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So I was asked to do a step by step tutorial on how I did the rust on my Wyrmgear [located here: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/56248-77177-rusty-wyrmgear/ ] so this morning I did just that with three of my Secret Weapon bases from my Bag O' Crap. I hope you find it useful! Here's the three I chose, washed and ready to be painted. Six paints are used [pictured] and two brush sizes [pictured] So first I cover them in brown liner and let that dry Next, I dab at it with my Ancient Bronze. Throughout this whole tutorial, I dab with my brushes. It's a bit rough on the brushes, I recommend using slightly ratty ones you don't mind getting a bit worse. I dab using the side of the bristles, not the ends, but it still is a bit rough on the brush. You don't want to entirely cover the base, but do a decent amount of area in bronze. you'll cover most of it up later, but it gives you a brighter surface to put rust on than the brown liner. I did varying degrees of bronze on the three bases Now you'll add your base rust on the bases, using an orange. I used Lava Orange. Again, i dabbed with my brush. I find it gives a more organic and sporadic feel than brushing the paint on. You'll want to leave the underlying colors visible in areas. This is all about layering the colors to make a glorious mess of colors now you add some dark areas to your rust. I found Bloodstain Red to be great for this! You'll again want to leave areas of orange peeking through. Don't be afraid to use a paper towel and wipe at areas of your base as you go, to get a gritty or smeared look. I did this heavily on the smallest [middle] base below Now I go back over some areas with the Lava Orange to bring out a bit of brighter spots that got covered up too much by the red Now we're going to use a metallic silver, in my case Shadowed Steel, to give a hint of underlying, un-rusted metal beneath that rust. You'll put this over the areas that you left the rust off of, where the dark brown liner is still visible. Don't be afraid if you end up doing too much silver, you can go back over it easily to rust it up. Even though you're actually putting this ON TOP of the rust colors, when you dab with your brush the contrast of shiny to not shiny will make it look underneath, like so: Now we use the small brush that I haven't touched yet for this tutorial. Yellow will add some realistic color to the orangey red rust, but you don't want too much. My yellow doesn't like to put out paint so i have to take the cap off and dip my brush in the cap, so I usually end up with a thick yellow. I deal with this by wiping it gently with a paper towel after dabbing small amounts onto the bases This is a touch up step, where you apply small amounts of orange and red. I did this because I felt that the effect I wanted wasn't completely there, and i needed some more rust over the silver. At this point, I'm rather unhappy with the manhole cover, because it's complicated, textured surface is making it difficult to get the effect I want We pull back out the Ancient Bronze now, to add some shiny rust effect to the duller rust. You can note the difference especially on the manhole cover We use the brown liner again! We're nearing completion. I use the brown liner to imitate dirt, shadows, and to get detail to pop. I put it into the detailed areas of my Wyrmgear's base, the cracks in the metal for example, and wipe away the excess to leave only the dark gap filled We go back to the yellow, because I felt that i had gone too dark again. I went a bit heavy with the yellow on the man hole cover, especially the letters, in an attempt to bring the color up a bit. We're done now, save for some small steps I used Pure Black to go around the edges to cover the paint strokes and to give it a neat look. This actually helped the manhole cover immensely, I think Final sealant coat! I love how sealing them brings the colors out. We're done! I hope everyone finds this tutorial useful for doing heavily rusted bases/miniatures! You can easily adapt this to do less-rusted stuff by increasing the amount of visible metal underneath =) Look up pictures of rust, it's very useful. Rust is so colorful, there is so much variation in it, and my frustration with my Wyrmgear that resulted in me painting him rusty was a boon in disguise because I hadn't realized just how much fun rust was to paint and how beautiful it can be

Thinking of you on this your birthday, hoping it is filled with love and caring and friends and family.

