awong

If you like the paintier carousel, then you might like this alternative. I've actually bought two of the multi-tiered ones and either reconfigured or just stacked to get more tiers (use the base of the second tier as the top level of the first tier to get three rotating tiers). They don't have the steps built in so the whole issue of grabbing things at the back while domino-ing everything in front is even more evident...but as a low cost modest carousel, the price is right. I currently use Midnight Lurker's setup. Everything in an artbin off to the side. What I'm currently using sits on my desktop. If I need to clean up, it's a snap. Incidentally, I used extruded drywall corner beads (what drywallers use to get those crisp corners in walls) as dividers in the artbin. Some heavy duty scissors are all you need to cut them to length and a quick pass with sandpaper to dull the edges (they can get very sharp!) is all it takes (slightly rebend straight if they kink while cutting). -aW

I haven't done this myself, but I do know that there is a whole sub-industry of GIJoe / 1/6th scale action figures re-painters / converters out there. I was looking this up for a friend who wants to redo a Weasley from the Harry Potter series. Try this forum for related vinyl head repaints and other cool conversions (some of these guys are incredible!). I can't say anything towards the silkstone vs. regular vinyl though. Hope this helps a little. -AW

You wouldn't happen to have lighter pictures would you? He's very hard to make out currently. However, of what I can see...I like. Also, you're getting a white edge around the figure (I'm guessing from your selection tool) that's a bit distracting. Try a search on the internet for "pulling mattes" or removing backgrounds (This popped up with photoshop pulling mattes). That'll give you some cool tips and tricks on separating out items so you can paste them into new backgrounds...then you can come over and work in the film industry as a roto-artist -AW

Very nice work on the red cape...looks like a very plush velvet. I agree also that the ray gun is cool (for some reason, it really reminds me of the Sandman pistols...dial back that "way back machine" :) ). -AW

This is a very nice rendition of Jolie. I can see where you're pushing the highlighting and it does help. Your black leather strap around the "canister?" on her back really takes on a "shine"...I hope that's what you were going for. Her hair is starting to get there too. The near white highlights on the filigree behind and below her head seems odd only with reference to where the lighting is coming from. I would expect the highlights higher up, maybe at her shoulders? But, the highlights at the back and base of her dress is great...they really accent the folds in the dress. Don't know if it's the background color or ? But that's the most convincing rendition of her glasses I've seen! -AW

Whew, that is a grissly piece. I like your handling of the bone elements. They really look dry and aged. Those faces in the wing membrane are a nice touch...is that something you added or were they sculpted in? Very neat piece. -AW

Very nice work on both! I'm seeing some attempts at NMM on Wulfgar. That's a tricky technique. Smoother blends would help sell that. Try bouncing back and forth between layering to put down your color shifts then glazing to help smooth the blends. The fur, hair, cloth, and leather straps are all nicely done. As for Jahenna...love those dark eyes! and black hair. It really helps pop the skin tones! If anything, I would probably work on pushing your contrasts to help make things stand out a bit more. -AW

I'm with the rest, Olivia is my favorite. She's done very cleanly and all the parts stand out nicely. Excellent color choices and a nice base to boot. Callindra suffers from the photo angles and lighting I think. She's much more complicated and the lighting makes the atmosphere around the mini look very hazy, so she's harder to see (for me). I think all the mini's could benefit from pushing in with the camera, a then some cropping, to help highlight the mini more. -AW

Griffon's my fav. The color choice and blending, especially from what I see in the rear view...very nice. Wings are very convincing as well. All three are beauts actually. -AW

I think you had a great idea, creating a diorama but still leaving the pieces "play-able". I think each part (the wall, crypt, tombstones) all look like they could function within someone's game. That's pretty cool (reminds me of an idea I heard way back on CMON, corvus had it IIRC). Unfortunately, Heisler is correct, the final layout of the pieces in the composition isn't terribly interesting and they don't really help tell any story, which dioramas are wont to do (tell a story). The individual pieces are well handled and with the excellent suggestions that Jabberwocky provided, would easily improve. Taking those individual elements and composing them to provide interesting vistas and "shots" that promote a story or idea could be the next step in fleshing out a novel approach to game terrain and figures. May I suggest an excellent book Shep Paine's How to Build Dioramas for an in-depth look at composition for dioramas and vignettes.

