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When the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch on Halloween to bring toys and gifts to the deserving, and a painful smiting to the pumpkin smashers, it is vital that He should covering fire if He needs it.... Four of these were among the first minis I painted for the Army of the Great Pumpkin, and I finally got around to getting them enough friends to make a unit. The large Jack O Lantern is from Reaper's pumpkin pack, I don't remember who manufactured the tree, I picked it up in the model railroad section of a hobby store sometime around 1997. There's also an Army Painter Wasteland Grass tuft. The fence was scratch made from balsa wood. Painted their shoulder skulls orange to represent the skulls of pumpkin smashers dyed with the remains of their innocent victims so as the pumpkin spirits can rest easy knowing they have been avenged... Both the older "white and bendy" Bones and the newer grey "better detailed and not bendy" Bones are in the unit. Later I need to spray primer the elf outta this so the leaves stay put. The increased detail of the grey Bones really made itself evident while painting these.

Hi! I'm brand new to the hobby and stumbled across the forums, so I thought I'd share my first WIP photos. I started playing in my first DnD campaign in December and the other players painted their own player character minis, which made me want one of my own (and one for my husband, who also plays in the same campaign.) I snagged the two LTPKs then started watching all the videos I could find on mini painting. I have no background in art/painting so it has been refreshing to give it a shot! However I am also in the rabbit hole now of wanting all the colors, basing supplies, tools.... lol. The minis in this kit are: 77018 Skeleton Archer 77042 Orc Marauder 77148 Mangu Timur I pretty much followed the book for how to paint the skeleton archer. The main differences being that I ordered the kit of Citadel washes after seeing so much praise for them, and I used a few slightly different paint shades (like dragon bronze for the metal bits instead of blade steel.) I still need to base him (cover that mold line between his feet!) but otherwise I'm pretty happy with him for being my first mini - he could use some weathering and higher contrast, but I sealed him before learning about weathering and the benefits of exaggerated contrast. My current WIP is the orc. I still have to do some highlighting passes because I don't think I've got enough contrast in the skin yet. I need to highlight the metal as well (haven't done that yet.) I'd like to attempt some weathering on the leather to make it look more worn, and try my hand at rust on the metal bits. I'm pretty happy with how my attempt at making the shield look wooden turned out (thanks YouTube!) I also found an oval base I might try to base him on since it fits his wide pose, but he'll be pretty big for using on a standard tabletop grid. Haven't touched the Mangu Timur model yet! I also need to get a better setup for photos, I was having trouble getting decent shots of these guys. I appreciate your thoughts on my work so far, thank you! I'm excited to join in.

Well, this one was an.... Interesting challenge to say the least. It was one of the only models I had that I could even attempt to fingerpaint, as most of my other models my fingers can't even reach a quarter of the details they had... Originally, I had no set plan with this guy, but then I started getting this feeling about how I should make him look like an aaaaaancient guardian of sorts... Probably had something to do with his second colour winding up being a rather medium stone grey colour I suspect :P Anyways, I wound up doing what felt like some crazy colour combinations just to try and get a shade "sort of close" to an idea that had popped in mind (one example being 3 drops of Woodland Brown, 1 drop of Ebony Flesh, 1 drop of Dragon Red, 1 or 2 drops of Marigold Yellow, and 1 or 2 drops of Terran Khaki).. It's definitely a lot harder than it sounds, doubly so if you're wanting to add in only a touch of detail to a spot here or there.... It also tests your patience when you try and do something like a wash and it then takes ten minutes to dry, and you go "screw it, I'm using the exhaust of my graphics card to dry this thing faster". Including a set of slightly underexposed pictures because it's closer to the actual colour. I so need to get a proper light box of sorts (and good image editing software) so I can match things more with what I see ^_^;;;;

Couldn't resist the silly-ish title - it was originally going to be "Novice Painter, versus LTPK:Core!" but I changed it a touch at the end.. Bonus points if you read that as the Innkeeper from Hearthstone. :P While I have painted miniatures in the past, I've first and foremost never shown such results to anyone, and secondly went in blindly with those ones, and while I was happy with them at the time, I wanted to improve. Other things in life took over for a while, and then finally I said that's it, I'm either going to FINALLY paint my primered army of doom that was at Doom In June 2005 or I'm going to sell the minis I've had sitting in boxes for over a decade. So glad I found out about the Learn to Paint Kits, because that pretty much solidified that decision right then and there :P Anyways! At some point we were all at this stage, and while looking over the pictures I can see a number of things I can improve on (*cough* like my up close photography skills *cough*), but for most things... I'm happy with them. Especially the chain mail on the Orc Marauder. I just might have to retake some of these photos, because I realize looking at them that, uhm, first and foremost f1.7 blurs half the model, and secondly, I didn't get a shot of the backside of the Marauder's Shield, which I was also happy about. Oops. But before I ramble on for three pages......! Drybrushing feels sooooo weird, but it was starting to click once I got to Magnu, even if I wound up overdoing it in a few areas and it so wasn't a dry effect anymore. But that's life, we learn from our actions!

Painted 2/17 with LTPK received at Xmas. Asked for it after tough experience painting minis with Folk Art craft paints. (See bugbear warrior post.) Soooo much easier! It was like a different art form altogether. I followed the directions verbatim with the skeleton. I like greyish orcs so changed the skin tone and some other colors. IIRC, Mangu is per the painting guide.

