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It's the weekend...you know what time it is! I normally don't like doing redo's but, both of my completed minis today are from my junk pile. I tried them both and failed at them both. However, I wasn't willing to give up on them. A quick bath in some Simple Green and we're ready to rock again. BATTLE REPORT! Wins: * Still trying to learn gradients and pushing contrast. Both were wins here this time. I used the blue as a big sweep from blue to white. Same with the sword going from yellow to white. * I think the blue spectral form worked well and made for a fun eye-catching color. I'm not 100% sold on the sword colors, but I tried to pull it together in both the jewel from the crown, the glow in the palm, and tie the sword as if it's all part of the spell. * The cape was a fun test of patience. I used only black and white. Going from a deep grey mix of black/white, then all the way up to light grey with a white/black mix. I think some of the shaded ares are a bit heavy, but I'm getting much more comfortable blending and pushing mixes. WIN! * The armor was a cool combo of using the same deep black/white grey mix I did in the cape and used that as the base and then did the trim with a gunmetal/aluminum mix. Then pushed the points with a straight aluminum mix. Win! * I really worked with the thinning of the paint. I used flow improver from Liquitex and just dipped the brush tip in and only slightly mixed it in. Worked better than water and was able to spread this better. I've been developing this method over the last 4 minis and it's working really, really well. * Loving the airbrush priming. Went with a black base of Stynylrez and then zenithal from the top angle with white ink. Win! Misses: * Eyes - I started with the yellow theme to match the sword, but turns out the right eye has a weird slope on it and when I put the yellow in there it wanted to run downward. I figured adding a black dot in there would be better, but nope. I like that it tied to the sword, but I feel like something's missing in the eyes. * Sword color - to have a sun sword for a ghost seems a bit strange. I just couldn't think of another color to make that sword work. Open for some suggestions here. I definitely think the priming method is helping me identify different folds of the cape or shading. I'm happier every day with this this airbrush. I was really holding off on getting it, but I'm very happy I went for it. Gotta base this thing still and looking for ideas there, too. Any thoughts? Pictures help me on anything someone thinks would be good.

Very simple, lazy even...but he’s ghostly enough for a session

This one took me a bit longer than I expected and I wasn't sure about how the spectral blue, purple, and green/white would play together, but they seem to work. Judging by his style of armor I suspect that in life he was some manner of elf. (and I can see here where I need to fix some blending, but I'm not too worried about it.)

Howdy, He rules over everyone in the end... Kev!

Ghost King does not appreciate kitty disturbing his grave. Kitty is unconcerned. The king was a study in frustration and the pics are not the best. His armors shadows are much more pronounced IRL and the dirt of the graveyard is much darker IRL. Kitty is itty bitty but I managed to get the eyes painted, I bout jumped for joy. The base was the most fun. The resins details are so sharp, lovely to work with. As always C&C welcomed. I will take all the advice I can get and attempt to apply it to the next figure cause after over a month, I'm so one with this dude. Thanks for lookin!

Hi all, I keep true to the undead theme I have going on at the moment and decided to paint Tim Prow's Ghost King to get a bit of variety while converting the Necromanceres. He is slightly converted, I exchanged the skull and one of his hands. I wanted him to cast a frost lance with the outstretched hand and preparing another spell with the hand pointing up. I already added a small green flame to the hand, the frozen lance will need to wait until the fabric is done. So far only the face and the armour pieces are finished, even though I might enhance contrast on the verdigris, depending how contrast rich the fabric turns out. Any comments and suggestions are welcome.

