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Here she is, the last of the hobbits (and gnomes) I started during the January Bones Beauty Pageant. Olivia, "halfling" could maybe be a druid, or a wizard. At any rate, she a non-thief hobbit female. Many times when I start one of these things I think, "Oh, I should try painting in subdued colors and earth tones." Hah. So anyway, here's the world's least camouflaged hobbit druid. Or most ivy-loving wizard. Or something. I love that she has a loaf of bread in her sling of scrolls and books.

This is one of my favorite halfling sculpts. Melantha is smaller than some other recent halflings (like the statuesque Elia Shadowfeet Mark II), but I like her attitude. There's so much life and movement in this sculpt!

A quick paint job on the bat swarm.

My second painted up Bones Finaela: A Freeboter Pirate chick sculpted by Werner Klocke. The hair in her face made it very difficult to paint the eye on that side. Her skin didn't turn out very smooth either, at least she makes a passable mook.

Another that bridged the new year. Werner Klocke's Hyrekia, Sorceress. She turned out rather poorly. I got her second hand, and she'd already been primed. There were some defects in the primer, apparently, that really showed up with the paint. Add that to my natural problems, and, well, yeah. Really should've green-stuff'd her all the way down. But didn't. She also looks weirdly eyeless in the photo of her face. I don't do eyes beyond some dotting of sorts, but she looks like one of those thingies out of a Robert Jordan book. So yeah. Grabbed her and started painting because I wanted to paint a white dress. I at least did get a white dress out of the deal. Thanks for looking. Really rough, even for me, but I figured she'd work for tabletop if an occasion ever arose.

I painted her up for the Jan'15 Bones Beauty Pageant. Best face I've ever done thanks to Jessica Rich/Dark Sword vids.

The last of my postings from 2014, Werner Klocke's Bailey Silverbell, Dwarf. A lovely mini, and one I wanted to paint for a while, I finally grabbed her as my wife decided she wanted her to represent her (albeit gnome) rogue in a PF campaign I was running. Unfortunately, the campaign collapsed before she could put the mini into action, but I was nonetheless pleased that my wife loved me enough to let me paint a mini for her. And to play in an RPG. She's pretty good like that. Anyway, these pictures are pretty awful; I'm kind of posting just to post. The skill level is obviously not great, but I absolutely could not capture the dark colors I used. Everything's kind of a wash, here. But I did it, so here's it. Thanks for looking!

Well, I finished a mini for one of my Pathfinder characters after about 5 months of not painting. Maybe I'll try this one again after more practice. Or maybe not since between mini, weapon conversion and base It took 3 Bones minis to do it. Suggestions for improvement are welcome. See also my work in progress thread.

I painted her up for my Aasimar White Mage Arcanist in Pathfinder. I was worried having too much bright red, so added some copper. Really wish I didn't. Live and learn. Perhaps when I get better, I'll get another one and give it another go, if she doesn't get permanently killed.

So this was another one of my experiments in trying to paint a tabletop quality mini. Overall I'm not too thrilled with it. The top highlight on the cloak in particular makes me itch. I painted her in about four hours at paint day and decided the cloak needed a lot more contrast at the last minute. I think I was thinking more about getting food at that point :) I did learn a bit more about trying to maximize brushstrokes, and I also learned that I need to work a lot more with my paint consistency. Anyway, here she is.

I painted the Bones version of Elquin as part of the Secret Sophie 2014 miniature exchange for Leopardpixie. She says that her favorite colors are pink and black, so they were the starting point for this miniature. I started by airbrushing RMS Cactus Flower, which was eye-wateringly bright. The final result is less so, but let that be a warning to anyone trying to use this color. I had decided to make his jacket black, but realized there's some complex relationship between his jacket and cloak - it actually kind of looks like it's all one garment. I did my best to find good points of separation. The skin is the RMS Olive Triad. I'm consciously trying to paint miniatures with diverse skin tones, and just because he's an elf, he doesn't get a pass. I am very proud of his eyes (though I forgot eyebrows again!). It was nice to work on a heroically proportioned miniature, as I've been painting lots of miniatures with realistically sized eyes recently. I don't have the control to do full dks eyes on a Hasslefree or Darksword miniature. The scrolls lost nearly all their detail in the transition to Bones, unfortunately. I tried to figure out what they were an eventually decided on scrolls - I checked the metal figure and concept art just now, and that is in fact what they are supposed to be. I also have a feeling that he gets a lot of crap about the color of his cloak from fellow adventurers. "Shut up guys! It's lightish red" or "Who cares what it looks like, it gives me a +3 to all my saves!"

