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This one has been on the desk for a long time. I really like the sculpt, but the cast is a pain as I find most of the older human sized Bones models. The Face was atrocious. Luckily he has a big hat. The photos are washed out but give a good idea of how he looks. He is too shiny for my tastes as the newer Testors Dullcote doesn’t seem to work as good as it used to. Unsure how I ended up going from a coal black duster to green, other than I had too much green paint out for the Marines I was trying to get off the shelf of shame. One down and thousands to go! 😀

Hello all you Reaper people! So, Bones V will be hopefully arriving in the next few months, and one thing I told myself was that before I got my package, I wanted to finish the smaller Yephima sculpt before the new and larger Yephima shows up at my door. I really love both versions, and I just wish this Yephima would be available in metal. I tried painting her already years ago, started even a WIP in the forum, which I'd have to hunt down. My original thought was make her a very, dark dusky color and blonde hair with pinks and oranges, but at one point my inspiration went awry and I stopped painting her probably to be an eternal WIP. But then a few years later, I got a new copy and this one I did more sky blue and blonde, but it doesn't look as pinkish as I originally had thought. I also think I made my metals way too blue, but oh well. I actually enjoyed painting this lady to the degree that I could see myself painting her again with a different color scheme. One of the other benefits of Bones is the cost, I can grab a new one quickly for around 7.00, so that's also a nice Bones bonus! Anyhoos, here she is: With such a big model, after taking photos, I can see so many glaring issues, but oh well, not going to let myself worry about it too much and will rather maybe go back and paint her up gain some day, incorporating a few fixes.

My son's girlfriend stayed with us a week in the middle of May and I ran a Savage World WW2 horror one-shot. Tillie here was one of the pre-generated characters I had ready, but she was not picked by any of the 3 players (my husband, my son and girlfriend). Bombshell Miniatures 10024 Tillie the Pilot

This is my diorama entry from Reapercon 2019 "Done and on to the next one". It received silver in the diorama category and 2nd place Dark Sword Individual Figure. The two figures are DSM7627 Female Ranger with Bow from Dark Sword Miniatures and 77189 Creature from the Blood Reef (Bones version) from Reaper Miniatures. My intention with this piece was to show a dynamic interaction between the two figures as compactly as possible and with a clear indication of the action, but with enough uncertainty in the details that the observer can be lead to many different interpretations of the story. For example, did the creature just miss her with a claw attack, or is he clinging to the rock in dying desperation while she contemptuously uses him as a launch pad? I went through many challenges with this figure (including crushing her in transport, breaking off her arm, crushing the bow and snapping off her leg at the ankle). Some of the detail work I did on this included: cleaning out the quiver and sculpting new arrows re-sculpting her chest and back to be a wool dress (the original figure has a bare stomach and back) adding the taught bow string using monofilament fishing line changing her bracer so that the buckles are on the side away from the bow string carving up and adjusting the creature layer by layer until he fit exactly where I wanted him (this is why I chose the Bones version - I would have found it nearly impossible with a metal figure) I am very grateful to Brice Cocanour who gave me a lot of advice on how to bring out the best look of the piece by adjusting the colour and value balance. He was also kind enough to let me use some of his tools and his big container of water effects to fix some of the problems with the base. Once again, I learned a ton from seeking help from the artists. I also really appreciate the feedback I got from the judges. As a first-timer at the MSP Open, I made some newbie mistakes that I will fix for next time, and as a long-time painter, I appreciated being told exactly where things were off so that I could reflect on them for future projects. The judges feedback was: They liked the tartan, the fabric texture and the colour choice. Some of the lines on the tartan could be made cleaner. One way to do this is to do the lines repeatedly with very thin paint. Small mistakes are then harder to see, but the correct position of the line gets hit repeatedly making the visual appearance of the lines neater. Another suggestion was to map out the tartan pattern in light grey first before adding any colour. Use pure white to make landmarks at the intersection points of the lines which are bright enough to show through the subsequent paint layers. This helps to make the layout of the pattern more precise and less risky. Because the pattern is laid out before any colour is added or a lot of work is put into highlights and shading, any mistakes in the layout can be corrected without having to do a lot of repair work. Overall composition was good with the story being very clear with the construction being very tight and kept to the essentials (no wasted space and unnecessary features). They liked the overall skin tone and highlight placement to focus attention on her face. They pointed out where improvements were needed to some of the blends on the skin, specifically on her calf where some of the shadow, dirt and highlight blends are misaligned or too abrupt and not bright enough (her ankle for example needs to be a bit brighter). The final surface texture of her skin could have been smoother. Suggestions for this included using brush-on sealer to smooth out flaws, paying close attention to cleanliness of the figure (eg large dust particles) and removing them as soon as they are found, then filling the craters and smoothing their edges, and glazing additional layers of the mid-tone to smooth out some of the edges of the blends. Clean up the water effects where they meet the base to give a crisper line between the action and the base. It was recommended to mount the diorama directly onto the wooden plinth if possible rather than on a gaming base attached to the top of the plinth. The judges scores were 3, 3 and 4 for 10/12 (Silver).

