Shimmerscale the life sized FairyDragon

I have the immense honor of getting the opportunity to paint a resin test print of Shimmerscale from the Reaper Bones 6 Kickstarter, sculpted to perfection by Christine Van Patten.  Anyone familiar with my past work, or my roleplaying style, knows fairy dragons are my JAM, so this is going to be a labor of absolute love.

If you want to get your own Shimmerscale (and trust me, you want at least one!) add the Briarwood Vale expansion to the Pledge Manager!  I believe the bones version we will all get in the kickstarter will be translucent, at least the wings will be?  Don't quote me!  I'm painting a resin master, so it is a solid grey to start.  I'm very much looking forward to painting multiple styles! Most recent photos on top, going to the beginning at the bottom.

Finished Photos

Ta da!  Lots of layers of paint on the base too, starting with the "sand" and moving up to layers of "water" with reflections.  Shimmerscale is ready to travel to ReaperCon 2023!

Work in Progress

Wings complete!  Time to start working on his base.  

I don't often actually do my full stream of consciousness blog blather on this platform, but I'm feeling it right now.  This dragon is taking me way longer than I'd expected when I started, and I got to thinking about why a few days ago.  I haven't painted a mini this large in... decades, and never to this level of quality.  So, of course it is taking a while!  No matter how long it takes to finish, I don't think I could ever not love this dragon though, I mean, come on, it is a big fairydragon!  The instant I saw it being sculpted, I knew I had to paint one ASAP.  It will be the first thing I pull out and paint from the Bones 6 Kickstarter, hands down (unless the tiny fairy dragons call to me first.)  So after ReaperCon last year I started pestering Ron to let me paint one for the box art.  I definitely felt like a small child asking a parent for a cookie before dinner, refusing to stop until the parent finally says yes just to make the question stop.  Hopefully Ron didn't feel the same way.  :D  I'm not good at asking for things, so I made myself do it and I'm so glad I did! Hopefully my interpretation will be good enough for the box art when I'm done.

Was it smart to choose such a complex color scheme for my first large piece painted to this level of quality?  I mean, probably not, but that is how I do.  When I got my first tattoo, it was also massive.  Many of my friends who had tattoos said I was bonkers and should have started with something small.  But I didn't want something small.  I only fainted once.  And my second tattoo was even bigger!  I guess I like biting off more than I should chew and seeing what happens.

So this is how it is going now!  Wings are covered in stippling and glazing with a rainbow of colors.  The spectral white parts of the wings will be refined and stippled next, and then, color shift sparkles over the wings!  Concrete Minerals multichrome eyeshadow mixed with Vallejo matte varnish.  Everything else is Reaper paints.  I'm excited that he is coming more ALIVE.  I'm torn between wanting him to be done so I can work on other things, and wanting to paint him forever.  :D

Many layers of different colors of sparkles, and normal paint as well.  Wings next!

Getting some smooth blending on the purple scales before I start to add sparkles!

Solidified and improved the base coat with layers of wet blending with a proper brush.
Now all the fun can begin!

You know who is an amateur with an airbrush? This guy!  But I get just a little bit better every time I use it. Cannot recommend the Reaper Vex airbrush enough. I got the mega bundle with the compressor and accessories, saved me time researching parts and got straight to painting! And Aaron Lovejoy of Miniature Monthly's airbrush classes.  I took one in 2020 during Adeptican't and it was amazing. Cult of 40 for life!  Working out where my base coat colors will go quickly with the airbrush.

Resin test print!  I gave him a little love, removing some little bumps left from the supports, and filling in tiny holes they made with green stuff.