Samedi

Today: My first horse. It wasn't so scary after all. In fact, I really enjoyed painting it. The monk still needs some work, tough. Now I have to make room on my painting desk, classes start tomorrow and I like to have my workspace organised. When this weekend is over, I fear that my shelf will be full of half finished minis again. But at least I'll be a lot wiser!

That red mushroom with the blue tips looks really cool!

This is how I imagined my dice to look back when I played D&D, pure evil and out to get me. Well done!

Thanks everyone! I often have the feeling that people from northern Germany and people from the Netherlands share more cultural similarities than people from northern and southern Germany...

Had to take a break for a few days, but today there was time for a regular painting session. The waves on the flounder base dried clear, so I could paint the foam on the waves. The results can be seen in show off. After that I worked a bit on Samedi's base. Not quite happy with it, I'll see what I can do once the washes have dried. Since the Virtual Expo classes on Friday are approaching quickly I didn't want to get out the wet palette (a.k.a. paint the fairy), so once again a little guy sneaked to the front of the queue. Almost finished him today, too! He will be paired with the priest on a little diorama. No new work on the priest yet, but he gets to be in today's group shot anyway!

This little guy has been in my stash box forever, I never could decide on a paint scheme. And then, a few weeks ago, it hit me: There's an old North German fairy tale about a fisherman who catches a flounder. The flounder begs the fisherman to release him, so he does. When he comes home, he tells his wife and she complains that he failed to ask the fish for a reward. So the fisherman returns to the sea and calls the flounder to ask for a little house as a reward, because his wife wants it: "Manntje, Manntje, Timpe Te, Buttje, Butte, in de See, mine Fruu, de Ilsebill, will nich so as ick wohl will!" (Little man, little, man, * I have no idea what timpe te means *, flounder, flounder, in the sea, my wife Sibyl doesn't want things the way I would like them") The wife, however is never satisfied for long and she sends the poor fisherman back to the flounder again and again to wish for grander and grander things. When finally his wife wants to be the same as god himself, the flounder has enough, and the fisherman and his wife go back to being poor. So here is the flounder, about to build the little house for the fisherman, or the farm, or the palace, or to make the fisherman's wife king, or even pope. Anyway, the flounder is not amused. This was a really quick paint job for me. I made the water with UV-Resin and sculpted some waves with water effects gel. I still have to get the hang of painting the foam on the crests of the waves, but I think it's a bit better than my first attempt at waves. Anyway, here's the flounder, enjoy!

I absolutely love the moss effect on the base! How did you make that?

Good to see him done! This is truly a piece to be proud of!

Those subtle differences in the blacks are really amazing! Great work! Also, you really nailed the jeans!

I didn't feel too much like painting today, so I just primed Samedi's base. But sculpting the waves for the Flounder was a lot of fun. I always go too light on the first coat, so I had to reapply the gel a second time. Once it starts to dry it's really easy to pull out the waves with an old brush. The rim of the base got a thin coat of still water effect to make it more transparent. Next week I'll add foam on the crests and then the flounder is done! I just love water effects!

Doesn't look so bad on the picture, tough! Very clear and vibrant, in fact!

Thanks, guys!

Today started really nice. I managed to work a bit more on the spooky face in Samedi's cloak. I think I can live with the result now. Then I began with his base. He got the tombstone I sculpted for him, and I added the agitator skull from the old bottle of pure black that went bad when I tried to paint him. Finally, a bit of texture paste, now he's ready for his base to be primed (once more). But after that: Pure hell! I started with my fairy challenge (only five paints: Deep Red, Dark Highlight, Palomino Gold, Pure White, Pure Black, all RMS). Did I mention that she's tiny? Like, really tiny? Well, this fairy is really tiny! On the Dark Sword website she's painted up with eyes and pupils and red lips and all ! How is that even possible? I tried with my magnifiers and the smallest brush I could find - no chance! Best to lower my expectations a bit and just try to get her done in somewhat acceptable quality. But at least her knife is my first little attempt at NMM - I had to, since I'm not allowed any other paints than the five mentioned above. Later on I will break this rule with all my shiny new weathering products, but for now those five paints are all I get. So behold, the fruits of my work today: And since Laurana is finished and posted in show off, I get to choose another new mini, if I want to. I really shouldn't, but it would be nice to paint some armour for a change. Let's see...

Maybe just leave it like this and skip the ripples. Your explanation made sense, and the calm water gives the piece a feeling of "just waking up".

Laurana came to me in the old LTPK 2 as one of my very first minis in 2010 or so. This set even had the old Pro Paints in it, almost all of wich gave up on me a long time ago. Only Ruddy Flesh and the Copper Metallic Paint are left, both are still among my workhorse paints. While Laurana's companion Tsuko was painted up fairly quickly, I struggled with painting her forever. First the scroll would not come out right, and then the eyes turned out to be a major problem for me - you see, the pupils of the eyes are sculpted, so my usual strategies didn't work for her. But after years and years on my shelf of shame she's finally done! Once I got past the scroll and the eyes she was actually a joy to paint. Also, I really like the expressive pose. So here she is, c&c very welcome!

Great NMM!

I had a long day of painting today, but I got some things done! First: Poor Mike. Some drybrushing and some more red tone washes for everything I could identify as a mouth. Also I touched up the skeleton in the main mouth. It seems Mike has turned on his first companion already (or he got revenge on the evil wizard, it's a bit hard to identify the victim in this stage). That means I'm ready for the expo classes! Here's a group shot with all minis and paints: Next I worked on the flounder. Last coat of varnish and then finally the UV resin. Here's the flounder on the sunbed: And here it is after treatment. Next I'll finish the underside of the base (don't ask), and then it's time for some waves. I love that part! With so much out of the way I couldn't ignore Samedi any longer. Almost all current projects more or less cleared, so I made myself a big cup of tea, put on some music and got to work. Correcting my botched OSL took the whole afternoon and I'm still not happy, but that's as good as it gets. The front is not too good, but the back of the coat looks more or less as I want it to. Tomorrow I'll start improving Samedi's base. Somehow I got the feeling that my Dark Earth Texture Paste will play a part in that.

They're great! And I learned something new today, thanks for the lesson in rat painting!

What a stunning piece! If you really want to go to town you could make some ripples with water effects, but then you'll probably lose the wonderful deep blue look of the water.

Bit of a necro, but totally worth it!

Looking good!

Iäh! Iäh! Cthulhu fhtagn!

Very nice! I wish them a quiet night with not too much trouble!

Thanks @Goddesstio, that's a really cool version of the mini. Especially the green eyes sell it! I was really tempted to go with purple as well, for that "otherworldly" feel, but finally went for a "Oh no! It's Mike, but look what they've done to him!" and chose flesh tone (RMS Fair Shadow on the outside, RMS Blushing rose - sadly discontinued - for the inside, followed by a wash of 50/50 Army Painter Flesh Wash and Red Tone). Just a quick drybrushing left to do and the Horror is ready for class. As is the seeress, she will get her hair done. Which means I can slowly return my focus to my main projects. Flounder got the varnishing almost done. One last coat tomorrow and then we'll be waiting for the tide to roll in...

Mr. Flounder is ready for a coat of varnish and then finally the UV-resin. Also: Some more prepping for my upcoming classes. The three figures on the handles are more or less ready, but I'm planning to get the Faceless Horror painted up a bit more, because the class will only cover the eyes. I'm undecided about the colour though: Purple, flesh tone or pink? Finally, because I didn't feel like facing Samedi's coat yet, I opted for some more brush practice on the magma golem.