Well I finally made it to Reapercon. What a blast! I met so many amazing people. I met some fantastic artists, some of whom were kind enough to give me some advice on my entries in the painting contest and help me take things to the next level. In particular, Aaron Lovejoy, David Diamondstone and Brien Piersol gave me specific feedback and advice on this piece that I was able to implement before I entered it. My idea for this figure was that she is standing at the edge of a spaceport on an alien planet with the last light of a setting star reaching her through the shadows of a city skyline. Sort of like the cover of a sci-fi magazine from the 60's. I'm really happy with the way the lighting worked out, especially the shadows and the reflections. I am also really happy with the way her face turned out. I tried to make her expression sort of wistful and tired, as though "Life on Vega" was not turning out to be everything she had hoped for.

Cheshire Cat. Combined Darksword Miniatures. Birman Cat Bard head DSM8111 by Dave Summers. Huge Fae Cat body DSM7644 by Patrick Keith.

Female ranger with a bow from Dark Sword Miniatures.

Merisiel, Iconic Rogue from the Bones Pathfinder line, and the first Bones kickstarter. Soft bones, soft details pretty much sums it up. So this got a very quick paint job. Nothing to be especially proud of, but here it is. 89009 Merisiel, Iconic Rogue Reaper Miniatures, Bones 1 KS 2012, Pathfinder Iconics subset Sculpted by Patrick Keith Bonesium PVC 25mm bespoke 3D-printed base available from reapermini.com

The female changed from being a Storm Giant to being a Cloud Giant between the kickstarter and the retail release of the miniature. Whatever the subtype, she still gets a case of Smurfette syndrome. The pose of the female is a bit strange, and she does have a certain supermodel-vibe going on. Reaper has explained that the pose was meant to illustrate her bending down to talk to someone human sized, and as such it is not too bad. But taken out of context it just comes off as a bit cheesecake-ish. Reaper has acknowledged that the pose did not work as intended. The swimsuit-like corset really does not help to avoid this impression at all. Again, a mini with a slight case of bendyweaponitis. (which, in fact, is the proper scientific name for it). Treated with hot water then cold to straighten out the worst of it. I based her on a 50mm round lipped base. 77162 Yephima, Female Cloud Giant (the male one did not get a proper name, I wonder why not?) From the first Bones kickstarter, 2013 Storm Giants subset. Reaper Miniatures sculpted by Patrick Keith Bonesium PVC 50mm round lipped base available from reapermini.com

This is a miniature from last year. A NPC barbarian in a game I’m playing in got a two handed sword, which the old miniature used to represent the character of course didn’t have. So it was time for a switch. Overall it went fairly quick to complete the figure and I’m quite happy with the results.

Spotted this at Adepticon and found the idea of a steampunk mermaid too fun to pass up. She is exquisitely sculpted with elegant little hands and careful details. I think I would like to paint her a little like a tropical fish, bright yellow with orange stripes. This is my basic figure priming: Removal of mold lines (not too many of those), epoxied to the base, primed thinly with Titanium White and washed with Burnt Umber. I then started building up thin layers of Yellow Ochre (aka Mars Yellow aka Yellow Iron Oxide), a nearly-opaque earth yellow, normally a little dull in color but brighter in thin layers, lightened in places with Titanium White, and a few Titanium White highlights. I used Raw Sienna, a very slightly browner yellow, on the base.

Good day everyone, this was my entry in Reaper's Facebook Paint Your Giant contest. 77178, Fire Giant Warrior, Dark Heaven Bones model sculpted by Jason Wiebe. It is mounted on a 74027, Ruins Vignette Base, a resin base sculpted by Patrick Keith. This model is huge, 7cm high and 13cm wide with the sword. I did some minor conversion on it. A heavy thundering sound come crushing down the ruined hall. You see orange and red lights dancing between the pillar supporting the stone roof. In the glimpse of a moment, all hell break loose as a dark skin colossus burst from the rubbles wielding a towering incandescent blade. He lands next to you smashing the large tiles of the floor. You are paralyzed in fear as he turns gazing in your direction with fire in his eyes. Desperate, you wonder if you've gone too far exploring this ancient Undermountain realm.

