Month: March 2017

This is a friend’s mini that I offered to paint for him.  I don’t know what company made it.  Perhaps he’ll comment on that…    We’ve been playing a Boot Hill game for the past year or so, so we need lots of cowboys, indians, and other pioneer types.  It’s not exactly a high-quality sculpt or casting, but it looks very nice on the table.  If you look too long you realize that the oxen are way too small compared to the size of the wagon.  Regardless, it was fun to paint and looks great on the gaming table.

This disgusting pair of rats from Reaper was lots of fun to paint.  Painting disgusting things is every bit as rewarding as painting beautiful things.

I love this sculpt from Reaper.  This paint job went great, right up to the very end, when disaster struck.  When I finished painting, I sprayed the model with matte sealant from a rattle can.  Something about the heat and/or humidity made the sealant droplets bead up like dust before hitting the miniature.  This caused the mini to be coated with tiny yellow-brown particles instead of a smooth coating.  This “dusty” quality of the sealant seriously dulled the colors on the mini.  The blacks are no long rich, the browns aren’t vibrant, the metal looks yellowed.  I was so happy with how her hair, in particular, turned out.  It was shimmery, but that too is now dulled.  I will not use Armory rattle can sealant ever again.

This pair of Spirits from Reaper were very difficult, and in the end I could not pull off the effect I was after.  I wanted to make them look like they were glowing from within.  So, I base coated them with purple, and then tried dry-brushing successively darker layers over top.  Several attempts at that were all bad.  In the end, I resorted to airbrushing, trying to achieve an interesting fade of color from purple to green.  After highlighting that, I wanted to create an effect where the front of the spirits were highlighted by the approaching adventures torches and lanterns, so I used an airbrush to spray down from the front.  I don’t have much experience with an airbrush, though, so it was a disaster.  The airbrush started spitting, so the “torchlight” is extremely grainy, not silky-smooth like it should be to look like it’s lit by a light source.  So, for multiple reasons, I’m disappointed in how these turned out…

Spirit #1:

Spirit #2:

The goblins from Reaper took me forever to finish, but I’m really happy with the final results.  They look just grubby enough, yet the bright blue on the shields keeps them from being too drab.

This Gargoyle is from the Ennis Collection, and more specifically from the Grenadier Monsters 5002 box set.  My concept was that this gargoyle was sitting atop a castle or cathedral for hundreds of years.  The structure eventually crumbled and fell, and now the gargoyle roams the ruins, still protective even though there is nothing left to protect.  Over the ages, he has become covered with moss and lichen.

This is Harley Quinn from the Batman Miniatures Game.  I made this as a Christmas present for a friend.  I didn’t want the mini to be easily knocked over, since it’s strictly for display purposes, so I wanted a really heavy base.  I got a solid chunk of granite from a counter-top manufacturer.  The mini has a flaw; one of the white tails from her cap did not mold well, so I had to paint it on.  You cannot see it in this photo, and few people will ever look at it up close enough to notice, but I know it’s there, and it bugs me.

This is one of two minis that come in the 02876 blister pack from Reaper.  This was one of my more concentrated efforts to pull off some nice NMM (non-metal metallic) on a mini.  I like the results.

This is one of two minis that come in the 02876 blister pack from Reaper.  I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the weird winged skull thing on the top of his staff, but it turned out ok.  He has a little tarantula familiar at his feet, which was a nice touch by the sculptor, Ben Siens.

 

 

 

 

 

I got this miniature in anticipation of running the old AD&D adventure modules D1, D2, D3, and Q1, which all involve lots of dark elves.  The campaign started with the Slavers series, A1-A4, continued through the Against the Giants series, G1-G3 and ended right after we finished G3, “Hall of the Fire Giant King.”

I was originally going to put it on a 1-inch base, since she is a medium creature.  Then I saw a miniature on the Reaper.com forums that had a really beautiful floor and carpet, so I sculpted up my own marble floor and oriental style rug for Shaeress.  I’m glad I did, because I’m happy with the way the floor and rug both turned out.

I was also originally going to add a pair of large wings to her back.  Later, I figured that since dark elves are associated with spiders, not with winged things, I would nix that plan.