Gem Dragon: How to Paint?

[Andrew D. Gable]

I don't know what pogre's is, but for gems I usually paint it in some metallic color (which varies per gem color and how brilliant I want it), then use a wash of the main color (red for ruby, purple in this case) and simply gloss coat it, with the rest of the mini being matte coated. But as you have a larger area than the dinky gems I paint, I don't know how that would come out. And the entire mini would be gloss-coated, rather than a small area. So it might look drekky.

 

[Axegrrl]

Forgot to mention one other possibility I've heard of:
Paint + glaze medium, or ink washes, over bare metal.

Additional tidbit on the interference colors: do NOT go by the "color chips" you may find online. They're nothing like what you end up with. I suspect they just don't photograph real well, either.

 

[Marius Delphus]

(shameless bump)

 

[pogre]

This article pretty much covers the techinique I was going to share.

 

[Marius Delphus]

Thanks for the link! The photos are very convincing. I'll post again if I'm brave enough and have enough free time to try this!

Here is another take on the same miniature I found on coolminiornot; it's a wonderful paint job IMHO, but I don't like this approach, given the whole "amethyst" thing; this version looks too "rocky" to me.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/index.php?id=192

Here's another, but too pink, I think, and the illusion of translucency is not very strong:
http://www.evelyn.org/dragons/amethyst-dragon/amethy.html

Anyway, real life has been catching up with me again recently, so I only hope I'll have the time to devote to what looks like a very extensive project...

 

[frankthedm]

Want to do it quick?

http://www.paintingclinic.com/operations/shard.htm

Prime the thing chrome, [smoother metal coat than hobby paint] Take clear purple paint [or mix purple ink with clear paint on gloss / clear aleen's glue] an slap it on.

I Did higgins purple ink over reaper's purple steel for my Amethyst golem.

Amythest golem

http://home.comcast.net/~frankthedm/clean_golem.jpg

 

[collin]

amethyst

There is another solution, although not an easy one. IF you can find some of the old Citadel/Games Workshop paints, the ones in the taller, slender bottles, they used to have a paint called amethyst purple. It was a metallic purple color, and I have used it on rare occasions. Unfortunately I don't think they make it anymore so you would have to find a hobby shop that just happens to have an old bottle lying around or an old painter who has a bottle.
-Collin
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