Victoriana from Bombshell Miniatures, sculpted by Patrick Keith. This is the figure I entered into the Miniature Monthly Masters painting competition. I really like this sculpt, and in fact I bought two more of her to paint just last week! Some of her WIP photos are here: WIP

Taking a break from army painting to finish up Victoriana. Next step is to finish up the NMM on her various brass tools. Then painting the lenses on her hat. After that, its time to do a freehand pattern on the carpet bag and plaid on her suit.

This is Reaper's 60138: Sheila Heidmarch, Venture Captain, sculpted by Patrick Keith. It's a magnificent sculpt. My GM needed vampires for a game, and as I said in my WIP thread, "not all female vampires hang around graveyards in unlikely and suspicious states of undress." So Sheila Heidmarch has been adapted. Jokes about Ventrue Captains may have been made. I got an idea for how to paint velvet as well, so she is something of an experiment in that line. WIP thread here.

I'm playing in a World of Darkness campaign and we need a bunch of vampires. I'm adapting Patrick Keith's 60138: Sheila Heidmarch, Venture Captain to be a vampire, because not all female vampires hang around graveyards in unlikely and suspicious states of undress. All paints used are Golden Matte Fluid Acrylics. Color mixes are (usually) noted, but not exact ratios. Questions are welcomed and I will try to answer them. Critiques are appreciated. She's such a pretty and elegant figure! I left off her short sword and staff and filled in the slight dimples where they were meant to go with a little Golden Molding Paste applied with the point of a bamboo skewer. The stuff shrinks when drying, so I heaped it up a little. This is the way I usually start miniature figures: Lightly primed with Titanium White, then when that is dry, washing it over with Burnt Umber. Burnt Umber is a dark, transparent pigment that settles into crannies when thinned down and shows the details very well. (I seem to be having a little trouble with it crackling just a bit in some areas, though.) It also gives a nice warm undertone to later paint layers (even though, eh, with a vampire you don't necessarily want "warmth".) I like to paint skin first as something of the undermost layer. After I have the skin more or less smooth and correct I paint the features. I have been painting up vampires with stark white skin because I don't seem to have the knack to make them look undead if there is even a little flesh tone in their skin. Maybe I should paint them violet or something ... Anyhow, this is almost the only time I ever mix grey from pure black and white, rather than a complex mix of brighter colors. The flatness of tone conveys something wrong with the individual, and the simplicity of color mix is very easy to shade. I started with a thin wash of pure Titanium White on her face, neck, bust, and hands. Then (close ups for a while now) I laid in the first pale shadows. All greys are mixed from Titanium White and Carbon Black. Darker shadows and some lights. She's rather a mess now, but you can see how the skin shading is beginning to go.

This is another of the PCs for an enjoyable mashup of White Wolf's World of Darkness (Vampire the Masquerade, second edition, Werewolf the APocalypse etc.) and Exalted (second edition). This one is an androgynous, or perhaps genderfluid would be a better description, Alchemical, a sort of human-cyborg prototype Exalted made by Autochthon, architect of the world. The Adamant caste are sort of the policemen-secret agent-ninjas of the Alchemicals, making sure society runs smoothly in their mechanized cities. This one is sort of lost, as the Creation of Exalted has morphed into the World of Darkness and Autochthon is nowhere to be found, although things with his name which are not him, echoes perhaps, linger. Anyhow, that's all backstory. The figure is Patrick Keith's enigmatic Numemera Jack, Reaper 62102. There is a WIP thread here.

Merry Birthday to one of the most awesome sculptors around, Patrick Keith aka @Sculptdude!!!

