Rotpatch: The Rotting Pumpkin Golem

Throwback post #2: When the 2015 Thanksgiving holidays were upon me, I decided it was time to work on another pumpkin/scarecrow type miniature.

The previous Christmas, my son had gotten me Reaper's Rotpatch, a golem made of decomposing pumpkins and vines.

To keep a bright orange look, I primed the figure white and used black wash for separation.

Rotpatch Color Scheme

• Outer Pumpkin shell - Main Base: Heavy Glaze of Reaper HD Fireball Orange, Highlights: Reaper HD Yellow
• Vines -  Main Base: Reaper HD Meadow Green, Shadow (Wash):  Reaper Christmas Green, Highlights: FolkArt Bayberry
• Inner Pumpkin - Base: Reaper Tanned Highlight, Highlight: Reaper HD Caucasian Flesh 
• Scythe - Base: FolkArt Medium Grey Shadow (Wash): Black and Charcoal Grey, Highlights: FolkArt Light Grey and Dover Grey
• Moldy Bits - Base: Heavy Glaze of Reaper Ghoul Flesh, Highlights: FolkArt Linen

Below are the first coats using Reaper HD Fireball Orange for the pumpkins.  On the Vines seeing the transition from Reaper HD Meadow Green with Reaper Christmas Green as a wash, and FolkArt Bayberry as a highlight.

Apparently to get a good inner pumpkin color you should use flesh colors -- according to Reaper's (now defunct) Palette Resource anyway. So I used Reaper Tanned Highlight as a base and Caucasian Flesh as a highlight.

In researching what pumpkins in a decaying state should look like, I discovered it's a little scary how many websites are out there showing rotting pumpkins.  Apparently post-Halloween pumpkins are a thing...?

Anyway... I decided if the pumpkins had any brown, they had no structure to keep them up.  So the gourds that make up Rotpatch's body were in that state before collapse (ie, overripe). Overripe pumpkins should get a deeper orange color, leaning towards the red tone. But on figures this small, it's probably too subtle to pick up. 

So the mold will be the visual cue for rot.  I didn't want to go straight for black or dirty grey as a mold color - either.  It looked too lazy. So Reaper Ghoul Flesh as a heavy glaze worked. White mold areas got a final touch was a heavy glaze of Linen.  

Here he is mounted on the base. Also spotted in a few dark brown speckles to indicate the rot is growing.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  I love this figure - but mostly because of the sculpt, not necessarily my paint job.  

This is a great example where overthinking things interfered.  I should have just used a little brown or brownish purple to deliver the rotting look.

  

The figure could have used a cool tone somewhere to offset the warm-centric palette. That would have given it a little more pop... but I cannot think of where I would have put that here (the vines maybe?).

One note on the base - it looks a bit messy here because he actually fits in a pumpkin patch setting I created.

One of these days I'll have to post all my scarecrows and pumpkin nightmares in the pumpkin patch, but here's a group photo I did while getting them ready.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!