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I am so excited about this but I've got some definite hurdles to jump over to get it done. I feel this is the only place I can share about this because I'm fairly confident the recipient won't see it. I am painting a 3d print of Zinogre from Monster Hunter. I know nothing about this but I've found some good references. Thus far I've spend 2 hours on just prep and I'm not sure I'm done. It's a decent sized mini, about 9 inches long and 6 inches tall at the highest point. My big struggle so far are the print lines. The picture I saw before I accepted this looked pretty smooth. When I got it I was surprised how much you can actually see it. Thus far I have primed it with Stynylrez (grey) by hand and done 2 coats of gloss varnish/medium to start to reduce the appearance and feel of the lines. I've still got quite a bit of texture to deal with and I don't really want to go through half my gloss varnish to get it smooth and risk losing the subtle details. So if anyone has any ideas of how to fix this further without starting over and spray priming I'm all ears. I was lucky enough that my friend had an extra copy that was slightly smaller and had some printing issues. I've been using this to test things out before I commit to putting it on the model. I did a test patch of primer, then gloss, then primer again and that feels smooth. This is where I'm at (spoiled for big pics):

Been working on these guys as a test for the squad color scheme. Trying some layering on the white, it's working out well so far. They're 1:48 scale, same as Star Wars Legion, and I've rebased them onto the same 27mm bases that Legion uses. Mostly because the standard D1947 bases are like 35mm. Way huge.

So I realized I only had one painted dwarf (!) when one of my GMs asked me if I had anything for the Jadeborn, a race in Exalted that is roughly equivalent to dwarves except for the 0.001% who are roughly equivalent to elves. And they are also sort of stone golems. Based on jade. I thought Reaper's 60184: Meyanda, Android Priestess, sculpted by Bobby Jackson, would do well for one of the elfy artisan Jadeborn and I pulled out a random assortment of seven (because of course) dwarves for the worker and warrior Jadeborn. 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 left a few crystal and gem areas white so they will have more luminosity later. Left to right: Reaper 60184, Meyanda Android Priestess; Ral Partha; Hasslefree HFD014 Hatherley; Oathsworn Miniatures; Oathsworn Miniatures; Red Box Games; Stonehaven Miniatures; Reaper 14143: Kara Foehunter, Dwarf Hero Details: The Ral Partha dwarf is tiny!

here is a miniature that I recently painted on Twitch

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.

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.

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

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.

This is Hasslefree's HFA183 from their modern adventurers line. Our game needed some regular modern mook types, and Hasslefree is pretty good with them. I started him ages ago, but life and politics intervened. There is no WIP thread.

This is the female vampire hunter, BFM MLS008 from Bad Squiddo Games. There is no WIP thread. As always, comments and critiques are welcome. I painted her up as a Latina because something about her outfit felt a little Spanish Baroque to me.

Bad Squiddo Games put out this set of four vampire hunters (from rather different eras), SKU: BFM MLS007. Some parts of some of the sculpts are a little crude. In the end I think I painted them rather roughly, but then my sympathies tend to lie on the other side. There is no WIP. As always, comments and critiques are welcome. I think of this guy as the Dum-Dum Dugan of the group. This one just seemed disreputable, almost as scary as the monsters he hunts. This guy could be any sort of modernish cowboy or frontiersman, I think. I painted up the Baroque one as Latino and imagined him dealing with infestations in colonial California. This isn't a great angle, except I like how his chained book turned out. We have some old books about, and the ancient worn leather does tend to look like that.

There's a French wargame called "Alkemy" which has a faction of pseudo-Egyptian cat-people called the Khaliman Republic (or République Khalimane in the original). A few years back I snagged a starter set of 5 resin figures I found on clearance because, well, cat people. Currently I am involved in an elaborate and fascinating campaign combining White Wolf's World of Darkness (the one in Vampire the Masquerade second edition and Werewolf the Apocalypse) with its "Exalted" game, second edition (which was originally sold as the prehistory of the World of Darkness, although they backed away from that pretty fast). This character is a PC for that game. The person is a lycanthrope, or rather a feline therianthrope. He has a human form, but I painted up the cat man because it's more fun. This is the first small-scale non-terrain resin I've ever assembled or painted. It was a little fiddly and I was worried about its fragility. There are a few places with what is probably flash that I didn't have the courage to try to slice off. Comments welcome. WIP thread here.

