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So I'm back painting after several years and I had my kids and wife pick out some minis for me to paint. This is what my oldest daughter choose. I worked on it for about 2.5 hours. Just worked on a 'bone' flesh and fading a blue/grey. Comments and suggestions welcome and requested.

I finished Kaladrax the night before last, and spent last night and part of today setting up a temp photo studio large enough to photograph him. A big thank you to my wife for allowing me to borrow her navy velvet as a backdrop. I spent quite some time learning how use my camera while taking these. I'm looking for constructive criticism on photo quality, composition and the like. (The construction thread for Kaladrax can be found at: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/52979-gcb-paints-kaladrax/) So, without further ado...

oldschool necromancer Deathknight Undertaker AkA Trueghoul Rust monster And mimic, maybe favorite dungeon beast))

Recently painted up a few of these miniatures what do you guys think? Took the best pictures I could :)

Ever since the purple worm mini came out, I have been itching to turn one into a graboid from the movie Tremors. The only problem is, I have no sculpting skills, so I've been a coward about actually doing it. Then the solution came to me: use parts from other things, and graft them on. Conversion isn't sculpting, so there are no fears of messing it up! So I snagged a broken bug from the Starship Troopers minis game, and did some surgery: I'm still working on the tenticle tounges, but I've run into a design decision: Do I keep the kind of cool looking forked upper mouth, or make it into a solid beak, like the actual movie graboids?

Last night I was running my Kingmaker campaign, and the group, six 8th-level PCs and a 6th-level cohort decided at the end of a day of adventuring that they needed to cross a river. In the past, they've used Fly or Water Walking, and they have two characters who can cast Dimension Door, but they have a new Folding Boat and they didn't want to spend the night to get the right spells in the morning, so into the boat it was. So, seven humans get into a folding boat. Oh, and one paladin's horse, because you wouldn't want to use up your once-a-day summoning, right? Now, I decided (and told the players at some length) that while they could put seven humans and 1200# of horse into an 8'x24' boat, it wouldn't necessarily be an easy trip. Horses, even intelligent horses, don't like boats and the boat wasn't designed to hold horses and would be at or very close to capacity with that load. No worries; they all climb in. When they shove off from the shore, I ask for a Profession: Sailor roll (like you do), but none of the characters had any skill or experience with boats. They all point at the cleric, since, you know, Wisdom. (Never mind how much wisdom had been shown recently.) DC 10 was the target I had set in my mind – easy enough if you have any training, but.... He proceeds to roll a 3 on the die for an 8 total. "You're having some trouble keeping the boat steady as you try to row across the lake. Give me another P: Sailor roll to steady the boat." He rolls a 2. "The boat is rocking severely. The paladin's mount (who the party is convinced is the actual PC with the paladin as a cohort) rolls high, but I decided that the horse moving to keep his balance would be enough to require a reflex save for the rest of the party. (Again DC 10.) The "captain" and the wizard blow their rolls and into the water they go. Somehow the wizard makes his swimming roll (DC, you guessed it, 10), but the cleric "captain" starts to flounder. The duke casts Alter Self to turn himself into a boggard (to get a Swim speed) and jumps in, while the rogue grabs a rope and prepares to throw it. (Cleric continues to flounder.) Now, the reason that the party had the required material components to choose "Boggard" is that they had been attacked several times by hostile boggards over the previous two years. Since the cleric was floundering when the spell was cast, I asked for a Wisdom check to realize that the boggard he saw wasn't an enemy rising from the depths but rather a friend coming to help him. Natural 1. "I'm being attacked by boggards! Help!" He grabs the rope and is pulled toward the boat. Both he and the wizard try to climb on board. If you've ever tried to climb aboard a small craft from the water, you know that it can be a bit ... exciting. So, "Who's captain? Make a P: Sailor roll." The sorcerer grabs the tiller – and rolls a 3. And wisdom isn't a stat usually associated with sorcerers. "The boat is rocking severely. Make a P: Sailor roll to steady the boat." 4 At this point, I decided that after blowing two rolls in a row by more than 5, the boat capsized. "Everyone into the water. Make swimming checks." The sorc rolls a 4. The rogue, being a rogue, asks whether he can run over the gunwale and stand on the keel of the capsized boat. Result in the mid-30s, so "Sure, you nimbly dance along the hull as the boat capsizes. Now, with everyone in the water, (and thus nobody "helping"), and the boat being magical, I decided that it would right itself. (No rule for that, it just seemed like the kind of thing a magical boat might do.) I require another acrobatics check from the rogue. But I also allow checks from the cleric and wizard, who had been holding the gunwale, to grab the boat to keep from having to roll swimming checks again. The rogue rolls a 3 (into the water) and both the cleric and wizard roll nat 20s. Since it seemed like fun, I allowed them to be catapulted back into the boat while everyone else was in the water, At that point, they started acting more like a mid-level party and got themselves out of the water without too much more drama, but that's how a calm lake with no monsters almost TPKed an APL 9 party.

