Adult Black Dragon

 Fresh from the painting table! Well, the kitchen table, in the spot where I paint, much to the annoyance of my patient wife. It has been a whirlwind couple of project days getting this beast of a mini ready for a "chromatic dragon" paint contest MZ4250 is holding. Normally I struggle with short timelines on projects, but the top prize is an FDM printer which I could definitely put to good use but have no budget for. So, I decided to throw my hat into the ring by painting the biggest piece I have ever completed (perhaps comparable to the adult white dragon I completed previously). 

It was probably a poor choice - I had a good amount of indecision with reposing the model and some trouble with early print attempts (file scaling problems I didn't anticipate), which cut into my working time considerably. Assembly on these huge dragons is a bear - I had to cut and key it in Meshmixer to fit it on my Photon build plate. That means a lot of prep time was required. I also printed a base element (from Cast 'N Play, I believe), so that I could mount the model somewhat elevated in the air. It was a tricky pin job to secure it well, but the end result is very sturdy. The model is hollow, so very light, and I weighted the base with nickels to keep it stable, which worked out well. 

The paintjob itself was a bit of a random walk. I had some vague ideas, but only about 12 hours of paint time available to me when all was said and done. For me, with a model of this size, that is firmly in "speed paint" territory. A lot of people have been playing with the variety of colored metallic paints that have recently become available so I wanted to joint in. I knew I wanted to break out Reapers new "black Pearl" color and a collection of of Turbodork paints I had accumulated but had yet to try. The fam was pretty convincing that it should be a purple-black dragon, rather than the traditional green-black that is the norm for D&D art, and I am really pleased with that decision. I think it reads well as a black dragon, and I have plenty of room on the palate for other purple dragons down the road (looking at you amethyst dragon). 

When I completed my Adult White Dragon I mentioned that I might try to complete a whole cycle of MZ4250's chromatic dragons, and with this second entry, it seems like I am committed. Given that it is such a big piece in my collection, and sure to grab some attention on my display shelf, I think it is worthy of being a named dragon. I'm liking " Susyalgra the Odious,"  what do you think? Ill have to come up with a name for the other dragon as well.

 In terms of utility on the game table I had the black dragon Aulicus from I2: Tomb of the Lizard king in mind. The encounter in that module looks positively vicious - TPK material. This should fit the bill; looking forward to it.