They have enthralled mankind for centuries, and are known in one shape, form or another to most cultures on the earth.
To my mind, arguably one of the best known by name is probably Smaug, from J.R.R.Tolkien's The Hobbit. A wonderful introduction and scene setter for the later trilogy, The Lord of the Rings.
I first read The Hobbit as a young teen-ager, and haven't really ever looked back since. I for one am eagerly awaiting the cinematic release of the movie! I really hope they do the story justice and the visual effects of Smaug are second to none.
Well, here's my verison of Smaug, thanks to GW's Dragon model from their Lord of the Rings range.
A handsome beast he is too, and quite a hefty all metal kit requiring the usually drilling, pinning, gluing and puttying, before we can get onto painting him.
Here he is in all his magnificence.
And of course to complete, the title roll of the story; Bilbo Baggins. Here perhaps we see him reminiscing about his journey with the dwarves so many years ago.
"Look out for the dragon Bilbo!"
"Dragon!? Nonsense, there hasn't been a dragon in these parts for a thousand years...."
Dear old Bilbo, and his most troublesome ring!
Amazing figures, and two I am yet to paint! Great inspiration.
ReplyDeleteVery nicely done indeed, Scott. Of course, I've seen him in the flesh .. er, lead ... now.
ReplyDeleteAmazing! Could you offer a painting tutorial please?
ReplyDeleteHi Misha, Ok fairly quickly here goes:
ReplyDeleteI use a mixture of GW citadel paints and the foundry range (both water based acrylics).
After assembly, the model was spray undercoated with citadel black spray. A couple of light coats are better than a thick coat which would obscure detail. Once dry the model was checked for areas where the spray had missed, and these were painted with thinned black paint. Once dry the red scale areas wher painted GW scab red. this was washed with a 50/50 mix of devlan mud and badab black wash. Again once dry the red`areas were dry brushed in successively brighter reds sin lighter coats tarting with the scab red, then blood red, then foundry bright red highlight. The yellow areas were worked up from dull orange, then successive layers of lighter flat yellows from foundry. These were painted on rather than dry brushed. The boney spikes, spines, horns, claws and teeth, were worked up from bestial brown , to snakebite brown to yellow to bleached bone to white.
The tongue was scab red and blood red, and the eyes yellow with a black cats eye shaped pupil.
Varnished in polyurethane gloss, then two coats of vallejo acrlic matt varnish.
And based using various grades of fine gravel and cat litter, and static grass, flock medium and clump foliage.