Completing the spooder (my nickname for spiders. Yes I know its technically not a spider, and blame my students for mispronouncing “spider”) was difficult but given that it was in the realm of chaos, I was given some leeway with my mistakes. Spooder as of this weekend (August 11th, 2024) had a glam-up for a GamesWorkshop painting contest. My spooder was originally conceived for a painting contest back in 2023 where he rightfully placed 2nd (now that I see all my past mistakes).

Before and after shot of the Venomcrawler. Left side was my first paint attempt and the right side is the glam-up.

This was my first model purposefully inflicting battle damage to cover up a painting mistake I had made. Blood for the blood gods also tied the piece together nicely. I have noooo idea which paints I used because I black out when I’m in creative mode.

Lets Talk Base

I was mortified I thought my old base would constitute as passing, so I ripped out the old terrain and gave it a make-over. I used AK Wet Crackle Effects Diorama for the first layer. A nice thick coating was sufficient in creating the foundation and made nice crackle effect. Next I used a medical sponge to stipple color into the foundation. I worked my way up from AK Hull Red, to AK Deep Brown, and finally highlighted with AK Light Rust. After, I used Citadel Color Contrast Skeleton Horde for my shading and to accent the shadows of my spooder. I finish the piece by adding AK Pigment powder to give a natural terrain/mars look.

And how could we forget the skulls?

If you want an easy way to paint the skulls, you can use AK Interactive Ivory and do a wash with Citadel Color Contrast Skeleton Horde. It’s helpful to wet your brush and wipe off the contrast paint wherever you would like to place your highlights.

I still could have done so much more with this model but I just couldn’t conjure the energy. This was a wonderful learning experience because I had the opportunity to learn from my mistakes and see how I’ve progressed as an artist, specifically with painting eyes, skulls, and jewels. If you get the chance, re-visit an old model and do some touch up. You’ll be surprised at what you missed!

Unfortunately my piece didn’t make it to the qualifiers in the Rusty Nurgling competition. However, I did have the honor of meeting a judge from the golden demon competitions. You can check out all the entries at the Warhammer Cafe Monrovia Facebook page here.