MamaGeek Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 This is a very large project for me, so I'm starting a WIP to keep myself motivated. If I commit to posting regular updates, I hopefully won't drag my feet too much on getting her done. My friend Chris at work financed a lot of my progress as a painter, by buying gaming minis for me to paint for him, starting very early on when I was not very good at all. I've painted figures for all of his D&D characters since I began in Spring 2008, including several new ones to replace old minis as I got much better over time. He has been asking me for well over a year now to paint him a dragon for display on his desk, but I kept saying no, it was too big, I didn't want to do it, etc. Well, I finally decided to bite the bullet. I found Blight Fang on sale at Miniature Giant, and asked Chris if he was still interested. He jumped at the chance, bought the dragon, and now it's up to me to paint it. He wants a black dragon, so that's what I'll be doing with this. I've looked at a lot of images online of black dragon art and black dragon minis, including a CMON black of this very same dragon. I will definitely add color to it, not as much as the CMON dragon, which actually looks more purple than black, but it won't be a pure black & white job, either. I love playing around with color theory. I haven't quite finished my plan yet, but I'll post it when I do. Now, I'm sure you don't just want to see a bunch of commentary here, so, without further ado, here she is, Blight Fang, by the lovely and talented Sandra Garrity: Hours 1-4: Assembly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator TaleSpinner Posted February 28, 2011 Moderator Share Posted February 28, 2011 Awesome! Can't wait to watch you progress on this. I'll be here cheering you on. You base concept looks really nice. Is the dragon attached to the wood yet? One nit I see, is the left wing (from its perspective) where the membrane meets the body. It looks like you have a bit of an undercut where the green stuff is not quite on the same plane as the membrane. It may just be a trick of the light though as GS is hard to photograph. Are you painting this to your high tabletop or to display quality? I'm not sure how you paint, but I find that books on tape help me get through the endless tedium that is the highlighting of dragon scales. Good luck, Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaGeek Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 I just attached the wings yesterday, but I will be going over the whole thing again to see if there is any more gapping I need to fill in anywhere. Yes, the dragon is attached. It is just glued on. Everything is just glued together. There was a tremendous amount of gluable surface area between the pieces, and they all fit together so well, that not a single pin was needed. I thought about pinning the dragon onto the base, but this is for display, and won't get a lot of handling. I also know the person who I'm painting it for very well, and I know he will pick it up by the base, not the dragon, so she won't come off. I haven't decided how I'll paint the base, whether it will be swampy, rocky, grassy, etc. I need to noodle over the dragon's color scheme and concept first. What you see so far is just the terrain. I will be attempting to paint it up to display quality, but we'll see. My River Troll took 50 hours and it was so very, very much smaller than this. I usually listen to music while I paint, or listen to the TV while my husband watches a show or a movie. I can see the TV from where I paint, if I look up, but my eyes are usually fixed on the mini. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator TaleSpinner Posted February 28, 2011 Moderator Share Posted February 28, 2011 I will be attempting to paint it up to display quality, but we'll see. My River Troll took 50 hours and it was so very, very much smaller than this. For reference, Cinder took me 140 hours, but you are probably faster than me (everyone's faster than me). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenity Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 A nice start to a big project, and I'm sure you'll do a great job on it. In the Cinder assembly article, I remember seeing Talespinner add some curve to the wings. Blight Fang's wings are flat, so if I were to build it, that's something I'd think about doing. Do you think the wings could be curved at all, or are they too thick? Cinder's look more bendable to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaGeek Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 I don't think I could bend those wings if I tried! