Turning a $20 Baby Groot toy into a collectible

With some acrylic paints I turned a Wal-mart figurine into a Baby Groot I can add to my Sci-fi collection wall.

I started with this $20 toy from Wal-Mart. Often these type of figurines have potential...a good sculpt with lots of details, but are let down by their mass-production level paint job. And its a bonus that this toy is just about life-size for Baby Groot.

I used a bunch of acyrlic paints to complete the job. Acrylics are very cheap, water based so odor or fumes, mix easliy and dry quickly. I got the browns and greens at Wal-Mart too, for about a buck a piece.

I start by masking off the tree parts of Groot so I can apply a dark wash to the suit. It doesnt need to be a perfect masking, I just don't want to smear black paint on the light parts.

I mix up a very soupy mix of black, brown, red, and a lot of water, this is called dark washing. By painting over everything, the wash will fill the details on Baby Groot's outfit, giving them contrast.

Apply a liberal amount of black wash...

And wipe away the majority while its still wet, leaving the crevices and details with some new contrast. I repeated this step until I was happy with the level of darkness.

Here you can see the difference between the black washed body, and the untouched arm. I did three layers of wash here. I also wanted the suit to be darker red than the original paint job.

The little rope detail on Baby Groot's side is a bright red cord, so i mixed up a dark red to stand out from the burgundy.

It took a few coats and I brought out the cord pattern nicely. You can also really see how the black wash brings out the details of the brown parts of the suit...the straps and belts really look grimy now.

For the metal trim pieces, I switched over to Testors metallic model paints. I could have used acrylics here too, but i find the cheap metallic acrylic paints don't cover very well. The Testors do much better. I carefully coated the badges, buckles, and zippers in gold, and silver as needed.

Badges repainted. I also went back over them with a black wash once they dried, so they wouldn't be too shiny and stick out.

Now that the outfit is done, time to paint the tree. This was a few more steps than the suit, but to get a more realistic finish, I layered multiple colors using a combination of washes and dry brushing. I started with a base coat of dark brown. Everything other color will go on sparingly after this.

I looked up images of Baby Groot online to use as reference. You might think Groot is brown like a tree, but he's actually much lighter, more like a sapling. A light linen color with a hint of green added in here.

Then I brush that paint over the base brown, allowing some of the brown to show through. I also made sure not to jam the brush down into the deeper parts of the surface.

Which gives me some nice contrast between light and dark, highs and lows.

Next up I added a little dark brown to my previous color to give Groot's skin more depth. But this time, i used a ratty brush, loaded it with paint...

...then I brushed most of the paint out of the brush onto a paper towel. This is called 'dry-brushing'. By removing 95% of the paint from the brush, I can put on a very fine layer of this new color. It allows for more control of application, and helps to bring out more detail and depth.

I focused this layer of paint on the sides and backs of the head, I didn't want his face to get too dark. I repeated this process with a few different shades of paint, adding dimension with every layer.

I get lighter and brighter with each coat, to warm up the surface and bring it to life.

Here's a really good example of drybrushing in progress. Its important to take your time and drybrush in multiple passes, building up to the color level you want. This really gives the tree surface another level of detail.

Finished tree surface. he's got about 6 different layers of color on him now. But he needs a little green, he is a tree after all.

Mix up a nice soft green, load up the brush, wipe most paint away on a paper towel...

...and drybrush again. I concentrated on the very top of his head, but also lightly touched a few other places, the same way real moss would grow.

And while I was at it, i used a fine tip brush to bring out the vines on his hands and feet. Like I said, the toy has great detail, the factory paint lets it down.

The eyes needed some life, a black paint job won't do it, but I've got a neat little trick. First we put down the brown eyes and black pupil.

5 Minute Epoxy! Comes in two bottles that you mix, and it dries clear.

Pour out equal parts resin and hardener.

Mix it up with a stick.

and dab it over the eyes. It's very thick, so just add as much as needed to give you a good coat.

As it cures, the air bubbles in the epoxy come to the surface and pop, leaving a glassy, life like eye that catches light and really brings Baby Groot to life.

Ok, last detail, the green paint isnt enough, Baby Groot needs a little more than that. This is flocking for model train sets, used to simulate grass. It's essentially a coarse green powder. The tacky glue is simple white glue like elmers, and it dries clear.

So I apply white glue where i want the moss to grow, and sprinkle the flocking on like i'm dusting a cake with powdered sugar. Then I can blow off the excess and only the spots with glue will remain.

Ta-da! And with that, he's ready for the spotlight.

Anybody can do this sort of thing. It's especially great for beginners. Other than the vines, very little precision painting was required, and you get to see your progress happen right before your eyes. Try it out yourself, I spent a total of about $35 for the toy and supplies.

And of course, if you ask him to bring you a big red mohawk fin, he'll bring you something else. I modified this Zune case with a cold-cast resin Ravager badge. It's got real brass powder in it, so it looks like metal.

And it holds like 300 songs, everybody's using 'em now.

For more Guardians of the Galaxy props and costume stuff, check us out at Nova Props. We have all kinds of fun Star Lord gear. Thanks for following along!

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