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Matthias the Twisted was insanely fun to paint, he's definitely one of my favorite undead models, and one of Bobby Jackson's more eerie characters. Despite it being the bane to Castlevania fans everywhere, i took inspiration for the hunter from Simon off of the cover of the Castlevania 2 box art. What a game haha. Sorry for the pictures being a bit blurry, but C&C is surely appreciated.

Some have seen the miniature in show off forum, but I finally got around taking some decent pics of the final version tonight. I used a ring light to illuminate the front of the mini and my painting lamp from top. One set of shots on a light blue backdrop and one on a black backdrop. Let me know which one you prefer. Judas Bloodspire has been slightly converted: New custom head, new sword, some of the skulls on the armour removed and more details added to signify that it is a fantasy version of Vlad Tepes. I tried a few new things on this one: Two brush blending on the cloak (kinda worked ok), using a unifying purple wash in all shadows and depicting pearls with microbeads for nail art. Hope you like him C&C very welcome as I want to push myself further with each new mini. If you are interested here is the work in progress thread: https://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/72981-judas-bloodspire-77160-is-turned-into-vlad-tepes-finishing-line/

I could have sworn I had started a thread already. Ah, well. Here's a drawing I did related to a vampire game, with an enlarged detail to show pencil work. It's 5 inches by 8 (12.7 x 20.3 cm). The detail is about 1.75 x 2 inches (4.4 x 5 cm).

So among other other other things, I started some oil paintings this summer. Portraits, sort of, of characters, sort of, inspired by the vampires in a game I'm playing in, as well as some fiction I'm writing. (Okay, I guess I have been a little busy...) Detail: This part of this painting is still at about this stage. Still working details of anatomy through. As with my minis, the underpainting is Burnt Umber and white. Unlike on my minis, the white is Lead White. Here's another: Just two colors at this stage: Lead White and Burnt Umber. The teeth aren't correctly placed. I'm fixing that in upper layers, hopefully ...

These guys took a bit more time than I expected, but I'm happy with the overall results. The one on the left was inspired by Manfred Von Carstein and the other by Vlad Von Carstein. I chose Not Manfred's colors with "Vampire Wizard" in mind, but he kind of resembles a French noble during the Terror fleeing from the guillotine. The renders on the back of the blister showed various detail on the clothing and I tried to emulate that in gold. Lunging at prey, casting Hand of Dust, or does he just talk with his hands? On Not Vlad, I did the details in silver, as I was going for "Classic Vampire" style with him. I tried to freehand a bit of detail onto the sheath, but the blade was too thin to really do much. It works from a distance though. About to show those meddling kids that when he says "Get off my lawn!", he means it.

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.

These are what I finished painting this year, a year that was somewhat abbreviated by world events. Really, this is what I painted in the last six months, since political dismay kept me from the miniatures table for approximately eight months after the last US Presidential election. This year I painted my first Reaper Warlord figures who were also my first oversized werewolves, 77754 the Rageclaw Slayer, and 77755, Aislinn, Shadow Tracker. Nearly everything I painted was for the White Wolf World of Darkness and Exalted. Left to Right Links: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/75103-goth-girl-from-wild-in-the-streets-painted-as-a-sidereal-of-the-maiden-of-serenity-for-exalted/ http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/75107-50305-benedict-baker-painted-as-a-mage-twilight-caste-solar-exalt-for-exalted/ http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/75109-hasslefree-hfa004-kat-painted-as-a-zenith-caste-solar-for-exalted-picture-intensive/ http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/75183-alkemy-khaliman-republic-cat-man-painted-up-as-a-were-cat-lunar-from-white-wolfs-exalted/ http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/75176-62102-numenera-jack-painted-as-an-adamant-caste-alchemical-for-exalted/ Left to Right Links: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/75184-02480-sabertooth-tiger-lynx-spotted-by-pingo/ http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/75217-im-a-creature-whos-up-to-no-good-a-modern-vampire-from-wild-in-the-streets-painted-up-for-the-world-of-darkness/ http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/75223-50246-marie-she-bot-and-a-couple-of-other-robots-speed-painted/ Link for Five Figures: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/75409-pingo-speed-paints-a-modern-eclectic-adventuring-party-of-bones-iii-figures/ Left to Right Links: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/77754-a-very-large-werewolf-warrior-14528-rageclaw-slayer/ http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/77755-a-large-werewolf-tracker-14532-aislinn-shadow-tracker/ http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/77719-02830-wolf-pack-3/ Left to Right Links: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/77753-aooooh-werewolves-of-london-02863-female-werewolf-x2/ http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/77685-77176-a-wee-bones-wolf-familiar-from-a-set-of-familiars/ http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/77705-80031-decker-lugstampf/ Top to Bottom Links: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/77704-pingo-paints-some-mystery-giant-wolves-from-rafm/ http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/77711-absolutely-gorgeous-giant-wolves-from-tom-meier-thunderbolt-mountain/ Left to Right Links: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/77810-03277-hyena-pack-2/ http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/77808-vintage-grenadier-lead-werejackal/ Link: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/78598-three-vampire-brides-from-bad-squiddo-games-my-last-sunrise-picture-intensive/ If you would like to see how I originally intended to show everything (without all the links), here's all of them in order behind a spoiler:

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!

I painted this guy up for a coworker who wanted to use him in his DND game. He heard through the corporate grapevine I was the "mini guy" and wanted me to assemble this figure plus two adventurers that were from the same promotion. The problem he was running into was that WOTC cheaped out on the production and the figures were pretty terrible. The sculpts were okay but the resin was flexible and full of air bubbles. He had snapped an arm trying to wiggle it off the sprue and came looking for "professional" help. Even my nice sprue cutters didn't help as the foot of one of the other figures exploded after I snipped it off. I came to the conclusion if I gave the figures back to him he might try to paint them and come to dislike the whole hobby so I painted up Strahd (but not the adventurers, he's on his own there). Putting Strahd together was, predictably, a total pain in the broccoli. The back leg of the nightmare snapped while I was trying to get it into the holes on the pre-made base. I had to pin on the fly with mixed results. All in all, it was kind of an unpleasant experience. I think it's the first time I ever hate painted a miniature. I gave the figure to the guy and then he left the company to start a consulting business so I can't get proper photos. I was really pleased with the OSL I was able to do which is why I'm posting it here. The cloak and shield were painted using Wappel's methods with Reaper's clear paints. Looking at the top down pictures I could have done a better job with the OSL on the cloak coming from the tail. Oh well!

Here is a Vampire Counts army that I've recently painted (as a commission). I was rather happy with how they turned out, especially the degrading metals on the cavalry. This client has sent me more batches of these, so I'll get more pictures of those later. Honestly, doing all of these Vampires makes me want to put together a Mordheim warband of them. Here are a lot of pictures for you: