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Hello everybody, related to the Kickstarter, but also just some really nice videos that Ral Partha Legacy did. These are a number of interviews with Tom Meier, the sculptor behind the new miniatures and basically behind Ral Partha itself since the seventies, as well as the "discoverer" (can't really say inventory) of how green stuff can be used to sculpt miniatures: https://www.youtube.com/c/RalParthaLegacyLTD/videos Have a look, some videos are longer than others, but all worth seeing if you're interested in miniatures, sculpting, the history of miniatures, et cetera!

I've painted many the uplifted chimpanzee and gorilla over the years, some in spacesuits, some in boiler suits. But none in a double-breasted business suit, for such minis are not easy to find! This has been on the back burner for a while now. I had a Raogru, Charau-Ka Shaman sculpt (pic is Reaper's) for a while. Well, time passed and I got a jet-pack wearing space chimp from Cold War Miniatures. This came with an extra grinning chimpanzee head. I decapitated the shaman, readjusted the arms, trimmed off some of the vambraces, and slapped on some Green Stuff. Since then, I've done a bit of trimming and polishing. I want the suit to be shoulder-padded and broad of lapel. It still needs some smoothing in some places and wrinkles in others. Gotta get rid of that fingerprint, for instance. I need to smooth out the wad on the back of the jacket (due to the shaman's posture I had to fill in a divot on the side) Thinking of giving the pants cuffs and making a shirtsleeve on the extended left arm (his right hand will be holding a tiny briefcase.) Here's the concept with the head--it's a big head, but the shoulders and chest are also big. What do you all think? How can I get the suit to wrinkle and hang properly? What do I need to trim or smooth? And what would Mister Bongo here have to do to get you to sign off on one of these handsome life insurance policies that would give you and your loved ones the peace of mind you deserve?

Having just started a 45 figure batch paint of guardsmen, I decided a side project may be in order. Just a little something I could fiddle with off and on to disrupt the monotony and I knew just the project. About a year ago, after I finished my first commissar, I thought it would be a good idea to paint all my commissars differently. That way I could tell all of my HQs or elites apart, but wouldn't you know it after a couple games I realized it was completely unnecessary. Having already started down that path however I decided to press on. Within about the first week of pondering different color schemes I had a great idea. Unfortunately I lacked the skills and hobby confidence to attempt it. This past year I've managed to learn quite a bit though, especially about sculpting/working with greenstuff. So I think it's time to attempt a Hulk Hogan commissar. First up was locating a good reference photo for both his moustache and boa (see above). As the moustache was the trickier of the two I decided to start there. In a twist of fate getting a good texture was the easy part, but getting the proper size wasn't. After some back and forth I finally got the size correct. Then it was just a simple matter of using a pin and a toothpick to achieve a hair like texture. This is what you get zooming in, but at a regular viewing distance I think it looks good. Next came the boa. Try as I might I couldn't get a good feathery texture going. I could get a good amorphous blob/coral like texture though. Much like the moustache it'll fail upon close inspection but I think with a good paintjob it'll hold up just fine. See I told you that moustache is passable with some distance. Now it's just a matter of letting everything dry before priming. I guess it's a good thing we have holiday commitments for the next couple days. As with any greenstuff project you always end up with some leftovers. After adding a skull to the Hulkster's base I thought I'd share the wealth with a few random models from my desk.

I have a painting WIP running, and I think it is going decently well - I am keeping up on it, anyhow. I thought I would start a cumulative WIP on whatever random sculpting and terrain I do. It is a pretty big part of the hobby for me, and I enjoy it a lot, so I hope to keep it going on a personal level. While I am easily better at sculpting digitally (by a lot), I really don't enjoy doing it. At this point in my life, significant time spent in front of a computer is work, and I have enough of that to do. So, Ill post my ham fisted attempts to sculpt things for my personal collection below. So...I have been having some really long and tediously boring zoom meetings, and I have found that I can't both paint and maintain a CYA level of paying attention, but I can crudely sculpt with clay. rather than working on any of my projects that require focus, I thought I'd work on something that can be haphazard to keep it light through the process. I have been obsessive over plant monsters lately, so I thought I'd make a tendriculos. Big, forgiving, and fun - perfect! I had a marathon of meetings today, so I was able to jump right in and make some progress. Thus far all I have is an armature with a thin coating of polymer clay - but it's a start!

