Chasing Dragon

Indeed, but would it be wise ?

 

Ok. I'll start with the smaller one (Valyndra from Descent) as the bigger one (Volfyrion) has several reasons to be done later

• the bigger one will require more work
• not sure about the paint scheme of it either
• there's a join I need to fix and will ask the editor for advice

After some research, I think I know how Valyndra will be painted.
As I try to avoid the standard colors to avoid it to actually be one of them, I just put out red, blue, green, white, black and any metal.
Orange is too close to red, yellow will be tricky so off they are.

I would have use this as an opportunity to paint colors I don't paint usually but I ended with something close to my YJ :/
So main color would be purple (anything scales).
Belly would be light blue (cobalt or something close)

Something like that

or that


For wing spans, I would use a turquoise faded to a withe-ish green.
Teeth and claws would be bonish/brownish, nothing special here.

I'm still wondering if orange/yellow spine scales would fit. Maybe with a purple blend from the base.

No idea for the eyes so far.

If everything comes how it looks in my head, It would not be too rainbow but still have a component from any "legal" dragon in it.

The stone base will be kind of neutral. A sandy/browny desert scheme should do the trick but a classic grey stone will do if the yellow part is to much.

Comment are more than welcome.

 

Great feedback as usual @Section9 , thanks a lot.

I agree with the turquoise part, the green should only tint a bit the lighter part .
The idea is to have an almost white-greenish color for the wing with a pure blue-turquoise at the skeleton's edges.
Ideally, I will succeed in a smooth transition.
I'm having second thought about the belly as there is not really a belly part from a sculpt point of view (same scales as everywhere) and the bellow part is not easy to reach with a brush for detail work.

Not sure about the eye color either.

Still lot of planning how I will work everything out. Plenty of options. From pure black/dray gray to color, zenithal highlight, airbrushing, wet/dry brushing, ... As the wings can be removed, should I paint them separately?

Anyway, this is definitely be an exciting project. Don't want to rush it but can't wait to start it.

 

So the main difficulty will be to find enough colors

 

So far...

 

Quick update...

 

Who said that I was quite motivated with this project?



Not sure about the color of the base.
May be a bit too yellow so it could end with too many colors.
Should I let it as it or should I dry brus the stone?

Comments and suggestions are even more welcome than usual.

 

Good catch. I didn't thought of it.

IMHO, the latest is closer to the original in design and approach but still not a good (Gozilla) movie.
The Emerich one is totally misunderstood, it's not a monster movie, it's the best French comedy ever.

Still, I enjoy watching both.

 

I'll wait once the wings are done and clipped into the body to be sure but it's easy to change that.

 

Thanks a lot.

I have to admit that I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out.

I'm a bit disappointed by some of the sculpt details as I expected the scales to be finer (it lacks the overlapping effect) and those on the tail's end are a bit loose but it's still an enjoyable mini to paint.
It's definitely a good exercise, I feared a bit the amount of detail work with the scales but even if it's still a lot of work, it's not that boring.
I ended going one step too far with an extra wash that erase the previous transition but it still looks good for me.

The spine is also a good surprise and I've learned something interesting with white transition:

As white is covering a lot, ending with pure white often get the final transition too marked (i.e. no transition at all but a white line/spot that ruins the previous effort). My new rule for such things is: get a drop of pure white and add just a brush tip of your previous to it. Enough to break the pure white but not more so the paint still looks white and not the previous color. It ended with a better transition with still the final white effect your expecting.

For instance, my last color for the spine was yellow, as usual I had an intermediary mix (yellow + white) which gives a pale/light yellow, but still a yellow. Here I finished with a white with a very light tint of yellow.

It's not really visible on the last pics but I use the same method for the eyes and the throat and it makes wonders where pure white would have ruined the effect.

I supposed that more experienced painters can use white properly (maybe with glaze or being overly accurate) but for me it's doing the trick.

 

There's actually a start of some mutli-color scales on the top of the head. Look closer, you may find it.

Spoiler

If you don't see it, look even closer

Spoiler

If you still don't see it, don't look closer or you bump your head into the screen