My vision for the Dragon Paw holding the Orb was a dark green mottled skin with dark yellow claws. The 3D printed paw was black. Well, this is what they make airbrushes for.
Order a set of acrylic model paints in different colors. The one for painting military vehicles has an assortments of greens and browns that look like they will work.
Spraying paint next to the Imperial makes me nervous. Fortunately this is a solved problem – a paint booth will draw air away from the airbrush and filter out all of the paint overspray. It also provides task lighting and includes a turntable for painting.
Start with a coat of primer. This let’s me practice with everything and provides a base for the rest of the work.
I’m looking for a muddy green for the skin, so start with olive drab and mix in some dark brown. Keep adding brown until it is muddy enough. No need to worry about color changes – I’m looking for a lot of variation. With green on everything clean out the airbrush and load it up with a little bit of dark brown. Spray patches of brown overcoat on various parts of the paw – not covering up the green, but giving it slightly darker areas.
Lean back and study the results. Hey, this isn’t too bad! It is ugly, uneven, and blotchy. Perfect – just like a dragon skin!
For the yellow claws I need finer control that I can get from the airbrush, so dig out the model paint brushes and brush on a coat of yellow. Discover that acrylic model paints have poor coverage and end up applying six coats.
The end result is very close to what I had in mind originally. And there was much rejoicing!
