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Still not tired of re-skinning this thing. This is my third: the Pathfinder Red dragon painted up as a Green dragon. I did one in typical / classic red a long time ago, I just did one in white last month, and now I present...green! This cast was a little wobbly / uneven. Pronounced mold line down the middle and the eyes were pretty lumpy. No biggie - for the price it is an amazing mini, and it is easily one of my favorite Reaper Bones productions. Dominant color is green, obviously, and more specifically it's the "Warm Green" triad. It's otherwise all reaper paints except for the drudgework on the base, which is craft paint and reaper washes (black and brown). Still hoping to do a blue and a black at some point in the relatively near future!.

This took over a year - mostly because I procrastinate EVERYTHING - but he's finally done! Contest Thread Combined Show-Off Thread WIP Thread Colors rolled were Blush Pink (I fudged and went to Breast Cancer Pink so that I can donate him to a survivor that I know), Brilliant Green and Heather Blue. I have yet to get around to building or acquiring something better for photographing these than printer paper leaned up against the paint rack, but other than that, CnC is, as always welcome.

I'm a bit of a glutton for punishment, so have managed to talk myself into another rainbow dragon... Since I have ol' Pathfinder Red sitting in the Drawer of Doom and no real plans for him, I thought I'd randomize him (not that I don't have enough other projects that haven't been finished (or even started)).. So, here goes: 3 Star challenge on Pathfinder Red (#89001) Primary : Blush Pink (although I might substitute in Breast Cancer Pink since I have 3 bottles of that from last month!) Secondary: Brilliant Green (needs to be ordered or fetched from the FLGS - I have Forest Green but that's too dark to match, i think) Tertiary: Heather Blue (do not have this, but do have a Sample bottle from a past order that is very close and will be used in its place.. I smidged some paint on a sheet of paper for comparison and have decided that Blush Pink is much brighter than BCPink, so I'll probably use the Blush (unless I decide to go thematic again and donate this fellow to a survivor since I know a few). Also, Forest Green is indeed way too dark to substitute in for Brilliant Green.. Here he is in all his boxed plasticky glory!

Howdy, For my fourteenth day of International Mini Painting Month I present PF Red Dragon head/Dire Rat conversion from ReaperCon 2016 Kev!

I started on it 2,5 years ago, and first finished it now. Turns out having a child takes up a LOT of your free time.. Who would have guessed? It is the Bones version from the first Kickstarter. I had to have it when I saw it, as I think it is the most amazing dragon sculpt I've seen! Comments and critique very welcome!

Speed paints of white dragons and fire elementals 77371: Basilisk 77026: YOung Fire Dragon 89001: Pathfinder Red Dragon 77083: Medium Fire Elemental 77080: Walls of Fire x3 77081: Burning Sphere x1 77082: Large Fire Elemental

Did this all in two nights, in accordance with the seven day challenge rules (mostly to test out techniques for those challenges). Base is a little bare, because it's integrating into a larger base later (but that one won't be rules-compliant). I might post another picture then, but this part was a complete (albeit quick) project itself. Bloodhowl's sepia wash has turned into an all-purpose awsomizer for me, and that's fantastic.

Finally Finished this up. WIP Took it to reapercon 2016 First ever entry into painting contest, along with 2 other small figures. by the time I entered it all I could see was flaws. When I found out they had picked this one to judge, I dismally predicted a certificate. My friends from Colorado Painters assured me that I was at least a bronze. That anything I considered above Tabletop quality was not going to get a certificate. Woo Ha!

Hello again everyone. I've been working away at trying to improve my painting. Reaper Bones 89001 Pathfinder Red Dragon This is the model that made me place my first Reaper order and get back into painting. I've started using sand for basing again and I really enjoy the fine texture it gives. I tried using sealer to "save" my work a few times on this model but I never ended up removing my mistakes, instead I just painted over them. I think this has left some of the details a bit gloopy (e.g. the horns). Overall I am pretty happy with it but I would love to hear any comments. Once I know he is done I am going to Dullcote him and then put some gloss on his tongue. RAFM Durnaoth Elf Halberds and Ral Partha 03-209 Elf Standard Bearer I bought these off eBay not really knowing what they would end up looking like. I find the standard bearer looks a little goofy (reminds me of the Planescape Torment character models) but I really like the Halberdiers. They were weird to assemble, as they were molded with their right hands attached to their thighs. They had to be cut off and their arms bent into place. I still feel like there is a little something missing. Again, any feedback would be great. I am planning to get some gloss spray (Krylon maybe?) for these guys and then I will dullcote them. I will test that on the standard bearer first. My fiancee wants to set them up with the dragon somewhere in our apartment. Crucible 91-221 Orc Eagle Knights Another eBay purchase where I had little idea what I would be getting. I was really excited to find out that these are orcs with an Aztec spin. They are almost where I want them but I still have a few things left to do. Let me know what you think. Thank you!

