A Griffon under Glass

Greetings all, today I can combine a couple of elements into something deeply nifty. The groundwork I showed last time is the foundation for this:

This is a diorama commission intended for display (although I have also made a more normal base so that the Griffon can be used by the client). Quite a lot of the elements have been seen before - the Griffon for example - so I shall focus on the newer elements of the paint job.

One of the questions some may have is why has this taken so long? It was started in February. Truthfully it is this: Two house moves, sourcing the cover (see below) for a sensible price and then solving the logistical problems of fitting the Griffon into the cover using the base. The house moves were the biggest problem as everything has to go in boxes and the Griffon always seemed to be the last to be unpacked. Thankfully it is finished now and ready to go! My client has been very patient and for that I thank him warmly! Now, painting! Check out the wings, these were almost my undoing! The pattern is a modification of the natural Peregrine Falcon colouring and was achieved with an excellent brush, a magnifier and steady hands. Take lots of breaks when doing long duration, close work as the eye and brain get very tired and there is a temptation to rush.

The colours of the rider - he's a roleplay character - were a dark blue and black with a unicorn as his sigil. Try as I might I could not get a unicorn on the cloak so the pennant got a pair of them instead. The very bright silver is made by painting pure Mithril Silver - I still keep a pot - and then shading with very thin blue and black inks mixed with thinner medium.

I toyed with adding another colour with the gemstones, perhaps a red? But I was worried that the sheer size of the gems and their placement would make them a dominant colour. Instead I decided that a nice blue surrounded by pale gold would do just nicely.

And there you have it! A lovely display piece and hopefully an appreciated present for its ultimate recipient. If anyone is curious the cover is a classic cloche, a sort of mini-greenhouse. They can often be a little easier to get hold of - unless American, you guys have all the covers ever! - and have that pretty handle to pick them up by. Well, until next time folks, oh and next time is my 200th post. Good lord, I'll have to think of something nifty for it.

TTFN

Work in Progress: High Elf Griffon Rider

This is part one of what I suspect will be a rather long series of posts! One of my latest commissions is to paint the High Elf Griffon rider from the Island of Blood box set. Not just paint though, construct a mighty scenic base for this critter and make a nice presentation case. Just for now though, I am working on the griffon itself:

This is one of my favourite models of recent years. I just love the posing and the realistic sculpting of the bird and cat elements of the griffon. At the moment it obviously lacks the wings (in order to make it easier to paint the rider. After cleaning, liquid green stuffing and priming the griffon model I got to work on the cat half.

Getting the tiger element the right colour is interesting. You want it orangey, a rusty brown. Trouble is that orange is not really the right colour! After messing about with a number of different shades I finished up mixing Macharius Solar Orange and Khemri Brown in a roughly 60:40 ratio. This is highlighted by adding increasing amounts of Dheneb Stone. Dheneb Stone is also used to paint the pale underbelly. This helps to link the colours of the underbelly to the top half. The stripes (and the griffon's feathers) are painted in German Cammo Black Brown (or Scorched Brown and Chaos black mix) and were painted from extensive references.

The bird element was so obviously a falcon that I decided to paint it as one of my favourite birds, the peregrine falcon. Again, extensive reference images were used to get the markings just right. German Cammo Black Brown is used to basecoat the dark feathers, Dheneb Stone the light. The dark feathers have the quill texture painted in with black and the light feathers have the same thing done in white. Then the classic peregrine edging to the feathers was added. The dark feathers were edged in a mix of Cammo Black Brown and Dheneb Stone and the Black Brown shade was used on the white.

The skin turned out perfectly. A clean coat of Iyanden Darksun is highlighted with Skull White and shaded with Gryphonne Sepia. That is it. The most perfect colour for bird skin! Claws and beak are painted in black highlighted with the addition of Khemri Brown.

Thats it for today, I will be working on the wings and rider next week.

TTFN!