Based him off a Sally Lightfoot Crab. Because I like my undead creatures to be bright and colorful. Makes them all the more tragic Base is originally a Corpse Field base by Secret Weapon from my Bag O' Crap, which I modified into coral reef shallows. I imagine he's rising out of the ocean and scuttling up onto shore. Don't know if it's very noticeable, but I used a thin layer of realistic water over the base and I dripped some into the hole in his shell as if he's still got water in there after coming up out of the waves WIP link: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/56761-14501-scuttlebones-by-siri/

:bday: Happiest Birthday Wishes :bday:

So I was asked to do a tutorial on how I painted the marble on my Coraldrax [seen here: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/54577-coraldrax-sea-kaladrax/ ] like I did with my tutorial on painting rust: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/56249-siris-guide-to-painting-rust/ So here we go! This isn't going to be as good as my rust tutorial I think, it's using acrylics [since that's how I did it on Coraldrax, and I wanted to show how I did that] and really on Coraldrax it's barely visible underneath him, so I didn't worry about doing a pretty job with it. However, I think it can easily be done with hobby paints instead of craft, and be done much nicer than the way I do it, by using the same basics as i'll show below So I decided to use two flat surfaces, which are two half objective markers from my Secret Weapon Bag O' Crap and another base from the same Bag O' Crap that could pull off the marble look and actually has texture The colors I use are white, a light gray, a medium gray, and a very very dark green called Wrought Iron. I have black there as well, but I didn't use it My first step is to cover them completely in the medium gray color Then you use white and streak in the same direction. I usually go from one corner to the opposite corner. Don't be worried if the lines are fuzzy or blotchy or thick. Marble is seldom symmetrical and perfect, and this is just the base coat you're applying Now I break out my light grey and do the same thing, streaking in the same direction. This helps clean up your white lines a bit, and blend them a bit better so it's not so stark This next step will look very messy. Don't get discouraged! You're going to use a very small brush and your dark color. In my case, that is Wrought Iron. Your'e going to make spidery veins in the same direction as your streaking [you will notice I screwed up on one of my objective markers and went against the streaks >.< ] You'll want to dip your brush often, because plenty of paint means it doesn't get fuzzy edges. We want lots of crisp lines Now you'll go back to your light grey and white. I tend to mix them in even parts, and then dry brush it over the entire thing. At this stage, you don't HAVE to follow the streaking, but I still do anyways just because. This makes the veins fade Using pure white, we streak once more. Be careful not to entirely cover up your faded veins of dark color Now you're going to apply dark veins once more. You'll want them very thin, very crisp. If you look at pictures of marble, you'll see plenty of them have both faded and crisp lines through them And you're done! A final seal gets us our final marble look. As I said, a bit messy, a bit imperfect...but I'm sure with this tutorial you can get the basic marble look down and then improve on my own technique =) Finished markers: Finished little base:

A happy birthday to you! :bday: :bday:

So it was suggested I make a little thread/bestiary for all the critters I've created. So why not? Here we go! I've put little small bios on the images too For awesome info on some of these, check this post: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/56852-siris-bestiary/?p=963165 A: B: C: D: E: F: G: H: I: J: K: L:

So starting a new WIP thread just for my Wyrmgear, who is being painted up as a rusted junk heap. I want to figure out a way to get his wings to attach at angles, like I have seen others do Here's the progress so far, covered in so many layers of paint that there is no way I can tell you how I got to this stage....[originally he was going to be shiny...until he made me mad] Edit for a spelling mistake And now a story: It seemed like such a good deal. Braythick Bearhammer the dwarf mapmaker/treasure salvager had been poking around some gnome's antique dealings stall and seen it standing there, looming in the back of the tent. It was massive, a masterwork of engineering, gone to rust and ruin. Still, it could potentially be useful to the dwarf. It did after all have a blade upon its tail, and long legs. Wings too, that was nice. It could carry his tools! Yes, it had been a brilliant plan. Something to carry his tools, and any 'rescued' loot he found in abandoned ruins. Something to defend him from the wilderness [and natives of said ruins that might disagree with his right of salvage]. And it had been a steal. The gnome had been desperate to get rid of the thing. It seemed too good to be true! Something like this could save him the cost of hiring lackeys to carry his stuff, of hiring thugs to protect him. It wouldn't need to eat, or sleep, it could guard him while he slept. Definitely too good to be true. And it was. Because apparently it had a few screws loose. Literally and figuratively. It had the attention span of a jackdaw. Braythick did not want the confounded thing to get distracted by a butterfly while he was trying to fight off a mountain lion or troll. And yet, as he unslung his hammer to remind the local natives of his right to found loot, the darn thing would turn around and trot off without a care in the world, leaving Braythick to run in an undignified manner after yelling at it. And most likely, the gnome that sold it was laughing as he counted his coins, grateful to be rid of the troublesome, ancient war machine

