Dragon-Girl or "Bian the Red" (4)

Hi all,

@ Malevengion- well, not quite each one, but I will have to do a lot of highlights :)

So after I did the basic coloring of the coins I also added the gems, pearls and necklaces. Plus I started the flames in the corners.

After that I added shades and first light effects.

After that I did the highlights - not every coin, but almost :)

Together with Bian this already looks rather cool.

With the background mostly completed and light sources set, I started to paint the dragon-girl.

From the early idea stages I wanted to make her a red dragon - I think this will be a good contrast from the skin color and gold.

So here is "Bian the Red"

A first try was with more orange colored wing skin, but I ended using the same color as the rest of the dragon parts.

The claws, nails and sting will be bronze colored.

Well, this is as far as I got.

I hope you like it :)

Cheers

Klaus

Dragon-Girl (3)

Hi all,

as stated in the last update, I was thinking a lot how to create the skin for the wings.

I did quite some experimenting and ended with using ProCreate.

For this I rolled the ProCreate very flat and then rolled it onto a sheet of crumpled aluminium foil and let it cure. 

 

Once it was cured I cut it into fitting sections and glued it to the wing skeleton.

 

And then I used liquid GreenStuff to smoothen the seams.

 

It was a bit of work and I had to do several rounds of liquid GreenStuff.

 

 

But I think it was worth it :)

 

With the build complete I decided to take some "light reference photos".

For this I cut simple candles to a small shape (so I can position it where needed)

 

 

and then took photos with the 4 candles in position where the "flames" will be.

 

I will use these photos as reference for painting her.

 

 

Speaking of painting :)
As usual I primed everything black

and then started painting the base.

This time I used a rather cold grey as base for the scene

 

 

and added some shades.

 

 

Next were the gold coins...

using my usual gold base color.

Just this little batch of coins took me a good hour to paint :(

If I'd have known how time consuming just this base color for the coins would be...

 

 

I probably would've tried something else.

 

 

All-in-all it took me the better part of 6 hours just to (base) paint the coins.

 

 Next will be the jewels and gems, plus the piece of cloth on the pillar, and then shading and highlighting according to the reference photos.

Hopefully I haven't bitten off more than I can chew....

I hope you like today's update and I look forward to your feedback and comments.

Cheers

Klaus

Dragon-Girl (2)

Hi all,

thank you for your comments and feedback.

@ Joe B- Well, with today's update I hope the pose will make a bit more sense. I envision her maybe kneeling like in a prayer and just at this moment looking up.

Well, lets see if it will be convincing.

@ Malevengion - yes, I understand, but on the other side, I wouldn't know where else to position the tail - especially as I wanted to have her "bum" visible :P

Lets see what you say after today's update.

For the base I sculpted the platform from standard water-based clay, let it dry "leather hard" and then created some silicone molds for casting.

The advantage is that sculpting with water-based clay (at least for me) is faster, and as long as I won't let it cure completely, I can re-water it and make it usable again.

Once the molds were cured I poured the platform using my tired and true "Stewalin" plaster.

The pillar looks a bit unsteady, but that's OK.

With some of the leftovers I positioned some rock debris on the platform.

Once the platform was done I started to position the "stash".

Lots of coins and gems.

But I also realized that the sword is too short, so I had to add some more rock debris for the sword to rest on.

Once this was settled I sculpted the hand holding the sword.

After baking the hand, the SuperSculpey sculpting was completed and I switched over to using GreenStuff for the details, starting with a first flame for the "crown" as well as stating the left foot.

Here is now the completed crown.

Next was the shoulder armor using (dragon) scales as material.

Here you can see the completed left foot.

Then I used some ProCreate that I had previously rolled over some crumpled aluminium-foil to create leather bracers.

I also added some goblets and jewlery to the top of the broken pillar. In addition you can see some flames in the foreground that I will use for light sources.

Over the next few days I sculpted her chest piece, gauntlets and chains (it always takes 3-6 hours for the GreenStuff to cure safe to touch, so I can always only sculpt some small pieces and then wait)

I think the pose looks a lot more convincing now, doesn't it?

And the last detail was the ornament for her thigh.

I still have to sculpt the ornament for the other thigh, and then I will finally have to tackle the skin for the wings...

So, what do you think?
Anything amiss?

Cheers

K

Dragon-Girl (1)

Hi all,

thank you for your comments and feedback.

While I'm still experimenting with the finish for the hunt diorama (I think I will add this background),

I already started a new project.

Dragon-Girl.

A Dragon-Girl hybrid - the topic was inspired by a contest theme on DeviantArt.

It will be considerably smaller than the last ones, as she's "only" 16cm standing.

Here you can see the armature with the first pieces of clay on it.

The advantage here is that it is fully posable, while already providing some stability.

 

Next I started with the face.

This is a very new scale to me. Quite larger than any WH40K faces, but a lot smaller than the last ones.

 

While the heads ( I tried 4 different versions) were baked and cooling off (as seen in the background) I added the wing armature.

 

 

Once pleased with the pose, I started to add mass.

 

 

I decided to go with this rather alien face and started to add the armature for horns as well as a central piece that will hold (stylized) flames.

 

A first version of the feet.

 

The horns and ears for the head.

 

Then I worked out a bi-handed sword for the girl.

 

This will make the pose more plausible.

 

With the head

 

 

For the base I have the idea of a round section with her "stash", lots of gold coins and gems.

For the coins I started to punch various sizes and strengths of plastic card.

 

Mounted the head in final position.

 

and added a bony ridge to the back.

 

Worked up the chest :)

 

And the entire length of the back now has the bony ridge plus a scorpion-like sting at the end.

 

Well, that's as far as I got since 22nd May (when I started).

What do you think?
Cheers

Klaus