Created: 05.01.09

Posted: 07.09.09

Of course every good mugg starts with a concept drawing. So i don't do a computer mock up, i could, i have illustrator but i think it takes the fun out of it. i would probably take more time on the illustrator pic than my actual paint job. lol

So some of you know already how this crazy idea started, let's take Galatus and take the top his head off and use that as a hat. Well again here is the carnage of accidentally breaking off his head and having to dremel out his hat. My advice is "DON'T DO IT"

So now that the pain is out of the way here is how he got going, once i got the hat off i made a lip on the inside so the hat wouldn't slip down the head farther than i wanted, it was made with two part epoxy called magic sculpt I also covered the inside of the hat with it and sanded it down after it dried to make it smooth.

You can see molam ram trying on his new hat and glasses here as well as the inside of the hat before it was painted.

So after this Lo-pan was primed and then i started painting, since i primed him gray I painted him mostly black on his head and body and then painted his arms flesh even though you won't see those much. In order to get bright colors on his robes i painted the dragon areas white first , you can kinda see this on the outer edges of the dragon, sorry i forgot to take pictures of this step. Once the white paint dried i started painting the dragons. I blocked out the basic colors and it was such a joy to make mirrored dragons. lol it was probably more challenging than the hat.

You may be asking yourself how i know that there are dragons on his robes since all the pictures on the internet are small and vague. Well i sat my butt down in front of the TV with the DVD playing and paused it while i drew out the dragons on my sketch pages as seen above. I also got the details for his hat on the dvd as well.

After the basic colors were blocked in i started the detail work i used a blue/green mixture to give the dragon scales depth and then outlined all the details in Vallejo gold paint. This took a steady hand and a little patience. but it turned out like it should and i didn't have to do any touch ups. yay.

So in between this last pic and the finished product i sewed little belled sleeves for his robe because it just wouldn't be the same with out them. making the sleeves needs a whole tutorial in itself. pattern and sewing knowledge is needed for something like this. I also painted the sleeves and it was a very sloppy job since the fabric soaked up the paint very quick and made the fabric stiff afterwards. Once Lo-pan's paint job was finished and his spray sealer was dry i then glued the sleeves onto his arms with Zap-a-gap

The hat/crown he is wearing is all freehand i drew out details on my little piece of paper then went to town, I laid out the basic gold color and then used a darker metallic to 'shade' the bottom side of gold section, then i mixed up a lighter color to highlight the upper edges of the gold. this is a basic non-metal metallic technique but i actually used metallic paints with it. if you get a chance look up non-metal metallic painting techniques if you can master them it can really spice up your paints.

Oh i almost forgot about the hat pin, we used an aluminum tube with a small sculpted femo tip i painted and sealed it but after running it through his head some of the paint came off. But my boyfriend was kind enough to take a dremel to his hat and head and line up everything correctly.
The green detail running down his back was made by laying down the design in silver and then once it was dry adding a Tamia green glaze over the top.