So i've got that trio of spiders from nolzur's. They do not come with sculpted bases - unlike most of the nolzur's line. This isn't a huge issue, except that these suckers have a bunch of tiny spindly legs. I am worried about getting a good hold. So I have a few questions: 1: how to fasten these guys to a base? Just glue the legs and hope, or pin them through the body like a flightstand? 2: how to sculpt/or assemble, suitable bases to compliment their spindly nature and ensure a better hold. 3: how to attach the spider in a way that I can paint underneath it OR should I find a way to glue it down after both parts are painted? So the webbed victim shown in the photo above I have decided to leave out as a piece of scatter. There is a stone base (not pictured) that I have already glued to a reaper base for one of the spiders. Each of the spiders has a slightly different pose with their legs - which is made worse by them being bent out of shape. I'm hoping to use this as an advantage though, and pose each spider differently. One is rearing back with front legs up (this one I plan to glue to the supplied rocky base with the abdomen glued to the ground for extra support. Another spider has one side of legs kind of bent under a bit. I'm thinking this would look good mounted sideways, crawling up the side of a fallen log (not sure if I should try to sculpt this, or find a twig to glue to the base). The last spider is pretty neutral, but I was thinking of posing it climbing down something just for variety. Any advice about sculpting the bases vs gluing organic material or mounting something with narrow points of contact would be tremendously helpful. My indecision has lead to two weeks of no painting.

So at Reapercon 2018, I scored the Duskwarden poster of Thregan Helmsplitter for my work at the auction, and of course, being the Duskwarden*, I have a couple of the minis as well. So I was thinking of using him as my next PC, but as I have hair, I wanted my mini to also... While working on another project with GS, as usual, I made to much, and decided to bite the bullet and do his hair... What do you think? Comments appreciated! George * Doesn't Jacob Knochengard look like me???

HI, Thought I would create my own topic so I can share the models I create. Crits and comments welcome. This is my latest mini. Created just for fun. I think it should be called " The summoning" though I am open to ideas :) Got a few pictures of the 3d print of this guy. Not the best photos but you get the idea.

It's the holidays, so I present to you ... The Day of the Dead Fairy Tavern "Zapata's Skull & Rose" Okay, it's hokey, but my daughter enjoys the masks and such from the Day of the Dead and as I was trying out my homemade paper clay, I started to shape the fairy garden house. When I placed the windows where they ended up, they reminded me of a cockeyed skull and the idea was born. The List Das Air Dry Clay Two Plastic Bottles of different size with the bottoms cut off. Glue Gun and Hot Glue Aluminum Foil Painters or Masking Tape Cardboard for the base Extra Plastic from Product Packaging Homemade Paper Clay Construction First off, if you haven't had the chance and want to do something like this ... I do plan to make terrain, etc. using these components ... I suggest Creative Mom's YouTube channel. Yes, it's all Fairy Homes and such but she does a damn good job on construction and design using the above components. They are lightweight and durable and hold a solid edge if you want to use any of those cool terrain stamps many of us bought into or a mold. I hot glued the two bottles together so the cut ends are flush. I used a lot of glue to ensure that they were together solidly. Then after measuring a terracotta pot against the cardboard round from a frozen pizza, I glued the bottles to the cardboard. I wanted to ensure that there was space to glue the base to the pot's rim but not have the building flush to the edge. I then glued some aluminum foil to the bottles to form some shapes. The "hat" was planned all along but it's going to be a sombrero now. So I glued a ring of foil around the bottle top and then added foil over the ring and flattened the edges. To strengthen the form and blend the bottleneck out a bit I used the painters' tape around the brim and across the back where the "smokestack" comes up. To help bridge in between the two bottles a bit more I added a rope of foil from the front to the back in an arc and glued it down. Then I added more foil atop the cap of the second bottle to make it taller like and then used more foil and painters' tape to make it more of a long neck bottle. I glued a rectangle of packaging to the front as a box window. With everything constructed, I spackled the shape with the Homemade Paper Clay. The reason I used the Homemade Paper Clay first is that I used recycled shredded paper instead of toilet paper to make the clay so it's very, lumpy. The initial skinning of Homemade Paper Clay. The Stucco From here I wanted to apply a smoother surface for the finished product and wanted to add some sculpting. So instead of using a finer Homemade Paper Clay, I went for my Das Air Dry Clay. I created the skull face first. Then tonight I skinned the "bottle" side of the tavern adding a petal edge to the front and back around the neck and blocking out the window. What's Next? Well, I have to finish the back of the skull side and then the sombrero. I have three Day of the Dead skull buttons I am going to embed in the sombrero per fairly common costumes. I'll also add a bunch of details to the building and naturally, I will do my usual work on the ground. There are a lot of skulls that show a thin mustache for male ones, so I think I might make a series of boards tacked up to make a thin mustache to frame the doorway. This is a vector skull I manipulated to sort of match my quazy skull face. I am thinking of doing it black on white like this. As usual, thoughts and comments are welcome. Enjoy and Stay Tuned!

