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This is the delightful SS18, Dwarf Queen from Oathworn's Sensible Shoes line, sculpted by Michael Lovejoy. I painted her up as a part of a project I called "Jade Green and Seven Dwarfs," the WIP thread of which, though incomplete, is here. She's a sweet princess / queen. I particularly liked the little flower molded into her war hammer. I tried to make her skin look a little darker, but I am not sure that comes across, especially with all that golden hair.

How I spent my summer vacation by Pingo Some of you have noticed my absence from the forums since roughly the end of last June. I thought I should explain, since it wasn’t fair to leave you without a word. I have a regrettable habit of retreating into myself when sad, however much I love this place and the people on it. Last June I got sadder for political reasons, and felt a need to withdraw when my sorrows caused friction here. I am not entirely sure that was wise. We need each other, not just for the sharing of hobbies and art tips, but for the common human community. To remember that we are not alone. Though I missed this place the whole time, I spent a very busy summer. I traveled around some, marched in the company of tens of thousands with a handpainted protest sign more than once in gruesome heat – much gratitude to the volunteers who handed out water bottles – dealt with voter registration drives, gardened, caught influenza (possibly twice), traveled a few thousand miles, met many interesting people, a puppy and a kitten, started some oil portraits, and painted up a good chunk of game miniatures. We drove cross-country, only to have our faithful quarter-century-old station wagon finally die in the middle of nowhere a thousand miles from home – very beautiful, scenic nowhere, with eagles and swans, but still … Many thanks to the fine people at Enterprise Rent-A-Car who came to our rescue and eventually sold us a quite decent recent model gently used sedan with massive trunk space. As for me, I must apologize. It appears that politics is in my blood and cannot be separated from my life or actions, even the actions of painting tiny pewter sword fighters. I cannot help but have my heart break under certain circumstances, and I shall no doubt be made agitated and even angry by world events. I cannot pretend I am unaware, nor act as if all were well when it is not. I don’t intend harm or offense to anyone, but I can’t help being who I am. I did show up in the national media. Here’s me and my sign at the immigration march in Chicago last June. It’s a political image, so please don’t click if that would bother you: Click here to see Pingo and her sign in real life Chicago

This is the sweet little SS06, Dwarf Fighter from Oathworn's Sensible Shoes line, sculpted by Michael Lovejoy. I painted her up as a part of a project I called "Jade Green and Seven Dwarfs," the WIP thread of which, though incomplete, is here.

So while I was shopping at Ral Partha Europe (not the same as Ral Partha), I spotted some figures from Das Schwarze Auge which looked kind of nice in an Old School sort of way. Das Schwarze Auge was apparently Germany's answer to D&D in the 1980s. It was (might still be) quite popular there. I don't know the history of the figures. This is Das Schwarze Auge 15500F, "Female Elf Ranger". I have been thinking of her as "Plains Elf". I started this figure a while back, keeping it at the back of my painting table and adding bits as I painted other things. 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. 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. It also gives a nice warm undertone to later paint layers. I already painted her face before I took a picture.

So while I was shopping at Ral Partha Europe (not the same as Ral Partha), I spotted some figures from Das Schwarze Auge which looked kind of nice in an Old School sort of way. Das Schwarze Auge was apparently Germany's answer to D&D in the 1980s. It was (might still be) quite popular there. I don't know the history of the figures. Anyhow, this is Das Schwarze Auge 15500B, "Female Sorcerer". I started this figure a while back, keeping it at the back of my painting table and adding bits as I painted other things. 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. 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. It also gives a nice warm undertone to later paint layers. I already painted her face before I took a picture. Oh, and I left the orb on her staff just primed white because that will make it look more glowing when I paint it later.

I started this figure to be a slightly overenthusiastic Russian bodyguard for Vampire: The Masquerade. When I finished her the GM said she would better serve as a character who is a Mage: The Ascension Void Engineer soldier, basically a space marine. This was also a slight experiment in the sort of colorless blonde character with invisible eyebrows, except I gave her really heavy eye makeup. She isn't really wide-eyed, but her blue eyes are very pale, giving a staring effect. According to Hasslefree's flavor text her two big guns are Heckler & Koch MP5Ks. A little Googling tells me that the MP5K is of German design, but also made in Iran and Turkey, and is "the ultimate close-quarters weapon, created for use in very confined spaces". From guns I know nothing, but okay. There is no WIP thread, but comments and questions are welcome.

