Snake-like Cave Drake

For the second post today, we thought it was time to show off a little The Lord of the Rings hobby, and had a quick look in our inbox to see what we could find. Joshua Granat sent in this rather reptilian looking Cave Drake. Joshua said that he spent quite a while researching the web for painting inspiration, keeping in mind that a beast such as the Cave Drake would be something that swallows its prey whole (if it's too big, presumably its armour-slicing claws could reduce its lunch to something more manageable).

The hardest part was deciding what to go for, but eventually Joshua opted to paint a snake-like pattern to the Cave Drake. He also thought it was pretty tough not quite knowing what the finished paint job was going to look until the final stages, but as you can see, it was well worth the wait. He painted it before the new Citadel Paint range had been released, but we've put in the equivalent new colours for you to help you along if you wanted to try this for yourself. You can find a full list in this month's White Dwarf, or via our conversion chart.

Starting with an undercoat of Mournfang Brown, Joshua blended up to Zamesi Desert by adding in Zamesi Desert until the final coat was completely that colour. For the darker spots, he started off with a layer of Rhinox Hide mixed equally with Abaddon Black. To that he painted on Rhinox Hide centres, and added in Mournfang Brown before that original Mournfang Brown/Zamesi Desert mix. The Cave Drake's belly was painted using the same as the yellow parts, but Joshua added in Ushabti Bone for the final stage, to achieve a lighter tone. Then he gave the whole model a Rhinox Hide shade and re-highlighted both the yellow sections and the belly.

And that was it! Now he has one fantastic hero-munching Cave Drake, ready to do battle.