I used a Reaper green sample paint on the bows and quivers, with hints of black and a black wash to have them resemble the ancient nord weapons the druager carry in Skyrim. The fourth archer is from the Core Learn to Paint Kit.

Hello everyone, So I have had reaper minis since the first bones kickstarter, but it wasn't until recently that I actually decided to start painting. I wanted to show off what I've done so far, and hopefully post other pictures as I make progress. I realize that these are rough, and I appreciate any advice on the matter. I posted these pretty well in the order that I painted them, and had anywhere from a few days to a few weeks between each mini. I think I am finally getting the hang of dry brushing, as seen with the golem, and the more I learn, the more I think I need to go back and touch up my older paint jobs. But overall, I'm pretty happy with the way they look. I can't wait to use them at the game table! P.S. I probably need to find a better place and method for taking pictures. These are ok, but I like the more professional looking pictures I tend to see. Apologies if the quality on these pictures is not excellent.

I've been working on two of the minis that came with my Reaper Bones Learn to Paint kit. I've tried to follow the directions pretty much step-by-step, and I think they're coming along pretty well. Some observations I've made as a new painter: 1) Separated paints need be shaken very thoroughly, even sometimes to the point of popping off the dropper cap and stirring them with a toothpick or something similar before shaking them. Big thanks to Mad Jack and Inarah for pointing this out and suggesting getting some small glass beads to drop in the bottles and act as agitators. I never would have thought of that. 2) Some areas will require multiple coats of paint, and you must wait for the previous coat to dry before applying the next one. It doesn't take that long to dry, but if you try to paint over wet paint it will just mess up the first layer. This may be a duh kind of thing, but it's also one I learned by trial and error (mostly error). 3) Look at the mini you're painting from a bunch of different angles. This will help you find any spots you missed, and you will miss some. Also, taking pictures can help find areas that need to be touched up. I've found this very useful, so I've started taking pictures whenever I decide to take a break or get to a point where I have to wait for something to dry before moving on. Use the zoom, Luke! It may be that nobody finds any of that useful, but I thought I would share it just in case. It's the kind of things that weren't covered in the painting guide or that I've seen in videos or write-ups that I've watched/read online so far. If anybody has other tips or tricks they use, please let me know. I do learn from mistakes, but I'd rather avoid them if possible. Thanks! Illustration of what separated (read: not shaken enough) green paint looks like applied to a mini's base: Properly shaken green paint applied as a second coat (also note touched up steel toes on boots): Skeleton after base coat, wash, and first drybrush highlight: Skeleton after second drybush highlight and detail colors:

Hey, folks! I'm brand new here, though I've been lurking for awhile, and brand new to miniature painting in general. This is my absolute -first- attempt at painting a mini. I tossed around whether or not to post, but why the heck not, eh? The earlier I get constructive criticism, the earlier I can put it to use! I've been wanting to try my hand at painting for awhile now, and finally decided to get a learn to paint kit. I set right to it after receiving it yesterday. He's by no measure great, but I'm fairly happy with him for a first attempt. At the least, I was never tempted to strip him down and start over. :P If anyone has any constructive criticism or tips, they'd be greatly appreciated. The most trouble I ran into was with dry brushing highlights; I seemed to either go far too light or far too heavy on it, with no real middle ground. In any case, if I had any doubt about sticking with this as a hobby, they were long gone last night. Down the rabbit hole I go! :P (Edited to correct the absolute mess that my image uploads were.>_<)

The finished batch of undead 89031: Whispering Tyrant 77280: Lich 77281: Succubus 77282: Vampire 77284: Zombie Ogre 77285: Skeletal Champion 77147: Mummy LIch 77161: Ghost King

Reaper SKU #'s: Skeletal Archer - 77018 Spider - 77126 Hellakin Gorecutter, Halfling Thief - 77165 Here's the WIP if you are interested. The Plight of Hellakin Gorecutter: The tale was a strange one the young halfling thief thought to himself. Up in the hills there was said to be a deadly beast, something the locals called the "Redstripe" guarding a treasure for the ages, but every adventurer who had gone into the cavern disappeared and was never heard from again. The music played in the tavern and he mused to himself that such a score could set him up for life. He must go forth and brave the cave and retrieve whatever treasure was inside! A few days later, Hellakin Gorecutter set off for the hills and found the cave. He ignored the signs that said "danger" and stepped lightly over the rocky terrain, his steps quick and silent as a whisper. He saw the deep dark cave ahead, the water was green and a few sparse plants were sipping at the water's edge. He could smell something horrendous coming from the cave, but his eyes couldn't penetrate into the gloom. He steeled himself, pulled forth his sharp pointy dagger, and stealthily ventured inside to battle whatever awaited him... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a piece I did for the Winter Exchange and I only got a couple of pictures before I had to send it off to dontfear (so if you read this dontfear, please feel free to add more pictures from other angles and whatnot). Thanks for looking!

This speed painted horde of skellies really helped towards my goal of painting 100 minis this year. These are SKUs 77001, 77017 and 77018. Edited to add SKU to title and tags

My second miniature ever, and my very first KS mini! It's just a rat, but I'm quite happy with the results. My WIP is posted here. (Note: the last picture was taken before I'd tidied up around the toes on his back feet; the top 2 pictures are the ones that were taken last.) Huzzah! --OneBoot :D