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Normally I'd wait until I based this dude, but seeing as how I might use it for a diorama, it'll be a long way away. This was a good use of the Scale 75 line. Easy to blend and suuuuuper matte finish. Almost has a chalkiness to it. I was testing ghoul skin. In my head I was thinking more fleshy tone, but in the end I like the green. Open to feedback on this one's color.

So my daughter wanted me to paint another one of these chibi characters. I find they make good practice. Honestly, the eyes are what makes these models worth it. Like most, I struggle with eyes, but these huge character heads are perfect fodder. Pretty happy with the results. Open to any feedback or improvements.

Still slowly working my way through the Bones 4 pile of shame. Enjoying them, but Lord, I did buy a lot!

I realize it's not the weekend, when I usually post up my work, but I'm on a roll lately and decided to push my luck. I'm trying to continue to push the values, contrast, and simplify my colors. Tried to keep her to hero colors: Blue, Purple, Red, and some leather. The real win in this model was the hair. I'm so, so, so, so happy with the hair. Sure, it's on the bold yellow of blonde, but I got the volumes of it. Finally! I've taken a lot of feedback on the hair and just didn't get it. This one finally lined up and blonde felt doable. Keeping the highlights toward where the light hits the bend in the hair has been really tough for me, so this was a win. Other feedback I used from prior posts that I was given: 1. Used brown liner to, well, brown line things. 2. Pushed the colors as high as I could. Actually the boots are a good example I went too far and it looks less blended. 3. Layered the paint lighter and took more layers to get desired result. 4. Have your palette out first and don't just keep reaching for the next color. (Big, big win) The areas that still needed help are her skin, the eyes, that weird leather satchel, the detail on the leather straps, edge highlighting, but all that - I still think the hair was my happy moment. Here's the pictures of the progress. By the time I got here, I was struggling and really, really rethinking my color choices. I accidently used the purple in the area I meant to use tan. Just keep going with it because that's a learning experience in itself. Here is where I darkened the leather and red areas with a succubus kiss wash. I needed to deepen the leather color and help bring some shade forward. Questionable doing that again... Tried to give her blue eyes and then realized that was not working. Went right back to the black dot. Wah wah.

Got this one done and feeling pretty good about it. I'm leaning into thinner paints and smoother transitions. This was a fun one. As always I'd love your feedback. (I love his shield)

One of the others I plucked out of the Bones 4 set. It looked fun, so I grabbed it. Battle Report! Wins: * Armor was a fun use of blues added in. I watched Dr. Faust doing something similar to create some really cool effects. Mine obviously not as good, but I think it was alright. * The skin was a big win for me. I did it as a nice, slow build up and took my time with laying it up. It worked great on her face. * I was getting lost in the tid bits on her belt, but just used browns and then hlghlighted them up. It actually worked out pretty well. Better than I intended. * Cape was a slight win, but not perfect. * Hair went better this time, but I'm still having a hard time pointing out where the light hights on the curved areas. Misses: * NMM on swords. I tried it again and then failed. Wiped it out and covered it up with metallic. * Flower should have been left with orange color and white tips, but I went too far by connecting the tips across. It lost the deail going with more white. Should have stopped. * I started using purple ink to separate the plates, but it just wasn't working. I think I need to do more blacklining and not worry about adding in colors. Overall, she looks good. The win here was the face and some of the highlights. Progress photo (nearly last photo before finishing it off)

This one is a real devil to paint. I got the body down and feel the colors there all make sense for a fire demon. But the wings...I can't figure out what to do with them. I was thinking to make them the feature and brighten them up, but the more I look at it the more I think the face and body are the focus. Needing some help here. BATTLE REPORT! Wins: * Another round of dry brushing success! Did a scarlet red, to flat red, to clear orange dry brush triad. * Used clear orange filter to bring up the areas of highlight and the subtle change looks really good and helps increase contrast. * Horns seem to work pretty good with a oragnge/buff/white mix transitioning up. * Dry brushing the gold kept it a cooler color rather than a overwhelming "bam" gold look. I used a yellow+gold mix to highlight the edge of the sword, but in looking at the photo I may need to increase this. * Vein on the right bicep has a purple hue I added. I thought it was cool. Misses: * I got pretty far along and then realized I have no idea how I want to do the wings. I need help! I need direction on the bone sections versus the wing membrane. * The left calf got a bit too healthy of a helping of orange filter. * The horns on his head don't seem to fit as well, but it's growing on me slowly. * Tried putting yellow eyes. Didn't like it. Then tried doing yellow with purple dots. Didn't like it. Then tried yellow with white slits. Meh. * Used a filter around the eyes with yellow to give a glowing effect, but it was way too overpowering and ended up making him a devil raccoon. Not the intended effect. Died it back down with red, but still stands out a little weird. I've got 2 more in this series and want to give them some consistency. I was thinking the female devil I would do a purple/red mix. As always, open to some ideas. If you're going to give feedback, I'd love some ideas on a diorama I could do with the three completed devils.