Hi, I'm a sculptor from New Zealand. I am mostly known for my dungeon delvers. Especially of the duck variety.

"Way I hear tell, ain't no percentage in gettin' the Cactus Folk riled up. They don't shoot easy and wrasslin' 'em won't end well for ya." Sculpted a gumby-esque Saguaro Vaquero and a zaftig Cactus Dryad for Weird West purposes. (Though if I ever run a game set in New Crobuzon, they'd work there too.) Legs are stubby and bell-bottomed, skin rugose, arms long and segment-jointed. The cowpoke's rope is twisted wire. The Dryad's hair was intended to be Crested Saguaro, but heck, Opuntia works too. The pistol hand came from my bits box, I forget what sprue originally. Probably Chronoscope of some kind. I don't know *exactly* where she falls on the SFW line (is a plant really nude if it's not flowering? Curves, but nothing explicit as I understand it) so I'll compromise on Spoilers for now and delete images if need be.

Not sure if this belongs here or under conversions but since I need help/feedback on the sculpting, I figured here was better. I am adding puffy sleeves to a figure and I am very much a novice when it comes to sculpting. I have been working on one and while it looks good to me, I need a second opinion. What do you guys think?

My father is one of those people who is always really hard to buy for. This year I drew his name for Christmas. He is an amazing woodworker and craftsman. I wanted to get him something he didn't have and wouldn't buy for himself. I was perusing Wood magazine, and saw an add for ID coins; essentially they are laser engraved metal coins that you countersink into the bottom of your woodwork to identify it as having come from your shop. The design is yours and they make the coins for you. I can do that, even better! So I started designing it. My dad loves owls; they are kind of his symbol already. Also, our last name is Pieper (pronounced Peeper), so every guy in my family going back at least 4 generations has been known by the nickname "Peeps" at some point in his life; it's kind of a family right of passage when your friends start calling you Peeps. So I am designing a 3/4 inch coin with a barred owl (his favorite) on it and the words "PEEPS WOODCRAFT". I will then mold it and cast a bunch of copies in bronze for him for Christmas. Last night, I sculpted the owl:

The thought came to me, burning-hot in my mind, that while probably no one else would ever need one, *I* could really use a great ape in mortarboard and academic robes. An orangutan for preference, given their eccentric genius and their handlike feet. Reaper already does a Cyber-Ape, but that is a violent simian, and also I want three "hands" in use rather than two. Here's the rough sketch, and here's an armature I made late last night, compared to Orangutango. I've been reading the advice posts, so I'll take it slow-ish, work in layers, and be ready to murder my darlings... ...is there other stuff I should be warned about? Is this a fool's errand? (yes, obviously, but can I *do* it?) Love to hear from y'all!