Spent some more time basing this weekend to get another one off the bench. Noreth was actually painted over the summer. It's been so long I forget a lot of what I did here, heh. Obviously some fun freehand on the butt-cape, lots of colored shadows. I'm sure there's lots of stuff I applied from my Reapercon classes, too.

Cecilia, the Hefty Halfling is a D&D bard/fighter character I am currently playing. She once got the party into a fight with killer mushrooms when she tried to collect them for a stew. And when the battle was over, she still made her stew. This is a Bones figure, with minimal prep. I didn't use any primer, but I did glue her to a gaming base, and extended the base she came with into more rock and dirt using green stuff. I missed a mold line or two, but otherwise, she's not too bad. The surface was not as smooth as polished and primed metal, but for a tabletop mini, that's ok. My friend bought the Vampire Level Bones Kickstarter set, and I'm on deck to paint all the minis for our PCs, so I'm not putting in a lot of time on each one. This one took me 4 hours, including prep. I was lazy about planning a palette, and stole it from a Reaper Paint Crew paint job of another figure. Bonus points if you can identify which one! (The Paint Crew job is much better than mine, especially since this is speed paint.)

Seltyiel is a typical Werner Klocke miniature with tons of minute detail like buckles, studs and other trinkets. Because of the amazing amount of detail, I felt like he was an excellent candidate for a Bones vs. Metal challenge. Goals for this challenge included: 1) Paint all 5 figures at a very high level so as to demonstrate the differences between the figures. 2) Paint all 5 figures at a very high level so as to highlight the similarities between the figures. 3) Boggle your minds. 4) Work on some complicated painting techniques to push my comfort level. 5) Not try and replicate DKS' legendary paint job. Each figure got the same treatment, and the figures were routinely varied in terms of which one got details painted first to last. Every figure had mould lines removed, based, primed with Reaper brush on primer, and then a base-coat wash of blue liner. Ironically, both the metal and Bones versions of the same figure helped me to pluck out details on the opposing surfaces. For instance, there are metals rings hanging off of studded leather straps that appear in exquisite detail on the Bones figures, which were all but nonexistent on the metal version! By comparison, the bracers on the metal version were better defined than that of the Bones version. Artistically, my goal with using OSL on this particular figure was to create a flow of transition from cool tones to warm tones across the miniature. The cool tones being cold firelight cast from the fire spell manifestation, while the warm glow of an ally's flickering torchlight glows off his other shoulder. I opted to also work toward a dramatic dark-light effect from the front; essentially a more neutral third source of light from the front. If the gold appears to be a little flat, that was a choice so as to not diminish the fire OSL effect on the sword hilt, etc. I realize that some of my transitions are not as smooth as several figures I've recently posted. Painting five figures with this level of detail with the mental considerations I was factoring stretched me very thin and I find at certain times my patience just wasn't what I normally have. I opted to make things even more difficult on myself by making the sword blades of each Seltyiel crystalline instead of metal since crystals are also not my strongest. Each base is different and gave me an opportunity to keep figures straight with respect to which ones are metal and which ones are Bones. I've never painted water before, so I got to practice water effect with 2 of the bases, and then decided to paint up a swamp water looking base on a third. The dungeon flood and swamp terrain bases were my own sculpting. The rock base and two water bases are resin from Dark Age Miniatures. At ReaperCon 2015 I will be showing all 5 together. Brad (chaosscorpion) and Terry (Bonwirn) will each take one home with them. The colors I used were all Reaper MSP paints and each figure was painted with the same Reaper #1 Round brush: Blue liner, oiled leather, blue sapphire, maggot white, burgundy wine, dark elf shadow, dusky skin highlight, light blue, worn navy, midnight blue, nightshade purple, bright turquoise, ultramarine shadow, emerald green, black green, carnival purple, rusty red, pale saffron, sun yellow, tusk ivory, nightmare black, fair skin, mahogany. Conclusions: 1) Bones figures are far more forgiving than metal figures specifically because the depth of features isn't so dramatic and some of the more shallow features actually make it easier to paint at a higher level. 2) Loss of detail happens in any mould, metal or plastic. 3) Own the metal and Bones version of any figure and they will help you paint one another up better. 4) Pushing your abilities as a painter and posting your work is the only way to get better. 5) Bones vary by batch with respect to softness and firmness of the plastic and sharpness of features; firmer Bones tend to be very close to the metal version.

