To miniatures hobbyists, Julie Guthrie is one of the most talented, prolific and well-known sculptors working in the industry. She is legend enough to have had her own line of Grenadier miniatures back in the late 80’s/early 90’s. I own more than a few hundred old-school, metal miniatures of that era, many of them from Grenadier, and many of them by Julie Guthrie. She still sculpts for Reaper Miniatures today.
I painted her Red Dragon way back in 2016, before Monster May(hem) was a thing. This time I decided to give this Skeletal Dragon the treatment.
Full disclosure: this thing was terribly painted once before (with Testors enamels, of course) but had been stripped for repainting about ten years ago. The reason I never got to it was because I couldn’t get the wings to stay on. I tried Gorilla Glue gel and regular super glue, they just wouldn’t adhere. I even tried using green stuff as an adhesive. No luck.
Finally, at age 50, I learned about the baking soda trick. Do you know about the baking soda trick? Because I sure as hell didn’t. Some kid in a Warhammer video showed me. Put some super glue down where you want it. Add a tweezer-full of baking soda. Join your parts, and watch as the baking soda instantly cures the glue and forms a rock-solid bond. Blew my mind.
Here is the end result. I used Reaper’s Bone Triad (Bone Shadow, Aged Bone, Polished Bone) for the skeleton, then used the Ivory Triad (Stained Ivory, Yellowed Ivory, Creamy Ivory) on the horns, along with some Brown Wash. The glowing eyes were done with Vallejo Yellow-Green, washed with GW Waywatcher Green and a dot of Dorn Yellow in the center. Then I scattered some rocks and twigs on the base and that was about it.
I considered making the eyes an eerie blue rather than a sickly green, and once the base was complete, I remembered I had a bunch of treasure piles I could have used instead of rocks and tufts, but…oh, well.
I have a few more projects to get to this month, not all of them monsters. It sure as hell is nice to be painting again.
Once again, the blogroll of participants for the month! Go visit their sites and check out what they’re doing!
- Simon, from Fantorical
- Dave, from Wargames Terrain Workshop, has of course sculpted his own miniature for the first submission of the month: a Dragonkin warrior. Great sculpting AND painting here, folks!
- Matt, from PM Painting
- Jeremy, from Carrion Crow’s Buffet
- Roger, from Rantings from Under the Wargames Table
- Azazel, from Azazel’s Bitz Box
- Jon, from Jon’s Hobby Desk
- Snapfit, from Da Green Horde
- Mark A. Morin, from the eponymous markamorin.com.
- Tom, @The_Goodground has painted a creepy demon miniature over on his Instagram.
- Malcolm, @mdcampbell_dunwichcreatives has painted two monsters so far, a Runequest Walktapus and a classic Grenadier Shadowrun miniature, the Feathered Serpent! It seems he hasn’t posted them anywhere but Discord so far. You can see them in my #miniatures channel on the Discord server, if you have access; otherwise, check his account. I’m sure he’ll post them both sooner or later…
- Mike, @sasquatchminis is hard at work on a White Dragon. He has also posted some WIP shots to the Discord server!
I’m checking all the sites and I will update this list periodically throughout the month. Happy painting!
Julie Guthrie is really one of the best.
True dat.
Awesome work on this truly classic model, Grenadier were a big deal back in the 80’s and was such a shame that the company went under, my first box of miniatures was from that company (Orc’s Lair). Look forward to seeing what everyone does over the month, and may the May(hem) continue
Orc’s Lair was my second box of miniatures…the first was Tomb of Spells. I still have both. Maybe I should paint one this year? Thanks for the kind words, Dave…and I agree. I always love seeing what people will do!
Terrific stuff with the major blast from the past. Wonderful work on getting the bones to look nice and ancient. I particularly like the staining on the horns and the base too – though I’m sure a treasure trove would’ve looked just as appropriate.
Thanks, Simon. Yeah…I regret not using the piles of gold, but whatever. I’m just glad I could show this classic mini some love after all these years. Last year I painted a lot of old miniatures, and I’m hoping to continue that this year.
Excellent painting on a classic mini, Keith! Julie Guthrie really is a star sculptress and I prefer the older models over today’s more hyper-realistic ones. I think you’ve done solid justice to this awesome dragon.
Thank you, Matt. I’ve been wanting to paint this one for a long time.
Great work! Painting the bones different from the horns is a smart decision for such a model, adds some variety. I usually paint bones and horns in the same style (similar to your ivory), but if there’s both of them on a model it looks kind of strange
The glowing eyes turned out really great as well.
Thanks, Snapfit. I keep thinking a different color would have been better for the eyes, but I’m not about to change it now. Appreciate the kind words!