Since I won't be at RCon afterall, I figured I would post this. It took a bronze at last weekend's SCAHMS show. I need to repaint the eyes, but overall pretty happy. The photo isn't mine but I have permission. All C&C welcome.

Here is another Bones Cthulhu I painted up for a client Hope you enjoy it about 75% airbrush and 25% brush work.... oils and acrylics

And because it's a long weekend... The Girl from Bombshell painted up to be my Swordmage for Living Forgotten Realms; And a gnome Priest from Stonehaven, that I plan to use as a wizard. It's the first time I've ever done pink hair (& in honesty it's pink because I wanted to use the pinks I have :)), the general colour scheme was then inspired by some random bit of anime art (that I cannot find on Google again) based on using the pink hair.

did some more relaxed painting today. Sketched in a bunch on this stonehaven gnome wizard. I find their models to be hit or miss but when they hit they are awesome. really nice castings and nice sculpting. It felt good to get a fair amount done in one day.

I am sure some people dont, but people don't have a free afternoon. But I find it hard to believe people why play D&D don't. *Still shaking my head* I work two jobs, 7 Days a week. I play D&D. Between that and house and yard work and the camping trip i'm planning (Gonna play D&D in the woods, on top of a bluff) It is very hard to find time to paint everything I need, in the time I have. When I can I paint, but I have many prepainteds to fill in when needed. Like others have said, I don't have any emotional investment in prepaints. They get tossed in a bag, while metal and bones alike go in a case. So you can go on shaking your head at me, I don't have time to spare shaking mine at you :P PS This camping trip is gonna be boss!!

A taste of things to come when I finally take some better pictures :P

Thanks again for the comments! I'm getting the impression that people quite like the dragon... Cheers! And yes, we have finally got it ironed out - the webshop is back up! http://oathsworn.net And finally, not a painted figure, but a little work-in-progress pic of Sleipnir:

It is a Ral Partha hill giant, possibly made by Tom Meier. (found with little help from google, never saw this mini in person) :-)

Washed the chainmail yesterday, now time to get into costume and go to the elf fantasy fair! :D

But only so many free afternoons. Some of those will be spent playing D&D. And of those spent painting (and keeping in mind that not everyone has the patience or interest in painting), they may have other things they want to paint. Look at Buglips. Sure, he could paint up an entire horde of orcs (and he'd do so far quicker than I would, I can bet you that), but he wouldn't have time to paint up the dragon they're supposed to face afterwards. Or the ettin. Or the hydra. And after a while, for a lot of people, painting up the same figure over and over again ceases to be fun. So there are reasons someone might go for LE figures without necessarily being lazy. Sometimes, it's just time management.

Hello all, I've gotten into the hobby of painted miniatures this last year, and especially since last August, when I started painting Bones. The following army represents my 3rd through 50th figures I've painted so far. (Sorry that the images are a little washed out; I chose a background that was too dark to begin with.) This army took about 3 months of weekends and evenings to paint (August through September). I estimate I took about 3-4 hours to paint each from priming to final clear coat. The figures are primed with Liquitex Acrylic Gesso (Grey), then painted with a mix of Reaper MSP paints and Daler-Rowney Acrylic Inks. In particular, the blue of the uniform was painted with a mix of D-R Galactic Blue metallic and D-R Rowney Blue, and the copper details painted with D-R Birdwing Copper metallic. I used Liquitex Airbrush Medium and water to thin all paints, and sealed with Reaper brush-on sealer. Before this, I have painted larger (8" to 14") anime figures and model railroad miniatures in O and HO scale, so I'm not compeltely new to painting, but this is some of the smallest and most detailed stuff I've ever had to paint. Hope you like them!

