Wood Elves - Woody Eight
King Golfindir and the Viridian Dragon
Part Eight: Flying High Painting My Viridian Dragon
Hello everyone, many thanks for joining me again it’s been some weeks since my last post, work just always seems to get in the way.
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| King & Dragon (#jhbackdrops) |
There is something special about taking a massive piece of plastic or metal and turning it into the centrepiece of an army. Some of you may have read that for a long time you, my Wood Elves have been missing that true, terrifying overhead presence. There has been mention of an eagle here or there. But, but nothing commands the tabletop quite like a dragon.
Enter the Viridian Dragon the legendary steed of King Golfindir himself.
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| Close Up |
Here is a look at how I brought this emerald beast from bare resin to the canopy soaring monster sitting on my display shelf today.
Step 1: Priming & Building the Base Tones
When painting a creature this large, your base coats do a lot of the heavy lifting. I started with a solid black primer to keep the deep shadows underneath the wings and between the thick scales.
For the main body, I wanted a deep, vibrant forest green rather than a drab olive. I layered up from a dark moss green to a bright emerald, keeping the transitions smooth across the large muscle groups and neck contours.
Hobby Tip: For giant monsters, drybrushing or using an airbrush for the base layers saves hours and gives you a great starting gradient before you go in with a fine brush for detail work!
Step 2: The Wings & Underbelly 
The membranes of the wings and the underbelly scales needed to contrast with the dark green body. I opted for a warm, pale green tone for the wing leather.
The Wings: Washed with a thin brown shade to catch all the delicate veining, then drybrushed back up with off-white to make them look like stretched leather.
The Ventral Scales: Highlighted with a lighter yellow-greens to draw the eye along the underside of the torso.
Step 3: Details, Eyes, and Fangs
Once the big areas were done, it was time to bring the beast to life:
The Eyes: Bright glowing orange-red to make her look ancient, deadly.
Horns & Talons: Graduated from a dark charcoal at the base to a bleached bone at the tips. This took me a long time and a few glazes. Its more of a transition rather than look.
The Rider: Painting King Golfindir separately before gluing him into the saddle made a world of difference for getting into those tight spaces.
Step 4: The Base and Banner
Luckily this dragon base wasn't just an afterthought it is part of the original resin dragon. I used it to style it heavily on the Athel Loren theme; not only does it come with its only long twisting dead tree, is also has a Dragons Egg hidden away. I used lots of browns and washes to dry brush it up and then ink or wash it back down, (in fact this was done before I painted anything else and should be step 0.1) in the end result is lost in the photos but ever angle gives a slightly different shade and that’s what I wanted.
Then the additions were simple: autumn leaves, mossy slate rocks, and a lavish sprinkling of static grasses to this reflect this massive beast roost deep on the forest floor, often this results in the base not feeling finished until this very finial stage of static grass tufts, and here less is more.
Last we have another simple design of my own creation, based upon original as explained in previous blogs for these elves. This time I opted for a red background to represent command, the green and yellow are the wood, and the dragon motive is an adaptation from a few different shield heraldry’s that I have simplified. All this is hand drawn out roughly and once happy redrawn onto calligraphy paper. Then painted with standard watercolours.
On the Tabletop
Seeing the finished dragon standing tall beside the rest of the host makes all the hours of scale highlighting completely worth it. She (Dragon) easily takes center stage in the collection, and I can't wait to see how he (King) performs, and how much terror they instil in actual game on the tabletop!
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| Different Angle Close Up |
Fable - King Golfindir and the Viridian Dragon Thrax:
Long before he wore the crown, the young prince Golfindir discovered a lone, vibrant egg hidden deep within an ancient grove. With quiet patience, he tended the spark of life in secret until the Viridian Dragon Thrax emerged. Bonded to his soul and now grown into a mighty beast of emerald scale and deadly grace, it carries the now King above the canopy. Woe! Those that behold that sight.
Hopefully more to follow in the coming months and weeks. Feel free to tweak any specific paint colours, brand names, or assembly details to match your exact painting process, remember its all about what you like doing.
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