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I finally decided to start a fantasy work in progress log! I've got a huge backlog of Skaven and High Elves, not to mention the lord of the rings models. Some of you may know that myself and my team at Green Dragon, work on a model painting service here: http://www.greendragongames.co.uk/painting/
I intend to post a few works-in-progress from our painting service as and when they come up, so keep an eye on the thread, lots of Lord of the Rings related stuff in the works and lots of great pictures!

First up, I was working on a High Elf Prince mounted on Griffin for a Warhammer Fantasy as a showcase model. Here are some photos as we jump in halfway through, the rider himself is complete minus the banner, and the Griffin only has wings complete. I love how his white lance shines in the photographs, true High Elf magic at work! I designed my own color scheme for my Elven army.

Now for part two with some not-so-massive images!

A wash of good old Devlan Mud was applied to the underside of the wings (yes we will continue to use it until there is none left, only then will we turn to the new paints!) this helped give that textured natural look that I wanted to achieve for the whole beast. Meanwhile I basecoated the rear of the beast, which was to be a lion/cheetah hybrid type body with Iyanden Darksun, the most "liony" color I could find.


Next up I took some time to give his coats of armour another wash of Devlan Mud, just to bring out the nooks and crannys. I then painted the final piece of the rider, his scabbard. I do plan to come back to the rider at the end just to perfect a few bits.


Following on from the last post, I finished off the banner and gave the look another go. The Banner was highlighted and I picked out the symbol afterwards for that extra detail.


Next up, I moved down to his Talons and gave them a basecoat of Iyanden Darksun, I'll come back to these in the next post when its dry.


After that I returned to the rear of the beast, using a mix of Tallern Flesh and Devlan Mud (again, old paint names) I managed to create a realistic looking fur effect, not bad for a piece of plastic! I followed this up with some Bestial Brown Cheetah spots as the creature lunges forward.


Final image for this update, just a look at the other side completed with spots.

A little work on the front half of the creature, Iyanden Darksun base layers x 2 followed by a wash of Devlan Mud to bring out the bumps.


I based the talons black and then brought out the highlights with some chainmail to emphasize the sharp danger of it's claws.

The last post of this thread then as it gives me great pleasure to loudly announce the two words at the bottom of this post. First of all we went back to finish the rear of the hybrid beast and carefully paint the pads of his paws.


We then move to the front to finish the eagle part of the creature, first step was a layer of Rhinox Hide over the Black basecoat.


We then add a layer of Balor Brown to blend the lighter feathers on his head in with the rest of his front half.


Finally, we touch up the beak with some Abaddon Black before carefully filling in the eyes and the tongue as our Griffin screeches at his foes. I think this stage really brings it to life.


Last but not least, the basing. I wanted to depict our hero flying over a muddy, festering swamp land as its something I've seen a lot of with the recent pre-winter rainfall here in south-west England, not that you would ever so a High Elven Prince on Griffin in Devon anyway...


And of course, the pictures of all the parts as one - the complete model.








PROJECT COMPLETE.

Next up, I'm thinking of starting an on-going Hobbit work-in-progress, starting with Escape from Goblin Town and likely continuing on with Radagast and some of the new releases in the new year. Watch this forum for details

Now that my Griffin is complete, its time to get stuck into the Hobbit box set! I got a bit carried away with this and bought a goblin platform from the second box set I own, I then made the following picture, complete with Radagast being chased by 5 Goblins and a ladder made from broken matchsticks painted black to mirror the ladder used in the film by the company .