A Maniac´s Drake Cavalry

[WorkbenchManiac]

After being sorely dissapointed with the Drakon Cavalry, but still loving the idea of elves riding lesser dragons into battle, I decided to try my own hand at drake cavalry.

In my imagination the drakes are wild beasts, tamed by the elves. No intelligence, no magic, just wild and ferocious animals.


This is what I got so far:


The sculpt is now off to the oven to cure, then I´ll add the missing head and wings.

I intend to have a set of folded wings as well, to make the drakes easier to rank up.

I hope you like this early WIP and as usual I welome any and all criticism as well as suggestions.

Cheers, the Maniac

[gaarew]

Shaping up very nicely indeed.


Speaking of which, Dwarf King, any news?

[Darsc Zacal]

I like the aggressive stance that these appear to have. Something totally missing from the official Mantic Drakons.

After seeing your Dwarf King, I'm really looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

[mattjgilbert]

Do you have any sketches of what you think the head will look like? The pose at the moment is great but getting the head right will really finish it off so I'm looking forward to seeing your ideas.

[WorkbenchManiac]

Cheers mates, glad to hear the beast meets with approval so far.

Speaking of which, Dwarf King, any news?

None so far. But I do have a idea in the back of my head and you´ll literally be the first to know *hint hint*

Do you have any sketches of what you think the head will look like? The pose at the moment is great but getting the head right will really finish it off so I'm looking forward to seeing your ideas.

I wish!
Seriously, I can´t draw worth two cents.

But I can show you guys WIP shots:


click for larger resolution

As already said, I envision these animals to be powerful predators. Not elegant dragons, but beasts.

I wanted the model to convey these ideas at a glance, which is why I chose the aggressive, lunging stance, the crocodilean bone plates on the back, the muscular legs and so on. The drakes should look like they could hunt large game like deer or even a moose.

My idea for the head continues along those lines, with a thick, short neck that suggests a powerful jaw.

The head is of course heavily WIP, but it already shows the basic proportions and looks I am going for. I am very much open for suggestions, though.

The wings are off to the side drying right now, so I´ll not show them off right now. The green stuff will need a few days to settle fully (I used less hardener to get a softer, more pliable putty), so my hands are temporarily bound on that.

[mattjgilbert]

I think that there are 2 things which could really make a huge difference to the feel of this model.

1. The teeth. You could either leave them all small and uniform or have fangs like a snake.
2. Adding a crest/crown. My though was maybe small ridge of swept-back spines starting on the head and then getting smaller as they ran down the spine.

These are not exactly what I had in mind but a range of crests from the dino world are:
http://www.oregonzoo.org/dinos/images/dilophosaurus.gif
http://blog.everythingdinosaur.co.uk/weird_dinosaurs.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_cdOLZ8PUfrI/THqrZbBv3UI/AAAAAAAAAgM/Qv2-mqsdVy8/s1600/spinosaurus2.jpg

An alternative to something running down the spine would be an aggressive neck frill like they put on the Dilophosaurus in Jurassic Park.

[gaarew]

An alternative to something running down the spine would be an aggressive neck frill like they put on the Dilophosaurus in Jurassic Park.

This.   Seriously, that would rock something fierce.

[WorkbenchManiac]

Matt, thanks for the input. Much appreciated.


Just yesterday a friend of mine came over, saw the sculpt and said: "You know, you should give him a neck frill, like those lizards have."

Have you been conspiring? 

But I do like the idea, a lot.  Now I´ll just have to work out a way to incorporate it into the sculpt and still be able to cast it.

[Llew]

You do know that neck frills would be a perfect thing to cast separately and add on to the different models, right?  Easy way to get differentiation by having some with lower-threat frills, some in full attack mode, some just a different look.

This really is looking neat.

[Estarriol]

damn you talented types and you're pretty pretty sculpts

Have to say the head says 'dinosaur' more than 'dragon' to me, but that doesn't take away from the fact it looks brilliant!

[WorkbenchManiac]

Cheers guys.

I´m glad that you get a dinosaur-vibe from the head, Estarriol, because that´s what I was going for. I don´t want these to be dragons, but rather feral animals that resemble dragons. And dinosaurs are much, much cooler than dragons anyways.

Llew, I´ll keep that in mind


Ok, time for a late update. After fixing the wings to the armature and sculping the arms, I noticed that the right upper arm was about 0,5cm longer than the left one, meaning I had to take the wing off, shorten the armature and start over. Many a foul obscenity was uttered and I shelved the damn thing for a while.


But now I´m back and I finished the head (minus neckfrill so far). The wings are still heavily WIP, the membranes still have to be conected to the torso, and the hands and fingerbones of the wings have to be sculpted.




Now that I have conquered my frustration about the wing dilemma I full yexpect more timely progress on this beast in the future. Gaarew, if you read this, it shall be your duty to kick my rump if I slack off too much. The opportunity for arse-kicking shall be the Open Day.

[Manticore]

Thats looking really great Maniac!

I do agree with the dinosaur look being cool. The blunted head makes it look all the more powerful as opposed to a more elegant and slender dragon head though I am not sure how well it's going to look with a slender elf riding it... Being Wyvern-esque they might look interesting with Orcs riding them...

Hell should these make it to mass production, and I hope they do, thats prob what I'll aim to do with them!

[Darsc Zacal]

I have to agree with Manticore, that while your sculpt is shaping up nicely, it's looking too stubby and squat for a graceful elf to use as a mount. This looks like something an Orc would ride. Even it's posture is reminiscient of that of the Mantic Orcs.

[WorkbenchManiac]

Thanks guys.

While I do have to agree that the wyvern clashes very much with the slender elves, in my mind at least the contrast seems interesting. But then I´d be happy to put about anything on dinosaur inspired creatures.

And if it really ends up looking off, I´ll find another purpose for the beastie.


As a mount for an orc it might be a bit small, though. But then I have that T-Rex sculpted and waiting for release which begs me to put an orc onto it´s back...

[Nightsword]

Would love to see you put some horns on the head, an orc rider on the back and make some Slasha Cavalry, that'd be awesome. Thoroughly impressed, and I look forward to seeing them at the open day!