The Heat is On – Molly Holly Bo-Bolly

Another ‘weekly’ post comin’ right up! I know I haven’t really been doing much posting lately. Work has been acting up (especially this last month) and a few other things in life are taking up more and more portions of my time. Thus I am now taking the time, shortly after Christmas, to write-up posts that should have been posted the past 2-3 months…

With that I wish to jump right onto topic and start showing off one of my newest favorite Mali-gals and crews to tinker around with and play: Molly

I have always wanted a Halloween themed gang to tinker around with and play. I figured “Why not take undead day care lady and her disfigured and horrific acquaintances?”. In order to not overdo it and just make it fit into a Halloween theme I opted against any real conversions into anything specific and instead toy around with the main three Halloween colors: Orange, black and white.

This crooligan was the first model for me to paint. I used a new set of bright orange tones to offer some awesome diversity amongst my used orange range on literally all of my models… Add in some of my regularly used and comfortable colors and you got yourself some cool kid with a fence post of pokey doom.
A friend of mine suggested I used a bit more color on the whites. I should add turquoise to help with some contrasting. Turns out the stuff really hit the spot. Mixing in some dark grey and turquoise to the shade tone of white really offered it a nice note to the darkest spots. I am really happy with this and I will definitely remember this kind of shading process and combos in the future when I eventually start painting more complex and difficult models (Those you really want to look kick ass!).

The skin tone I am using for my undead models this time is also greatly different from my older one. I used to base coat in a nasty pale green, wash the heck out of it with a black/green and brown wash. Dry brush and use a regular skin tone to add some highlights. Red wash for some added bloody portions here and there. Good old and simpler times. Well not necessarily.
Here I went for a sickly pale green, added some brownish red to the mix for shades and bloody gory portions. Highlight into a light grey and you have another form of undead. A paler, more ghostly version instead of the usual green/brown zombie look most people use. I intend to use this method with most of my new upcoming undead miniatures. Adding in greens and browns to the base coat willl offer a bit more diversity, while still offering the uniformity of a style to it.

This crew will also have a more or less half-assed take at non-metallic metal and offer me more practice time painting the lovely technique. Technically it is a simple thing to paint, but hard to master where exactly the light should fall and which portions of the metal are to be highlighted or darkened accordingly. I think I will do some proper reasearch and practice once a couple of my current projects are off the table. It is something I would like to be able to control and use at my bidding. Practice is your only road to victory in the end, so let’s give it a go at that at least!

Here is a set of models I used the alternate colors in for skin tones. I painted them the exact same way, just added more color to the base tone. Stark and different results. Something I like and appreciate. I used to paint all of my models with the same skin tones. Be it living, undead or anything between or around that area. It works, but it gets boring to paint after a while.
Another bit of diversity I want to offer was with my orange tones. One orange is simply not enough for me. I had to add more orange. MORE ORANGE!!! My pumpkins have a different tone of orange to bite a bit with my regular orange on my models. It is a fun way to involve more of my favorite color into my models.

(Side note: Painting this model was a pain in the ass. Damn wheels. I recommend painting this miniature before gluing it onto a base!)

Molly’s totem, the Necrotic Machine, was a rather annoying model to assemble, paint and even to transport. It is made of about 20 separate pieces to glue and attach to one another (a small miniature…). The model had two additional limbs, a third leg and arm, which just looked awkward and misplaced. The old metal sculpt was by far less dynamic but for that more realistic and fun to look at. This one had a leg dangling off of the base and a really odd third arm. I replace the extra limbs with green glowy orbs of doom.

Despite being a jerky to paint, this model really satisfied me in the end. I worked hard and long on it and it turned out pretty great. I also enjoyed adding some brains to its head to make it look more horrific, instead of, in my case, a giant bumble bee robot of pokey doom. POKEY DOOM!

Here she is! Lovely Molly! Dancing around as if all in (un)life is just sugar and sweets. I just had to have her dancing around on a pumpkin for my Halloween theme. Despite the horrors she causes in-game, she looks so peaceful and friendly. Odd how she seems so innocent, yet she is one of the most horrifying models in the game.

I had an idea for her dress. As it is rather flat and simple, I had to add something to make it pop out. This I added shadowed darkness, bursting into bats. Bats, pumpkins, zombies… It really is Halloween! Well… Sort of… Ha ha!
She is definitely up to today one of my favorite models to paint and one of the ones I am most proud of as well. She turned out great! Adding a bit of green flames is just there to complete my group of colors I like to use. Every model should have orange and green in them. Even your models. ALL OF THE MODELS! Go repaint your stuff now or feel the wrath of pumpkin dancing Molly!

Molly’s gang is going to be getting reinforcements soon. Yin and some friendly Punk Zombies will join her ranks as well as some pretty undead hooker friends of hers. Stay tuned for more Molly madness!