Lord Wehrmacht

The skin looks great! I wouldnt alter it much at all. I think the leopard print is letting it down though. If you notice the thing that makes the real leopard 'work' is that the spots are much closer together and breaks up the overall form the animal. The leopard on the model has much less spot than the leopard skin on the critter. I think you would be best served by expanding the size, or the number of spots. Ya gotta break up the overall look of the skin. Right now it does indeed look like standard leather with more of a runic pattern. Just my 2 pennies... ymmv.

Im good with Chesty barmaids.... thats... o k .

I use 4 brushes on a regular basis. None of them get off the bench evah!! I will allow no slacking!! Anyway. Like Matt, I dont drybrush, if I did I would probably pick up some GW brushes for the task, or maybe some Cirrus brushes. The lineup I have on my desk is a GW for basework and the occasional "huge area to paint models for basecoats" The next three are all Winsor and Newton series 7 brushes. I use a 0, a 00, and a 000. Depending on what im painting I might also throw down a 1 but usually it isnt needed. The only trouble with smaller brushes is that very often they suffer from a lack of paint loading. In other words, the tips might be small enough but there isnt sufficient brush to store enough paint properly, you see this very often in the very small pointed brushes in lines you can get at Micheals and such. The result usually is that the paint dries out on the brush, or just after painting. This both damages the brush and also causes whatever your painting to be a bit chalky. Most people will tell you that even though the W&N brushes and Davinci's etc are more expensive they are worth it. I believe that this is true, the quality will show in what your doing, as well as your confidence in your painting. If your more interested in slop painting, or turning out many models, as in army painting, then the better choice may be some cheaper brushes for the base coats and whatnot. But ultimatly the more expensive sables are defininetly worth thier cost.

Just wanted to drop in and say to everyone Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everyone has a uneventful one!

The good news is that the other competeing company... ehem... Vallejo, has about the same size bottles. Of the major lines only Citadel (just say no) and P3 are different enough to matter if your building a rack.

For my part I would much rather be able to duplicate the french style than the American one. I love what they do to color and they do seem to have a larger grasp of the concept overall. This question has actually been on my mind alot lately as I have been trying to sharpen my color selection and how mixing colors generates more interesting effects. It just seems to me that when I look at the french miniature painters they all seem to be able to use colors in a much more interesting way. Unfortunately I think the language barrier prevents us Americans from really seeking to understand the style. I see the ultra realistic stuff a bit different. Its a third style to be sure, because honestly the French material spans the same range as the american one, with realism at one end, and a 'stylized' one at the other. One thing that I have noticed lately, after staring at all these minis over at CMON and others, is that when you look at the french minis they rarely use any color by itself, instead the base is usually some form of complement to the rest of the highlighting. To me that view of color is what gives the french their strength, and why without that view most american painting tends to look abit toonish.

Ive seen alot of old classic guns with scroll work on the barrel and the ignition chamber. It wouldnt be all that hard to replicate that and make him a slightly richer gobbo!

Upgraded my spot with some leetness.... Drink it in!

Ok.. here is the bigger version. A number of issues show up... most of my real problem with this girl is in two spots. The first is her face. The problem with her face is that I aced her eyes the first time, then i decided I wanted to improve it... and managed to single handedly bork up like 5 attempts at Mrikas way of doing eyes. So its chalky. The second is that Im less than pleased with her freehand on her legs... a misguided attempt at some Rackham designs. btw... next up for me... Valaska Syn from Hasselfree Miniatures

Heya folks, Not entirely sure how I feel about this mini. I see many flaws but I am curious as to what you all say. One thing I CAN say about this girl is that the more I painted her the more I thought ...."omg her hands are huge..." Anyway... this might be my last mini with a wet palette. I am playing now with the ceramics that alot of you folks use. Seeing whats better etc! Thanks LW

Only because I have painted the Slann Mage before. Please take your time on this one. And when I mean take your time, I mean, this model will require probably 20 hours just to get it to semi done status. There is far far more detail on the throne than you think and if done right it is a very nice model. The frog itself is fairly plain, but the good news here is that you have a frog here... look around on the internet and see what colors are decent for frogs. Washes will be your friend here, just make sure when your laying down paint your putting it precisely where you want it, and you know why you want it there. Good luck

Golden Toadstools http://electricocean.com/gt/ Once a month my local/net shop does a painting comp. Some of you already know about it because I see your work on it. http://www.miniaturemarket.com/painting_contest

Hrmm I think I got a picture for you... maybe not but I have used this to prove to myself that ANY color is workable... Check it... and fear it... All are painted by this guy... http://www.coolminiornot.com/artist/Igor%20K. I think its cool.. if a tad fruity...

