Ludodactylus' Customs (Formerly just "Sunset Fade" Pentaceratops)

[Ludodactylus]

So there's a little bit of a long story behind this repaint.

In April of this year, my wife was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis - her immune system is mis-identifying her nervous system as a hostile invader and responding by attacking her brain and spine. Fortunately, we caught this very early on; she's lost some strength in her right hand, and her right leg gets heavy and unresponsive after about fifteen minutes of walking or standing, but that's the extent of the damage done right now. There's currently no way to reverse the damage done, but she's on an aggressive treatment regimen to try and slow the condition and prevent further deterioration.

She's been a big supporter of my collecting hobby, and noticed that I often use my Papo Pentaceratops as a backstop to lean my phone against when I'm watching YouTube videos. I'd also turned her on to the "Jurassic Park Compound" YouTube channel, whose creator showcases repaints of Jurassic Park/World dinosaurs. She works a very mentally stressful job and so relies heavily on relaxing craft-making content for her entertainment after she clocks out of work.

All this led to her requesting I find a dinosaur figure she could use as a phone rest, and repaint it in soothing colors for her. Of course, I agreed without a moment's hesitation. I built model kits for years as a kid (starting with the Lindberg Jurassic Park kits in the 1990s) and more recently have painted 28mm wargaming figures.

So I started asking her about what she'd like. She knew she wanted a ceratopsian; from watching documentaries with me and seeing my own collection, she felt like ceratopsians represented the sort of strength and dignity she wanted to maintain as she deals with her MS diagnosis, without coming across (to her at least) as aggressive or hostile animals. After some searching, we settled on the Schleich Pentaceratops:



Discussing colors, she showed me some stationary she had which had a pastel sunset color-fade; purple at one end of the page fading to a rosy pink at the other, and asked me if I could copy that. She said the colors were soft and gentle, and felt very feminine to her, and made her very happy. I'd done a similar color-fade on a miniature for a contest last month, so I felt pretty good about doing the sort of color fade she was looking for.

I cleaned the figure well and hit it with some white spray primer, which stayed tacky for over a week but ultimately dried completely, at which point I gave the figure a solid base coat of a light lavender color. I built up pinks on the feet using a couple layers of drybrushing, and for the back and frill I mixed increasing amounts of phthalo blue into the original lavender, drybrushing it on (alternating with repeat drybrushings of straight lavender to keep the fade) in a smaller and smaller patch as it got more blue, until I finally did a line of straight blue down the spine of the figure. Asking my wife what she wanted for the horns and nails, she went through my paints and decided on silver, which wound up being pretty striking.



It wound up being a tricky figure to photograph, even with my light-box; the varnish dried a little bit glossy (which she's not too concerned about), and in photos the lavender on the flanks looks darker than it does in person.



I'm pleased with the finished paint job and my wife is over the moon with how well it turned out. This Pentaceratops is now all varnished and ready to take a place on her desk to remind her of how strong and how loved she is, no matter what comes.

[ceratopsian]

The colours show up much better on my desktop than on my phone - they are rather joyful and I can see their appeal. I would never have thought of giving a model useful employment as a phone stand!  It's a splendid idea.

My best wishes to your wife and all good wishes that the treatment gives a good result.

[Ludodactylus]

Thank you @ceratopsian ! In my modest collection I have two figures robust enough to put to work in this way - my Papo Pentaceratops and my Eofauna Triceratops. The Schleich Pentaceratops has now been put to the test and works as well.

Thank you as well for your well-wishes, they have been passed along and she appreciates it.

[Dusty Wren]

I love this figure and the story behind it; thanks for sharing! It's a wonderful thing to do for your wife, and the end result is striking. I'm impressed by how good the gradient is, especially since you did it without an airbrush.

Now I want to go and test out all my figures to see which ones will work as cell phone stands. 

[Duna]

That's a lovely story and send a warm hug to your wife. I love the figure and the colors are super perfectly fitting, that gradient is superb done without an airbrush!

[Libraraptor]

Thank you for sharing this lovely and heartwarming story   Be there for each other, then you are strong! Send your wife my best wishes from Germany, please!