My first dragon. A little practice for KS3! Enjoy edit: So I have to admit I got a little exited playing with new toys last night and rushed the picture process. But I just wasn't happy with how dark they turned out. After another read through of the Miniatures Photography 101 I think I did a much better job today. Now You can see all the detail good and bad!

I haven't posted anything in awhile, but here's the Pathfinder Red Dragon (in Bones) that I just finished off. This ended up being kind of an experiment, trying stuff out as I went, and I think I learned a few tricks that I will apply to the next largish scaled and winged beast that I tackle. For one, I messed around with inks (from Scale75) for the first time; I highlighted the scales individually, and then put a layer of red ink over the whole thing. I really like the effect it gave, but next time I will definitely go for a lot more shade-midtone-highlight contrast before using the ink to pull it all together. The wings I actually redid several times; I first tried blending but could just not get it to work on those big surfaces, so what I settled for in the end was kind of successive stipling (from Walnut Brown through red to Fiery Orange), and then gave the whole thing a red wash. As this will be used as a grid-based gaming piece in D&D/Pathfinder I put him on a 50mm base. Added some small stones, a ruined pillar from Dragon Forge Design, and a few Army Painter grass tufts. The tail on this mini was really outstretched and elongated, so I actually curled it back in and pinned it to the resin pillar to keep it more contained on the base. Anyway, thanks for looking, and C&C are always welcome!

EDIT: I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT PUTTING THE PIX IN SPOILER TAGS...NOT SURE HOW TO. Good evening everyone! These are the first miniatures I have ever painted. I picked up the Bones Learn to Paint Kit a month ago or so and painted two of the 3 minis that came with it (the skeleton came broken) and then decided to pick up 3 more off of ebay and have painted 5 total to date. I was looking for a hobby and I stumbled across this site and read everything about minis and what not and decided to give it a try. I added the model #'s in the topic for the ones I remembered. The first mini I started with was the Armored Knight, followed by the Orc, then the Large Earth Elemental, Hell Hound and then finally the Pathfinder Dragon. Hoping to get some feedback on any/all of them as it would be much appreciated. Below are some pics, both with flash off and flash on for comparison. The only paints I used where the ones that came with the painting kit...some I mixed together or thinned out etc... I don't have a table to paint on (I'm not painting on my polished coffee table! nor do I have a fancy white background (or rather just some white paper =P) so I used a white shirt for the backdrop. Some things I noticed after I took the pics and along the way, these of which I still need to do, are: Paint the teeth on the Orc, paint the claws and wing bones of the dragon, fix the bone colored mark on the Hell Hound's left rear leg, eyes on the armored knight. Anyways, hope their good!

I have a bag of Secret Weapon skulls. I have tamiya clear red. All minis worked on for the spring/summer will have blood and skulls. Because I do what I want. Both from Bones I. Primed in green liner. I don't know if they will be green, but that is the color liner I used. Once again I will be attempting to use the Wappel method on both minis.

This is a fun mini so far. Based on a 60mm MDF base (from when Gale Force 9 made them). Really fun mini to put paint on, he's a bout 6 hours in at this point, but no one wants to see my dull, gray-primed miniature. The tans have several layers to go, but they will be added to. The shininess of the wings is from the blue ink that got spilled thanks to my lovely, 3-year-old assistant. I'll be dull coating them, but I'm happy with the recesses, as they will make my work that much easier. The red paint flooded the mini, initially, and you can see the stream of red behind the dragon, which will be covered. Ground is texture paint and pumice paste (I really like it), which will likely be a foresty/burnt green type of paint so to contrast with the really vibrant dragon. As always, photos are terrible, C&C welcome (other than photos... that's on the list again). Front: Back:

A Pathfinder Red Dragon I "speedpainted" sometime in mid-to-late 2014. My wife and I took Wappel's Shaded Basecoating class at Reapercon last year and I've been trying to familiarize myself with the style since I am somewhat impatient and don't like spending 20 or 30 hours on a single mini. This was one of the pieces I applied the technique to. It took me about three and a half hours, two of which involved repeatedly trying to make his stomach not look like complete and utter crap. The premise is a pretty simple one--Wappel advises starting dark and working light, but the rationale is that the surface is dark by default and the light is applied to the surface. With this guy, the light is coming from inside him, so start light and work dark. I started with the most hideous fluorescent yellow basecoat ever. Seriously, it was awful. I could barely tell what was painted and what wasn't. After that, it was just successive layers of darker and darker paint. I did a lot of wet-blending on this guy, and when that stuff dried, a lot of drybrushing--not that you can necessarily tell--it was one of my first real attempts at wet-blending and the demarcation between colors is still pretty obvious in places. I had three somewhat contrasting methods to my madness--first, joints should be lighter, and solid things cooler. This usually meant the edges of scales should be dark and the bits between them light. Second, bits further away from the "core" of the dragon should be hotter and more fluid, so the hands and tail and frill ended up light. Third, the places where he'd need a lot of structural strength, like his torso and the arm-bits in his wings, should in general be darker and cooler in implied temperature. Some of this runs a bit counter to how Wappel approaches it, and it contradicts its own logic in places. I like how it turned out anyway--at least when I don't have my glasses on! The lava effect on the base is kind of pathetic, though, I have to say. (Side note: in the interests of disclosure, I didn't notice initially that one of the lights for our lightbox fell off when I took the picture, so I did a bunch of brightness/contrast/saturation fugging with these photos to make them look like the real thing does. They are reasonably close now! But yes, there was some postprocessing.)

