My first Gretchin experiment

It feels good to have my fever break and finally start the recovery process proper from chicken pox. It feels even better to finally get started on my painting projects for 2014. Still feeling slightly under the weather, I took things slow and started small by painting the first two (of four) gretchins that have been earmarked as skin tone test subjects for my Knight Models Hulk project. One half was primed in white, the other in black (as indicated by the base colour) to determine if it has any effect on the final paint job. Main colours used were Citadel's Knarloc Green, Gretchin Green and Bleached Bone. 

It doesn't matter if you are black or white

Apart from the relative roughness in the final texture of the gretchin's skin - with the black primer giving a smoother finish - there were no noticeable differences in the final paint job. I suppose this was to be expected seeing that the basecoat colour for the skin tone was the very opaque Citadel Knarloc Green paint. Moreover, this foundation paint had good coverage which meant both black and white undercoats were painted over in roughly equal (and minimal) number of paint layers. 

Bluish grey pants for the gretchins ala The Hulk

To closely approximate The Hulk's overall paint scheme, I painted both their pants in greyish blue. The only link they have to my current ork army is their yellow cloth wrappings which show that they belong to the Bad Moonz Orks clan. If I manage to finish the other two gretchins and their big guns, I will also have two additional heavy support units entering my small Warhammer 40K Ork army.

Yellow cloth wrappings on the gretchins indicate they belong to the Bad Moonz Orks

Both gretchins are my best attempt at a smooth green skin to date. While that is not saying much, I am still pretty pleased because it shows that I am progressing as a miniature painter.

Bluish grey pants for the gretchins ala The Hulk

Unfortunately, the final skin results were way off the targeted Hulk colours - much too green. I will need to find a way to lighten the skin tone, perhaps with more Citadel Bleached Bone. One issue I faced when adding more Bleached Bone was an increase in chalkiness - something I need to resolve.

Skin tone comparisons between The Hulk and gretchins

All things considered, I actually like this shade of green that I got. So I guess I won't mind using it if I am unsuccessful in my attempt to obtain a lighter and paler shade of green in the skin tone for The Hulk that can be seen on The Avengers movie as well as Sideshow Collectibles figure.