
Brisket Bust by Broken Toad: Lawnor’s first ever bust (& a cheeky attempt at winning the Spring Cleaning comp)
Recommendations: 396
About the Project
I've had this bust for 6 months and been avoiding it. Busts are intimidating. I've cleared a lot of my backlog and the KS project I want to be working on is trapped in France (I think) due to Coronavirus, so I'm running out of excuses. Time to paint her up.
Related Game: Guild Ball
Related Genre: Fantasy
Related Contest: Spring Cleaning Hobby Challenge
This Project is Completed
Preparation
She comes in 4 parts. She got a warm soapy bath, and was left overnight to dry. I cleaned up the few minimal mold lines and then gled her right arm on. There was a small gap between arm and body so rather than use liquid putty I tried a trick I’d heard. I painted a few layers of varnish into and over the gap before priming. It’s filled the gap quite nicely.
All the separate parts were then mounted on Lawnor brand hobby holders (Sponsored by the local dairy and Diversy Lever) and then given a zenithal prime using an airbrush, Stynylrex black primer (I need more of this stuff. Will the OTT store ever stock it? Got a good supplier in the UK anyone?) and Vallejo 74.601 Grey primer. She was then put on the side to dry for a day or two as I hear 24hrs+ isn’t needed, but the primer works better if it gets it. I was also finishing off another project.
Things I’d like your help with:
- I don’t know how to paint the metal. Ledbelcher seems inappropriate on a bust. Anyone got any helpful guides they can link to? Non Metallic Metal seems the way to go.
- I’ll be using a similar bottle cap to make her final plinth. I’ll need to fill the end with something I can drill in to to support the rod. I could use green stuff and pad it down there, but does anyone have any alternate ideas? I was considering melting plastic, but the cap would melt. I also don’t know how to melt without it just catching fire.
- I have other similar projects on the horizon that have semi-transparent sheer materials (White lace and black stockings). I’ve no clue where to begin with that stuff. Guides would be appreicated.
It might not count so ignore this if you want, but I’m gonna throw this in the ring for the Spring Cleaning Hobby Challenge 2020, as I started her last year (I washed her and sat her on my desk to paint just as soon as the classes were over, but then got distracted/intimidated and never got further), and because £50 is £50.
Starting the flesh
A while ago I took part in a bust painting class online at MonkeysWithFire on Twitch, lead by Pascal Rooze . We got the head from a bus, a few paints and 2 classes on painting the flesh and the hair. I’ll be following the classes again while working on Brisket:
My results from the class:
I’ll be using the same paints for the flesh:
Instar Sunburnt Flesh
Instar Caramel
Instar Golden Sand
My base tone was a mix of 4:1 Caramel: Sunburnt, mixed up on a Redgrass Wet Pallette. I’m also new to wet pallettes so my dampness might not quite be right at times. I think I applied around 4 coats, only applying extra coats where they were needed, allowing it to dry fully between coats.






Finishing the skin and the face


Hair and bodice









Trousers, shirt & apron




Straps and gloves




Gerry had some advice in a recent officially Unnoficial Hobby Hangout with Sundancer. he suggested next time I do a leather like I did these gloves, I should apply chipping and weathering before applying any wash/glaze/semitransparent paint over the top so it shows through but is stained and unified in to the leather. Something to think about for anyone following this later, including myself.
This just leaves the Non metallic Metal, which I really don’t know how to do. I have an Asset Drop guide with paints for NMM gold which I have never tried. Now is the time I guess. As for the iron, I don’t really have a good starting point. I have a Scale75 guide but not the paints that go with it. Dunno how easy it is to work out what equivalent paints I may already have.
Non Metallic Metal Gold




So I came here to post an updated pic having finished the scheme off looking to moan about the end result being poor, but it seems I can’t take a representative pic of it. The photos look better than in real life. They actually look good. Adding the final 3 layers has definitely improved things, but I think it isn’t quite there yet.
I’d love some constructive feedback on the NMM as I am still not happy with it and I don’t know if I’m a simple extra unknown step away from making it pop, if I should be happy with what I have, or if I should accept defeat and use true metallics. Would a mid tone glaze or two, followed by reclaiming the extreme highlights help?
I also don’t currently know where to begin with NMM iron, especially on flat surfaces like her axe head.
So here’s the steps I took since the last update:
Shade along edges and inside the engravings of 1:4 Black : NMM Gold Base
Extreme Highlight 1:1 White : NMM Gold Highlight
Dot highlight pure White
Again, feedback and advice greatly appreciated. I’ll likely be painting her again tomorrow evening and I’m not sure which way to go now.
Getting my mojo going again
The NMM has been a stumbling block for me. As has ending the 4 day weekend and having to stop painting and pretend to be a functioning adult. I’ve had no idea how to paint the large flat surface of the axe head, and I’ve not been overly happy with the gold so far. I’ve also been doing a bit of heavy duty gardening so my hands haven’t always been reliable for high detail work So across the week I’ve been painting something lighter as a palate cleanser, as well as watching youtube videos on NMM. By giving my mind something else to focus on, I was hoping the back of my brain would absorb the information andcome up with answers while I wasn’t looking.
I really think my brushes are on the brink of death now. I possibly shouldn’t paint anything until I can get more, but who knows if anything will turn up if I order some? I’ve one brand new size 1 Game Envy Spear I’ve never tried. Looks a little longer and bigger than I’ve previously been comfortable with. I’m gonna do what I can with what I’ve been using and experiment with that when detail is required. I hope I like it.