This has been one long term challenge paint job! Assembly has been a bear, AND the sword with arm just wants to bend at every touch. So get sets for some tough going in the glue up stage. The painting has been fun, especially when I switched color schemes mid miniature :) The blue black, sapphire black, Ruby red scheme had orange added to the mix. I also changed from a plain base to a mountainous base, with shrubbery ! Lots of changes you can do. Had a blast in the long run. Hope you enjoy the results. Leave me a note please. Here are some photos. Jay

This is the figure that I sent out for the Spring Exchange. Tracking says it was delivered 5/25, but I haven't heard anything back, so hopefully nothing terrible happened to it. Anyway, my recipient wanted something colourful that could fit in the world of Alice in Wonderland, so I went for a female Mad Hatter sort of look. Sorry for the potato quality pictures as usual. The base gave me a really hard time. The first 2 things that I tried to make it with didn't work out, my original plan had been to have 2 teacups stacked, but I couldn't get the construction to work out, water effect pour went to hell, realized afterward that I should've done more to the sugar cubes and inside of the teacup rim before pouring the water effect and I re-painted the teacup twice and am still not happy with it. The teacup is made from the top of a GW paint pot...one side is thicker than the other, which I really should have shaved down more, but I nearly chopped off my thumb and gave up. I filled it in with greenstuff, which is also what the handle is made out of - I managed to pop the handle off twice, so that was fun. Overall I'm pretty happy with how she turned out, just not the base so much. Anyway, C&C are always welcome!

This is Patrick Keith's 50246: Marie, She-Bot, famous from the old Fritz Lang movie "Metropolis," and two other robots Johnny Lauck sold adjacent to his sci fi Salvage Crew. I painted them up in less than an hour. WIP thread here.

This is my rendition of Bombshell 10035, Kaitlin the Archer. Nice and clean mini without too many fiddly bits, so she painted up pretty quick.

So my husband is running a game this Saturday and he asked "Do you have any robot figures?" and I said "Ummm, let me get back to you." Happily, I had on hand a copy of Patrick Keith's 50246, "Marie She-Bot" familiar to film aficionados from Fritz Lang's seminal "Metropolis". I also had a handful of little robots from Johnny Lauck's Salvage Crew. So I glued them together and primed them and painted them very simply with metallic paints. The whole thing took less than an hour. For metallics I use the principles I learned for gilding: Everything has a color underneath it, usually a rust-red for gold and a black or grey for silver (or aluminum or palladium -- I never could bring myself to gild with something that could decay as fast as silver leaf). I originally planned to paint the Metropolis robot gold, so I primed her with Red Iron Oxide. Then I did the same with a little monkey-robot from Johnny Lauck (ignore the two little guys to the right; I didn't get further than this with them and I plan to paint them like plastic anyway, if I get to them before Saturday). Then my husband pointed out that if I painted the Metropolis robot silver she could stand in for a Moonsilver Alchemical later on. D'oh! ... Okay, so now I was going to see what silver paint looks like over brick red. For science! I washed over the two red robots with dark paint to bring out the details: Burnt Umber on the little monkeybot, as is normal for under a warm color like gold. But then I used straight Carbon Black on Maria She-Bot since she was going to be cold silver, and black generally looks cold under other colors. I notice that she looks just like the Chinese lacquer sculptures I've seen around, a point worth remembering to try some other time, perhaps. I also painted black primer on the servo on the left, another Johnny Lauck 'bot. I had to glue that one to a fender washer as it had a tendency to topple over to its left; otherwise its base had been the same size as the other Lauck robots. That's also why it appears now; its glue was setting while I was priming the others. (Once again, ignore the two on the right.) I then took my good #2 Winsor and Newton series 7 brush and drybrushed silver metallic paint onto the armed servo Lauck 'bot and Marie, She-Bot. ... I find using good brushes helps give a lot of control and evenness, even for this. This wasn't the really scrabbly kind of drybrushing anyway, more like stroking tiny amounts of unthinned paint over the high points of a countoured surface. Anyhow, you can see the different color effects based on what went under the silver paint, black on the left and brick red on the right. You can also see the detail level difference between Johnny Lauck's sculpt and Patrick Keith's. Then I did the same thing, only using gold metallic paint, to the Johnny Lauck monkey robot. I painted their bases solid black. Normally I like a base with at least a neutral grey with shadows, but I was in a hurry and the black contrasted better with their metallic shininess. I also added a few details, red eyes on the Lauck robots and a glowing yellow inside the armed Lauck bot's gun barrel (Which I see I didn't take pictures of. Need to fix that for the Show Off thread). And there you have it. Really really fast quick and dirty robot painting. Total painting time: About forty minutes. (With prep time, work time is probably an hour, or a smidgen more)

I'm painting this mini myself, and was wondering if you had any tips for the finer areas like the garter & eyes.. Or (and just as importantly) how to correct a mistake like her eye.. Just paint over, or do you remove & repaint? Todd

I'm super in love with this mini. It was so much fun to work on. And I'm VERY happy with how the eyes turned out because that's something I struggle with a lot. The lighting here is not great, I have misplaced the power cord to my light box, and somethings are off color from what it should be.