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I almost didn't bother posting these, but I went ahead and did so. Just some quick rats and spiders. The rats are from the D&D Castle Ravenloft board game, the spiders are from the Legend of Drizzt board game. To mix it up, I alternated colors between brown/dark gray/light gray. They came out a bit dark, but I guess that's okay for rats and spiders. Nothing spectacular, but they actually get used quite a bit (on the rare occasions when my group actually gets to play).

Back again with some spiders! I tried out Rangers of Shadow Deep last night and got to break out my spider minis. I've got a few Giant Spiders and Spider Swarms from the D&D board games Castle Ravenloft, and Legend of Drizzt respectively. I had started these ages ago but quickly became dissatisfied with the direction they were headed. A few months ago I picked them back up and went in a different direction. The giant spiders in particular were letting me down. The sculpt is pretty undefined. It took some freehand fur work to bring it to life. I also switched from a warm brown tone to a cool grey. I think the added contrast makes them stand out a lot better. I also added some used dryer sheets as webbing. It's mostly successful. The super glue turned it invisible in places which sort of works as holes in the web. Definitely will revisit this idea again in future projects. The spider swarms are less successful. I tried to keep three distinct colorations to help them stand apart from one another. But with such poorly defined details, they could have used more contrast. They work well enough. Maybe I'll revisit them, but I tend to just move on after calling something "good enough." What do you all do for swarm minis? I find that most of mine look rather drab or incomprehensible.

Hi everyone. Got a couple of Cool Cats to show off today. I went back and forth for a long time on whether or not a wanted a group of matching lions, or if I wanted variety. As a DM, I feel these would be used most often as Druidic wildshapes, familiars, or summons. I also couldn't deny that i wanted to try some different techniques on each, so I decided to go with a Lion, a Tiger, and a Black Panther. Tiger (Reaper Bones Lion 77341) First up was the Tiger. She was actually the Lioness from the Reaper Bones Lions set (77341). Her sculpt looked like it could read as a tiger, and that was my major inspiration for wanting to paint each of them differently. I used a lot of references images on her and the subsequent cats as well. Really wanted to get the coloration right. I'm happy I did, because my instinct was to use more orange tones, but in actuality, tigers have more of a warm brown color. I used red-hair colors to bring out the highlights. The stripes weren't as difficult as I was expecting. I just used my reference photos as a guide and did my best. I do worry that people will misinterpret the nose stripes as poorly-drawn whiskers though. She also looks a little dopy head-on but I promise that that's the sculpt. Click the Spoiler for more Photos Lion (Reaper Bones Lions 77341) Next up is the other half of the Lion set. This guy was always destined to be a lion. Once again, I'm really glad I used reference images. Its funny how many animals we envision incorrectly. I learned this lesson well after painting up the Bones 4 pig way too pink, even though I knew it shouldn't be that color. I'm really pleased with my coloration on the mane. The only dry brushing on this guy is the rock base. Time consuming but worth the result. I think the muscle highlights look pretty natural. Click the Spoiler for more Photos Black Panther (Legend of Drizzt Board Game - Guenhwyvar) And finally we have the Black Panther. Fun Fact: Did you know that there is no such animal as a Black Panther? It is just a nickname for melanistic variants of any Panthera species, specifically Leopards and Jaguars. This model is from The Legend of Drizzt Board Game by Wizards of the Coast. I have not read a single Drizzt Do'Urden book, but I believe the black panther, Guenhwyvar, is the ranger's companion animal. Anyways, that was influence enough to paint her up in that style. I believe I used mostly Black Jaguars as inspiration, though the markings became less important than getting the highlight colors right. I ended up using Reaper's Dark Elf Skin colors to highlight the black, which is amusing considering Drizzt's race. I added some mottled spotting afterwards, trying to imply the pattern more than paint each individual spot. I think I managed to imply muscle, fur, and spots without losing the dark shade of black I wanted. Pretty happy, especially since this sculpt was my least favorite of the bunch. Click the Spoiler for more Photos QUESTION TIME Which of the three is your favorite? What animals do you use most often in your games? Do you have a favorite animal you like to see painted in miniatures?