I have the very rare afternoon free, and if I do, I can either paint minis, or play D&D. I've tried doing both, it usually becomes: Me: <tongue stuck out to the side, paint brush in my hand, trying to get a color on and blended before another one dries...> DM: Um, Thes, it's your turn, what do you do? Me: What? Huh? Oh umm. I'm right there? Oh... when did they move... now I can't cleave... umm.. Ok, I'll take a 5ft step... err... that wont work will it... hrm. DM: Do you want to delay your action? Me: No! I want to kill! Um... ahh... So yeah, painting and D&D don't work. The best I can do sometimes is clean mold lines.

Dear not daily and very sporadic diary, We have more color placed. Question, what color should the staff be?

For reference, this is a picture of a graboid on set, relaxing between scenes. I heard they were really nice, and signed autographs for most of the cast and crew. (and ate relatively few of them!)

True enough, but that is 5 weeks without friends, family or games. The closest I got to friends or gaming was reading the Reaper forums. I'm REALLY looking forward to meeting all you guys in person for games next week.

So starting to work on the metal colored metal now. I started out with cloudy grey, then did a wash of ashen blue, then Templar blue, then ritterlich blue. As I look at the photo, it doesn't seem as drastic as it does in live right under my lamp, so who knows where this is going? My next washes will probably be the dark elf triad, with some storm grey thrown in there somewhere, maybe walnut brown, then black finally. Moving upwards, I'll probably highlight with rainy grey, then misty gray, then ghost white, then pure white. I'm also throwing a photo of Yephima in there too, as I started her armor as well. With Bones, and take into account that this is the only Bones I've ever painted, it seems sometimes hard for the material to want to grasp the base coat, even with primer. This is with about four layers of paint already. Anyhow, hopefully this weekend I'll be able to continue working on the metals....

Thanks guys If you think that is small the one she is holding is at least 1/2 the size. Here is an old shot of the figure's still in white primer. Here is the my attempt today to paint up the little guy. Didn't go nearly as well as I had hoped.

Thanks for your comments. Sadly, I realized too late the colors in the pictures above were really washed out, and of course I can't take more pictures now, as they've been sent out. I may try to adjust them later, but don't hold out much hope of improving on them. I did manage to find a group WIP photo that is much closer to the actual colors, for comparison: And my single personal favorite mini is this one: Eyes of a killer, and all that.

Finally finished(ish) my players' PCs for our ongoing game of D&D. They all still need bases, and there was one latecomer whose mini I'm going to start in earnest now, but the figures themselves are done so I thought I'd show you guys. (All are in Bones.) First is Daughter Ren, human cleric of Broxin, homebrew goddess of motherhood and honorable combat. Her face is a little wonky, in large part due to a botched facial-reconstructive surgery on my part, since she came without a nose. Still, I'm pretty pleased with how she came out. A good experiment in highlighting red, into orange on her coat and into white on the gemstones. It's a pity they discontinued this mini; I'd really like another go at her in another color scheme but can't see myself getting the metal one anytime soon. Next is Kaida, eladrin rogue. Pretty simple, but I do really like her face and the color-shifting(?) on her cloak. The sealer turned out too shiny on her; some of those highlights aren't actually paint. Perra Bloodbane, dragonborn fighter, was relatively simple, by comparison. I'm not thrilled with her little cloth thing, and I need to learn how to shade yellow better (though I'd sort of figured it out by the time I did Ren). Pretty pleased with the flaming sword (which I added from a spare paladin after she got one in-game), and my light OSL on the armor, where I used a mix of silver and copper paint to indicate the reflection of the fire. Next is Lillith, elven druid, who was quite an adventure to paint (you can find a partial WIP here). I don't like the sculpt very much to begin with, the cast is weird and bumpy, and then my initial attempt to paint it turned out alarmingly garish. Pingo's suggestion of a unifying colored shadow sorted me out though, and I ended up pretty pleased with the final result. She's pictured here with her "animal companion," a dog whose name I don't remember. Last up is Lalopan Maxia, half-elf Star Pact warlock. I'm really proud of him. I got a little drained towards the end, so some of the fiddly bits are a little rougher than I'd like, but for the most part I think he's one of my best minis to date, especially in the face area. I also really like his sword blade; it was a pretty effective study in shaded metallics. Comments and criticisms welcome! (Yes, I know I need to do something about the bases and also that I need to dust my minis before I take pictures of them.)

