Sound off and let us know what you think....

Cheers,

Jim

The three pics are nice,
However there is no scale, or refrence to another mini in the image thus. How big is this?

The pose is great, but I never make a move on a 'green' but I am the local forum newbie. And just throwing in my two cents on the images as a whole.

Nice to look at, but give me a few painted mini figs, then that sets my tone, and typicaly releases the Hand that touches the Credit Card.

Blacksteel

First, let me say that Jeff Easeley's dragons are generally not my personal cup of tea. I prefer the more graceful look of the dragons by Larry Elmore, Clyde Caldwell, Keith Parkinson and Ciruelo.

To me, Jeff's dragons look more like gargoyles or demons, with their thick necks and bullish features. Dave has done a fantastic job of sculpting it, however, but given the large volume of lead I already own, and the other dragons on the market, I think I would be inclined to give this one a miss, sorry.

Whilst I am commenting I might as well give you my opinion of the other set, Northwatch. I do not feel that this sculpt does the painting justice, although it is difficult to put a finger on why. From the back, it looks great! The tail is perhaps a bit thicker than the painting, but not too distracting.

The view from the front just doesn't look right to me. I think the neck may be part of the problem, with it being the same thickness all the way along. Also, the front legs make it look more like a dog than a dragon, the way they are neatly postioned in the centre. I really think more attention needed to be paid to the front of the scuplt to make it look more draconic.

Regards

Jo

Hi,
I agree almost completely to Jo. I definitely prefer the Elmore, Caldwell and Parkinson (like the somewhere here in the forum requested "Dragonwing" or "Hand of Chaos") dragons as well. Since I'm a great fan of Dave Summers I won't be able to skip this one since he hasn't only made the best of the drawing but he really outdid the original. I love his interpretation of the motif with the strong muscles and the scaly hide. However, the face indeed resembles a gargoyle, that's true.

I'm not as disappointed as Jo regarding "North Watch" though Jo is right here as well. Something's not perfect, but I think it's the stubby snout which makes the dragon "dog-like". However, it's a great set anyway and I'm looking forward to lay my hands on it ;-)

Ralph

Very interesting comments on the Easley and Parkinson Dragons.

With Easley, I agree, his Dragons are more monster-based than Draconic - but I love that about them in terms of how they are so different than Larry and Keith. Clyde kind of has his own look to his dragons as well (which we need to discuss which of his dragons will get done up first). When Jeff and I sat down to concept his Dragons for this new line, I specifically told him I wanted the first couple to be the more "pit-bullish" types to give a nice opposite to the Larry Dragons. I have to agree with your comments on Dave nailing this piece to a T and actually improving upon it. Dave is a Dragon sculpting GOD!!

Ok, onto the Parkinson Northwatch piece. Those front legs (as they are not show in the painting) gave Dave no end of headaches. He went back and forth on how they could be positioned (and still keep true to the painting) and this is where we ended up. I know that the Parkinson family loved the piece and that Keith dug the piece when he saw some early pics (Work in process pics) last year. Tom Meier ran into issues with some Keith pics from Set # 1 as a 2-D painting only has to look good from one angle. A 3-D sculpt has to look good (and real) from every angle. If you look at Desert Wings and the Valshea artwork, you will see things in there that Tom had to correct on the miniatures. Notice that Valshea has her calfs and feet covered up by brush? That is for a reason. 2-D artists can cover up things that are not working out and still make a powerful statement with the artwork. This is much harder to do with miniatures. Dave of course ran into these same issues converting the Northwatch piece to 3-D.

The many joys of taking kick-butt 2-D art and making minis from it! hehe...

I love these great comments though. It is good to see people diving in and checking out pieces and offering up opinions. These opinions do count as we will be implementing some very cool new changes in 2006 to make sure you crazy cats are digging our minis even more in the years to come.

Cheers,

Jim

Well, I'm going to have to disagree with most in the thread here. With the possible exception of the Golden Dragon of Chaos (which technically isn't a Dark Sword dragon), the new Easly dragon is my favorite released so far - and that comment stands from before Matt's painted version was posted over the weekend.

The Easly dragon reeks of power; the bulk and sheer mean-ness of the sculpt promises severe violence on anyone that dares to tangle with it. I can't see any table of gamers not soiling their undergarments when this miniature is brought to the table. I love it, and cannot wait until it is released. I can definitely see buying two of these. I'm already toying with ideas for what color I want it painted... I'm thinking as a bronze at the moment. :)

As an aside, as much as I like the "Northwatch" painting, the sculpt does not thrill me so much. I think the comments regarding the uniform thickness of the neck are dead-on. I think it is also a lack of muscle definition that hurts the appearance of the model as well. I can't say as I blame the sculptor for this either; I think it is a fairly accurate translation of Keith's work. But then again, I think there's a reason Keith painted the dragon facing away from us... ;) This one just doesn't make the transition from 2D painting to 3D model very well.

