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Some of you may remember the diorama I had started entitled Billy's Bad Day. For various reasons, I am, for the most part abandoning that concept. I was really struggling to tell the story I had in my head. I still however want to paint my basilisk, and maybe include it in a diorama, but if I do, I will likely include another character that is a bit more relate-able to the viewer than a couple of goats. More on that later. For now, I'm going to concentrate on painting the basilisk as I have time between sculpts. If I get that done and my other ReaperCon entry for 2019 in time, I will look into expanding this into a diorama. If not, this can still be my Open category entry. Here is the basilisk: The basilisk will be based on a Gila Monster: But instead of pink, the light areas will be inverse flame color (red up to yellow) with a black belly and skin. A few months ago, I used my air brush to add a coat of brown liner/blue liner to the skin areas, then air brushed the rest with Cinnamon Red. Lately, I have been reading Rhonda Bender's (@Wren) blog, Bird with a Brush. For the past month she has had a series of articles on Contrast that have really got me itching to pick up a brush again, but I've had way too much sculpting work to get done to do so. I strongly recommend that you follow her blog, it is excellent. The articles on contrast are as follows: Compare and Contrast Contrast Versus Realism How to Paint Contrast – Mind Games How to Paint Contrast – Hands On Last night, I was ill with a cold, but had slept much of the afternoon. I wanted to relax, but my brain was just not functioning the way I needed it to to start the next step of the druid turtle, so I picked up this painting and decided to do the next step. I decided to follow Rhonda's advice and add another couple layers of zenithal lighting value to the red, airbrushing on a coat of Sunrise Orange and another of Candlelight Yellow. Then, I went back with a brush and base-coated all of the skin areas with a blend of Brown Liner and Blue Liner (I never use pure black for natural blacks). So this is my base starting point. From here I plan on using glazes to develop the shadows and highlights, pushing the contrast further than I have ever gone before. Challenges I see coming for me in this project: Finding time; I have a lot of sculpts in the hopper between now and January, so progress may be slow between now and then. Developing enough contrast. I have a tendency to think it is enough and stop too soon. I really want to push it on this one. Keep me honest folks! Black/near black. I've never been very good at black, so having major areas of black scares the stuffing out of me, especially since I will be covering major areas of finished color with black squiggles to make the gila monster markings; that's going to hurt. The next step will be developing the major red shadows. I want to thank Rhonda one more time for teaching, inspiring, and challenging me to do this. I honestly believe that this is one of my best sculpts; I want it to be my best paint job as well.

Interesting little guy, I am sure he is up to no good, skulking around in the shadows near the palace. He has a pair of new bronze daggers, and murder in his eyes.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-sons-of-anubis-fantasy#/ Welcome to Dark Fable Miniature's Sons of Anubis Campaign. These dog-headed warriors are descended from Anubis, the canine guide and guardian of the Egyptian underworld. The Sons of Anubis are ferocious warriors sworn to protect the royal necropolis where the tombs of long dead pharaohs and queens can be found. On rare occasions the Sons of Anubis have been summoned by powerful lords or heroes to wreak vengeance on those who would offend the gods. Heavily armed and protected by sturdy shields and armour the Sons of Anubis make a formidable force on the battlefield. The Sons of Anubis campaign is the latest expansion of Dark Fable's pseudo-historical Egyptian range. The concept and design of the miniatures are a mix of history, archaeology, fantasy fiction and Hollywood films. The core group of miniatures consists of 7 sets: 5 sets of fearsome Anubis warriors sculpted by Kev Adams. A set of Scorpion warriors sculpted by Tim Prow. As well as a two-stage female genie made by Brother Vinni. There is also a stretch goal reward figure - The Scorpion Lord - who is FREE to all Level 5 contributors and higher when the campaign goal of £2000 is reached. If that were not enough we have made a large selection of our previously released miniatures available as ADD-ONs. These high-quality 28mm miniatures are made from a lead-free pewter alloy and have an incredible amount of detail and personality. Whether you are a collector or gamer you are certain to enjoy these figures! They had me at 'female genie made by Brother Vinni'...

This character comes in two versions. I already painted the nice one. This is her evil, medusa headed version. I also experimented with very pale skin, using Spectral White and Lavender. That mop in her right hand is the wig that the other model wears to cover her snakes. Link to NSFW image.

Finished up a couple of figures from the Temple of Set project. The guy on the left reminds me of someone I saw in a movie once [wink]. The cultist originally had a flail or scourge in his right hand, but it broke so I replaced it with a second blade.

Here's a trio of Egyptian ladies I painted recently. I did the two on the left during my Thanksgiving paint binge. NSFW link to full image

From Dark Fable miniatures, a pair of cultists. He looks like he's just noticed Cthulhu, and she has a smirk that says "I told you so".

This is the "Egyptian Princess" from Dark Fable's third crowdfunder. I thought she looked better with the darker skin tone. Full image linked for nudity. A dwarf musician. I was trying for an olive skin tone, but it came out more green than I liked.

Here's a pair from Dark Fable Miniatures. I backed a couple of kickstarters and these were thrown in as stretch goals or something. I did considerable work on the Lady. I wasn't happy with her torso, and after a lot of filing and putty I had filled in her pinched waist, raised her chest, and changed the style of her gown. Her face seemed a lot older looking than her costume, so I made her into a matron. She seems distinctly unhappy to be next to the thief, and I'm sure someone in the palace will hear about it.

Here's a couple more of the harem figures from Dark Fable. The female attendant had a severely pinched waist and overly exaggerated bust, so I did a little putty work to fill her out some and adjust the proportions, even gave her a little bit of a round belly. She's still a little short and awkward, but not everyone can be as beautiful as the princess. Front view, linked for nudity. And here's the Pharaoh's Champion, a reward figure in the last crowdfunding campaign.