Finally he's done! After trying to initially paint him shiny and metallic, and having him laugh at my efforts, I decided to just ruin him on purpose. Slowly managed to do passable rust after soooooo many layers of paint! But here he is, enjoy! PIctures of winged and wingless versions. The wings will remain unattached and only put on if the husband wants him winged for a game. Base is from Dreamforge. WIP thread here: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/55988-rusty-wyrmgear-wip/ "It seemed like such a good deal. Braythick Bearhammer the dwarf mapmaker/treasure salvager had been poking around some gnome's antique dealings stall and seen it standing there, looming in the back of the tent. It was massive, a masterwork of engineering, gone to rust and ruin. Still, it could potentially be useful to the dwarf. It did after all have a blade upon its tail, and long legs. It could carry his tools! Yes, it had been a brilliant plan. Something to carry his tools, and any 'rescued' loot he found in abandoned ruins. Something to defend him from the wilderness [and natives of said ruins that might disagree with his right of salvage]. And it had been a steal. The gnome had been desperate to get rid of the thing. It seemed too good to be true! Something like this could save him the cost of hiring lackeys to carry his stuff, of hiring thugs to protect him. It wouldn't need to eat, or sleep, it could guard him while he slept. Definitely too good to be true. And it was. Because apparently it had a few screws loose. Literally and figuratively. It had the attention span of a jackdaw. Braythick did not want the confounded thing to get distracted by a butterfly while he was trying to fight off a mountain lion or troll. And yet, as he unslung his hammer to remind the local natives of his right to found loot, the darn thing would turn around and trot off without a care in the world, leaving Braythick to run in an undignified manner after yelling at it. And most likely, the gnome that sold it was laughing as he counted his coins, grateful to be rid of the troublesome, ancient war machine"

My alien plant species, the Georsteria! Sculpted all by myself On a Secret Weapon base painted to match. WIP here: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/55403-siris-first-sculpting-try/ Pictures came out a bit dark =(

...is underway! Ha! So far, just concept art. I'm going to try and start the armature today I'm also going to try a chinese dragon later on, so that's what that drawing is for

I got Scuttlebones, so I've started painting him! His base is a modified Corpse Field base from Secret Weapon. I'm turning corpses into coral covered rocks I'm going ot painting him like a Sally Lightfoot Crab why? Because I like making undead things all colorful and pretty! It makes the fact they're undead all the more tragic! [like my Nethyrmaul!]

"On the coast of the vast sea there once stood a mighty kingdom, its walls of white marble shining in the gleaming light of the sun that would rise over the sea every morning to bathe its pearly walls. Great, colorful mosaics decorated every flat surface and fabulous ornate carvings were etched wherever possible But it was not to last...for one day, with the rising of the sun, there came a great wave. A leviathan of the sea rose from the raging froth and breakers, a horrendous skeleton! It was encrusted as if it had once been part of the sea floor, and this monster tore the city and broke its white walls. Upon its ruins he crouched, reclaiming land that had once been his, centuries before..." I wasn't sure what I was going to do with Kaladrax when I first got him...there several ideas poking around in my head, but I definitely knew I wanted to do something different. The softness of the rocks, the smooth roundness of them, made me think of erosion. So I thought....either desert themed, eroded by constant sand-filled winds, or coastal themed with the tide line. I went coastal. I bought my very first batch of green stuff and tried it out, and then heavily decorated Kaladrax and his base with it to make sea weed, sponges, star fish, and more. I added sea themed mosaics to the white marble of the ruins, and a few old chains. Stingrays, a crab, octopus, and a few sea gulls are hidden around the base as well. Work in Progress thread and pictures: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/53995-siris-kaladrax-n-nethyrmaul-wip-thread/ His basing project [ongoing] http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/56564-basing-coraldrax/ Sorry for the many pictures! **This was done purely with craft paints from Hobby Lobby!**