These are from the old Grenadier set #1502 Robo Hunters from the Future Warriors range, sculpted by Mark Copplestone, a vision of the future from the 1980s. I wanted to paint up some PoC figures. The Grace Jones lookalike was an obvious choice, as was the glowering dude in dreadlocks. The teenager fits too. There's also a guy with some ludicrous hair but I didn't paint him this time. 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. 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. It also gives a nice warm undertone to later paint layers.

This is Reaper 80026, the Bones version of "Agatha Fox, Spy", sculpted by Andrew Rae. She is a modish young lady in a raincoat and knee boots, nonchalantly easing a gun out of the handbag behind her back. It looks like the original sculpt had a collar or necklace or something, but I didn't see it in the Bones version. WIP thread here. Comments and critiques are welcome, as always.

This is a teeny-tiny old Ral Partha dwarf. I don't know the SKU. Ratmaster2000 identified him as 01-070b, Dwarf Seer w/ Crystal Ball. I suspect he was sculpted by Tom Meier, given the delicacy and the anatomical accuracy. He is the first dwarf I have finished from the WIP thread Jade Green and Seven Dwarfs: 60184: Meyanda, Android Priestess and a bunch of dwarfs as Exalted Jadeborn. As ever, comments and critiques are welcome. How small is he? This small:

This is Hasslefree's HFA181, "Big Charles", sculpted by Kev White. I liked the realism of the sculpt and the opportunity to paint someone with black skin. I've been trying to paint more diverse minis for our games. I liked the sculpt so much I accidentally got two of him. So I painted the other up as a vampire / zombie. I finished him a little earlier and there is a thread here. Here are some comparison photos: Note that vampire "Charles" lacks a shadow: There is no WIP thread but questions and comments are welcome.

I'm working up some modern adventurers. I've always rather liked the sort of British modness of this figure. For Bones, I prime with some thinned-down Reaper Brown Liner, which both shows details and gives a paint-friendly surface for later layers to grip. All paints used (after the primer) 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. Usually I rough in the skin first. This is pretty rough. It's a simple mix of Titanium White and Burnt Sienna, with a bit of pink mixed from Titanium White and Red Oxide. I left the eye socket with the primer showing. This figure kind of wants to be colored 1960's-style, with very dramatic eye makeup and almost invisible lips, but I think I will try something different.

This is Hasslefree's HFA148 "Taylor", sculpted by Kev White. She has some wonderful, dynamic shapes from different angles. In the catalogue she's painted up blonde, but after I primed her I took a look at her face and thought she looked more Cambodian to me. So she's a modern Southeast Asian apocalypse survivor, or at least a young lady with a lot of attitude. There isn't a WIP thread but I would be glad to answer any questions or take comments.

This is an old Ral Partha Shadowrun figure, now sold by Ironwind Metals as part of the set 20-568, Male and Female Bodyguards. We're using her for a Vampire: The Masquerade character. I liked her Old School late 20th century futurism look. There is very little actual black on her. Most of that is lots of other colors, mixed. There is no WIP thread, but questions and comments are welcome.

This figure is kind of silly but I like him anyway. He came from one of the Bones Kickstarters and I felt like painting him up. There isn't a WIP thread, but I welcome comments and questions, if anyone has any.

This is one of Hasslefree's modern adventurers sculpted by the inestimable Kev White. I tend to paint my figures in a sort of bright way (I think. It's very hard for me to see my own art style.). So I thought I would try to do justice to Kev White's dynamic and fairly realistic sculpt by trying to paint it in a more realistic style. I also welcomed the opportunity to paint someone non-caucasian and a modern mercenary type, which my gaming table is somewhat lacking in. (I realized a bit late he would be perfect for playing around with painting tattoos. Perhaps someone else can take up the challenge.) There is no WIP thread, but questions and comments are welcome.

This is Hasslefree's HFA181: Big Charles, painted up as a vampire (although he could do duty for something else awful and inhuman as well, maybe a zombie). I had accidentally acquired two of him and this seemed a reasonable use for the extra one, especially since one of my GMs is running a vampire-heavy campaign. He hasn't got a shadow on purpose because vampire ... There is no WIP thread. Critiques, questions, and comments are welcome, as always.

This is the fun Bobby Jackson sculpt 02867: Matthias the Twisted, concept art by Talin. He(?)'s a lassic rat-lovin' nosferatu type vampire with an awesome wardrobe and a great pose. He has a lot of great details, including three tiny rats! (They are 28mm scale. They are really tiny.) WIP thread here.