Here are some shots of the model of the latest Cthulhu in progress

Here is another I painted that is some what darker.... I think the new one looks a little better What do you all say?

I'd really like to see some of the Warlord Cavalry models done up in Bones. Specifically the soldier models. I know we got some cavalry in KS2 but they were all leader models. I want a big group of horsemen for epic charges.

77103: Nor'Okk, Ettin I painted most of him a while ago. Today I made the last steps..

I've never had troubles with boats. Ships, ships are dangerous, but boats just need to be used smart. Unless you're in an all fired hurry, it's one case where it's okay to split the party. Ferry one bunch across, set them to making camp, while someone goes back and gets the rest

I would totally buy a bucket of goblins. Now I wish that was a thing. Why do you tease me?

Yeah, I don't do this all that often, either. And they've crossed many rivers and lakes with water walking. But here they were hit by a deep river in the mountains that they weren't expecting and they weren't willing to wait long enough to prepare. And if you're going to try to put a warhorse in a glorified canoe, well ...

I, too, have contemplated just painting some Bones to LE standard to supplement what I already have in LE. However, I just can't bring myself to do it. Once I sit down to paint something, I want to paint it to a higher standard. Call it personal pride. I realize I am allowing "perfection" to be the enemy of good, but that doesn't make it any less true. I also take this stance. I have emotional investment in each of my painted minis. Even ones I painted 15 years ago due to the time and care put into them during the painting process. However, I have no investment in LE. They are all tossed into a box, to be dug out when needed, then tossed back in when finished. Even though painted Bones are similarly resilient, I just can't see myself treating them the same way.

Boats are lethal. Also minecarts. Stealing treasure from under Tiamat's very nose is less dangerous than either of those. Or both combined, and you can bet it's one hell of a day when that happens.

I don't even have to buy them myself. One of my major complaints as DM last time, and why I quit it, was that I was funding all the minis, all the terrain, running the game, AND painting everything. While not everybody in my group wants to start painting, most would be more than happy to supplement my labours by financing prepaints to bulk out the monster selection. LE has the advantages of being both non-random and of the same type, and I can tell you that an occassional batch of LE orcs, bugbears, whatever would have gone a long way towards keeping me happy. ETA - one other huge advantage to LE is that they don't require shelf space. Anything I spend time painting goes on a shelf. I've invested effort in them. LE I can just chuck into a bag or box until needed. Just what I have in my immediate collection will eat 8 full shelves minimum. We can add at least anothe 4 to that by the time I finish picking through Bones 2, and probably close to twice that. When my painted minis wind up occupying 16 shelves, saving real estate with bulk forces is premium.

I'd like to see some midflight beasties with wings spread wide. Most flying creature minis have them based on the ground or looking as if they are about to spring up and launch. I'd like to see Reapers sculptors try their hand at a series of creatures that look as if they are flying. Maybe with legs/arms tucked up against their bodies. Maybe with some, like a dragon, having its arms and claws extended as if about to grasp someone or something. I'd also like to see Reaper design a new flight stand capable of supporting large creatures. Preferable a transparent stand that cradles the "undercarriage" of the mini to support and hold it in position so that the mini itself is easily removable for transportation and storage. As opposed to one that has to be inserted and/or glued to the mini.