Familiars completed for my Coraldrax basing project! [found here: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/56564-basing-coraldrax/ ]

Happy birthday! All hail Queen Tiamacrab! :bday:

Why is he so gosh darn hard to get clear pictures of? Ugh...oh well...here he is, finally finished. My swampy black dragon. He is the Black Dragon, from WOTC D&D Miniature #40055. He was sculpted by Kim Graham and produced around the year 2000 in limited numbers [Thanks Belerophon for telling me!] He was given to my husband in high school by a friend, and after we married we found him in a box and my husband asked if i could touch him up, as he had some scratches and chips. While I was getting ready to do so, I noticed his details were, in general, just horribly mucky...so I decided to strip him and repaint him entirely. You can read that epic adventure in his WIP thread here: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/55156-siris-black-dragon-disaster/

Painted for a friend as a gift, my first Cthulhu. I have a second one in progress for a friend that commissioned it

Red fire dragon painted up as my gluttonous, arrogant, fat Gorevander

This was my first mini painted with Reaper paints and not cheapo Acrylic craft paints from Hobby Lobby =P

This is my old senile red dragon, Hezikiabadadia [who should be a lot larger than this, but we don't have the really big Bones dragons available yet] I started him on a small base, but he refused to stand up so I built a bigger base around the small one. His big base is unfinished but I don't know when I'll get around to finishing it

One of my first painted miniatures, done up as my magma dragon Cypheros. I could probably do better now, and have been tempted to repaint him

I’ve long admired the various Nethyrmaul minis painted by everyone else, and thought of what I would paint it if I had one. I’ve seen Nethyrmaul painted up as many evil type dragons, being black or red, etc. and I wanted to go an entirely different route. I wanted her whole areas, her base, to be as pretty as I could make them to really offset the ugliness of her exposed flesh =3 My idea for her was based on a dragon character I designed for a little story that eventually got scrapped, but I kept her idea because I liked it. My dragon is a gold dragon, a noble female who defended the innocent and fought alongside goodly knights against the evil in the world. Her name is Kessindra. [Kess-IN-draw] She fell in battle….and her corpse was raised to serve and fight for those she had sworn to defeat. Her mind and spirit remain, chained and helpless, as her body acts out their evil will. Each scale is painted individually [and I use craft paint, so hopefully her quality isn’t TOO bad for that fact] Hopefully you all like her ^.^ Link to her WIP thread: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/53995-siris-kaladrax-n-nethyrmaul-wip-thread/?p=846024

Wyvern painted up in a tropical scheme! Thanks Talespinner, I had a blast painting the lil' guy! Such an awesome sculpt! The base is green stuff and realistic water built up on a Secret Weapon base from my Bag O' Crap, to make a jungle pool

So I had ranted about this fellow a bit in my other, general WIP thread...but I think he deserves a thread of his own. This is a Black Dragon, from WOTC D&D Miniature #40055. He was sculpted by Kim Graham and produced around the year 2000 in limited numbers [Thanks Belerophon for telling me!] Here he is before I started working on him: He was given to my husband in high school by a friend, and after we married we found him in a box and my husband asked if i could touch him up, as he had some scratches and chips. While I was getting ready to do so, I noticed his details were, in general, just horribly mucky...so I decided to strip him and repaint him entirely. Thanks to some advice from fellow forum members, I began soaking him in Green Stuff adn began to scrub...and scrub...and scrub Come to find out, he has been repainted quite a few times on top of the original, because as I scrubbed through the black, I got to a solid red coat...and then another black coat...and finally I'm on the last coat. So this will be my WIP thread for him as I continue to try and restore this poor dragon I took some photos of his glued joints as well...I have NO IDEA what was used to put him together but it has held up after 48 hours of Green Stuff soaking, and was put on extremely messily...as evident in the photos