This is Dracula from Bad Squiddo Games' "My Last Sunrise" collection, an assortment of vampires, vampire hunters, and a few auxiliaries which was released in a very brief Kickstarter last summer. Annie, the Dice Bag Lady, runs fun Kickstarters. The three vampire brides I painted last month are from the same set. I don't have a WIP for him. Questions and comments appreciated.

These are the "Vampire Brides" from Bad Squiddo Games, which last summer came out with a line of Hammer-type horror figures called "My Last Sunrise." They are sculpted by Gus Kearns and were introduced with the tag line "Get married, they said. Best day of your life, they said." WIP thread here.

A note: I use Golden Matte Fluid Acrylics and mix my own colors. All color references are to what I have mixed and sometimes how. Last summer Bad Squiddo Games had an eyeblink of a Kickstarter (I think it might have been one week) for a line of Gothic horror minis, called "My Last Sunrise". Annie the Dice Bag Lady specializes in realistic non-objectified female minis from manufacturers worldwide and has a pretty good sense of humor about it. These are three vampire brides from the assortment. They have a classic Hammer horror look to them. They were introduced in the Kickstarter as "Get married, they said. Best day of your life, they said." Anyhow, I figured I would paint them up. As ever (though I don't think I have mentioned it lately), comments and critiques are most appreciated. I'm always learning and glad to hear other perspectives. Normally I prime my minis white and wash them with Burnt Umber, a rich, dark brown. But I wanted these to look more chilly so I washed them with a cold grey mixed from Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna. It does not enhance the details as much as the darker Umber. Ultramarine Blue tends to dry with a grainy texture in thin washes. In passing, I note that this looks like a pretty good crystalline rock texture and would be a fairly fast method for painting statues. C&C welcome!

So I spotted what looked like a sweet little wolfman, unpainted but inked a little over the metal and glued to a square of wood in a comics shop some while ago and bought it and took it home and pried it off the old base and discovered it said "Grenadier 1987." Score! Turns out it is a werejackal, coded MM93, and was first released as part of the set "Monster Manuscript Vol. XI" which also included the one Nosferatu-type vampire I didn't have in zer old days from the set of three I painted recently. Anyhow, I cleaned it up and painted it like a black-backed jackal 'cos they look cool. There is no WIP thread. Also I had a picture book of Zimbabwe and decided to play a little bit with backgrounds.

These gorgeous wolves (Thunderbolt Mountain 8560) are the nicest giant wolf sculpts I have ever seen. They are by the legendary Tom Meier. IMPORTANT: TOM MEIER IS CLOSING HIS THUNDERBOLT MOUNTAIN STORE DEC. 25 OF THIS YEAR, SO IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, GO THERE NOW! They are pretty big. I mounted them on 1.5" fender washers for extra stability. Tom Meier sells optional goblin riders for them. WIP thread with extensive color notes, painting details, and comparison to other wolf figures here.

I had these in an RAFM blister and as I recall their bases said RAFM (I glued them to 1.5-inch fender washers for stability). I haven't been able to identify them. They look like the sorts of giant wolves that are ridden by goblins. I am not sure where they came from. Well, apart from RAFM, obviously. They are pretty big. Here's a size comparison with the RAFM one on the far right: Left to right these are: a wolf from Reaper 02830; a wolf from Reaper 77176; Reaper 03682 Willow Greenivy; a giant wolf from Thunderbolt Mountain 8560; and an RAFM mystery wolf. I painted them as several different types of wolf, one with a snow base and two with grassy bases, for multiple uses. Their bases are 1.5". Extensive WIP with lots of color mixing and technique notes here.

This is a figure from the Goth set from the game "Wild in the Streets" by Slow Death Games. Thanks to FishNJeeps for directing me to them when I needed miniatures of modern people in goth-punk wear for a World of Darkness game. I painted up the figure as a vampire. It didn't originally have any facial hair; that's all painted on. There isn't a WIP thread. So as a quick note, although I have seen people able to do wonderfully subtle and menacing vampires who still look like vampires, I find that unless I paint mine in stark black and white they look like regular people.

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.