My first finished Bones mini. So far I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the material. Several things on this one I'm not happy with, in particular the sword. I was going to redo it, but decided to keep it as is to remind me how not to do glowy effects. Good enough for tabletop. I need to re-read Buglips Bones Threads to remind myself to paint these for joy and not get hung up on display or mold line issues. Anyways, enjoy. http://www.coolminiornot.com/367610

Completed Ghost King. I added a good bit of "necrotic green" wash between the armor plates, over the chain mail, and to the base underneath his robe. I think it turned out pretty well. There's a few unpainted spots I can see on the pictures way down underneath, but I'm not terribly worried about them because I can't even see them when I'm holding the mini up in natural light. Camera flash is very unforgiving. Next up is the Whispering Tyrant. WIP thread here: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/64985-undead-lords-2-ghost-king/#entry1243291

Second member of my undead quadrumvirate; the Ghost King. I'd say I'm about 70% finished with him. Same green mix from my Lich (what I've been thinking of as "necrotic green") was used for all the places I could think of where light would leak out from the armor, robe, or skull. He may look a bit wet in the pictures, because his second coat of Reaper black ink was still drying when I took them.

This is a small diorama/vignette for the Ghoul, Bad, & Ugly contest for Halloween. The figures used are 77143: Townsfolk: Undertaker, and 77161: Ghost King. This was my first attempt at OSL, and I'm pretty proud of it. The undertaker is a great figure; he has really sharp features that make it easy to paint an expressive face. WIP here.

Hopefully one part of a small diorama for the Halloween contest, here's a WIP for the Undertaker. Thus far, he's painted as if lit by moonlight; a much stronger OSL will come from the lantern in a bit. So the back and face are pretty much done, but the front needs much more work.

Here is 77161 - Ghost King. Base coats applied on armor, cloak, and weapon. Next I'll get to his face, gem on the sword, etc. Feel free to comment.

In order to continue to push my abilities as a painter, as with any artist, I decided to try and step things up a bit with this figure and do something I generally don't feel comfortable doing...OSL. I'm happy with many things I did, and not happy with a few others but I'm continuing to learn! As a DM, my idea was that this was once a powerful king who's favored weapon (his sword) had been sundered upon his defeat. As with Viking tradition, this dishonor was met with such rage that the dead king arose as a powerful spirit who's own ethereal energy completes his shattered blade. C&C always welcome.

I'm going to start off this "show off" post with an introduction. Hi! I'm Grim (that's not my real name, it's my name in the Society for Creative Anachronism, but seriously, everybody calls me that now. My wife calls me that. My wife's co-workers call me that.) I started mini painting probably in the mid nineties - I mostly used them for D&D, but I got into a few of the smaller-scale wargames - Mordheim, Battlefleet Gothic. I was into "Clan War" for a bit (a wargame based on the RPG and CCG "Legend of the Five Rings,") but liked painting the minis more than actually playing the game. About the mid-2000s I kind of tapered off gaming - I was getting too busy with other hobbies (SCA mostly.) So all in all I had probably been painting from 10-13 years, but haven't touched a brush in about eight. I started gaming on a regular basis recently and was vaguely considering painting again when I was looking over the panel list for Arisia, a decent-sized sci-fi con in Boston. One of the panels was on Miniatures Painting, and I thought "I have a lot of great tips from when I used to do that, I could sign up for that. Hell! I should start doing that again!" I signed up for the panel (we'll see if they choose me for it,) went and bought some paints, I still have a lot of old brushes, and started painting again. I have always loved Reaper minis, when I went into the store and saw the big "Bones" display, I was bit dubious, but I started getting warmer to it before I even left the store. So when I left, I had three packs of Bones minis (the dire rats, the Ghost King, and the Stone Golem) and one metal (a half-giant appropriate for one of my characters.) That was about four weeks ago. I've now produced six minis, most of them Bones. I agree the stuff isn't as crisp as metal, but it's definitely a great way to get back into the hobby. Anyway, I started with the rats (I have pet rats and love the creatures,) but found the lack of definition distressing - I shelved them until recently. The first mini I painted to completion was the Stone Golem, since it was fairly easy, then went on to the Ghost King. Pictures below, multiple views: I am welcome to any comments or questions, feel free! Real criticism is welcome. Incidentally, I took these without a flash with a camera on the tripod - I initially used the flash but found the lighting too harsh for the most part. I'll gladly take any advice on taking the pictures as well - that part of the forums is a bit light.