Painting Tutorial — Marvel Crisis Protocol Frankenstein

If you know me in real life, you know I love horror. When Atomic Mass Games released the Monsters Unleashed Box, I was stoked. Not just for the chance at having Dracula a part of my team, but the fact that Marvel’s old school horror comics were getting some attention.

So, I decided to take a crack at painting Frankenstein’s Monster, known as “Adam” in-game, and I wanted to share my process and paint selections with you, so you can have fun painting this model too! For all intents and purposes, I have used the Army Painter Warpaint Fanatics line. Let’s dig in.

Firstly, these new models from Atomic Mass are wonderfully sculpted and a pleasure to paint. Like Abomination before, I felt that this model really does well with a Zenithal Highlight prime, which is when you start with black primer and spray on layers of gray and eventually white to show your brightest point on the model. This serves as a guide for later applications.

To start with, I painted his pants, which were also the biggest issue I had with this paint job. Looking at the box art, you can tell they intend for Adam to wear jeans, but the model itself doesn’t have jeans texture (nor should it), so you have to convey this texture through the use of highlights. 

Starting with The Darkness, I worked my way from a dark jean color into Imperial Navy, which is a heavily saturated, deep blue color. Blue has a habit of taking over the entire color party, so in order to get the highlight, I added in little parts of Bright Sapphire and then glazed Imperial Navy over the top. I also mixed a little bit of Ice Yellow into the mix to convey a worn look. This was the most time-consuming part of the painting because of all the glazes. At the end of the day, I’m still not entirely satisfied with it, but I will move on.

Adam’s shirt is depicted as a bright forest green, but instead, I wanted the shirt to feel like a worn-down outfit. Olive Drab with additions of Moonbeam Yellow, Ice Yellow, and a little bit of Imperial Navy for the shadows helped me define his musculature. Following my Zenithal guide, I left the backside of the arms darker, which helped add to the ambience and worn look I wanted.

For the skin, I boosted the highlights with a mixture of Frost Blue, Deep Grey, and Ice Yellow. Then, to unite all the tones of the skin, I used a layer of Green Tone wash, and then subtle applications of Blue Tone and Dark Red in the recesses of the skin. Areas like the neck, eye sockets, and joints where he’s been stapled together… this worked very well for me as the Zenithal had already created a lot of skin definition. Also, Adam being undead and gray was kind of a cheat code for me.

The jacket was a mix of Tree Ancient, Leather Brown, with a wash of both Sepia and Dark Tone. Then, to paint the highlights, I used increasing mixtures of Lava Orange and Leather brown to hit a rich brown tone. I also used a similar paint scheme for his shoes.The hair was a speed paint called Turnbull Turquoise, along with some Frost Blue mixed in for the highlights.

Lastly, the fun bits. The chain received a topcoat of Rough Iron, Dark Tone, and then highlights were created with Plate Metal Steel. Then, a liberal application of Dark and Fresh Rust helped give me the chunks and wear of a metal chain found in an abandoned laboratory. For the staples, a slight dab of Plate Metal Steel helps make them stand out. And finally, the eyes were a watered-down layer of Wild Green and Afterglow to give them that spooky reanimated glow.

And that’s it! As you can see in the pictures, I have another tabletop-ready miniature. If I wanted to push this into Display level, I would redo the pants, and probably use a Hatching technique (the use of multiple lines to create texture) in order to hit that real-life jean faded look. I would also be more deliberate with my shadow to provide some form of narrative and depth to the piece. Lastly, I would spend way more time defining muscles coming through the shirt, as the model provides some great pathways to start, but could always use more.

I hope you found this tutorial useful. As always, stick with Gaming Trend for more tutorials and news on Marvel Crisis Protocol!