Lol aye! My favorite was the Cheese.. the graphic they came up with is friggen sweet.

Ok... after taking a picture Im thinking I need a bulb change.. cause this sucks. The original lighting... which is mostly Florescent ... And the new lighting.. the Power-crap Maybe I can find fluorescents for it.

Sweeeet ... I can make a mini that appeals to humans AND the Predators.... Still havent taken a picture ... its coming though.. got a guy at the house right now installing Direct TV, cause the wife wants the Big 10 network, and I get the military channel!

Not to steal anyones thunder but I thought that this link here was funny as hell... and terrifying at the same time. Check yourself before you wreck yourself here... That is a tasty burger! Or.. larvae...

Oberlin in Ohio? I toured that school way back in the day, if its the same one. I was amazed at the number of students walking around in skirts. Course they were all guys...

If you can put up something that looks like this: and call it art. Or cover a picture of the Virgin Mary in Elephant dung and call it art. Then this.... absolutely, positively, and concretely MUST be art: I wont go into the kind of Hack work that modern art has become, well not much. What people call "Art" now is only a race to see who can be most offensive or disgusting. Not alot of beauty out there to be had in the "Art World" anymore. I mean seriously, when I look at something and say.. wow I can do that. It isnt art. Btw claiming its expression and it should be protected is a red herring. What we do is Art, pure and simple. Van Gogh had a canvas, we have a metal one. Full Metal Artistry ftw.

Wow nothing like bringing up the rear! Lol guess its back to the drawing board. Grats on the entries cause many of them are outstanding pieces!

Heya folks, I recently inherited an overhead light source from a buddy of mine that is usually meant for the fish trade. Its a great rig but I am concerned with the bulbs output. The bulb that they have in there is a Power-glo bulb that runs usually for coral tanks. Does anyone have any suggestions here? I want to hold as close to true light as I can but everything I find is an OTT light which is pricey atm, or a regular old florescent light which seems to hurt my eyes after a while. Has anyone out there used fish lights much at all or do you think I will get alot of color distortion. Ill take a picture of a mini under my usual light and then under the new rig later this morning to give a visual aid to the process. Thanks yall.

When I am lining its as many have said before. Brown liner... where appropriate and a 00 or a 000 brush. I like the 00 much better usually do to the ability of the 00 to load more. It might be important to ask WHEN you line as well. Sometimes the process will dictate the point where you line. I personally line out a particular section after at least 2 adjoining basecoat colors are down. That will give me an initial feel for the piece as well as have a strong tendency to keeping me "inside the lines" as it were. The other thing it does is gives my brain a bit more ammunition to fight the case of the mid-mini depression I seem to always get. I think its worth noting here that lining is one of those things where you need PATIENCE. Dont rush this stage. Its one of those things that can really make or break you so I encourage you to take as much time as you need. If you feel like your getting frustrated and just "Want it over with" then put down the brush, and do something else for a minute or two.

Yep the double banded crossbows... were the bestest...

Just a happy little story about Karma. I visit my local shop, which just so happens to be an online shop as well, every month. I am on a first name basis with a large number of the folks that hang out there and I give them as much help as I can. The one I go to also has a painting competition I enter once a month and do very well in, and I also try to help the owner when I can. For example when he was looking at buying 500$ display cases for his store I suggested that he instead try the glass cases sold at IKEA and save himself a ton of cash. He's a good guy and I like him alot, I can proudly say that when I spend money it is there at his shop. I visited him yesterday and picked up far more metal than i ever need (of course, im a addict). He had just remodeled a couple things in his store and he gave me what you see below. I think its pretty schweet and am trying to find a way to get them incorporated into my desk system. The back racking in the picture is from Vallejo Game Color. The bottom left is from a normal Reaper system rack, and the bottom right I think is a propaint racking. Have I said that I love my local???

The greatest board game evah has been re-released if anyone else cares. Back in the day I used to play this all the friggen time... if you have any kids that are very young and maybe interested in mini games / terrain etc.. this game might help that interest along as well as keep stuff exciting and destructive (which always keeps kids attention of course!). http://www.mooseworld.com.au/content/battl...night/home.aspx a good overview of the game! http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/140053 Anyway. Just wanted to share with yall one of my all time favorite games.