Mysterious Effigy: It's Own Creepy Thing

My buddies and I were talking about what influenced early D&D.  Aside from the well-documented progression out of wargaming (i.e., Chainmail), I'd always assumed it drew from Tolkien.  It's easy to trace the creative leap from playing out big battles into a deeper but smaller skirmish with the key leaders a la Lord of the Rings's Fellowship.  Thus much of the Tolkien-esque fantasy tropes littered through 1e D&D: humans, elves, dwarves, rangers, wizards and quests.

And of course, don't forget the hobbits halflings.

But I'm wrong in thinking it's all JRR.  An old article was dug up where co-creator Gary Gygax firmly put his foot down that Tolkien was far from the sole inspiration.  He waxes poetic about the different fantasy writers with a causal nod to mythology -- promoting that D&D is more akin to multiple other heroic fantasies than just one source.

Ruminating in the article, my JRR position was blindly reductive.  Flaming swords and thrown hammers that return to you.  The Minotaur and The Golem. Carpet of Flying. Baba Yaga's Hut. The pop-culturized Monk. Wishes. Dungeonland (!). The breadth of references is obvious.

But what D&D became is more than just a collection of multiple mythos, fairy tales, and pulpy medieval tropes.  In the creative process of including everything, you also end up making something new:

1. a place where it all exists
2. original creatures that live among known references

And as much as I am fascinated with the world of the collective, I have a special place in my heart for the original things - the new creations that become the short hand for the big picture.

This leads me to the Mysterious Effigy... 

The 1e sculpt was clearly just an effigy.

The 2e sculpt is less so.  You could set the 1e version on fire at a protest.  Not so much with the updated version.

At first blush, it appears to be leaning in on the Neverborn mimic aesthetic -- with the mask coming off like the changeling...

... Except it has spider legs. So I thought this might be reference to Arachne. Or maybe a re-interpreted drider.

... Except it doesn't have spider eyes nor human eyes. It has a nightmarish sideways human eyes.

So the Mysterious Effigy - much like the mimics and the wolf-in-sheep's-clothing - is it's own thing.

As to painting it, I originally wanted to imitate a dress pattern I saw Adam Huenecke had done on Molly.  But the Mysterious Effigy sculpt is a lot busier and a lot smaller, and I decided the floral pattern wouldn't work.

Eventually I decided on a yellow dress with a simple square pattern from 1827.


Mysterious Effigy Scheme

• Skin - Wood Lines: FolkArt Walnut Brown, Undertone Base: Reaper HD Ashen Brown, Shadow (Wash): Dusky Skin, Main Base: Heavy Glaze of FolkArt Mushroom and Barn Wood, Highlights:
• Dress - Undertone Base: Tanned Skin, Main Base: Heavy Glaze of FolkArt Ochre Yellow, Shadow (Wash): Tanned Skin, Highlights: FolkArt Sunflower and ButterCup
• Arm Cuffs - Base: Apple Barrel Antique White, Shadow (Wash): Vallejo Khaki, Highlights: Reaper Misty Grey
• Eyes - Base: Apple Barrel Antique White, Shadow (Wash): Cinnamon, Highlights: Reaper HD Entrail Pink, Outlining (wash): Black and Reaper Dusky Skin, Gleam Highlight: White
• Knife - Base: Vallejo Cold Grey, Shadow (Wash): Vallejo Black, Highlights: Reaper Misty Grey
• Hair- Base: Reaper HD Military Grey, Shadow (Wash): Black, Highlights: Reaper Grey Triad
• Masks - Undertone Base: Ceramcoat Blue Heaven, Base: Reaper Fair Skin, Shadow (Wash): Reaper Tanned Skin, Highlights: Reaper Fair Highlight
• Teeth - Base: Vallejo Khaki, Apple Barrel Antique White, FolkArt Parchment

Getting the base right to look like the Terraclips Building Floors.

First a white prime and some glue work after I snapped off the arm holding the mask (&?@!*!)

First Coats

Eyes - Base: Apple Barrel Antique White, Shadow (Wash): Cinnamon, Highlights: Reaper HD Entrail Pink

Outlining (wash): Black and Reaper Dusky Skin, Skin clean up where Dusky Skin was too dark: FolkArt Barn Wood,  Gleam Highlight: White

There's a process I go through when doing patterns.
I got the upper part of the dress down fast enough that I got a little cocky.

What follows next are moments when you realize you did it right...

...when you realize you did it totally wrong...

...and ones where you start and then lose confidence mid-way through that it's going in the right direction.

References always help back up when you are second-guessing.  A simple google of checkered drapes gave me a great reference of where lines are supposed to go when a hem is pinched on the ends.

But the biggest lessons learned... When painting lines on a yellow base color, first draw it out in a lighter color that the final darker color. I would get a line down in a dark brown (Reaper Dark Skin) then realize it was off and have to use multiple layers of Ochre Yellow to undo it. 

Eventually I decided to use Reaper HD Concrete Grey to ease any mistakes. 

And holy smack, did using that color make this fix simpler.  Or at least it boosted my confidence in drawing in the horizontal lines to finish the cross patterns.  There were very few fixes at this point.

Some light skin tone glazes on the masks and I was left with a super creepy mini that I felt rewarded with spending the extra time to nail the smaller details.