Yeah, I know I said I wouldn’t, but then — as seen in A Crayon Haiku #71 — I decided to give Grodd one last go with the brush. I didn’t like how the black fur looked dull to the point of almost being grey, so I went out and got some gloss black last night and tried that… but then that was way too shiny, so I mixed it with some of the original black paint and went at it again. I like this level of shine — it’s not too intense, but it’s noticeable enough and definitely looks black. I also decided I wanted more contrast between the grey areas and the black, so I went over them with a lighter grey mix comparable to Ed McGuiness’s depiction of Grodd in the early issues of JLA: Classified.

In keeping with that version, I also painted the eyes red and went over the teeth in white (mostly because I got some grey on them when I was repainting the face). I’m obviously not very good at painting small areas, so the teeth didn’t turn out all that great, but it’s not terribly noticeable except in closeups and there’s no way I’m risking screwing up the rest of the face (again) so to heck with it. You may also note that I applied a black wash to the grey parts, with multiple washes on the belly (partly because that’s sculpted fur, but mostly because it kept looking all uneven so I kept trying to correct it).

Anyway, I’m pleased on the whole with how he’s turned out — the scar on his face notwithstanding, he now looks a lot more like a unique depiction of Gorilla Grodd rather than an obvious repaint of Peter Jackson’s King Kong. I think the cape is a nice touch and helps quite a bit in that respect, too! Old school TMNT fans may recognize it, as it belonged to the original 1988 Shredder figure. Eventually I plan to get some purple cloth and cut a longer cape for Grodd (and maybe even outfit him with some bracelets, depending upon what I can find), but for now I’m quite satisfied with my first custom painted figure.

Then again, I’ve already said that at least four times. 😐