During the last few days I've sculpted these out of fimo air classic and then painted them. Really happy how they turned out :D For the whole crafting process check this thread

Hi everyone, just wanted to share this Bigby's Hand spell effect mini I made. It is made of Fimo air dry clay and took me about 30 minutes painting included. I was inspired by D&D Icons of the Realms Spell Effects – Arcane Fury & Divine Might miniatures and diceded to try and make one of my own :D

So, I'm about to start working on making some 3D bases of my own for my dragons (and hubby's too)... Anyone have any pointers or tips on particular putted to use when coating stuff like cork to add more detail, or would there be much of a difference between say Milliput, greenstuff, or other things? I ask as terrain generally doesn't require as much detail as a mini would, but it never hurts to get a few more opinions. I do have greenstuff atm (and Aves Apoxie if this supplier I'm trying to buy some from sends me an invoice ), and might be ordering some other stuff, hence why I'm curious. Love greenstuff for stamped or rolled bases, and gap filling (I suspect when I try sculpting I'll like it too, I'm enjoying how it behaves now that I've had a bit of time using it for gap filling and bases), but naturally I'm open to other options too.

So the new player in the D&D game I okay in is playing a halfling rogue. Awesome, easy! With a bow... And a rapier... Hmm... Okay, well, that's gonna take some work... Let's start by cutting off her hands. And we'll steal this guys bow hand... And, uh.... I guess use a pin for the rapier scabbard? And she's gonna need a base. Happy Seppuku to the rescue! Mix up some green stuff... Blob for a hand, add the basket hill, arm guard for the bow arm... Hua... Okay, not too shabby!

It's that time of year again, the High School Play where my wife, the English Teacher, handles costumes, props, hair and makeup. This year's play is an amusing comedy called ... And I was tasked with creating the badge. It started out as an oval of light weight wood from AC Moore or similar store; approximately, 4.5 in by 2.25 in. I printed a Star out on my computer to size and poked holes into the wood where I wanted the star on the oval. Then I marked the cuts I wanted on the edges to get the "shield" shape for the badge. Then I added cork pieces in the shape of the 5 points of the star from the middle to build the star. After hot gluing the pieces down I sanded a bevel into the shape. Then I skimmed the whole thing with DAS air-dry clay to bulk up the background and smooth the star over. Then sanded it down smooth and sealed it once it had cured. Then sanded down the seal with some fine grit and primed it white. From there I painted the background of the badge Reaper Scorched Metal and the star Reaper Honed Steel. Then to set off the star a bit, I pained just the inset top of the star with Vallejo Silver. Voila! I think it came out nice and should show well from the stage. The back just got a nice coating of a craft paint ... specifically Wrought Iron Black like I used to Prime the Marvel Golems. Of course, it got a heavy coat of Testors Dullcote to seal it all up. Seeing the play this Friday. The prop will likely get all of 10 seconds of visibility. LOL But it's all good practice. Enjoy!

After a long nights work at the Lucky Sunrise Inn, Eric the Bard stepped out of the back-stage door, he had rather heavy bag of gold hanging in his belt, it had been a good night. The streets were empty, and he began the walk home, but as he turned the first corner he saw the most beautifull sunrise over the roof tops. He just had to take his hat off and admire the sight... Two old minis, probaly Ral Partha. The base is scratch build, mainly from sculpting clay, a bit of wire and green stuff and short piece of plastic tube. The skull and the 'Lucky'-sign (the shield) is from the bits box. I tried to work with a bit of NMM, but I'm too satisfied with it. Mostly the handle on the bards sword is a bit off. But in overall I'm happy with it, and it was a lot of fun to paint, I'm just a sucker of OSL so hope the effect is visible. Any kind critiq is more than welcome, thanks for looking.

See this post... I just tried something new, but have talked about it here and there, about using Greenstuff to sculpt stuff that you want to paint, but before assembly.... It seems to work! Can't seem to get it to quote across threads....

