An urge to paint a Red Dragon [WIP - Basecoats to First Mid-tones, Underbelly, Resculpting the Tail]

If like me you are a miniature hobbyist who loves reading fantasy, then chances are you would have had an urge to paint a red dragon sometime in your life. From The Hobbit to Game of Thrones to Dragonlance and to (almost) any fantasy world setting ever created, red dragons are about as ubiquitous as space is to science fiction. Since most dragon miniatures cost a pretty penny - for example Games Workshop's Smaug sells for a whopping £295 - I had to make do with a cheaper yet adequately sized dragon also from Games Workshop which sells for roughly seven times less.  

Red Dragon after initial light coats of the first mid-tone

Red Dragon with underbelly, horns and claws at the basecoat stage

Tip of dragon's tail had broken off - it wasn't even in the package - so I had to resculpt it

Because the way I'm painting the dragon entails a lot of manhandling of the miniature, I decided to use mainly Citadel paints for its high durability. Ideally we shouldn't be touching any part of a miniature while its being painted for fear of leaving oily residues on the surface or chipping the paint work. But the scale of this dragon - measuring 14 cm in length - which sometimes necessitates it being held by hand while being painted as well as the possibility it may suffer yet more manhandling later on as I try to fit it into a (yet-to-be-determined) diorama, I felt Citadel paints was the way to go. 

Red Dragon, work-in-progress - first mid-tones on the red scales and on the horns/claws, ...

... a purplish dark red wash over the scales and a completed underbelly

Citadel Skull White was used to prime the dragon while Scab Red, Khemri Brown and Ratskin Flesh was used as the basecoat for the dragon's scales, horn/claws and underbelly respectively. An initial mid-tone (first of three planned) of Red Gore was applied to the scales followed by a purplish dark red wash. Care was taken to ensure most of the wash ended up on the ridges in between the scales. Similarly, the horn/claws were given an initial mid-tone (one of two planned) of a Khemri Brown and Bleached Bone mix followed by a wash of Devlan Mud. Meanwhile, the dragon's tongue/mouth was basecoated with a pinkish Vallejo Model Color hue (the only paint from this brand used so far).  

Red dragon's soft underbelly [completed]

As with the scales, the wings were washed over with a purplish dark red mix

To date, the only thing I have completed is the dragon's underbelly. After basecoating with Ratskin Flesh, the underbelly was washed with Ogryn Flesh followed by a first mid-tone layer of Bestigor Flesh then a second mid-tone layer of Ungor Flesh before it was dry brushed with Bleached Bone. This was followed by lighter wash of Ogryn Flesh and yet another dry brush coat of Bleached Bone.

Nature's own 'red dragons'

For inspiration on how the scales of a red dragon could be painted, I am taking a leaf out of mother nature's book. Specifically, I will be using photo references of Scleropages legendrei (super red arowana) and Naja pallida (red spitting cobra) to help me paint a combination of the two. As an overall guide, I will likely based the general look of the red dragon on how Weta Workshop's version Smaug the Terrible turned out. So I guess the final product would be an amalgamation of three ideas - two from nature and one from Middle Earth. Only if, that is, everything turns out as it should.