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferox Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Woot! TaleSpinner's Cinder WIP thread got me hooked on the Reaper forums, and now I get to read another enormous-dragon WIP thread. It's like Christmas all over again! Nitpick: In the second photo (first image), the dragon's tail is "pointing" at a section of the two cork tiles that hasn't been blended together. There's a bit of an overhang that looks a bit out of place compared to the rest of the base. Phrases like "not a single pin was needed" make me shiver, but then again I'm the kind of person who pins the joints on my GW plastics. I can't wait to see what you do with the colours. Black gives me fits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humansquish Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 A nice start to a big project, and I'm sure you'll do a great job on it. In the Cinder assembly article, I remember seeing Talespinner add some curve to the wings. Blight Fang's wings are flat, so if I were to build it, that's something I'd think about doing. Do you think the wings could be curved at all, or are they too thick? Cinder's look more bendable to me. The stance that Blightfang is in curving the wings wouldn't add anything to the sculpt, IMO. Plus, like she said, they are pretty thick and would be really hard to bend. Dragon WIP's are always fun, looking forward to watching this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaGeek Posted March 1, 2011 Author Share Posted March 1, 2011 I primed the dragon Gray last night, and learned a very valuable lesson. Dragon Painting Lesson Number 1: Cover up anything nearby that you don't want splattered with paint. Running a brush over the scales will case splatter. My kitchen table is splattered now with gray primer, as is the wood of the base, which I forgot to cover up. I'll have to sand and restain it when I'm done. (Le sigh!) The last time I painted something that was preattached to finished wood (a crucifix), I wrapped the wood with paper before I started. I just completely forgot to do that before I got going on this bad boy. @Ferox: The base will get more attention after the dragon is painted. I really just wanted to get a sense of the terrain and layout of the overall piece. Thanks, though. I'll make sure I look for that when I do work on the base again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaGeek Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 Hours 5-7: Prime and Proof I primed this with Reaper brush-on primer, mixing white and black to make gray. I had to remix several times, so not all of the dragon is primed with the same shade of gray, but the paint will cover it, so I'm not concerned. Next was a proof of concept. I came up with an idea for the color scheme, and tried it out on a small section of the dragon, where I can see the black scales, underbelly scales, and backfins together. I also painted white lines over the highlight areas of the dragon's body. This is where my proof of concept coloring will manifest itself later on. Scales - highlighted Highlight with bone white Layer on blue-teal Shade with GW Bestial Brown Darkline and shade with pure black Scales - shaded Highlight with light gray Darkline and shade with pure black, covering most of the scale Belly Scales Shade with blue-teal and GW Dwarf skin Highlight with bone white Darkline with pure black Shade with very thin pure black (very wet blend into the existing colors) Backfins Highlight with bone white Mid-tone blue-teal Shade with GW bestial brown Shade with pure black Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ayrphish Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Wow... Very cool colors All the forum posts lately with dragons inspire me to progress my skills so I can eventually make one, so impressive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimL Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Something to look forward to. I have been procrastinating painting Bile the Wyvern and I'm, sure Cinder is much bigger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaGeek Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 So this morning Chris (for whom I'm painting this dragon) stops by and tells me he had an idea for the base: piles of treasure, including gold, gems, glowing weapons, etc. I told him I was actually considering something swampy, and that I thought treasure, especially bright, shiny treasure, would draw too much attention from the dragon. He said he'd think about that some more, and my swamp idea. What do you all think about that? Do you think a pile of treasure is a good or bad idea? What do you think of something swampy? Any other ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stubbdog Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 In the end, I guess it comes down to whether it is a paid commission or a gift paintjob. If it is a gift, then the painter has all the say so. If it is a paid commission then it depends on if the customer is paying enough to have the right to ask for specifics like that. But, if they are, then the customer gets what they want... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator TaleSpinner Posted March 4, 2011 Moderator Share Posted March 4, 2011 So this morning Chris (for whom I'm painting this dragon) stops by and tells me he had an idea for the base: piles of treasure, including gold, gems, glowing weapons, etc. I told him I was actually considering something swampy, and that I thought treasure, especially bright, shiny treasure, would draw too much attention from the dragon. He said he'd think about that some more, and my swamp idea. What do you all think about that? Do you think a pile of treasure is a good or bad idea? What do you think of something swampy? Any other ideas? Treasure is fine, but then I'd walk away from a Black dragon concept. The subtle tones of the black dragon are too subdued to compete with the flash and riot of color in a treasure horde. If you do end up wanting both, I'd recommend sticking to more subdued tone treasure in the silver tone values, with very little gold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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