Here we go with another Nagendra. Trying new colors each time I do them to try and have some fun with scales. What I need to do on my next one is some kind of combination with yellow. Something more challenging to work with to make it fun (or completely ruin it). BATTLE REPORT! Wins: * Combo of golds and brown seemed to do alright. * Felt brave enough to use an oil wash this time. It's frustrating because I'm always afraid it's going to ruin the work I put in, but at the same time, the results could be awesome. The wash is on the scales, and the shield. I tried it on the sword, but it didn't lay into the lettering strong enough. * The scales were good after the oil wash but needed a 'pop'. I went back and hit diagonally adjacent scales with a cream color. Gave it a cool pattern without overwhelming the look. I did my last one with an organic here or there approach. This was more pattern driven. Doing something like a diamond back would be a challenge worth doing. Misses: * The sword did not come out as I had hoped. It looks washed out and the runes on it are less than ideal. Could use some fix ideas for this. * The shield also is missing...something. I don't know what it is, but there's nothing really cool about it. * Eyes are so small on this model it's hard to do anything fun. I made them black with yellow slits, but you can't really see them due to the size. Anyone else struggle with eyes that are too small to really detail? Or have a solution worth trying? * This one just didn't have the same pop effect I'd hoped for. I'm not sure what's mising, but it's something.

Got another one of these simple townsfolk done. I find they make a great opening salvo for the weekend before getting rolling. They are more or less my practice pieces to try a few things before getting going. Here he is - the farmer and his hoe. BATTLE REPORT! Wins: * Keeping the palette very simple:Brown, Orange, Cream, Flesh - worked well. * Washes of Nuln oil on the shirt, pants, hood. Looks good and helped dull the colors like work clothes. * Used Agrax on the leggings and the shoes and the hoe to give a more dirty apperance. * I used a mix of buff and white streaks, then washed it with Agrax to give the wood appearance. Not bad. * Flesh was Rosy Shadow - why I used that color, I have no idea - and I did a fleshwash on it. Then brought it back up with rosy shadow, then again did it with a little added buff. Misses: * I really want to learn how to wood grain. I can't figure it out or do it well and need some help there. * I also am not a fan of this guy's skin. I still don't get how to use the triads really well. Or which skin tone to use for which kind of character. It's why I like doing beasts or fantastical creatures because skin isn't really a concern. Could use direction here if anyone is open. * Didn't want to use metal colors, so I just did a black to white to grey fade on the working end of the hoe. Meh. * The highlights I went back in on the leggings, hood, and shirt are a bit much. Almost look washed out. Not sure what went wrong going back over the same areas with the colors after washing, but oh well. For basing this guy - open to ideas. I'm thinking just a simple 1" base and nothing complicated. I'll do whatever someone suggests first.

Done! Finally based one and finished all the way through.

Oh man! What a HUGE jump forward for me. I NAILED CONTRAST! BATTLE REPORT! Taking another one out of the bin from Bones 4 to prepare myself for the unyielding amount of Bones 5 that I'm hoping will be coming soon, I pulled this guy out. Looking at the body type, details and such, I had a relatively close idea in my mind of flesh tone vs. gray fur. This guy came out way better than I expected. Wins: * Starting again with the dry brushing and going with a particular order of operations: Skin, Tail, Fur, Face, Accessories, and Eyes. It worked spectacularly. I often find I'm overlapping another area when I'm painting and end up having to fix something. This dry brush technique allowed for good overlap and less mistakes (or less I could spot). * The Skin color of Burnt Red to Buff to Flat Flesh was a solid combo. I will use this one again. * I then did the fur from Neutral Gray up to Sky Gray and even using a little of the white mixed in to lighten it up near the face and crest of the back. * I learned a new trick thank to Eons of Battle on YouTube about using matte medium to blend in. HOLY COW! WORKS LIKE A CHARM! LOVE this method. * Finding the highlights with the drybrush applied and seeing which spots lightened each time helped me identify even better than if I zenithal primed it. This is wonderful for me as it's been a major challenge. * Lastly, the metallics. I've been making the mistake of laying a full on metallic layer down, then trying to darken it with wash or another color, but again it was dry brush to the win. Use it to make the transition subtle and then go for brightening it up. The chain area and pieces on his belt really highlight this effect well. I've been struggling with dry brushing for a long time, but for some reason all the sudden it just clicked! Misses: * The color on his nails isn't my favorite. I was going for a "I've been in the sewer for a while" look, but I'm not sure that brown/orange works? * Eyes could have been something more. I just went with black and white dot for gleam, but again, maybe something more yellow and menacing. They are insanely small and wouldn't have been easy anyway. * The fur color needs something else. I was thinking to dirty it up (kind of like how I did the rear-end area), but then again I felt if I did it may have taken away from the work rather than added to it. * The highlights and contrast are still a new thing for me and in a few spots these are SUPER bold. I took my time with them, really went slowly and placed them well, but there's still some spots I couldn't gone lighter in. * I may have lost my concentration for a second and overdid the drybrush on the chain at his hip. Now he's got sparkly fur in a spot, but I went back to hide it. I'm hoping it stays hidden. I would hate for the other warerats to go, "Bob, you uh putting on glitter again?" * lastly - the mouth. I am using this brown/purple/pink combo that I like, but the recesses are really, really dark. I may need to find a lighter color I can bring that tone up with a bit. All in all, this is another really big win for me. Adjusting to a new means of painting, starting with drybrushing and not leaning on washes is a really big deal. I had been looking for a pick-me-up in my painting and the Griffon I did last week really launched me in this direction. Hooray!