I wanted to make a thread for the miniature I painted for Fishnjeeps for the Fall Exchange. I had alot of fun painting him and felt he turned out well. Fishnjeeps hoped for a Dwarf miniature with a long beard. After going through my collection of unpainted miniatures I had several to choose from, and like always decided to go to the Game Store just to see what they may have. Normally I would then come home with a few more miniatures just in case my mood changed on what to paint. This time I only came home with one, Reaper Miniatures King Thorgram sculpted by Werner Klocke. When I saw him I thought he was perfect as his beard was very regal and he even was wearing a bear pelt cloak. When I got home I opened him up and immediately scrutinized the miniature looking for mold lines that may pose problems and to my satisfaction the sculpt was very clean with no major flaws. After deciding to paint the King I was torn between two color schemes. Since a few of you have called me "The Mistress of Crimson Tresses" I of course wanted to go with red hair. With his bird I pictured him being used as a druid or ranger (sans bow), so ultimately I settled with green and brown, with gold accents. I wanted his main focal point to be his face and beard and his bird to be secondary. I wish I could get his hair to show better in the photos as I put alot of work in adding depth and variation to it. Only fishnjeeps could tell me if I succeeded in that, as he now resides with him. I really enjoyed painting King Thorgram and I hope that shows with how he turned out. Presenting King Thorgram Dwarf Master of the Forest. Here is a closeup of his bird C&C welcome

Here's my contest entry for the single figure Be A Spaceship Superstar contest. I was originally not going to do an entry, but then I read the premise of the contest and thought that I had the same idea about most of my sci-fi stuff; give it to Anne or paint some of it. I decided to paint up Sophie whom I acquired during the annual Reaper X-mas days of Christmas adventure back in 2011 (I think). I opted for more of a modern (dull) NMM armor. I also gave her one terminator eye. The colors I used were all Reaper MSP and include: Carnival purple, Blue liner, yellowed bone, brains pink, maggot white, redstone shadow, blackened brown, dark elf shadow, gory red, sun yellow, woodstain brown and breonne blue.

Here is a some photo's of my LTPK5's Rasia. The base was another attempt at snow effect using baking soda. Thanks for viewing. P.S: In my rush to call her done, I noticed that her hands need a touch up.

Well here is my go at LTPK5's Dain Deepaxe. I know the instructions have him as a red head, but I thought I needed the practice at black hair (still think I do). Not so fond of my steel, but I think the gold turned out well enough. I seems that the gloss sealer and matt finish have toned down the highlights a little. I then finished him off with my first attempt at a snow base. I used baking soda, glue, white paint, and water. Without further to-do Dain Deepaxe:

After sitting on my desk for a few months, I finally finished Lysette in bones. After working with her on and off, I would really like to get her in metal. Comments, critiques, and feedback greatly appreciated. I'm at a plateau in my painting and could use a good kick in the rear to get to the next level.

Isabeau Laroche is one of my favorite Klocke figures. I used the bones version as practice for the metal figure, as well as my first venture into NMM-land. The steel came out ok, the gold not so good. All together, though, she came out as I pictured in my mind. Comments and critiques are very welcome. I'm looking to improve.

I recently finished this speed paint for a friend to use as his character in an upcoming D&D game our group will be playing. I really enjoyed painting him and experimenting with colors :) C&C Welcome and appreciated!! :D

Here are two more speed-painted tabletop figures for D&D. They are Reaper Bones line versions of 02811 Dain Deepaxe and 60044 Damiel Iconic Alchemist. They took me longer than my last speed-paint, because they are more detailed. (Darn Damiel and his fiddly bits!) But they still are speedy for me, about 5-6 hours each, instead of my usual 12-15. They each have a coat of gloss, covered by a coat of matte, for heavy handling, and so they have a few shiny spots here and there.

There is a sale going on for the month of March at Freebooter Miniatures, Werner Klocke's company. 50% off selected items, including some of my favorites, while supplies last. And yes I placed my order before I posted this. http://freebooterminiatures.de/en/news/2351

I've got a 12-inch light tent and a couple of table top daylight stands. Still learning to take better photos, I'm pretty happy with the result. : ) I used to take photos outdoors on an overcast day or in the shade before noon. I did her WIP back in August. Comments and/or criticism are welcome.

Starting a WIP to motivate myself to paint the figure in a week. My plan is to paint her for 1-2 hours daily when my little kids are asleep. I made brick road using Milliput. It wasn't as sticky as green stuff, I liked it. I pinned the primed figure on the base. (Thanks for the pinning tip, Sir Schubert.)