Blood Eagle /Dracula's America: Unclean and Suffering

"The Wendigo was gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tightly over its bones. With its bones pushing out against its skin, its complexion the ash gray of death, and its eyes pushed back deep into their sockets, the Wendigo looked like a gaunt skeleton recently disinterred from the grave. What lips it had were tattered and bloody [....] Unclean and suffering from suppurations of the flesh, the Wendigo gave off a strange and eerie odor of decay and decomposition, of death and corruption."

-Basil Johnston,

I completed a Reaper Wendigo for Dracula's America.  I think it has a lot of potential for Blood Eagle as well.  With elements of Norse and Celtic folklore already in the game a Wendigo would be a wonderful addition to the narrative.  Off the cuff I imagine a Viking party attacked by a Wendigo as an avenger after they raid a Skraeling settlement.  There are a few sculpts of the mythical cannibal spirit out there but this one, weighed against interpretations from folklore, images and my own preferences.  Basil Johnston's commentary on the creature was foremost in my criteria and it best personified the appearance to me.

The model covers the bases masterfully.  It's wasted form seems bowed under it's own weight.  If not for it's torn, and sinister visage it might be an object of pity; Instead it is a thing of terror and death.  Johnston's description didn't include any allusions to animal features but the horns, lower body and horns suggest a link to nature and the earth subjected to terrible abuse.  The sculptor also chose a torn open chest and belly physically depicting the impossibility of sating it's monstrous appetite.

I painted the figure in pale hues to capture the corpse-like appearance.  To contrast the flesh when I had already come so close with the bone I painted the pelt as a dark grey.  I also painted elements of the tattered pelt and maw as raw flesh for nastiness and to improve separation in the figure.  The base was finished with some leaf scatter and winter grass.  The cold is a good vibe for the minature but I'm not sure if I will go back and add snow.  I like to think the spirit is such an affront to nature that it steals vigor from the flora.  Finally I added some serious gore.  I don't normally go for a B movie soaking but the appetites and wanton, destructive nature of the Wendigo warranted it.