Oh, man! This one I'm really happy with. I watched yet another video where someone did a griffon nearly all dry brushed and thought since I had problems doing wings a while back, I could try it. I did and am shocked with the results! BATTLE REPORT! Wins: * Using a tri-color system to lighten things up strategically picking out colors ahead and setting them aside. * Sticking to a plan helped address speed and order of operations. * Using new dry brush make-up brush has SIGNIFICANTLY increased my ability with the method. I'd sucked at dry brushing - could be due to either pressure or paint application, but either way it worked awesome this time. * No washes. * No inks. * Really only used a 2nd brush to hit the highlights on beak, eyes, and claws. * Finally got to utilize a reference book I snagged for cheap at B&N for birds. * @Darcstaar I also utilized your method for claws after you mentioned it. I LOVE IT! Thank you for the combo. Misses: * I somewhat botched one of the eyes - the left. It's not perfectly centered in the yellow circle. I was also having a hard time thinking how far I should push the yellow. Not super noticiable, but I know it's there. * White/fur/feather area near the head feels a little off, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I am still happy with the results, but something in that transition seems off. * The fur on the lion body was originally higher volume in cream color, but I dialed it back. I think a much lighter color would do it good to help bring some brighter contrast in, but I chickened out before touching it up because I liked the work as it was. Wimped out. * the bottom of the body is still darkly shaded due to how the dry brushing worked out, but I think it's still okay? Ish. * I'm also panicked about doing the base because this easily just became one of my favorite pieces. I've got the basing materials setting up right now and drying -so I hope in the next few hours I get to post this in completed works and it looks rad! Always open to feedback and love hearing it. As I mentioned, I use the comments to the fullest to make the most of my next one.

Was picking through my unpainted bones when I found a sprue of hands holding various items. Unfortunately I cant for the life of me figure out what they go to. It's a sprue of both left and right hands, holding swords, shields, loot and daggers. Anyone remember what it's for? It looks like bones 4 plastic grey.

Make that two painted and based!

Sorry for the multiple posts, but got some catching up to do. Here's Mr. Owlbear. One of the strangest creatures in D&D to me, but fun to paint . My focus here wasn't the bear fur this time, but the small wings. I have done some other wings I wasn't too proud of, so I used this as a 'oh well, if it's bad who cares' shot. They came out decent. BATTLE REPORT! Wins: * Turns out the yellow fade from brown worked. Hooray! Haven't done many wet blends, but this was a good one. * Trying to find ways to bring the eyes to interesting sections. Felt like the face and wings were what to go with. I mean it's a bear with wings - I think it's what I'd focus on anyway. * Fur layers felt solid. * Face/beak details came out strong and with good separation. Opportunity: * So...I needed to varnish (because I varnish all of them) and went with a satin coat. DOES NOT WORK. Need to matte this sucker down once it dries. * Not so much related to this model, but airbrushing in general, I HATE clogging with varnish. I had to do a full tear down and clean out everything. I use a Liquitex varnish and dial it back with some thinner, but good lord that stuff is sticky. Even sucks cleaning it from my hands if it gets on them. * I am struggling with animal nails. Like, do you do them black? brown? what's the method being them and what do you use for coloring them? As always any feedback is welcome. