One Year on YouTube….

[@customkitsmodels2959]

Glad we are seeing this type of content. Not many people are so transparent with their progress! I mostly agree with your comment about people building new painters up. I have definitely had the few users who say "meh" about my work, etc-- not anything good. My advice is to just ignore those types of comments. There will always be at least 1 person who will try to rain on your parade, and one should focus on getting better than they were while working on their last mini.

[@randomenvelope]

Cant wait to see the collection of red dragons in 5 years

[@elderdarkness8557]

Great job! That dragon is one of the first minis I painted when I got back into the hobby a few years ago. Even though my group isn't a high enough level to fight one, it was just too impressive, I couldn't resist picking it up.

[@BundoksCavern]

It’s certainly a fun paint!!

[@jeffreykershner440]

A few weeks back i had my dnd group over and we all painted minis. One person brought this same dragon. So many spikes! Ill send this video to her. I really enjoy your vibe. I don't paint well, never going to win any awards, but it's relaxing. I think we need more folks who say "paint for fun, no pressure" vs professional painters.

[@BundoksCavern]

Thank you so much! That’s the vibe I’m trying to give. No need for perfection, but find a way to enjoy yourself.

[@DecrepitGaming]

Really good to see your progression. Well done on the channel, you are encouraging new folks to the hobby :). Also nice Dragon

[@BundoksCavern]

Thank you so much!

[@Kiddarri1729]

Hey, congrats on a year here and your progression is awesome. looking forward to seeing whats in store, ever think of trying terrain crafting?

[@BundoksCavern]

I’ve only done a little, like dungeon tiles and some scatter. I may dabble a little more in the future but I’m slowly finding it’s not my art.

[@Kiddarri1729]

@@BundoksCavern At least you checked it out and that is cool, again i'm looking forward to your next project

[@619Slipk]

At first I was... 2 Red dragons? Poor players man The shading clearly climbed many steps, nice use of the purple to darken the red tone. The pupils also look extra manacing And great initiative donating to the pet rescue I don't want to be spitting some unsolicited advice, so let me know if you're interested in some pointers on how I would get this guy to the "next level". Some pointers from a fellow not golden demon competitor that is lol.

[@BundoksCavern]

I’ve got a few ideas on how I want to bring up the painting level. Overall, need to work in some brush control and maybe some wet on wet blending on base coats before moving to the next steps. What are your recommendations? I’m always open to constructive aid, so long as it’s not degradation in disguise!

[@619Slipk]

@@BundoksCavern Hope you're ready for a novel :D Some things I would say are more conceptual than a matter of skill or technique. Like painting the mouth area with a more pink-ish tone. The inside of the mouth not so much as it would be mostly in shade, but that part in it's "cheeks" would look nice if you went over the raised parts to make them look more fleshy. Same goes for the teeth. I usually do monster's teeth in a yellowy tone, simmilar to what you did with the claws, but considering dragons are proud creatures with high inteligence I can see them maintaining their teeth whiter. In that case what you can do is make the teeth slightly more yellowy near the gums while keeping the white towards the tips. A bunch of things start leading you in a path of diminishing returns as you invest more and more time into the miniature, but considering the face is usually the focal point for most minis it's the best place spend some extra time to give it more character. In terms of techniques, wet blending is gonna help you mostly with smoother transitions, which there are many other viable ways to do it (saying that because I'm super slow when painting and therefore wet blending doesn't really work for me). You can also try glazing (which can be quite time consuming, but it's great) or using the airbrush that you mentioned you're learning. One step that would not require any fancy stuff that you don't already know was to add another layer of highlights, as in this one you were mostly working with a base tone and shaded the recesses. If you highlight the scales they would pop a lot more. For that you would have to options, either go back after the washes with either a slightly lighter tone than you base coated, or just your base coat color, because when you go over the whole thing with a wash, even if you whipe it off of the raised areas it still darkens them a little bit. Or you can initially make those highlights with a lighter color then go over the whole thing with the wash, as it helps hide the seam a little bit between the base and lighter tone. This idea also applies for the neck, as you can not only highlight the separation between each layer of neck plates, but also highlight the middle, as it's "pointy" All of that would basically just enhance the depth perception of the details that are already there. Another thing that I feel like the high level painting people would do but falls again in the more "conceptual" choice category is to make some scuff marks on the scales. That can convey either a natural texture or some wear and tear from battles. As an example look up how some people paint the carapace of Tyranids from Warhammer 40K. I feel like this is also a good brush control exercise, as no matter how pointy your brush is, if you press it too much you'll get a thicker line that may look weird. Or you can try to start the scuff mark thicker near the edge and make it thinner as you move towards the middle of the scale steadly removing pressure you apply to the surface.