Pingo

I don’t know who Crooked Dice has sculpting for them, but they are very good at capturing a likeness.

Coincidentally, I had this figure very nearly done two days ago when the sad news of Diana Rigg’s passing was made public. It always was a tribute to her incandescent portrayal of Emma Peel in the old British TV show “The Avengers”, but now it’s a memorial as well. Requiescas in pacem, Ms. Rigg. The figure is “Pandora King (Classic)” from Crooked Dice miniatures. Crooked Dice has a minis game based on cult TV and they’ve produced a lot of different figures suitable for that sort of storytelling.

Thank you all.

Happy birthday, @TheAuldGrump and @Inarah. I hope you enjoy this. Notes follow after the photos. This is Grenadier’s Hippogriff, #138 from the Fantasy Lords series way back in 1983, now sold in lead-free pewter by Mirliton Miniatures, Italy. It’s well sculpted, with securely fitting wings. I wanted to paint something different from the common hippogriff colorings, something with a little challenge to it. So I decided to go with several black and white patterned creatures. The front end is based on an osprey, the wings on a hoopoe’s, and the hindquarters on a zebra, all somewhat modified to suit the figure and to blend where the shifts happen. Whenever you’re going to paint a chimeric model, a creature made up of the parts of other creatures, it’s a good idea to go look at real animals to see how their colors and feathers and skins look, and also how they blend into other things. If nothing else, there are excellent visual resources on the internet. Technical notes:

I used to be a major contributor to the community. I’ve been withdrawing from it for a long while. That may have contributed in some small way to the changes here, I don’t know. I’ve almost completely shut down my WIPs. I’ve found the joy draining out of Show Off threads. It hurts. I like this place and the people here and I have many happy memories of lively interactions and discussions. It’s been inspiring and enjoyable to be among a community of people who like what I like who I can bounce ideas and inspirations off of, who understand about art and gaming and play. I used to try to critique figures, when asked, with an eye and the experience I have, to the level appropriate for the artist. But I’ve found my energy for it draining away. And it’s all Beekeeper stuff that’s done it. You all know world events have gone way weird. And I never made any secret that I was, as my Twitter profile says, a Big Ol Lefty. I’m a progressive from a family of abolitionists, underground-railroaders, Spanish-fascism-fighters, child-labor-enders, union organizers, Civil Rights activists, and a whole lot of other stuff I haven’t talked about. And the community here has shifted and I’ve been feeling less and less welcome for years. I love y’all. Yes, even you. But my heart is breaking and there’s work to do. I’m truly sorry I haven’t been here to cheer you on, to talk about funny art stuff, to commiserate, to share a mutual joy in the hobby. But it’s probably also better I haven’t been here to rant, to weep, or to rage, or to trade tips on organizing marches, which is a lot of what I’ve been doing outside of art, minis, and illustrating RPGs. Especially if I am inclined to say things that will only make people unhappy and get me censured. I need a community that I can talk honestly in. I miss you guys awfully. I hope you have fun with the hobby. Peace out.

We're okay. Night before last some local businesses were looted: two Walgreens, a couple of cell phone places, a liquor store, a computer store. All of our local stores and supermarkets are closed. There was a big, I mean really big, demonstration a couple blocks north of our house yesterday afternoon. Completely peaceful. Many cops and helicopters came in late afternoon, extremely noisy for over an hour, kicked up a ruckus. It was on all the news. Then the cops lined up and filed away, without much incident. Public transportation has been canceled today. Local churches offered sanctuary to any stranded demonstrators.

Crooked Dice has both the original movie characters and the all-women remake characters. EDIT: Hasslefree and Bad Squiddo are excellent sources too. They both have women in coveralls.

Just stood out front banging pots and pans for seven minutes.

Great Googly Moogly ...

I’m sorry for your loss.

So I finished a mini. First one in a year. Anyone know how to find the Inspiration Gallery? https://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/91668-two-different-versions-of-the-bones-large-earth-elemental-77185/

These are two copies of the Reaper Bones Large Earth Elemental 77185, sculpted by Kevin Williams. I saw someone, I can’t recall who, paint up, it might have been one of these, like cooling lava which I thought was lovely, so I wanted to give it a try. I painted the lava version very quickly, in a few sessions: A layer of butter-yellow intensified with yellow glazing, then laying on pure black paint rather thickly, then some washes of Quinacridone Magenta and some fiddling with that and yellow on the gems. The rock version I painted v-e-r-y slowly, in many layers over time, often with whatever paint was left on my palette from other paintings. I’m not sure when I started it, but since I haven’t painted any minis at all for the last year, it’s been some time. I thought it interesting how very different a sculpt can look depending on how you paint it.

It looks like they either primed it black or painted the lines first. The "lines" are incised, so essentially adding color on with drybrushing or something similar on the raised areas after the lines are all black would give that effect.

Yeeeeha! Congratulations!!! I get that. I also get it from one of the lights in my studio, one of those transitional fluorescent bulbs that’s supposed to be “daylight.” If it’s anywhere in my field of vision I start sneezing. I wear pretty heavy duty sunglasses outside. Doctor’s orders.

I have finished a mini. Two minis, in fact. It is almost exactly a year since last I painted a mini. World events have been dreadfully draining. With any luck I’ll have ‘em varnished and photographed and ready to show within a few days. Meanwhile I’ma go rewatch Casablanca, Captain Marvel, and Wonder Woman.