WhiteWulfe and Rune are taking the random rainbow dragon challenge!

[WhiteWulfe]

It's been a few days, hasn't it...   Short version is we've been going out and doing a lot of things, so haven't had much time to hobby...  And I've also caught whatever is going around as office plague 2018 v2, with the effects having kicked in hard today.  Concentrating isn't an easy thing atm, to say the least. 

 

So instead of trying to paint (and having to give it up twenty minutes later (or less) due to the inability to concentrate all that well), I dug one of the other dragons out if it's plastic and cardboard prison. 

 

Pardon the mess, my desk is.. Yeah, disorganized chaos to say the least, but it's slowly getting there. ^_^;;;  Also, the legs and tail are dry fitted at this time! 

 

Something just didn't feel right with how Wyrmgear's wings are in their default form for me.. There is an obvious hinge there, but it's default configuration is set up so that both wings are upright, and obscure the details along the spine a decent amount. 

 

It's such an obvious looking hinge hubby thought the wings COULD move and tried to do that, then got all apologetic when he thought he broke the wing off...  Such a cutie he is some days   I'll give him partial blame for the hinge idea, his actions pretty much solidified the idea that was in my head already but I couldn't quite consider it fully at the time. 

 

A little bit of side cutter action with a decent amount of sanding (as the wings are a much harder plastic than the body, legs, and tail) over the next twenty mins or so... 

 

.... And then add in some blutak to try and hold everything in place for a basic idea of what's going on.  Much better. Now that engine will actually be viewable from multiple angles, even if the quick ones I took pics at do not show such.  I took the pics to showcase the new wingspan / wing spread... :p

 

I'm already planning on pinning the wings in place, because while green stuff is miraculous with what it will take, I'm not hedging my bets this time

 

Wyrmgear is going to be several firsts for me...  First and foremost, and arguably the biggest, is the moderate modifications to make him fit my theme of a synthetic creature.  Given the sheer amount of mechanical elements, such will be difficult but I'm sticking to the idea, and I'll run with a mechanical-synthetic creature hybrid if I have to, because I sure don't mind the idea.  I'm uncertain as to how far I will modify the miniature, but I suspect it will still resemble Wyrmgear in the end due to various reasons. 

 

Am I planning on cutting up and re-gluing the wings?  At the moment, unknown.  It's tempting, but at the same time I also know that it would take a LOT of thought, not to mention planning in order to make it pan out precisely how I want. 

 

Secondly, this will be the first model that uses an extensive amount of greenstuff, AND pinning.  That's right I've never pinned a model before.  This will also be the first model I assemble mostly after painting, because there are several details along the body that will be rather difficult (if not impossible) to get a proper coating of paint in there if I were to permanently attach the legs right now.  Odds are I'm going to have to actually do some sculpting to blend things in, and I'm looking forward to that first as well! 

 

 

Uhm, odds are there was probably a but more I wanted to mention here, but I've either forgotten it due to it being late, or its somewhere in that fog my brain can't pull stuff from today. Oh well, joys of being sick, but I got to sit down and hobby so that's what matters most imo

[WhiteWulfe]

Deciding I wanted to make use of the fact that I'm not fully able to concentrate or focus for long periods of time because of being sick, as well as wanting to make actual use of my rollers and stamps I picked up, out came the playdough and one of the 170mm oval bases from Reaper I picked up on my last order.

 

Some will playfully say bases come near the end, I'll playfully say I'm a non-linear thinker...  Or just say "too sick to paint, but I can mess around with other things, so at least it's hobbying"

 

I'll start with Rune's, not because it's the best looking one I managed to come up with, but because I've done alphabetical in the past

 

^My Ebonheart was nearby, so he's used for scale.  No, he isn't magically hovering, or not bending the playdough over, he's being held up by my right hand, which is conveniently blocked by the wings :P

 

Rune requested "something mountain-like", and was originally thinking just a quick and easy hill or such that his dragon would be on...  Myself, out of the blue (after three tries I really didn't like) the idea of taking Hoodoos as basis for the main inspiration, then mix in a bit of Frank Slide, and it seems to work.  Odds are I'll be going for a base of cork, some pinning (and maybe armature wire of some sort), and then greenstuff over top of said cork and wire to complete the look.  It does have to support the weight of a dragon, after all.  Base's texture was from Happy Seppuku's Stone Shore stamp used a few times.  I'm undecided as to whether or not I'll build up the rocks, but I'm leaning towards building them up as it would provide a better effect, and I suspect Rune would be even happier with such - perhaps over the moon, if I were to be silly.