I'd say the Mountain Dragon is my next favorite, and the Red Dragon falls just behind it.

~Vince

Very interesting feedback.

I worked with Jeff Easley on the concept art for his first couple dragons and wanted the more "muscle bound" look and mean face to set his stuff apart from the Elmore Dragons we have done to date.

Keith Parkinson Dragons just are not as mean looking as Elmore or Easley Dragons.

Caldwell also has some very cool looking dragons that look downright mean as well.

Easley has a cool look to his monsters and I will be working with him to do up some cool demons and such as well.

Stay tuned....

Cheers,

Jim

Dragon Mini's are hard to judge, becuse of the situation, and a few things scared me as a true Fantasy RPGer.

When this mini (if thats what you want to call it) see

http://www.sodemons.com/bhgallery/ralparthadraco.htm

Hit the table, this scared the crap out of everyone. Ral Parthas "Draco Dracorum" was the standard Uber dragon. The scale of the present dragons are smaller.

The red dragon looks fierce, but this Easley Dragon is not as intimidating. Though the new pictures are very nice, as the red dragon. It will probably make it into my collection. But not before the others do. Size, 'ahem' does matter.

Blacksteel

I like the model alot. I have much experience with dragon models as I have painted and sold over 30 on eBay over the past year from T'raukzul from Reaper to The Imperial Dragon of the Eleven Celestial Dynasties, I love the dragons of old including Grenadiers 3 dragon lords series and older Tom M. sculpts from Ral Partha like the Sea dragon and Brass Dragon. I Must say this is an intimidating dragon, Very cool. I do have one concern and a question. The concern is that all the Easley dragon will look the same as they all do in the art work. the question is will you guys be rereleasing the Great Red Dragon as part of the Easly masterworks as you did the Golden dragon of Chaos with the Elmore dragons? - Thanks - Keep up the good work Dave.

Blacksteel: Then your GMs were truly not motivating you enough. My players fear *everything*... in fact, the smaller the package it comes in, the more worried about it they become.

To return to the relevance of this dragon, it is not about the size (although certainly smaller than the golden dragon of chaos, it is not an insignificant mini), but rather the attitude. And the attitude IS everything when it comes to scaring someone good. A big 'ol elephant doesn't scare me; a big 'ol CHARGING eleplant h*ll-bent on destruction is significantly more frightening... *runs away*

The best dragon models have always been about the attitude of the sculpt... the golden dragon of chaos, the WotC black dragon, the "dragon" from Bridge of Sorrows, T'Char, Niddhogg, Reaper's Ebonwrath, Thunderbolt's Gargantuan Gold, etc.

(as a bit of perspective, while I like Dark Sword's prior Red Dragon, with all his little fiddly bits and less intimidating body shape he reminds me more of a slightly ticked-off lizard than a rampaging draconic master of all things fire-y and flaming)

Honestly, the old draco dracorum from Ral never did anything for me. I was neither impressed by nor afraid of it. It always looked too... froofroo-y to be awe-inspiring. No offense, Tom! And if you are into the big AND impressive, then there are a number of Reaper's dragons that are of considerable size. I have afully aseembled and painted Gauth on my shelf, and he's quite large. So is Marthrangul.

Which is why the miniatures world is great; there is something for all of us! ;)

~v

I hear you, I always thought Teronus had attiyude as well. I like that this dragon is more stockey and gargoilesk. Dragons come in all shapes and sizes, thats what makes them so likeable, This sculpt looks scary roo me, Have you ever seen Viridius from Reaper? Its the largest metal dragon I have ever seen.

Good call; I'd almost forgotten about Teronus. Also a very cool dragon with lots-o-'tude. I'm familiar with Viridius too, and I've seen some excellent work done on them by various artists, but there is something about it that just fails to strike a chord with me. Don't get me wrong, I'll eventually end up adding one to my collection, but there are a number of dragons that were released after Viridius that I've already purchased instead of getting it. Of course, I've been known to change my mind about a figure after seeing the right person do a bang-up job on a particular mini. The kneeling knight from Reaper comes to mind - I always thought it was kind of "blah" until I caught a really kick-*ss paintjob of it on CMON... now I want one (so long as it is painted the same way ).

~v