Pumpkin Dragon, Adult

 

 

This is a much larger pumpkin dragon to go along with the smaller one I did recently. I really enjoy all of the pumpkin creatures I got during October - It seems like it would make for a very satisfying fantasy adventure to have the heroes go smashing evil pumpkins. November is still a pumpkiny season, so maybe I'll keep it going. Painting pumpkins is super relaxing, too - I could use a bit more of that vibe. 

This base is a custom oval size - somewhere in the ballpark of 75mm / "huge". 3D printing bases is amazing - I never seem to have enough of the right size and shape; the printer has paid for itself in just bases many times over. 

My color palate here was nearly identical to that of the smaller dragon, but the color of the picture is much closer to the eye than that post - I think the greens and browns in this piece really balance out the image so it doesn't get over corrected by the phone.

Pumpkin Dragon, Wyrmling / Harvest Dragon

 

 

 I have been struggling to do hobby stuff since the start of autumn, due to other responsibilities, which is really unfortunate because this is my favorite time of year. This also seems to be the season for the absolute best miniatures releases. So, to shake off my low productivity, what better way than to paint a seasonal release! This cute little dragon is from the under appreciated Dillon Olney, and took paint like a champ for a speed-paint. I had such a fun time, I will start work on a bigger pumpkin dragon mamma dragon. Not sure what the timeline will be there, but ill definitely post more thematic Halloween treats this month.

Color balance was tough on the photo here - I went with a more naturalistic orange, but the smartphone wanted to crank this think up to neon red.

Young Green Dragon / Venomfang

 

 

This fellow is an important encounter in LMoP - he may not be the BBEG, but has the potential to be super deadly. What's more, he is almost certain to survive and become a recurring threat. 

Paint wise this piece is pretty simple and was completed quickly. In retrospect I could've upped the contrast - under the bright lights it looks a little washed out. That said, I recall consciously going for a brighter look. <shrug> Just an excuse to revisit the green dragons again in the future; I definitely enjoy green color palates.

A bright spot here for me is the base. I typically sculpt my bases the old-school way with mixed media: polymer clay and green stuff. These days it isn't really necessary, but pushing clay is very calming and lets me really tell the story I want. In this case I was inspired by some unusual terrain I have seen from time to time - elevated grass mounds in flood plains and marshes. Nothing too fancy, but I do like the effect and I'll continue to toy with the execution of the concept. 

This model was completed in 2020, but I have yet to share it anywhere, so it feels like a new accomplishment. I feel like I'm finally making some meaningful progress towards completing LMoP, and That is some nice motivation to push through.

Wind Dragon, Grenadier

 

I enjoy painting dragons, but this one had a rough journey. I completed this *10 year WIP* this weekend - whiew! I love this model, but it was a struggle from day one and I was never quite able to make it live up to my vision-in-paint. It is an old piece, originally made in 1985, and when I got it it was a rescue piece - caked in paint and missing parts. I do enjoy salvaging the classics, but maybe I should've let this one go because it got me off on the wrong foot. 

 In particular the eye area was a hot mess. I have seen some versions of this piece with beautiful expressive eyes that weren't possible for me. I basically free-handed them in, such was the damage. The other parts were easier - the tail, etc, were simple to re-sculpt. still, a bad foot. I had an idea for the dragon being a brass dragon of sorts, with scales corroded with age to create a pattern. I think I came close to what I wanted, but missed the mark. The claws aren’t right; I tried a few things but none quite stuck. The blue-green is a little too bold, and I think I should've gone with a color palate similar to the hair instead. For the base I wanted an arid theme so the verdigris could remain the focus, but it always felt incomplete despite fussing with the idea for years.

Ah well, not every piece scratches that itch, some I'm just glad to have off the shelf-o-shame. I'm sure in time I will regard it as a labor of love.