The GM said we needed a nosferatu, so here we are. This is Reaper's 02867: Matthias the Twisted, a gnarly rattish vampire. 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. 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. It also gives a nice warm undertone to later paint layers. (I have to remember that I experimented with a cold blue-grey wash on some vampire figures that avoided all the nice warm undertones.) I paint vampires with stark white skin, shaded with flat greys mixed from Titanium White and Carbon Black. This is almost the only time I ever use such a simple mix for greys. The first layer is a thinned white (blodginess is the underpainting showing through). Steps in shading:

This is a mastaba, "Egyptian Tomb IWS-EGY-011," from Itar's Workshop and two identical columns, I'm not sure where from. The old Ral Partha mindflayer and Reaper's Merith of the Flame are included for scale. "Mastaba" is a comparatively modern Arabic word meaning "bench." The original Egyptian hieroglyphs read "pr-djt" or "pr-djed" and meant "house of the afterlife." The hieroglyphs are gibberish (some are even sideways), which bugs me in a minor way. Just as a side note, the mastaba is hollow with a reinforcing partition in the middle. I lined it with green felt with an idea to storing related minis inside. My husband has been referring to it as a dice cup.

These are Reaper's 02830: Wolf Pack, sculpted by Geoff Valley. They are mounted on one-inch fender washers. I painted them for versatility, which is why there is a variety of color and base types. Detailed WIP thread here.

This is Hasslefree's HFA180, Monique, part of a group of modern adventurers I've been working on. There is no WIP thread.

This is Reaper 03042, the second version of Morrdha, Vampire Noble, sculpted by Bob Ridolfi. I don't know what his story is, but both versions are casting something from a book of Up to No Good, and both have a little demon thing lurking at their feet. I loved the lively cape on this figure, and the melodrama. I decided to paint him ginger and make his armor look appallingly rusty. Oh, right, and while I did not exactly do NMM or anything, I did paint his sword with pigmented colors instead of my usual sloshing on of metallic silver. There is no WIP thread, but I would be happy to answer questions. Comments and critiques are also welcome.

This is one of the three figures from sculptor Gene Van Horne's set 50157: Townsfolk: Ladies of the Night (or as I prefer to think of them, Women of the Regrettable Fashion Choices). I painted her up as a vampire in an attempt to show the dusky skin of the undead PoC, but I'm not sure I quite managed it. Anyhow, I really enjoyed using all sorts of unlikely colors that ought to scream "Beware!" to anyone paying attention. There is no WIP thread for this figure, but as always comments, critiques, and questions are welcome.

These are the set BFM MLS003 from Bad Squiddo, which I have discovered is called "Vampire Thralls", although in my notes I call them "feral vampires" and I think of them as more unaffiliated vampire pirates or swashbucklers. (Although thinking about it, it would be really difficult to be a vampire pirate, what with the total lack of shade and all.) I painted one of them up blonde, because blonde vampires look extra creepy. There is a WIP thread here. As ever, comments, critiques, and questions are welcome.

(Note: I actually started these a while back, though they are not done yet. This is a bit less of a WIP thread than a how-I-got-here-so-far thread, which I will update as I get my old pictures organized. Questions and comments and critiques are, as always, welcome.) Last summer Bad Squiddo Games hosted a brief Kickstarter, "My Last Sunrise," of an assortment of Gothic horror minis centered around vampires. These two stood out to me as a little beyond the Hammer horror ethos of most of the other figures. While I was painting them I thought of them as "Feral Vampires," although when I just rechecked they are called "Vampire Thralls." I dunno. They don't look very thrall-like to me. Their tag line in the Kickstarter was "Float about in my night dress cooing for scraps? No way. I hunt my own meal." Anyhow, they have a fun, odd, lady pirate or highwayman look. 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. This is a slight deviation from how I prime figures. Normally I prime them with Titanium White (which I did here) and then wash over them with Burnt Umber to bring out the details. These I wanted kind of cold-looking, so I washed them with a cold dark grey mixed from Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue. That's them on the left. For a while I was including Bad Squiddo's "Dracula" in the photos, so you get a free peek at that too. And as per usual, the first thing I did was their skin. In contrast to the skin of living humans, I have been painting vampire skin in stark black-and-white mixed from Titanium White and Carbon Black. The very first layer is thinned Titanium White, then pale shadows of the lightest grey.