So, recently I've been taking on several commissions, and of them, this is the first I've finished! One of my fellow players at our FLGS asked me to paint an archer mini for him. I told him to take some time picking one out, and a week or two later, he brought me this guy: Now, first, to address the elephant in the room: this is obviously Tanis Half-Elven, right? I mean, it's not even subtle, this is totally him. I can't be the only person who sees it... The mini itself is pretty solid, but that's a very accurate representation of the paint job: wash everywhere, lumpy colors. I'll be honest, though, even unmodded it's not a bad mini compared to a LOT of the prepaints - anatomy's solid, pose is strong, and the detailing is simple enough that the paint job almost works. But anyways! So, the orders of business, as per my client's requests: - Cloak painted black with green highlighting; not just dark-green - Replace the bow with a better one that's less wiggly (his one was pretty deformed - Copper skin and brown hair; the character is a wood elf I suggested doing some additional sculpting on it, which caught his ear - he was really excited by my suggestion of a black fur capelet to complement the darkened cloak. So, the finished mini! So, first off: The sculpting. I did a pretty simple swap for the bow, since I'm pants at hands - cut off the old one, cut a bow from a Reaper Weapon Sprue in half, glued in place. Ordinarily I'd pin, but with the base mini so flexible, it's actually pretty sturdy - the hand bends away from pressure before there's any danger to the bow. I fiddled with it before I painted - it's definately strong enough for gameplay, even if the mini's lifted by the weapon. Then I moved to the fur. I did the caplet, first - just a simple little thing to sculpt, work the GS in and then texture. I suggested this for two reasons: one, the sculpting on the upper shoulders was a lot weaker than the rest of the cape, more bunchy, and two, the shading I had planned for the cape works better on the billowy bits than the narrow folds, so if I could just paint those, I'd take it. That said, a professional is never less than perfect, so I didn't tell the guy that. I merely said, "Like the King in the North, but with black bear fur," and he was pumped. I also didn't really like the sculpting on the arms, and the decorative tongues on the boots, if we're being honest. So, some thin strips of greenstuff and a Xacto knife later, he was wearing fur boots and gloves. Then, one rebasing later, I was ready to talk color! I did the cape first - Walnut Brown, with Vallejo's Luftwaffe Cam Green highlights, and Pure Black used in thin lines to deepen the folds. Pure black for the fur, too - but then Nuln oil as a wash, to add gloss to the "fur pelt". Once the cloak was done, I realized that changing the color of the cloak meant a complete pallette change, too. I hate brown-on-brown clothing, so I moved to a darker green as a better fit for the cloak, with some brown trim. The pants I took from a khaki white to more of a silver-green - the color is a mix of the green and brown used for the cloak and belt, with white to shade. Although the colors I used are all pretty warm, I tried to give the figure itself a more wintery feel, keeping the palette darker and more subdued.- the sort of ranger you'd imagine slipping through the undergrowth on a cool winter morning, the sun still low in the sky, blending into the shadows of evergreens as he slides towards his prey. But, to bring in some more of the warmness of his hair and skin, I accented him in gold, which makes his weapons stand out and gives them a little more definition against the cloak. All in all, this was a great mini to paint! It was a lot of fun getting to do some of my own sculpting, since most of the minis I've painted lately have been either custom jobbos from places like Heroforge, or more exotic/expensive minis from fancy companies, where the player went and found the *perfect mini* and I just have to get the painting right! And, for the edification of anyone wondering, this guy, with weaponswap/sculpting/painting, took around 4-5 hours, and I charged the guy 40$. I still need to base him, but I'm waiting to do that with the guy, so I can get his opinion; all i've done so far is sculpt a greenstuff "earth" base.

Couple reaper samurai I used for a commissioned diorama. Rock is pine bark, tree is a wire armiture covered with plumber's epoxy putty and paper towel and super glue (for the skinnier parts), foliage is bleached, dyed, and preserved reindeer moss.

