Nickelodeon Best Friends Diorama [WIP - Patrick Star]

Painting Patrick Star, the other half of the famous SpongeBob SquarePants duo was one of those rare times when everything that could go right did. For one, I managed to get a good approximation of Patrick's official colour scheme without having to resort to too much paint mixing. In addition, paint layers were quite smooth especially Patrick's skin tone while my attempt at painting freehand patterns on his pants went off without a hitch. I guess it's about time a bit of good luck went my way. 

Patrick Star, work-in-progress of the Nickelodeon Best Friends Diorama

To obtain a smooth layer of paint on such a large surface area using just a brush, a fairly small one at that i.e. a size zero, I used mainly Vallejo Model Color (VMC) paints for Patrick. Acrylic paints used were VMC Pink, Old Rose, Salmon Rose and a smattering of Rose Brown (for the skin tone); VMC German Camouflage Bright Green, Lime Green and Yellow Green (for the pants); VMC Purple, Violet and Blue Violet (for the flower patterns on the pants); VMC White, Black and Reaper Master Series Leather White (for the eyes). So the colour schemes generally revolved around paint triads.

Nickelodeon Best Friends miniature diorama, with Patrick Star completed

Subtle shadows and highlights on Patrick Star were needed for a 'cartoon style' paint job

Pink-Green-Purple colour combo looks good on Patrick

For some 'research', I caught the latest SpongeBob SquarePants movie Sponge Out of Water with the missus and son. For me the movie was a mixed bag of nuts (no Sandy puns intended). If you are a regular viewer of the TV shows, nothing in the movie is truly groundbreaking save perhaps for the superheroes bit where the whole cast of main characters turned into an Avengers-style team to combat a villainous pirate gamely portrayed by Antonio Banderas. (Previous superhero moments were largely restricted to just SpongeBob and Patrick.) Yet there were 'giggle-out-loud' moments in which the characters lived up to their silly over-the-top reputations. This makes the movie worth seeing especially if you are a fan. After all, there is knock-knock joke awaiting you inside the show.       

Simple patterns on Patrick Star's pants meant they were easy to paint freehand

Back view of the Nickelodeon Best Friends miniature diorama, with Patrick Star completed

SpongeBob is expected to be tougher to paint

Colour transitions from shadows to light were done in a subtle manner as I wanted to retain the cartoonish look that you see on the TV animation series. Meanwhile, patterns on Patrick's pants were simple in design hence easy to paint freehand. In fact, they were so easy to do that I finished them in under an hour complete with some subtle shadings on the purple hues of the flowery pattern.

Every part of Patrick has a colour transition (shadows-highlights) even his eyes

Up next is SpongeBob SquarePants which will provide me with a tougher challenge. But I've been encouraged by positive results on Patrick Star that should give me the confidence to give it a real go. All I need is the proper music accompaniment to put me in the right mood to paint that yellow, absorbent and porous nautical hero. Now where did I put that SpongeBob's Greatest Hits album?