The Asgardian rock troll, Ulik, is the focus of today’s How to Paint Everything: Marvel Crisis Protocol. A mortal enemy of Asgard, after Odin drove his species underground, Ulik has spent many years battling Thor since his 1965 debut in the pages of Thor #137. In the time since, he’s died and resurrected as well as becoming the God of Thunder himself for a time. More recently, he’s allied himself with Malekith during the War of the Realms storyline, during Malekith’s bid to conquer Asgard.
Ulik’s miniature was a very fun one to paint up. I used some rather rough and chunky highlights for his musculature to help sell the idea of his flesh being rough. I also tried out something new with the metal areas, and used some stippling techniques to give it the impression of hammered and worn metal. I used a lot of the same colors across this miniature, but with some color mixing shenanigans it made each area stand out from each other.
Below you’ll find the color reference chart for Ulik, featuring all of the colors I used in each area of the model. So let’s get to it!
Painting His Skin Color
I can’t tell if Ulik has fur or not, so I decided to use some rough highlights to give the impression of a rough surface on his skin. I started with a mix of Mournfang Brown and XV-88 as a basecoat and then mixed in Caledor Sky to create a shadow color. I touched up the surface of his muscles with the original mix and then did a layer of straight XV-88, from there I mixed in a bit of Ushabti Bone to start the highlights. Finally I finished it off by highlighting all of the muscles with Ushabti Bone.
Basecoat: Citadel Mournfang Brown: Citadel XV-88
Shadow: Previous Mix: Citadel Caledor Sky
Touch Up: Citadel Mournfang Brown: Citadel XV-88
Layer: Citadel XV-88
Highlight: Citadel XV-88: Citadel Ushabti Bone
Highlight: Citadel Ushabti Bone
Painting the Body Hair
His hair also started with a basecoat using Mournfang Brown. But this time it was straight Mournfang Brown. I added Caledor Sky to it for some shading and then started highlighting it with Mournfang Brown and Tuskgor Fur. After highlighting it again with Tuskgor Fur, I then mixed in a bit of Ushabti Bone for a final highlight.
Basecoat: Citadel Mournfang Brown
Shadows: Citadel Mournfang Brown: Citadel Caledor Sky
Highlight: Citadel Mournfang Brown: Citadel Tuskgor Fur
Highlight: Citadel Tuskgor Fur
Highlight: Citadel Tuskgor Fur: Citadel Ushabti Bone
Painting the Green Scale Mail
I’ve not tried doing too much green non-metallic metal, but I knew I would be using greens for the fabric and didn’t want to use the same basecoats on both the scales and the leather belting. So I started with USA Olive Drab for a basecoat and then US Dark Green and Moot Green for the highlight colors, finishing it off with a white spot highlight to make it shine.
Basecoat: Vallejo Model Color USA Olive Drab
Layer: Vallejo Model Color US Dark Green
Highlight: Vallejo Model Color US Dark Green: Citadel Moot Green
Highlight: Citadel Moot Green
Highlight: Vallejo Model Color White
Painting the Green Leather
The leather strapping of his chest plate, I started with a basecoat of Caliban Green. I mixed Khorne Red into the Caliban Green for the shadows and recesses and then highlighted it with a mix of Caliban Green and Warboss Green and finally straight Warboss Green for the last highlight.
Basecoat: Citadel Caliban Green
Shadow: Citadel Caliban Green: Citadel Khorne Red
Layer: Citadel Caliban Green: Citadel Warboss Green
Highlight: Citadel Warboss Green
Painting the Green Shorts
His shorts were painted with the same colors as the armor scales, only this time I wanted to keep the colors dull since the pant are made of fabric instead of metal. I started with a base coat of USA Olive Drab mixed with US Dark Green. I then mixed US Dark Green and Khorne Red together for the shadows and cleaned up any areas that needed it with the original basecoat mix. From there I highlighted the shorts with US Dark Green and finally US Dark Green mixed with Moot Green.
Basecoat: Vallejo Model Color USA Olive Drab: Vallejo Model Color US Dark Green
Shadows: Vallejo Model Color US Dark Green: Citadel Khorne Red
Clean Up: Vallejo Model Color USA Olive Drab: Vallejo Model Color US Dark Green
Highlight: Vallejo Model Color US Dark Green
Highlight: Vallejo Model Color US Dark Green: Citadel Moot Green
Painting the Metals
Normally for non metallic metal, I am trying to make a bright and shiny surface. I imagine Ulik doesn’t do a ton of maintenance to his gear and so I went for a beaten and misused look. To achieve this, I started with a basecoat of Black mixed with Luftwaffe Uniform WWII. I then stippled the surface with Luftwaffe Uniform WWII, a mixed of Neutral Grey and Altdorf Guard Blue, a the previous mix with Ulthuan Grey mixed in and finally Ulthuan Grey. All of the metals were then washed with Plyar Glacier Contrast paint. I did one more stipple layer of Ulthuan Grey and then edge highlighted everything with Ulthuan Grey and White. To finish it off, I added some painted the recesses and stippled the surface lightly with Black.
Basecoat: Vallejo Model Color Black: Vallejo Model Color Luftwaffe Uniform WWII
Stipple: Vallejo Model Color Luftwaffe Uniform WWII
Stipple: Vallejo Model Color Neutral Grey: Citadel Altdorf Guard Blue
Stipple: Previous Mix: Citadel Ulthuan Grey
Stipple: Citadel Ulthuan Grey
Wash: Citadel Contrast Pylar Glacier
Stipple: Citadel Ulthuan Grey
Edge Highlight: Citadel Ulthuan Grey
Edge Highlight: Vallejo Model Color White
Darklining: Vallejo Model Color Black
Stipple: Vallejo Model Color Black
Painting His Base
Finally his he was given my standard MCP basing paint job. I start with a basecoat of Stormvermin Fur, making sure that the coverage is as even as possible. I then stipple the surface with Administratum Grey and Ulthuan Grey to give it some texture. It is then finished off with a wash of Nuln Oil. The metal drain and manhole cover were painted Mechanicus Standard Grey, given a quick stippling of Mournfang Brown and a drybrush of Fire Dragon Bright. These areas were then given a wash of Agrax Earthshade.
Concrete
Basecoat: Citadel Stormvermin Fur
Stipple: Citadel Administratum Grey
Stipple: Citadel Ulthuan Grey
Wash: Citadel Nuln Oil
Drain and Manhole Cover
Basecoat: Citadel Mechanicus Standard Grey
Stipple: Citadel Mournfang Brown
Drybrush: Citadel Fire Dragon Bright
Wash: Citadel Agrax Earthshade
Ulik is now ready to rock n’ troll and smash some models into the ground! Have you painted Ulik? If so hit me up on the socials, you can find me over on Bluesky (brushwizard.bky.social) Twitter/X (@brushwizard) and Instagram (@brushwizardry), I love seeing what the community is working on and try to share what I see whenever possible. If you’re a member of the Goonhammer Discord server, be sure to share them in the Marvel: Crisis Protocol channel there as well.
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