Painting Reaper's "Dark Maiden" as a Frostgrave Construct

   Ever since I started working on my Frostgrave waterfront last year, I have thought that the Reaper "Dark Maiden" figure would make a cool addition to my Frostgrave figure collection; taking the roll of either a dockside Construct, or even a Wraith.  I was lucky enough to pick one up in a trade a while back, and it's been lingering on my painting table until I built up the courage to tackle it.  I finally decided with the River scenario from the Frostgrave Thaw of the Lich Lord  supplement on our schedule for next month, that it was time to build up my courage and tackle this beautiful figure.

     In mulling over paint schemes, I decided that I wanted to do something like the grayish-brown of the masthead shown on the shipwreck of the Charlotte during the opening scenes of the movie "National Treasure."

    This seemed simple enough, just some brown and grey drybrushing over a dark base.  The hard part was going to be that I wanted to make it look possessed, with glowing eyes and glowing swords; and Object Source Lighting (OSL) still is not a strong technique for me.
  So I began by assembling the model and then priming it with flat white spray paint.  I then painted the entire thing with Americana "Mississippi Mud", followed by a complete wash with Citadel "Agrax Earthshade" wash.

      Then, when the wash was dry, I drybrushed the figure with Americana "Neutral Grey", followed by Americana "Barn Wood", and lastly Americana "Dove Grey".

      I then worked on the metal parts; painting them first with Americana "Asphaltum", followed by splotchy areas of Crafter's Edition "Spice Brown", followed by more splotches of Reaper MSP "Pumpkin Orange".  I let it all dry a while then gave the metal parts a wash with Citadel "Nuln Oil" wash.

     My next step was to paint her eyes and swords with Reaper MSP "Dungeon Slime".  When dry, I gave the eyes and swords a wash with Iron Wind Metals "Medium Green" ink.  When that was dry, I built up central highlights along the blades and in the eyes working from the base "Dungeon Slime up to Reaper MSP "Peppermint White".  I then gently drybrushed, using the "Dungeon Slime", anywhere I thought the glowing eyes or swords would cast their light.
    I then repainted the base with Americana "Snow White", and glued on some "ice" made from letting a thick layer of clear crackle paint dry in a plastic container.
   Lastly I textured the base with a mix of Citadel "Vahallan Blizzard" textured paint, and regular White paint. The next day I sprayed the figure with Testor's Dullcote.
    I'm really happy with how it turned out.   While I wish it had turned out a little more aged grey, and less brown; I still think it looks properly demonic. :)