparison then I suppose...)




L to R: Frothers, GW, Black Cat Bases, Hasslefree, Frothers.

The Jockeys are absolutley perfect!  (scale pic of those would be nice as well)

I am glad that you like them.  I had the idea to use the ghouls about six months ago, but by the time they were finished I had been staring at them in various states for so long that I couldnt "see" them anymore.  As a result I am happy that the feedback for them is positive.

[supervike]

They scale up perfectly!!

Enough to convince me to buy them.

I'm so stealing all your ideas.....er I mean paying homage to your creations!

Thanks again Cheetor!!

[cheetor]

I'm so stealing all your ideas.....er I mean paying homage to your creations!

Feel free.  Getting inspiration is what I go to this forum for.

Anyway, not all of them were my ideas.  I borrowed the idea for the Hunters straight from THIS THREAD.


There is a really great Tank on that thread too.

Credit where credit is due and all that.

[supervike]

Now, how'd I miss that?

Thanks again!

[Bako]

Noice! I've not even started on painting my own zeds yet. There's certainly inspiration to be had in these waters.

[Commander Vyper]

Thanks  

I am going to try and complete my L4D/L4D2 "special" zombie set as a medium term goal, although I have some more mundane "fast" zombies to finish off next (assuming that I can stop painting my post-apoc/sci-fi western stuff).



PM'ed.

Received cheers.

Putting a little survival box together for you, will go out in the post tomorrow am, (Sorry bud, work and twins have meant that tomorrow is the first opportunity to get to the post office).

The Commander