Full Moon Fever
by Troy Naeyaert  (November 2006)

When it was announced that CreatureScape was doing a tribute issue to Robb's company Dark Carnival / Needful Things I was VERY excited.  I've been a BIG fan of DC/NT and proud to know the owner, Robb.  He's one of the BEST in this hobby and offers GREAT kits and keeps them affordable. 

Once I got over the excitement, I realized that ALL my DC/NT kits have been built other then The GRRRR bust I've been to scared to do, because of the 1/1 scale.

It's a dog eat dog world out there, but Troy Naeyaert is up to the challenge of this 1:1 Dark Carnival bust.

What to do?  Well, having been a BIG fan of The Wolf Man 1/1 scale bust sculpted by Robert Ortiz, I thought I can do that one.  There's less skin tones and lots of fur to dry brush.  So I contacted Robb and sent off my payment and started to plan out my very first 1/1 scale bust.

Then I received the e-mail from Robb, telling me that the mold is being retooled and that I would have to choose another kit.  To make a long story short, Robb contacted another customer who had one and convinced them to sell it to me.  Thanks, Robb you are truly a class act in my book!!

So pull up a monitor and sit back and join me me on my first journey into painting a 1/1 scale bust.

After receiving the bust and trying not to be intimidated, I washed it with dish soap and let dry for a day. The casting was beautiful and required very little sanding with most of that being the bottom teeth section which needed some Dremeling to fit properly in the mouth (right). 

I decided to spray the bust with black and to attempt to build up the colors only using dry brushing and no air brush which I'm still getting used to by the way (below left)

All the paints that I'm going to use on this bust except for two colors are from Badger's Freak Flex line of paints, which I love.  First up, however, I dug out my Horizon Flesh Tone Number 8 for the skin tones.  I dry brushed this over the black over three sessions to build up the color slowly and evenly.  For the eyes, I love to use Pink Eye Burgundy, which was also dry brushed on the lips.  The teeth were painted Rotten Tooth Tan (above right).

Now, for the inside of the eye: good old Bleached Bone Tan was used for this.  Be careful to leave part of the Pink Eye Burgundy showing at this point.  I also applied a heavier dry brushing to the lips and applied another coat to the teeth (right)

I wanted a brown for the fur and thought that it would better blend with the skin tone I had going on the bust.  I picked Mummified Brown and just like with the flesh tones I build up the color with several light dry brushing sessions (right).

Now to decide on a eye color?  I went with one of my favorite colors from the Freak Flex line, Old Wreck Rust.  I painted in the eye area leaving just a hint of the brown (right).

Now onto one of my LEAST favorite things, dotting the eye with the pupil. This only took me six times to get it!  I then used a black pastel to soften the pupil area.  At this point is was time to put in his lower teeth. They were base coated black then brushed using Rotten Tooth Tan and shadowed with pastels using Burnt Sienna and highlighted with Bleached Bone Tan (below left)

Well, I got through my first 1/1 scale bust.  Overall I enjoyed working on this size kit but admit that it is very intimidating to me.  I still have Needful things awesome GRRRR bust of Frankenstein . . .  time will tell when I work up enough nerve to tackle that one.

Robb tells me that he plans on retooling the mold on this one and I recommend this one for ALL you Wolfman fans out there.