Miniature Monday – Drys, Elven Dryad
Dryads are forces of nature, beautiful and mysterious. Four of them are our guests this time, and each is different from the other.
(posted by Dirk)
I still have to work on the base, but I am satisfied with the result so far.
I like how the green skin came out, and the overall color sheme is harmonic. But I wasn’t sure how to paint the eyes; should they be green, yellow, glowing or human like? I couldn’t decide what would fit in best. Perhaps one of you has an idea to help me out?
Before painting the mini, Antonia and I talked a bit about different possible variations of dryads and came also up with the idea of a birch Dryad, colored like the tree she inhabits. I left this idea in favour of a uni-colored paint scheme, but Antonia liked it, so here’s the result:
Besides some nice stripe work and nuances of white and pale beige Antonia also gave her Dryad green hair with a gradient from dark to light. She did it by layering green washes atop of each other, perhaps around 6 times, and was quite happy with the result. The base was covered with kitchen herbs again (majoram), which looks a bit like dry leaves.
As a final thought and to make the whole thing much less “eye candy” Antonia decided this Dryad was just about done with protecting her tree, with a quite gory outcome 😉
Jim gave his Dryad a really classic look with rosy human skin, vivd green hair and a contrasting dark on the tree.
Apart from the skin Jim and I had a similar approach, up to the wooden dagger! The smooth skin tone is well done, and the color composition is pleasing, really a good work! I like the detail work on the small vines, and it’s a great base! What did you use for the little plants?
Arjen went with a muted color scheme, browns and ghostly pale greens:
It’s really a Dryad you don’t want to meet at night! Arjen said it was a quick paintjob, but it’s a good looking outcome anyway! The face is well done, I like the pale eyes. Nice work with the tip of the dagger and the skin.
Apart from the green hair, these dryads differ really in style. I think there is plenty of inspiration for other readers who want to paint a Dryad for themselves. Here’s this weeks gallery:
Coming Next:
08/15/16 Bone Fiend, strange Skeleton-Golem (Core Set)
Comment: Should be quite simple to paint (mostly bone, after all) but absolute nightmare fuel, with some nice detail like tiny animal (dog?) skeletons hidden in the mess.
Want to participate in next week’s post? Email the pictures of your minis until 08/14/16 to
08/22/16 Desert Thing, Mouth-in-the-Ground Monster (Core set)
08/29/16 Brass Bull, scaly Monster a.k.a. Gorgon (Core set)
09/05/16 Warg, Gigantic Wolf (Core set)
09/12/16 Beastman Champion (Core Set)
09/19/16 Show me your army/project
09/26/16 Hordlings, small demons/familiars (Core Set)
10/03/16 Egregis Darkfathom, Dark Sea Priest (Core Set)
10/10/16 Companion Animals – Feline, Hawk, Wolverine, Wolf, Bear (Core Set) -> paint as many as you like 🙂
Caffeineforge 
Wow, they are all really good but the birch Dryad is especially cool. Very creative and I love the blood.
Dirk: I think I would suggest glowing eyes for your dryad. I should have taken a higher angle shot of my mini to show a couple of details better as well as the base. The base started with a layer of custom mixed ground foam with a little kitchen spice for leaf litter. The brown fallen leaves are from Justin at Secret Weapon. I can’t remember what plant they are from. The clump of grass & dark green plant toward the back are Army Painter “tufts” and some sort of vine.
Arjen: Wow! That thing is creepy! I love it.
Antonia: I like yours best. That’s a really great idea to go with a tree other than an oak and you did an excellent job on the birch “pattern”. I walk by a beautiful birch every day and I won’t look at it the same ever again! I had to do a lot of highlighting and washing to get my hair right, but it worked out in the end.
Everyone: While I love the 4 minis this week, I’d love to see more participation. What happened to everyone?