“I always play to sudden death!”

Well last time I promised you that I would have the figures would be finished by the end of the month and…I have (the quote above is from the movie, and I thought wholly appropriate as it’s the last day of June!). So to start with I thought I’d give a quick run through of what this was all about, I began the month with my statement of intent that for the “Forgotten Heroes” project I would be (trying) to reproduce three characters form the movie “Black Scorpion- Aftershock”, these characters would be “The Gangster Prankster”, Aftershock” and of course “Black Scorpion” herself (for more information, and to view a terrible copy of this movie follow the link below to my original post).

https://rantingsfromunderthewargamestable.wordpress.com/2016/06/01/black-scorpion-aftershock/

Anyway over last four and a half weeks I have transformed the three figures to the right, into my interpretations of the three main protagonists from this movie. As I have been informed that some people might not be familiar with these characters (hard to believe I know!) I have included a photograph of the original movie version in the text below as well (hopefully you will be able to tell which the original is and which my figure is (Ha Ha!)). But anyway on with the painting…

Black Scorpion is of course predominantly black (strangely enough), so I was able to leave her black undercoat intact for the most part, I decided to highlight it with a mix of dark grey and black so mixed up these two colours on my palette (OK it’s an old Pringles lid!) and highlighted her boots, gloves, leotard (well most of her really), then I decided that this was still a bit dark so added another finer set of highlights over these with just dark grey. Next I turned to her tights that are visible between the top of her boots and her leotard, these are black fishnets in the film, but I wasn’t even going to attempt fishnets! Now I did want a bit of contrast between these and the black of the rest of her costume and as I’m sure we’ve all noticed (not that we look at women’s legs of course!) black tights or stockings are not actually black but are really dark tan. So I began by mixing some flesh tone seven (a dark tan flesh colour) and black together and used this as a base, then I mixed some leather brown with a small amount of black and highlighted the area with that. I added her eyes next these were just a white “slash” in her eye sockets then I added the black dot in the centre and closed around the eye again with black (as like so many superheroes she obviously wears black makeup around her eyes yet when she removes her mask it disappears! Yes Batman I’m looking at you!), anyway flesh followed this with an undercoat of European flesh, laid down as an undercoat and then continental flesh was used as the highlight for this, her lips were then added using dark red. Hair next, and though yet again it is very dark (doesn’t this woman know about accenting her clothing with a dash of colour like a bright scarf or jacket! Sorry must stop watching Lorraine Kelly in the morning!), as I was saying her hair is also dark but there does seem to be a hint of red in it (not as red as Darcy her alter ego, but there is still a hint) so I mixed some chestnut brown with some black and dry-brushed her hair with the resultant dark brown, I then picked out areas with just chestnut brown blending it in while the above was still slightly damp. A little bit of touching up ensued (don’t be filthy!), and she was finished, one down two to go. Maybe it’s just my dirty mind, but looking at her now, a woman in black bondage wear and wielding what looks a bit like a…perhaps I better not go any further.)

Aftershocks costume was begun with an under coat of dark red that I then highlighted with bright red, then all the various stripes and laces were undercoated with coffee before being highlighted with white (as cream wasn’t quite white enough, if you know what I mean),all except her tights, that were highlighted with cream. Her fleshy bits were then painted this continental flesh and after her eyes were added this was highlighted with the same mixed with a little pale flesh, and once dry her lips were painted in with a touch of dark red. Turning to her hair next a base of citrus orange was applied then heavily highlighted with sand and then again with lemon yellow. Then her wrist gauntlets and the top of her face mask (thingy) were added in chainmail and finally a couple of details on her mask and a bit of lining in around her arms was carried out in black and she too was finished. The final figure looks a bit “chunkier” than the movie original, but I’m pretty happy with it (The actress who played the part in the movie might not be so pleased with my rendition though).

The Gangster Prankster’s costume is predominantly white (with stripes of course), so why did I start by undercoating him in black? Lord Knows! But fortunately to begin with his suit was given a second undercoat of coffee, and this does cover the black rather well, this was then highlighted with cream. I then added his collar in royal blue highlighted in bright blue. Then it was time to start adding the stripes to his suit (why did I pick a figure with stripes!!), so taking my plum paint I lined in the first set of vertical stripes about 2mm apart, and did them horizontally on his breast pocket and collar. Then I added a second line just to the right of these in deep bronze green and the third and (thankfully) final stripe in porcelain blue. His face (well half of it) was then painted in chocolate brown and this was also run down his chest where visible due to his open neckline. After I had added his eyes I then undercoated the other side of his face with coffee, and then highlighted this with cream (while at this I also used the same colours on his shoes and cuffs), I then dotted in his red nose with dark red highlighted while still wet with some bright red, then added his “$” symbol medallion in bright gold. The hair on the left side of his head was left black with a slight dry-brush of dark grey to provide highlights, and the “clown” hair on the left was first undercoated with pink burgundy then highlighted with Polish crimson. His gloves came next these were undercoated in khaki and then the same was mixed with a little coffee, and highlighted with the resultant colour. That just left his “squirt gun”, so the main body of it was painted cream, and then highlighted with a little white, before I picked out some parts in either bright red, highlighted with orange or royal purple highlighted with lavender, and so my movie trio was complete.

This just left the bases to be painted and varnishing, so I began by giving all three of them a coat of Quickshade strong tone and left this overnight to dry, then the bases were first painted in chocolate brown and then dry-brushed with successive coats of khaki and coffee, then areas were picked out with some scenic green and these areas were then coated in PVA glue and liberally scattered with some Javis “Summer Mix” hairy flock. Finally they were given a coat of spray matt varnish (thankfully, I have now got ahold of some Humbrol matt varnish, so my figures are really matt again!).

As this will be my last “Forgotten Heroes” post I’d just like to say a big thank you to all the other participants for making this such a fun little side project, and for turning out such brilliant, inspiring and original renditions of some of the lesser known members of the “costume community”, and of course a special thank you to Jez for coming up with this slice of madness in the first place (you never know what he’s going to come up with next!), It’s simply been a joy to be part of.

(P.S. please don’t expect a posting on Saturday, this is it for this week.)

Till next time Excelsior!!

Cheers Roger.