Rhainie is sweet! As always, hair is perfect, base work very cool! My only quibble might be that the skin tone looks very close to the pink of the jacket. I almost missed the cleavage (and that would have been a shame). I'm guessing that might be due to the photograph? What's that little blue curly-que coming out of the water near her left foot? Off to vote! -AW

Wonderful paint up PW. One of my favorite minis for this season. I just finished this one myself and I can sympathize about the face...there are a couple of very harsh laugh-line creases at the corners of the mouth that I found hard to handle. I really like your rendering of the hair. It contrasts nicely against the blacks of the hat and cape. -AW

Congrats on making the top 20! Well deserved. Good luck to you! This was one of my many favorites...girlie man dress and all -AW

Very nice job. I also like the color choices and it looks like you've got good control of your brush. A few little nitpicky things to watch out for on your next mini... Neaten up the plastic base by giving it a couple of light and smooth coats of color. There's a discussion going on now about base colors so I'll leave that alone. It'll really help showcase your painting. I'm seeing a bit of a seam on the right hand. Remember to follow those seams all the way around. (That's advice that I need to heed more diligently). I agree totally with DG about moving into shading and highlighting. From your colors used, it looks like you've got the colors necessary to help bring out the three dimensionality of these little sculptures. See, really nit-picky. Lastly, we want to see more! -AW

I hope this might help some. By marking out lots of consistent dots, you should be able to draw out pretty decent latitudinal (horiz) lines. Just space the dots close together and keep the poles aligned to your template. The string trick might just be faster though (and more random). -AW 1. sphere and cardboard 2. scribe out an 8" circle and bisect it, mark along the edge the spacing for your lat. lines 3. cut out the circle and discard 1/2 of the template, press to sphere and mark the poles and your first set of dots. 4. same as above 5. rotate the template in smallish increments keeping the poles aligned and continue marking dots 6-7. you should have a trail of dots that you can connect for parallel lat lines. Two hollow halves you say? How about a variation on the water idea. Fill the halves with water, use a level to make sure the open edge is truely horizontal, mark out your lat. lines by following the water level. I'm spending way too much time thinking about this :).

Do you play on a set mat? Some paint to match the board they consistently play on. Of course, this doesn't work if your army travels to different venues. -AW

Has the voting begun yet? Would that happen on the same thread as where the entries are submitted or should I be checking another location? -AW

Oh, I didn't read the initial post carefully enough. If it's only an 8" diameter, then mark out an 8" diameter circle on some cardboard. Before cutting it out, run a line from pole to pole (any straight line that hits the center point will mark out opposite poles). Now cut out the hole and then fit your ball in the hole. Mark your poles onto the ball. On the cardboard, mark out the latitudinal spacing you desire. Mark your sphere using those marks as guides. Spin the sphere, taking care to keep the poles in the same place and mark again. Keep doing this until you've got lots of dots marking out your equator and latitudinal lines. Play connect the dots (the closer the dots are spaced, the more accurate your end results will be). Use that same template to mark out your longitudinal lines. Again, keep the poles of your sphere aligned with the poles marked on the template and spin the template, then, using the template as a straight edge, draw your lines. This should be really handy to mark out randomly placed panels, while keeping them all running correctly from pole to pole. Actually, your template only needs to be a half-circle cut-out...that'll be much easier to handle as well. -AW

You could also take a length of string and tie a pencil at the end (keep it near the tip, less wiggle). Then tack the loose end on some arbitrary point on the sphere (I'd use a tack or small screw, string needs to swivel about this point). Making sure you've got the string pulled taut, you can scribe a line about the sphere and it should be equidistant from your arbitrary pole. Now change the length of your string and do it again. You should be able to mark out nice consistant longitudinal (or is it latitudinal?) lines. Toughest part will be to find the exact opposite point for your other pole. -AW

Wow, after adding my entry I perused all of the current entries. What an amazing showing! I don't recall other on-line contests being so well attended as this. Good luck to everyone, and I don't envy the judges one bit. Trying to pick only 10 out of that field will be tough. Great jobs by all! -AW

Yeay, I finally made it on time for one! A very simple Elise for my entry. Everybody's entries looks great!

Welcome! My suggestion would be...all the above and, If possible, scout out your local game store. See if there are any paint groups around. Reaper has what's call Black Lightening, a corp of helpful guys and gals that may be holding painting and gaming events in your area. If you can hook up with others then you've got instant resources. Hopefully, you can watch new techniques, try paints and brushes, see proper prep techniques...all that. Also, scour this board. It's one of the best and friendliest places to pose questions and show your work (even Work In Progress for comments and suggestions). You've found a good starting point already! Looking forward to seeing your work in the Show Off section! -AW

MikeD, Don't know if you've seen this article yet. He addresses all sorts of ethnicities in a generic way. He picks some photos, takes some swatches, then loosely correlates the swatches to his choice of paint (vallejo). The method seems like one that anybody could follow, as long as one can find a suitable photo representing the proper skin tone. Again, this will only get a person into a rough ballpark, then start tweaking and glazing to taste. Good luck. Can't wait to see what you eventually come up with! -AW

Yeah, I'm thinking this idea might be a bit too tricky. I also haven't heard any ideas about the possibility of sticky-ing the summary at the top of a thread...unless Cerebro edits his first post from rules and regulations into the summary page maybe? I think this is something that needs to be set up prior to kicking off an exchange, prep the summary page as part of the initial notification of an exchange. Oh well, maybe next time...or the next. Jab, I'm looking forward to seeing your piece! -AW

And, we have a winner! Get's my vote. Sorry, AW