How to Paint Everything: Marvel Crisis Protocol - Moondragon

Hey everybody, today I'm back with another How to Paint Everything: Marvel Crisis Protocol! This time we are going to be taking a look at Moondragon from the Adam Warlock, Moondragon and Quasar character pack.

Moondragon began her superhero life as an innocent young girl named Heather Douglas, in the wrong place at the wrong time. While driving down a desert road with her family, they accidentally witness the arrival of Thanos. Thanos, not wanting to be seen, decides to do away with any witnesses and destroys the vehicle they are traveling in. Heather survived, but both of her parents were killed. She was found by Thanos' father, Mentor, and taken to Titan where she would train as a monk of Shao-Lom to harness her psionic abilities and become a skilled martial artist. Later she would become an Avenger and a member of the Infinity Watch, guarding the Mind Gem. Meanwhile her father's spirit was given a new body and christened Drax the Destroyer.

This model is so crazy and might be difficult for some folks to reach in to paint certain areas, So I suggest that you paint her without her body attached to the cape. That way you can easily reach in to paint the underside of the cape, interior of the spell effect and the back of her body. As always, you'll find a handy paint chart denoting all of the colors used to paint her.

credit - Brushwizard

Skin

Basecoat - Reaper Master Series Tanned Skin Cool Tones - Reaper Master Series Tanned Skin: Army Painter Aegis Aqua Warm Tones - Reaper Master Series Tanned Skin: Army Painter Wyvern Fury Layer - Reaper Master Series Tanned Skin Highlight - Reaper Master Series Tanned Skin: Reaper Master Series Rosey Highlight Highlight - Reaper Master Series Rosey Highlight Highlight - Reaper Master Series Rosey Highlight: AK Interactive Ivory Lip - Army Painter Wyvern Fury Eye Liner - Vallejo Model Color Black Eyes - AK Interactive Ivory Eye Glow - Lethal Shadows Fluor Yellow

The only place we have to worry about painting skin tones on Moondragon is her head. But, like myself, she is a cueball so there's a lot of real estate to paint up!

I like to start most of my white skin tones with Reaper's Tanned Skin, we'll use that as a basecoat. Next for any cool areas of the skin, I mix together Tanned Skin and Aegis Aqua and paint that on the jaw line, under the chin, and the sides of her head. The warm areas are painted with a mix of Tanned Skin and Wyvern Fury. This mix is painted on the cheeks, nose and forehead.

The highlights started with a layer Tanned Skin. This was then mixed with Rosey Highlight to create the first highlight. Rosey Skin was then used on its own to continue highlighting. It was finished off by mixing Ivory into Rosey Skin.

Her eyes sockets were painted Black. Ivory was then used to paint the whites of her eyes to prep them for fluorescent color. The glow of her eyes was achieved using Fluorescent Yellow.

Spell Effect

Basecoat - Lethal Shadows Fluor Yellow Layer - Lethal Shadows Fluor Green Highlight - Lethal Shadows Fluor Yellow: AK Interactive White Edge Highlight - AK Interactive White

Moondragon has a super cool mystical shield effect. I wanted this to be as bright as possible, so I leaned into fluorescent painted for it.

I started with a basecoat of Fluorescent Yellow over White, making sure it was as smooth as possible. Fluorescent colors don't usually cover very well. So do multiple coats to make sure its as even as you can. Next I added a layer of Fluorscent Green to give the orb a bit of dimension. It was given a pass of Fluorscent Yellow mixed with a small amount of White to create a highlight and edge highlight. Then to finish it off, I gave it an edge highlight of White.

Cape and Dark Suit Areas

Basecoat - Army Painter Angel Green Shadows - Army Painter Angel Green: Vallejo Model Color Black Layer - Army Painter Guardian Green Highlight - Army Painter Greenskin Highlight - AK Interactive Ivory

Moondragon's cape and suit were both painted dark green, starting with a basecoat of Angel Green. I deepened the green by mixing in a small amount of Black and painting that into all of the recesses and shaded areas. Highlighting began with a layer of Guardian Green and then a highlight of Green Skin.

On the suit I went a step farther and added a highlight of Ivory too, which helps it pop a bit more.

Light Suit Areas

Basecoat - Army Painter Greenskin Shadows - Army Painter Greenskin: Army Painter Wyvern Fury Layer - Army Painter Greenskin: Army Painter Emerald Forest Highlight - Army Painter Emerald Forest

Her light green suit sections started with a basecoat of Greenskin. I mixed Wyvern Fury into it to create a shadow color and painted that into the recesses and shaded areas. Highlights started with a mix of Greenskin and Emerald Forest and a final highlight of Emerald Forest on its own.

Moon Earrings and Chest Emblem

Layer - Army Painter Daemonic Yellow Highlight - Army Painter Daemonic Yellow: AK Interactive Ivory

The gold of her emblem and earrings were painted in the most simple non-metal metal ever. Since the areas are so small, all I did was paint them Daemonic Yellow and then gave them a highlight of Daemonic Yellow and Ivory.

Concrete Basing

Basecoat - Citadel Stormvermin Fur Stipple - Army Painter Fanatics Ash Grey Stipple - Army Painter Fanatics Brigade Grey Wash - Citadel Nuln Oil

As with all of my Marvel: Crisis Protocol models, she gets the mandatory concrete base. This starts with a basecoat of Stormvermin Fur and then is stippled with Ash Grey and then Brigade Grey. It is then finished off with a wash of Nuln Oil to tie it together and shade the recesses.

credit: Brushwizard

With that all finished, Moondragon is now ready to defend the Mind Gem from those who would seek to use it for evil! She's been a mainstay in my current Guardians of the Galaxy list, under Star-Lord, especially with the Mind Gem equipped.

A big thanks to Atomic Mass Games for sending these new characters for this tutorial, I very much appreciate it! Have you picked up the new Adam Warlock, Moondragon and Quasar character pack? Let us know in the comments, which of the new characters is your favorite. Hit me up on social media too, you can find me on Bluesky, and Instagram. Also, if you're on the Goonhammer Discord server, be sure to hop into the Marvel Crisis Protocol channel and join the conversation.

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don't forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website, and subscriber-only content covering competitive Warhammer 40K!