Green Dragon and Maiden / "Cat and Mouse"

 

I'm taking the lazy way out this week with a straight re-post of a previous miniature. Is quite old, though, so risks being lost to the dusty corners of the internet otherwise. It is one of my personal favorite pieces in my collection, so it definitely deserves a blog post. This mini diorama / miniature set dates back to 2013 and is probably the last true "competition" miniatures that I ever attempted to paint. It was done for an annual paint competition on the reaper forums: "There Be Dragons." To my recollection it won the category it was in, but the old forums are long gone so I'm not positive what the details of the contest were. In any case, I was pleased with the outcome. I do remember being time constrained on this project, but I definitely had inspiration and I worked fanatically on it up until the deadline. I must admit I am a bit curious how well I could do on a piece like this now - I consider myself a much better ( and far more efficient) painter. The time commitment for this type of thing is brutal, though, and these days my hobby focus is far more on the completion of "sets" of miniatures in the context of my whole collection rather than single showstopper pieces. 

Other than gratuitous use of gem effects, I really love the mini diorama aspect of this miniature. It can either be a vignette, or the maiden can be removed to act as a playable piece; It makes for a nice game play encounter. The bases were hand sculpted in an era before the rise of 3D printing, the dragon model is from Reapers Pathfinder line and the maiden is modified from an old Privateer Press miniature.

 

Jabberwock, Ral Partha

 

OK, Ill be the first to admit that this is a less than satisfying re-post. I was feeling the itch to put something up, but it is very rainy and I am limited to outdoor photography for the time being. So, time to recycle; it is a piece I love! This was originally posted in 2010 on CMON - those were heady days. This Jabberwock was an effort at painting for contests. It did decently, managing a silver medal at one of the Denver gaming conventions. I remember the critique from the judges acutely -  The paint was great but the subject is too two-dimensional; it lacked visual interest from all directions. 

This advice has become the cornerstone of my more ambitious projects, especially my own sculpting - it has to be interesting from every direction. That said, models like this photograph beautifully, whereas sculpts best viewed in person are often difficult to get a good angle on them for photography.

 I especially enjoy the eyes on this piece, and it was the start of a limited case study in painting crazy-looking large creature eyes - I still emphasize that to this day. The photographic style on the other hand has changed quite a lot. It is indicative of my presentation at that time: complex collages of images, sometimes inset, and a bold signature ("Funnymouth" being and old handle). This was maybe the best of them, but it still makes me smirk.

I should also note that, like the recently shared Ral Partha wyvern, this model is a repaint from my original childhood collection.

 Reading back, it seems to be a fairly seminal piece in many ways - worthy of a re-post after all? I'll let you decide.

Wyvern, Ral Partha

This wyvern is a special piece - it is possibly the longest serving miniature in my entire collection! This miniature came from the resale cabinet at my local FLGS when I was a kid, sometime in the late 80s. I remember the display of metal figures with great nostalgia; ogling all the little metal sculptures made my imagination come alive. I even managed to give it a paintjob with the Testors model paints I had at the time. Little did I know this early experience would plant a seed that would take hold many years later. I  dug this little gem out of a box of old junk after two decades in storage as my interest in the hobby rekindled. Eventually, I got around to stripping the original damaged paintjob and giving her a fresh coat. Even now, it is now one of the older paint-jobs on display in my cabinet. Who knows, maybe Ill paint it again some day.

Props to the legendary Julie Guthrie - this classic sculpt still holds up well!

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.

Adult White Dragon

 

My most recent miniature! She is close to the largest piece I have painted, and easily the largest miniature I have 3d printed. In order to fit this beast onto my small resin printer I had to chop it into a number of pieces, and get creative with the reconstruction. I was good experience keying parts, and while it gave me some issues, I'm sure my next large prints will be better for it.

 This piece is an updated dragon from MZ4250s collection of free STLs, and was painted for the monthly competition. She took many sessions to print and a long time to assemble, so it really cut into my painting time. Fortunately, the chromatic dragons are relatively.... monochromatic. Unfortunately, I have a really hard time with white / off white color palates. I decided to go with a multi-tonal gray. She is still obviously a white dragon, and the light grays would blend with the skies of her gloomy homeland. It was an interesting painting experience, trying to lean so much on such a big piece so quickly, but ultimately it feels very rewarding to have a huge dragon completed.

These updated dragons from MZ are really nice; true to the source material. Seeing one completed inspires me to make the entire set of dragons from his line. A massive undertaking, but a worthy goal.

Finally, a shout out to my son. Those of you who are familiar with this miniature might notice that the stance is very different from the defaults. My son spent some time in Blender with the rigged file to cook up this very dynamic pose. I think it reflects the aggressive behavior of these beastly dragons perfectly.