Monster March - Week 2 Dark Elf Dragon Complete

It's time for an update on my Monster March progress. I'm happy to say that my first monster is down! It was touch and go for a minute there, but I got the thing done. I still have half my pledge to go (an old metal Stegadon), so this is sort of the half-way point and the perfect time to finish a project. 

Overall, I'm really happy with the way the dragon came out. Work may seem to be fast, but it was a flurry of activity. It's been really fun though, as a lot of my work lately has been painting blocks of infantry, so taking some time to work on a big monster was a nice change of pace. 

I'm using one of my oil paintings as a backdrop again as it just makes things more fun and brings out a bit of the old fantasy style. It does make the photos a bit busy, but if you're having trouble reading it, just remember it's a big honkin' dragon and you should be fine. Here's a photo of the back so you can see the wings. 

Front shot/rider. I used a corsair helmet as it was the single most dragon-y thing in a 500 mile radius. I can't believe that thing is intended for someone on foot to wear to be honest, but anyway here it is on the head of the notorious brigand known as Filthy Lu'Gar

A close up shot so you can see the paint-work. I have my own techniques to be honest. I like to highlight up to small tiny dots of white that look a bit like the light is catching a shiny surface. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that the dragon was inspired by the nautical themes of classic Dark Elves, so the sea vibe is still strong. It's a sea dragon! 

And that pretty much rounds out my first project for Monster March! Remember, you can stay up to date on all the action going on over at Path of an Outcast (Path of an Outcast). 

 

Monster March 2021 - Dark Elf Dragon Week 1

I'm back for Monster March again, and this year I've pledged my Dark Elf Dragon and possibly an old metal Stegadon depending on how progress on the dragon goes! At the moment this is the state of the dragon after 1 week of work. The Stegadon has been stripped, but is a pile of metal chunklets that need a lot of TLC, so we'll see if I can manage that one.

If you're not familiar with Monster March, head on over to Path of an Outcast to read more: Path of an Outcast: Monster March - Part 1 (swordmasterofhoeth.blogspot.com). It's a community event where the goal is to pledge and paint a monster, large model or pretty much anything in the month of March! About 2 years ago, I successfully painted my Shadowsword for the event. 

Anyway, here's the dragon so far. I started the month with it built and I've spent this week completing the airbrushing on it. I think it took about an hour and a half to get it into this condition.

I've been reading the old 5th Edition Armies book, and was kind of inspired by the background in there of Dark Elves being a seafaring race, so rather than going for black on the dragon I wanted to paint it a bit like it could be a sea dragon! Anyway, I've gone for a sort of blue hide with an orange/red trail down its back. I added a few indications of stripes, but I'm not that happy with them, so that whole area is something I'll be sorting out with the regular brush now. I did the skin on the stomach and wings in a sort of almost flesh tone that's not far off Rakarth Flesh in colour.

I normally name some of the paints that I've used, but in this case, I'm really not sure as it was a lot of layers. I definitely remember base-coating the body in Prussian blue, but I can't remember what I highlighted it with, possibly Vallejo Emerald and white mixed with the blue. The skin was definitely Vallejo Dark Flesh with white mixed and added for highlights.

Anyway, that's my week 1 progress on this thing. It's fun to paint a dragon again after so many years. If I want to finish the Stegadon, I probably need to finish this dragon up pretty quick (I am not looking forward to building the Stegadon - it's the metal howdah with 6 metal crew - I'm going to have to pin them all so I can paint them separately and stand any chance of getting it looking good!)

Speaking of pinning, the dragon has a rider that I have mounted on a block to paint separately.