I was also able to find a gold cylinder in my house that I could take photos of with the light source exactly where I wanted it. This should let me see how the light should look on those things. If I decide to go back on them I’ll use this as a guide.

As for the axe, I’m currently seeing it as 3 surfaces.
- Theres the cylinder of the handle. I have an idea how to do that. Just fade from dark to light, with the light being about 1/3rd or 1/4 of the way down on the front and back.
- Theres the blocks above the axe head. I could paint them dark grey and just edge highlight. Suggets they are a denser, less refined, less polished metal. or I could repeat what I do wiht the blade up here
- The blade. Do you know how hard it is to google for a picture of an axe head at this angle thats not rusted, painted red, or covered in whatever that black coating is? I’ve been watching videos, googling for photos, flicking through my guides, and staring at Avicenna’s work trying to work out how to even begin and where to put my lights. In bed last night, around 2-3am, I decided it was simpler than I thought and I just needed to fade from white down to black, but with the black at the top and the white at the bottom, keeping the midtones dominant. I think this is an over simplifaction and I really wasn’t sure where the light would hit the axe and how it would change at the edges. Then I realised all that is already mapped out for me by the Zenithal preshade. I have taken lots of pictures of the axe for reference later.
As for the paints I’ll be using, I was considering grabbing a wide selection of all my greys (I own quite a few!), but I saw Angel Giraldez’s NMM guide in Volume 2 and he only uses 4 paints. He did it through an airbrush, which I won’t be doing, but I see no harm in taking his advise, and seeing what I can do with a brush, wet palette, and hopefully a lot of patience.
I have gone in and fixed the skin inside the white sleeves using the paint already on my wet palette. The palette is full so I needed to do this now so I can change out the paper.
Hmmm
Wet palette
Palate cleanser
Pallet truck
There’s no wonder I can never spell that word without googling it.
And that’s NMM successfully postponed for another hour. I am king procrastinator! Time for the loo, a fresh coffee and a clean up of my wet pa.. *Scrolls up to check*… palette, and then see how much more time I’ve wasted before actually picking up a brush for this.
NMM Iron Axe and Red Insignia







Am I done now? I think I might be done? What do you think?
Am I done, or should I revist the gold on the hair things? What are they called, anyway? I’m happier with the gold right now than I have been, but I could perhaps do better. I have some IRL comparrisons now and a better understanding of nmm. I could also make it worse, or slip or spill and ruin the whole piece. Its taken me all day to do the iron so theres many hours to redo the gold, or I could take the win, be happy and move on to something else?
The Handsome Plinth
I’m no woodcrafter and I don’t want to spend £10 on a plinth when that money could go towards more plastic crack so I’m going to make my own plinth out of trash. This can take a few days of drying time so start this early on. Here’s how:

Brass recipe used:
Prime Black – The cap was transparent. To reinforce the black I also primed inside the cap as it wasn’t going on as solid as I’d expected.
Base coat Darkstar Blackened Bronze
Drybrush Darkstar Bronze
Wash 50/50 Water / Secret Weapon Sewer Water
Wash again anywhere you want darker (Along the insdie of the step)
Drybrush Darkstar Bronze
Targetted wash of Secret Weapon Green-BlackWash only in the recesses. Inside the step again, and inside the botton of each of the lines along the outside of the top part



Assembly and repairs
I’ve had 3 people say she’s good to go and no one say I should retry the gold so I’ve assembled her. Once built I noticed that there is a new scratch or crack or something on her left arm. I was hoping it was a hair but it wouldn’t wash or brush off. I mixed up some more of the base tone and tried to paint over it. It didn’t seem to be taking so I put 2 coats of gloss varnish over it to fill the crack. It painted over better after that. I then added more Caramel to re-apply a highlight, and then more Sunburnt Flesh to make a shade, which I turned in to a glaze in the end and applied over the whole area a few times. I think I’ve recovered.
All done
She’s all done. I’m really happy with my work. I think she might be my finest work to date. I know others do better all the time, but I’m really proud of her. I’m definitely up for doing more busts. Just not any time soon. She was kinda intense and I’m looking forward to some more relaxed painting for a little while.
If anyone wants any other pics from other angles or close ups of anything, please ask.
Awwwww yeah!
I only went and won best Turorial for this project. Thank you everyone.
https://www.beastsofwar.com/featured/spring-cleaning-hobby-winners-2020/