[Libraraptor]

Thank you for sharing this heartwarming story   Be there for each other, then you are strong! Send your wife my best wishes from Germany, please!

[Pliosaurking]

That's a fantastic looking repaint and a very heartwarming story 
And I give your wife my best wishes 

[Halichoeres]

What a lovely and thoughtful gift! I have a chronically ill/disabled partner and I can tell you that things like this can really improve a difficult day.

[Ludodactylus]

I wasn't anticipating repainting too many of my figures, but my CollectA Borealopelta's factory paint job was just never satisfactory to me. It was very heavy and sloppy with the drybrushing, and I decided to both fix it, and add a little more visual interest, based on this piece of paleoart (whose artist is unknown to me):



The back armor is Reaper "Mahogany Brown," washed with GW "Carroburg Crimson," then drybrushed with Reaper "Chestnut Brown" and "Rust Red." The stripes were first drawn in "Blackened Brown" then gone over with "Yellowed Bone." I went over the entire back with GW "Seraphim Sepia" at this point, and then highlighted the individual scutes of the stripes with "Creamy Ivory."



The underbelly is Reaper "Uniform Brown," washed with GW "Agrax Earthshade," then drybrushed with Reaper "Green Ochre" and "Faded Khaki." The spines and toenails are Reaper "Stormy Gray" highlighted with "Cloudy Gray."



I'm much happier with how the figure looks now. Just need a dry day to spray it with some matte varnish!

[SidB]

I've got one of these too, @Ludodactylus , but wow, you've done a great job! What an outstanding, believable improvement. You've imparted life to the sculpt.

[Ludodactylus]

I've got one of these too, @Ludodactylus , but wow, you've done a great job! What an outstanding, believable improvement. You've imparted life to the sculpt.

Thank you so much! I'm feeling a lot more confident now about repainting a few others as well.

[TheCambrianCrusader]

I wasn't anticipating repainting too many of my figures, but my CollectA Borealopelta's factory paint job was just never satisfactory to me. It was very heavy and sloppy with the drybrushing, and I decided to both fix it, and add a little more visual interest, based on this piece of paleoart (whose artist is unknown to me):



The back armor is Reaper "Mahogany Brown," washed with GW "Carroburg Crimson," then drybrushed with Reaper "Chestnut Brown" and "Rust Red." The stripes were first drawn in "Blackened Brown" then gone over with "Yellowed Bone." I went over the entire back with GW "Seraphim Sepia" at this point, and then highlighted the individual scutes of the stripes with "Creamy Ivory."



The underbelly is Reaper "Uniform Brown," washed with GW "Agrax Earthshade," then drybrushed with Reaper "Green Ochre" and "Faded Khaki." The spines and toenails are Reaper "Stormy Gray" highlighted with "Cloudy Gray."



I'm much happier with how the figure looks now. Just need a dry day to spray it with some matte varnish!

Wow you really made the sculpt pop, it looks amazing!

[ceratopsian]

An outstanding result.  It's a good model and your work brings out its full potential.

[postsaurischian]

   Very tasteful! The figure never looked better.

[Ludodactylus]

Thank you so much for the kind words everyone. Time to start thinking about color schemes for my Terra by Battat Pachyrhinosaurus...

[SidB]

Thank you so much for the kind words everyone. Time to start thinking about color schemes for my Terra by Battat Pachyrhinosaurus...

That's one figure that cried out for a repaint since it was introduced. I look forward to see what you're thinking.

[ceratopsian]

I had my Battat Terra Pachyrhinosaurus repainted and based by Martin Garratt. It responded very well to a makeover.

[Ludodactylus]

Not a dinosaur toy per se, but rather a 28mm-scale (ostensibly 1/56th) metal gaming figurine of Dimetrodon, produced by Antediluvian Miniatures out of the UK. I painted this as an antagonist for an RPG session set in a Burroughsian lost world.



I don't think it quite falls under the purview of the DTB, but then again the HLBS figures were reviewed; I'm happy to write a review of this figure if there's interest.

[Justin_]

I think all the Antediluvian prehistoric figures should get reviews.
https://antediluvianminiatures.wordpress.com/2016/09/26/shop-lost-world-range/

What rules do you use for the game. Any pictures of the game in progress?