2nd WIP Zombie Dragon on Swamp Base

[slorak]

I have some WIP pictures for a 2nd Zombie dragon I am working on. This one is on a Swamp base.

I am trying something a little bit different than the first dragon. The wings are painted up more with paint and less with the glaze. I didn't want to copy the same pattern as the first one but still wanted a "tannish" wing membrane. Much more work still needs to be done with the wings.

The base for the skin color was a darker Cayman Green. To this I highlighted up by mixing in a bit of bonewhite to the base color and washing with a brown/purple ink wash. This would set the base tone for the flesh. I will go back and highlight up probably to a dead flesh color and then "mottle" it with a sponging technique using various darker tone inks.

I am keeping with a "tan" theme with the scales to offset the darker skin.

Quite a bit of work still needs to be done as this is very much still a WIP. Aside from the base pretty much everything else is definitely not complete. Speaking of which - I am very pleased with the overall look of the base. I created a raised ledge for the feet to stand on out of cork. I then filled in the other areas will milliput and coated it with a textured acrylic paste. Once all of this was dry I glued on various consistencies of flock and static grass. I drilled a few holes for the "cat tails" and then proceeded a 4 step process of filling in the center with a resin. to get a murky look to the resin the first few layers were mixed with a drop of camo green paint and swirled in with a toothpick. To the 3rd layer I sprinkled in a bit of fine flock and pushed it towards the edges to create "pond scum". The 4th layer was mainly to get a level surface (the resin tends to shrink in the middle when it dries.)

Front of Dragon:


Back of Dragon:


Side of Dragon:


Base Detail:


Any comments, critiques, criticisms, or suggestions are always welcome. As this is a WIP it will most definitely change and any suggestions will definitely be considered! Thanks again for looking.

Cheers,

-Mike

[Wookie]

I know it's early days for the dragon but I think this one will potentially be better than the first zombie dragon (IMHO). I think the tan/green scheme will make it look more rotting and infested than the previous dead and decaying zombie dragon. The base is really kickin'! I love the whole skeleton in the brackish water thing...sets the model off perfectly. Looking forward to the finished product.

[Senigar]

I can't wait to see the finished product. This green scheme sounds like it will go well. That base is really good too, the skeleton is a great idea.

[Woundead]

The base was really awsome. Too bad so much of it gets coverd with the dragon on :/.

[slorak]

Originally Posted by Woundead

The base was really awsome. Too bad so much of it gets coverd with the dragon on :/.

That's true that the dragon is over the base - so you won't get a top view of it once it is done - but everything is visible from the sides. I purposely raised the dragon up so that I could take advantage of visibility from the side.

Cheers,

-Mike

[Woundead]

Originally Posted by slorak

That's true that the dragon is over the base - so you won't get a top view of it once it is done - but everything is visible from the sides. I purposely raised the dragon up so that I could take advantage of visibility from the side.

Cheers,

-Mike

Yeah, you made a good choice raising it. I looked again at the side picture and you can se the base nice there. Good job.

[Mavrik]

I would be able to appreciate it a lot more had you used a white backdrop, I can't see anything >_<

[slorak]

Unfortunately at the moment I have only a black backdrop big enough for this size of a figure. Hopefully these finished shots will show up better.

I have finished the dragon. I am quite pleased with the contrast between the skin and scales. Scales started with a tan base and were washed with brown ink. This was highlighted up through an ivory.

The skin was a bit of an experiment. I started playing around with layering a watered down purple/brown ink wash over the layers of highlight up to a dead flesh color. I dabbled in mixing a bit of yellow brown into the dead flesh mix to give a splotchyness to the skin. I think this worked out well.

The rider is pretty much the reverse of the 1st dragon I finished. Purple and red color has been swapped as with the sword as well.

The base turned out much better than I thought. I am very pleased with the layering of the resin and plan on writing up an article more in depth as to how it was created. In retrospect I would have found longer pins to use for the stalk of the cat-tails as the plastic ones are very delicate. At any rate - here are some last pictures of the final version:

Front:


Back:


Left:


Right Detail:



As per usual I always look forward to feedback. More pictures can be found up on my website. Thanks again!

-Mike

[Wookie]

Definitely better than the first IMO. Even without the base I like the dragon's color scheme better than the first. What model is this? I'm not familiar with it.

Sincerely,

The Wookie

[slorak]

My client shipped the parts to me but I believe this is an older classic version of the zombie dragon. I am not 100% sure but I think the rider goes with this dragon. I agree with you - I think the coloration came together on this one in the end.

It is kind of funny - I find that when I am painting a figure there is always an "Ass" phase were the paint just looks like crap - and then all of a sudden it all pulls together!

Cheers,

-Mike