 

^I only had one tub of playdough out at the time I was doing a quick scratchy sketch of ideas, hence why there isn't as much depth as Rune's (which used pretty much all of two).  I'm also somewhat indecisive about how things are currently, because I'm having trouble figuring out precisely how I'm going to make it so that the base not only fits him, but also my idea of a synthetic-mechanical hybrid.  This particular one was a combination of GreenStuffWorld's small cobblestone roller (rolled twice, in different directions, to add more cracks to the stonework to make it seem downright ancient, as well as conceal the obvious seam this roller has), as well as Happy Seppuku's Stone Shore stamp....  With the main idea of having it be almost like an acient square, that has seen better days, almost centuries past.  A competing idea is to go with the small stone roller, and then make it out to be some sort of ancient temple that's been slowly taken over by a synthetic creature... I'll have to give it a shot.  Either way, this was a basic scratch setup, and I'd like to have more depth to it, so odds are it'll be back to the drawing board.

 

As for the model itself, yeah, can definitely see more knife-work in the future, as those plates on his legs block details out (at least on the front legs), the "sandy dust?" around his feet will probably be removed, and for some reason I'm feeling that a mace like appendange at the end of his tail would be more fitting, but at the same time, I do kind of like the sword.  Tough call either way.

 

^Next up we have the base for my Ebonwrath....  Made entirely of just the Creek Bed stamp from Happy Seppuku.  I love the general idea, especially with multiple splits of the water's direction, but I'd greatly prefer more depth.  Great part though is that it's something I'm happy with and can build up from, even if it means making the creek and/or river from scratch....  Which is something I'm more than okay with anyways.  Besides, doing such will allow me to definitely make it look more like a hilly forest, which is the "theme" for the base I've kind of settled on with my Ebonwrath.  This would let me try out a few different things with this and that, not to mention finally FINALLY do some sort of river (I've always wanted to do one, potentially including a small waterfall).  Since most of his pose wound up springing back to his default "out of the mold" look (grrrrr, even after three hours of work and multiple bendings, he refused to truly cooperate!), I'm almost thinking of making him look more like he's about to go fishing for a meal or such.

 

 

That's it for now...  Might update later on as I really do want to get some more painting done, but have to see if body will cooperate long enough to let me do such.  If not, I suspect it will be an initial "oh look, starting on the bases" kind of post, or "I cleaned up the Pathfinder Red Dragons" post, or my most hopeful option, starting greenstuff on Wyrmgear.... ^_^;;;;

Edited March 4, 2018 by WhiteWulfe
spelling mistakes

[WhiteWulfe]

Bit of an update, since it's been almost a week.  As I've been doing a bunch of stuff around the house as well as dealing with that lovely thing known as a rather nasty cold that's been going around the city, I haven't gotten much work done on Ebonwrath.  Well, technically, and actually, I've gotten pretty much none done since last weekend.  I did put my Pathfinder Red Dragon together, and finally pinned Wyrmgear though, which does lead into a second part...

 

...I'm going to be splitting the other dragons off into their own threads, and keeping just the two Ebonwraths in here.  The other dragons will also not be done up as random rainbow dragons...  I'd love to, I was downright excited about doing such when I did the rolls, but now that I have those particular miniatures in front of me and in various forms of assembly, so many other colour combinations are crying out to me.  In truth, mulling over the decision between sticking to the original plan or going with something that I felt I'd really really REALLY want to do (not to mention would make use of the three hundred some dollars worth of paint we just picked up) has caused a decent roadblock in planning most things hobbying, and I'd rather get rid of that roadblock and outright enjoy painting. Besides, I figure this thread would have gotten rather messy with six different dragons being posted about

 

As for the cold, it's steadily showing signs of FINALLY clearing up, which has me rather happy.

 

Haven't started on the actual bases for either of our Ebonwraths, but I suspect some progress will happen over the next week or so, as well as more painting of dragons of doom and such!  More than likely, either today or tomorrow my dragon will see paint on the other side of his body, WHEE!

[WhiteWulfe]

Ever since spilling my paint cup almost two months ago across my desk and having to deal with some crash panic scenarios (that thankfully didn't break anything...) I haven't picked up a paintbrush...  Well, okay, there was that one I used the past several days to spread glue around, but that's a totally different scenario!  

 

Got a bit of progress on my Ebonwrath, Rune's is still awaiting a bath and priming before he's able to really give it a whirl.

 

Onwards to mine...  Just a single picture today due to exhaustion (I should have been asleep an hour ago, and didn't get much last night), as well as paws getting shaky after twenty minutes or so, but....

 

His left side is slowly getting more details brought in, and yes, I'm still painting each scale individually, one by one.  It's kind of soothing, and seems to add a little more character to each or...  Or so I tell myself. ^_^;;;  He also received some touchups on the sides (namely along his feet, and some of the belly scales) where paint had scuffed off since he wasn't on some sort of secure thing and kept falling over.

 

Do I have an end date in mind for him?  Well....  Not really, no.  I just want to do work on him every now and then, and I'll be more than happy with such.

 

Still have absolutely no idea how I'm going to go about getting all three of those colours to showcase themselves on him, but I suspect I'll figure out a way that will hopefully be good ^_^;;;;;;

[WhiteWulfe]

More work filling in the initial coat on the scales on his left side!

