Painting Cthulhu: Death May Die

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K_Peterson

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And you thought you'd seen the last of me...

From between Thanksgiving and New Years, I poured a ton of time into painting up CMON's Cthulhu: Death May Die board game. I've been excited to paint and play this game since CMON launched a Kickstarter for it in 2018. I'm fortunate to get a fair amount of time off around Xmas and New Years, and I took a couple of extra vacation days to extend it, and really get into painting this game.

I painted up the contents of the core box, and 1 promo mini. I hope to return to it this Summer and paint up the "Unspeakable" box, and the "Season 2" expansion.

Here are some results and comments about the minis and how I'd rate the work I did on them.
 
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First up is an investigator named Ian. Great War veteran; retaliates against attacks in combat.

DeathMayDie1.jpg

I enjoyed the hell out of painting this guy. I like him so much I used him as my character in a Cthulhu: Death May Die game I played in over the weekend.

Overall, I'm pleased with how he came out. Maybe I could have done a little better with the highlighting on the face. But he looks clean and... presentable. He's probably an example of the current top-end of my painting ability.

This thread will likely show where I'm at as a mini painter. I waiver on consistency - when I really like a model, I think the result is good. Other times I can struggle and the result falls short for me.
 
Next up is Morgan.

Indy kind of.jpg

Fair paint job. The hat looks a little sloppy close up. Decent shading.

What's notable about Morgan is that he's the first dark-skinned human I think I've ever painted. I had to check out a few YouTube videos on painting non-Caucasian skin types to figure out the best way to do it.
 
Next up are two flame-throwing psychopaths.

Rasputin
Rasputin.jpg

And, The Kid
The Kid.png

Rasputin turned out fair. I should have added more highlights to his overcoat. One day I need to get around to practicing OSL, because it could be a difference maker with a model like his.

I like The Kid. Her fireball had better color blending (through glazing) than Rasputin did.
In the game's art, The Kid has a polka dot dress on. I considered replicating that, but chickened out because I worried that I'd get a garbage result and ruin the work I'd put into the model.
 
I need to break out my camera and garbage light box and take some photos of the monsters. Looks for posts about that later this week.
 
This thread will likely show where I'm at as a mini painter. I waiver on consistency - when I really like a model, I think the result is good. Other times I can struggle and the result falls short for me.

Honestly, I think that's true of any art ever. One can probably easily tell what monsters interested me the most in the Doodling D&D thread just by how detailed the drawings are.
 
Another investigator photo I had lying around.

Borden:
Borden.png

Fair. A mostly clean paint job, with neatness in areas. Her face looks decent.

It wasn't intentional, but my eyes are naturally drawn to the part in her hair. I don't know if it's the color difference between scalp and hair, or the snaking nature of the part, or maybe highlighting I performed on the hair surrounding the part. (I'm pretty sure I highlighted that area and it's not just lightbox illumination).

I don't really like how her white collar turned out. Not very neat and blotchy.

On a few of these Cthulhu: DMD investigators I've been disappointed by the lack of detail when it comes to footwear. Other than the buckle, the shoes lack detail, and I feel like I have to define them through painting. From the waist-line up, many of the models are very detailed; below, they're lackluster.
 
I'm not sure there's a clearer gauge for how your mini painting is going than seeing the minis magnified 10x their size. At times it's gratifying, and at other times it's a little soul-crushing. :smile:

There are some I've painted that I thought turned out decent - they look pretty good 3' away on a tabletop - but magnified, they're like a horror show. And I absolutely refuse to post them to a forum, share them with friends, or post them (rarely) to Instagram. :smile:

I use a magnifier all of the time these days, and it's helped me to have cleaner results. (And with my eyesight continuing to degrade, they're practically a necessity). Even with that visual aid I still get flaws, and sloppiness, and signs of poor brush control.
 
I like your color choices. They really help sell the figures by not being too bright/garish. Like, that nun seems just right.
 
Thanks!

I'm "cheating" in the sense that I'm trying to get close to reflecting the character art in the game. I'm not a former art student :smile:, and am cautious about color choices, and don't have the experience to bring a color wheel and color theory into the equation. Plus, I want my friends to pick out the miniature to match the investigator w/o them possibly saying, "is this the right guy? why is he wearing a pink shirt?"

A comparison of Ian
Ian Composite.jpg

A comparison of Sister Beth
Beth composite.png

Not identical, but as close as I can get.
 
Time for some tentacled horrors.

Cthonian:
Cthonian.png

OK paintjob. Lots of dry brushing various shades of grey onto the majority of the body. Judicious use of gloss varnish on slimy bits.
Some failed cleanup where the lower tentacles meet the base. My phone camera didn't focus well.
 
Deep One:
Deep One.png

One of the more unusual artistic interpretations of a Deep One I've seen. More shark-gar-man than toad-fishman.
Colors turned out decent.
 
Starspawn of Cthulhu. Big C's little brother:
StarSpawn.png

Lots of dry-brushing lighter and lighter shades of green on the shoulders and face, until reaching a very pale green-white on the face.
More slimy gloss varnish in places, and some experiments with red and purple washes across the chest-tentacles and a few other places.

I like how this guy turned out.
 
Big C:

Cthulhu.png

Big, green, and a dick to play against in the game.
Similar in coloration to his little brother. More experiments with purple and red washes on his head, tentacles, the sores across shoulders and crotch, and the pustules(?) all over his back. If CMON was aiming for a disgusting looking mini, they achieved it.

The Army Painter 'military shader' wash brought out so much skin texture to both Big and Little C. Absolutely transformed them from the flat basecoat.
 
Big C:

View attachment 14945

Big, green, and a dick to play against in the game.
Similar in coloration to his little brother. More experiments with purple and red washes on his head, tentacles, the sores across shoulders and crotch, and the pustules(?) all over his back. If CMON was aiming for a disgusting looking mini, they achieved it.

The Army Painter 'military shader' wash brought out so much skin texture to both Big and Little C. Absolutely transformed them from the flat basecoat.


Is that the giant one that's the size of a small child?
 
Nah, he's the regular play version. I couldn't afford to throw an extra $100 at the Kickstarter to get the giant Cthulhu.


I almost did, but then realized I'd have zero space to even keep it anywhere. I collect "miniatures" for a reason...
 
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