Julie Guthrie sculpted this wizard for Reaper's line. I wanted to try to paint this wizard by first painting him greyscale and then using translucent paints over the grey to give it color. 2002
I only used black and white paints for painting him greyscale. While painting fire with shades of grey looked okay before adding color, I don't like the effect it gave afterward - I think it would have looked better if I had painted it all white and all black with no grey on the flames. I used Tamaiya clear paints in several colors (red, orange, yellow, and blue) and thinned them with isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol). The clear paints left a shininess that several coats of Testor's Dullcote (my favorite flat sealant) couldn't entirely dull. I didn't put a lot of time into this figure - 2.5 hrs - because I wanted to see how this technique would work. I was worried about how his skin would come out, but I'm happy with that. I'm not sure if I like this overall effect or not, but it might be interesting in a shadowbox or a diorama.