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Well, I did it. this is the last of the Elmore dragons that Darksword Miniatures makes. This miniature is based on a pencil sketch by Larry Elmore and is one of the tallest freestanding dragons I have in my collection. He is also one of my favorite miniatures. from the huge wingspan to the quirky happy/puzzled expression on his face, this dragon is just amazing. He has also been sitting in his box waiting patiently for years because for years I thought he was a brown dragon which made him what I considered a real challenge to paint well. Some reading and thought later and he has found his stride as a bronze dragon. It was also an excuse to break out some of my new color change paints on his wings to see what they look like over a broad expanse. The answer, as you will see below is amazing to look at, very difficult to capture in pictures. So anyway I thought I would let everyone see him. I hope you like what you see! Here he is from the front with the color effect from the color change paints in the down position and here he is again with the color change in the up position. the color flare is really pretty amazing in real life but I just cant seem to capture it well.

At this point I really don't need an excuse to paint another dragon but I like to have an evil spell caster for each campaign I run, you know, just in case. So Alendrax, a young adult red dragon mage came to be. he specializes in enchantment and illusion (lets face it, evocation is sort of overkill for a dragon) and likes to play with his food commanding them to hand over all their possessions, kill or torture those they care for and bring him goodies before eating them when he tires of the game. He also entraps scribes to enchant his spells directly on his wings rather than risking having his prized spells stolen from him. Having been ousted from his previous home by a bigger silver dragon for being a "deranged sociopath" he escaped with only his wings and his life. Now he has settled near our hero's stomping grounds to wreak havoc and chaos as he rebuilds his power to displace Jerseranoth (Joe, the barkeep at the Red Dragon Inn in Port Shaw) and maybe find some spells that will work against that usurper! Anyway Alendrax is one of the first Elmore dragons I ever picked up but I just never got around to painting him. he was actually a pretty fun paint with just enough detail to let me have some fun but not so much that I felt the need to spend agonizing amounts of effort on every scale. I hope you enjoy him!

yet another dragon. this one is an old piece i had most of and decided to go with what i had rather than trying to find the basket. A fun little piece that I tried to do up as a sky dragon. My first attempt at a starscape on the back of the wings to give them some interest. Hope everyone enjoys!

Abyssal Dwarf Gargoyle painted to the studio color scheme. Slight improvement in picture quality. C&C welcome.

Started this one before the end of 2016. Decided to redo some parts for the cape.

Here's another batch of Talisman 4th Edition mini's. These have been great models to practice on, but good grief the production quality is bad. Also still having trouble figuring out how to take decent pictures. Was having problems with them being too dark, now I'm going the other direction. Thief Monk Warrior Elf

Every year I go to my the local church art fair with my Wife to help her out with the booth. A couple of years ago I brought some minis along to keep from being bored. After that I was asked to please do that again. Apparently people like to watch me paint and watch the minis grow. However, even at a high end art fair people are not too keen on paying even the cost of the metal for a mini (go figure). This year, I bought a bunch of ponies from Impact so I would have something to sell to the kids who I am a sucker for. None of these made it back with me from the fair and 3 others got sold before i could get pictures. I have about an hour a piece in these and they were of course fun, especially when I could let the kids pick the tattoo on the rump. Sometimes the parents were actually more excited than the kids. Note these were painted in indoor lighting with no extra lights and only my trusty reader glasses for support. C&C is welcome. Photos were quick shots as the recipient was usually waiting on the finished product. The last one was requested by our priest

A friend who loves these is leaving for Denver Tuesday and his going away party is today, so I whipped this up to give him something special. I did not think the colors would work as well as the did. So I still have quite a bit to learn about contrast, learning is good. Hope you enjoy. Taking pictures of this one is tricky because of the hat....

And now for a more whimsical piece. When the traveling box of sir Forscale came to me, Froggy the great had been there before me and left a few magical treasures. Among these were a bunch of created Frogmen (in the very literal sense) in high tech suits sporting these sci-fi weapons (modified clubs but none less) a great conversion, but where to use them? Then I got my bones 2 and the answer presented itself. The tribal society of the treefrogs has been shaken by war and invasion from the modern race of warfrogs. battle rages on turning swamp into disaster area over and over. Finally ground troops march to push the savages back into the dry land where they belong. But lo! a hero arises (we know he's a hero because he has a white cowboy hat) the Mystical shaman Croak with his acolytes hops to meet with the invaders and put a stop to the violence. They meet for the first time on the tatters of a once beautiful swamp, now rendered a wasteland by constant bombing. The base is a complete cast of the "balls of Steel" mold from Basius 1. it prints really well although it helps to preload the balls with extra molding compound or they come out sort of flat on top. the muck was supposed to be clear water but apparently "clear" aluminite resin has an expiration that they don't tell you about and it went white, so it was either redo the mold or go with it. I may do some more blending but I like the effect. Anyway, hope you like it. I see there is need for a few touch ups on the base after taking the picture...

Quick work because sometimes you just need to finish something. It's not special but for an hours worth of work its a pretty good concept mini. Sorry for the poor pics but it's all I had at the time,

Well after playing with a bunch of soaps and primers, I had a number of the new Impact ponies primed and ready to go. And since they are relatively fun to paint, once again my WoK minis got pushed back by another kickstarter (this is why they are supposed to come in at different months...) Anyway, to review for those who missed it in the kickstarter forum: In an effort to get a smooth coat of paint on these minis that will actually stay put, I have tried a number of detergents to remove the mold release and a number of primers to get one that will actually grab the resin and hang on. summarizing my work: washing the miniatures is required for anything to stick, and I have used Dawn dish soap with success. (our "natural" dish soap didn't have much luck getting the mold release off.) 1) paint on primers don't work. I have tried reaper and GW 2) Acrylic primers don't stick (I have tried Rustoleum and Krylon for plastic) 3) Krylon primer for metal and plastic works 4) Rustoleum self etching primer works I have not tried the paint and primer combo cans because I like the tooth on the pure primers. (you're on your own there ) The first 2 will pull away and bead up on the mini. You can force them to make a smooth coat by repeated applications but it will be like a skin on the miniature that you can literally peel off in sheets later. With all of that said, here is my first of the new Impact miniatures ponies kickstarter, and one of the cutest! Comments and Critique is always welcome.