Ok, I know the photos are iffy, but I have to get it off to its new home. I painted this for a charity auction for my friend's handbell group. The base is a combination of sculpted elements and hirst arts columns. I followed the big ol pile of treasure tutorial in the craft section as well. I listed the colors I used in my running wip thread. C&C always welcome! Enjoy!

This was my Fantasy Large entry for the painting contest at Gamex this past weekend in Los Angeles. After I put down the base coat on this miniature, it almost went into a simple green bath but I decided to stick with it and hope it comes out in the end. I had second thoughts again when I opened and tested my pot of GW's blue wash. It was darker than what I was expecting and it seems to have a brown tinge to it. But I went ahead with my idea to use it to even out my blending on the scales and I am so glad I did. It ended up evening out the blues that I had used and got rid of the awful shine that GW paints seem to have when used on Bones. I am very happy with how it turned out but I was not sure how it would do in the contest as there were some mold lines that I missed or could not remove. It ended up getting first place so I must have done something right. Any input would be appreciated.

Here's my extended entry for the Year of Dragons contest. My first full-sized dragon! Pretty pleased with how easy Bones made doing such a big mini, though I'm wishing (as always) that I'd taken more time with the mold lines. Pics are a little washed out in places, but I think they mostly turned out okay. And look! He's made a little friend!

Well, I've decided it's time to take a deep breath and starting working on my dragons. To start with, this guy: I love Wayne Reynolds' concept art (above) so I'm trying to stick to it as much as possible. Here he is, assembled and based: The base is an unholy mess of glue, cork, green stuff, stones and sand. Here he is with some base coats: The red is Vallejo Burnt Cad. Red (+ Pure Black), the base is Stormy Grey + Swamp Green + Pure Black, the eyes are Sun Yellow, the chest is Vallejo Yellow Ochre and the horns etc. are just plain Pure Black. Next I'll base coat the teeth, clean up the red coat, and start layering...

Since shortly after the Kickstarter funding period ended, I've known I wanted to attempt a diorama of some kind with one of the dragons I ordered. Now that the package has arrived, and there's an ongoing dragon diorama contest open until the end of the year, I need to actually move from random idea in my head to actual execution. However, I've never attempted something like this before, so it's a bit intimidating. It's probably going to be a challenge for me to finish this by the year end. However, if I can get over a couple of the major hurdles, it may go quicker than I expect. This thread will chronicle my attempts, and also will likely be sprinkled with lots of questions for more experienced miniature artists/crafters/painters. Any input you can provide would be greatly appreciated! I think I've settled on the following figures/layout for the diorama: I will pick up the metal version of the fighter rather than use the Bones version for this project. I'll likely be using green stuff or other basing materials to fill in the base. My rough thought it that fighter guy will be standing in a grassy area, with the dragon's rocky structure rising out of the grass. I need to do a bit of sketching before I finalize this. The base is one of the areas I'm still figuring out in my head. Before even starting, I've got a few questions I'd love input on: 1) I think these two minis are perfect for each other; they look locked in combat and are staring right at each other. It's a very dynamic set of poses. However, I'm a little concerned the base may be too small. I like the close proximity, but don't want to overdo it. On the other hand, if I use a bigger base, it's going to make decorating the base that much more work. What do you think? 2) I looked through some of the threads in Tips & Advice, but couldn't find an obvious answer. What's the best way to secure both Bones and metal minis to a wood base like this? I figure I'll need to do some pinning to add strength, but I'm unsure on what adhesive to choose. My thought right now is probably some sort of 5 minute epoxy? Does anyone know if that works ok with Bones material and wood? 3) For sculpting/filling out the base, does green stuff bond well to wood? What about modelling paste? While figuring out some of these basic things, I'm likely to start assembling the dragon this week. He'll need some mold line cleanup, gluing, and gap filling. I think I'll need to paint around his head before attaching it; at least in the deepest areas. Once I purchase the metal fighter, I can likely get him mostly painted on his own before adding him to the scene.