I'm starting to get lost here, so I figured I'd make an index of stuff I've posted. Many of these are loaded with enough pics and text that they're almost mini-tutorials. Questions and comments are always welcome. If you don't get a reply within a couple days, find me on Facebook, or add me on Battle.net (Xumenicus#1118). ReaperCon Final Photos 2016: https://reapercon.com/mspopen/2016/artist/Joshua Anaya 2015: https://reapercon.com/mspopen/2015/artist/Joshua Anaya Projects Massive Voodoo Water Base (No Minis) http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/77445-massive-voodoo-water-base-no-minis/ Pathfinder Seoni Bust (ReaperCon 2016 Open Gold) http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/71475-pathfinder-seoni-bust-reapercon-2016/ Dagon's Emissary (ReaperCon 2016 Diorama Silver) http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/71496-dagons-emissary-reapercon-2016-parts-03707-and-03497/ Grudge Power Armor Bust (ReaperCon 2015 Open Gold, Bronze Sophie) http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/71528-grudge-power-armor-reapercon-2015-bronze-sophie/ Dark Sword Mole Alchemist Diorama (ReaperCon 2015 Diorama Gold) http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/71534-dark-sword-mole-alchemistdiorama/ Ork Timberwolf Vehicle (WiP) http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/71497-ork-timberwolf-half-scratch-half-gw-stompa/ 14479: Dryad (Heavily adminned because she's female. Haven't gotten around to fixing.) (WiP) http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/71536-14479-dryadbut-more/ Power Armored Dwarves (WiP, and possibly forgotten and/or lost) http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/71652-power-armored-dwarves/ Caddisfly Larva (Fishing) http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/72652-caddisfly-larva-something-completely-different/ Completely Failed Tower Implosion Diorama (Dead) http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/71535-completely-failed-tower-implosion-diorama/ Informational Me hijacking somebody else's thread, and using it to track conventions in Colorado http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/77238-colorado-cons/#comment-1636600

Right, so I finally decided to do a WiP on this guy, mainly in the hopes to get some good feedback on the painting process. This will be one of my Reapercon (in the Open category, being as it is a scratchbuild). First off, some older pics going back a few months, showing where I started from. I started by sculpting a few faces and picked one that I thought would do the job. Then I built a basic armature, established a pose and then began fleshing it out. I'm afraid I didn't get any more WiP shots of the sculpting after this, so on to the finished figure (pre painting that is). Here is the final figure prior to painting, complete with scenic base. And because I really would like to show off all the work that went into it, here are a lot of detail shots of the various elements. The discarded helmet was a little bit of a trick, as I wanted it to actually be hollow. I dealt with it by sculpting the basic shape on the end of another tool, then carefully pulling it off and carving out the face plate and widening the rest of the interior. The backpack and pistol frame were stacked sheet styrene, with added details in greenstuff and wire. The base was just a couple of cutup corks with greenstuff textured over it. Next up is painting. Digging around online for inspiration I came across this image, which is supposedly of a 1950s era US Navy pressure suit. I liked the olive drab and beige combination (though I may skip the white helmet), and decided I would go with something similar, but with warmer colors. The palette I wound up choosing for the basic flight suit is below. For some reason the special edition colors have become some of my favorites. Carnival Purple was a special edition paint for Reapercon '13 (I think), and has become one of my go to colors for shadowing, while Pumpkin Orange has become another one of my mainstays. Here is the figure after the first round of painting. I went in with the intention of giving the suit a much ruddier look that was the case in the prototype (hence the Pumpkin Orange), but tn the end the orange really dominated the palette (which doesn't really bother me, so long as the end result looks good), The figure was primarily bascoated with black primer, while the head was done in white. I don't recall exactly how much time it took me to get from there to what you see below, but I think it was close to two hours or so. Whatcha' think so far? I've always been better with a hobby knife than a paint brush, and this year I'm really anxious to up my game a bit. Any and all input is welcome!

Hi all! First post in quite a while I've been working on a fantasy dwarf I've been sculpting from scratch. I'm shooting for something which could feasibly be cast. I'd gotten to the point that I was positioning his weapon, at which point I realized that there seemed to be too many potential undercuts, particularly around the axe head. I looked at some of Reaper's dwarves which have a similar pose, and I noted that all of them are positioned such that the axe head is well in advance of the hand, which would eliminate the under cut. I tried various attempts at re positioning the arms, but in the end I decided that a new, longer axe was going to be in order. Now I'm in a quandary though. I originally was going to give him an axe based on a Petersen type L (see below), but while fiddling around with wire I came up with the idea of giving him a two handed flail instead. These were typically agricultural implements which were at times repurposed for war, and the dwarf's clothing right now could fit with the image of being more of a farmer. I'll be posting more WiP shots as I go, but I'd love to hear people's feedback? FYI, the lack of a mustache is deliberate, I was going for something similar to Balin's look in The Hobbit. Cheers!