 

 

Looks like the tail and some of the smaller scales on the legs will be done next go-around.  I suppose I should figure out what I'm doing for the obvious second colour of Pure Black, which will be.... Interesting to work with, to say the least, doubly so since I don't have any Pure White and I think I totally forgot to order some last time I ordered paints..  yup, Dragon White, and Dragon Black, but no Pure White.  Boo.  Uhm...  Yeah, I'm going to have to figure out what I'm going to do on that front, since this is a three star challenge.

 

I should probably also figure out how I'm going to do the shading and whatnot, or at least where the shadows will fall, given my various plans for this dragon, as well as, well...  Uhm....  Shadow layers just make things look cooler! *nods sagely, and rather tiredly*

[Cyradis]

Looking good!

[Glitterwolf]

Cool!

[WhiteWulfe]

On 2018-04-10 at 10:55 PM, Cyradis said:

Looking good!

 

17 hours ago, Glitterwolf said:

Cool!

Many thanks, to both of you!   I'm liking him a good amount already, and can't wait to see how he'll be in the end, as I'm rather excited about the rolled colours. 

 

Also starting to get a few ideas past the initial stuff of "main scales khaki, belly scales black" too - I'm contemplating the idea of having his wings fade from the khaki to black, and then maybe have the tips look scorched or something (with the lava orange), but haven't quite decided on a pattern for such yet. 

 

I'm definitely sticking with the forested kind of theme, with him being alongside a creek or river, and the base having a few elevation changes on it as well, as I kind of want to do a waterfall (always have wanted to do such). 

 

Hoping for more progress on him this weekend

[WhiteWulfe]

It's been a while again, but I blame focus having been in other areas.  Today I felt like instead of working on tiny little minuscule details and shadows, I'd.... work on tiny minuscule scales instead *laughs nervously*

 

^If you're going "his head doesn't look any different!" you're correct!  For some reason I wanted to take a pic of his head, not quite totally sure, but quite possibly because it's my next plan of attack once the inside of his legs are done.

 

Got most of the tail area done, at least as best I can make out the various scales, since I went a touch overboard on trying to remove mold lines.  It's life, it happens.  But yay, at least most of the scales on his tail are done now too, which makes me rather happy to say the least!

 

I've also more or less done some deciding on thoughts for his colourations....  Obviously all those scales are going to be tan, with the occasional patch that's darker or brighter for added variation...  Wings, instead of being Terran Khaki, are going to be mostly black, with the support part of the wing being Terran Khaki.  This is partially due to the scales (Terran Khaki would show it off a lot better, without having to do a bunch of layers), but also because black as night wings can bring additional colour and varoius other things alongside being epic.  Ridges along his spine will be a mixture of all three colours, with Lava Orange standing out as one of the more prominent ones.  Not quite certain as to how I'll seal the deal on that effect, but it's at least a basic plan of attack.  Horns on his head will obviously be somewhat close to lava orange as well, given that I want to give off this almost "cherry hot" kind of look to the tips....  Spines/spikes along his legs will also probably share this trait.

 

There'd be more writing here but I'm rather tired, and pushed myself a tad too far on the scales, but I really really REALLY wanted to get that tail done as best I could for the terran khaki, and so I did such! ^_^;;;;

[WhiteWulfe]

So I did more work on the Terran Khaki scales, but that's boring...  Let's see something more interesting!  

 

^Oh hey, look at the touchups to his head.  No wait, what's that on his wings.....  Nah, it can't be...  Not... Colour?  o_O  

 

^Okay, pics aren't perfect... I just wanted to get quickies up showing progress >.>;;;;;  Quick blocking out was done for two reasons, but I'll just say the main one - place is kind of messy, and detracts from the picture  

 

It's the basic idea for what I'm thinking for additional colour...  Obviously I'll wind up (hopefully successfully! ) doing a good amount of blending, but first... Wings are going to get blacked out, mwa ha ha ha ha.  Black is the best colour, I swear...  Even if it's a pain to do on minis and make it look good  

[RuneLyall]

Whitey is making me post the works in progress for this thing <.< so ...

 

 

FIRST TIME DOING THIS <.< !!!!!

Edited June 2, 2018 by RuneLyall

[Cyradis]

Yay!! More dragons!! 

[WhiteWulfe]

39 minutes ago, Cyradis said:

Yay!! More dragons!! 

 

Even better - he's done further painting, just hasn't had the time to process the images yet.  Something about one of the monitor cables dying, and we've been working on fixing that first

 

....I'm going to have to hurry up and get more work done on mine, since his is starting to look like a lot more work has been done on it o_O

[RuneLyall]

Since he's bugging me more :P here's what I'm trying with the body ... hoping it works out. 

[WhiteWulfe]

For those wondering how he got the purple, he mixed True Blue and Clotted Red, about 1.5:1 mix between the two...  Approximate mixing, neither of us were quite paying attention to the actual ratio he was using ^_^;;;;