Sometimes a mini is so wrong... That you can't help but feeling a bit for wanting it. (NOT a Reaper mini)

Dune RPG? Nah, some of them may be used for scratch-built mawlocs for W40K, but mostly they'll be used sparingly in WFRP / D&D or sold off if I get any serious offers. You really should give it a shot, glad you like them. But they like being in there! Thanks, though these ones are kinda small for Dune sandworms. Glad you liked it, Care to buy the trade secret? JK! Pencil sharpener on a 3/16" dowel rod. Some of the teeth I then sanded in one direction to give them a slight curve BEFORE razor sawing them off the rod. Base coated them with a gloss brown varnish before insertion. Putting them into place I did a N, S, W, E pattern to start but made sure to keep some organic variance. I used the hot glue gun to melt some holes through the worms mouth for the teeth to fit into. Made a couple holes too big, which is the real reason that one tooth on the right looks like it it is sitting in a nasty gum infection. As the teeth got too close for my fingers to set them in quickly enough (Hot glue cools kinda quick in small amounts) I made a tooth holder so i could dab the glue on the back end and then fit it between other teeth with no finger fumbling. Don't mind this temp attachment

Isn't that what dwarves have too? I'm just saying... maybe there's a lil dwarf in your family tree.... No, no, no, no, no. Lies. Nothing but lies. My family may be a bit more hirsute around the chinny chin than the average goblin, but rare genetic anomalies aren't proof of anything! Not proof, I say! And the fact that my great uncle Harbarad has a dwarf name, and a beard, and paler skin, and talks a little scottish, and likes to use an axe which is an unusual choice for a goblin is also not proof of anything. I'll thank you to end this slander, madam.

Thanks as always gentlemen. Got a little bit of time yesterday to paint, not much but right now every hour counts. I improved the sword on the back some more. The rust didn't look right so I removed more along the blade edge and made it look more worn. I can probably remove a little more but I think this looks better. I also added another highlight to the fur as I had intended to but never got around to it. So I added a some p3 Menoth White highlight. Next I painted up the skull on the kilt. I think part of it turned out great but I screwed up the horns and am already reworking them. Other changes are on the teeth and lips as well as starting to paint the metal rivets. I think I should be able to finish him tonight and then it's onto basing.

This time it is 77092: Elquin, High Elf Adventurer with his ears chopped off to become the Human Druid in my DnD Next campaign (along with the halfling bard above and the Dragonborn paladin).

Doug, you're making me miss playing my ranger-cleric. She was trained in the equivalent of her nation's elite naval force before becoming a cleric of an ocean deity. Needless to say she's got enough ranks in swim that she could make a DC 10 check while wearing a chain shirt. (And she'd be smart enough not to wear a chain shirt on board ship, too.) <sigh> Not that she gets the chance that often...

Must... have... Clint... Mousewood!!!

So the grave digger, the dwarf pirate, and sir Garrick will be used to make a wfrp Witch Hunter. The Shadow Dragon I'm planning on painting like a Lizard. Hopefully the cropped pic from my phone isn't too huge

I've found copying the highlights and shadows that other people have painted super helpful. Love the inspiration gallery and these forums for that.

Ok no more messing with the eyes. Onward to other things!

Ah, the Moody Blues. They'll always remind me of my dad, he listens to them all the time. That and Pink Floyd. Huzzah! --OneBoot :D

I sufficiently bugged my girlfriend to take pictures of the barbarian tonight. I also was really in the zone and I think I'm ready to call him finished. Although I might go back and add a few more highlights in a couple places. I really like how he came out, he's got a look that really screams we're going to fight now. I think pairing him and the orc on a little scenic base is going to be a lot of fun. Alas, there is too much going on this weekend and I don't know if I'll be able to get to that D: I was thinking the Orc could be astride the top of a rocky type of outcropping looking down at the barbarian who could be standing in a grassy area.

You see, in this world there's two kinds of mouslings, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.

Thanks everyone - I'm pretty happy with the way they've turned out. Now if I can just speed up a bit, maybe I'll have a chance of getting the rest painted before the world ends... Hopefully! It's supposed to be next Monday... provided I can figure out Highwire's webshop templates... I'm used to coding webpages with HTML and CSS, but their 'simple' Template Editor is really confusing... fingers crossed I get it to work over the next couple of days. The eye is there - but I probably need to brighten it a bit. It's yellow, and I think I'll have to layer some thinned-down white on it... Here's a closer look: cheers, Michael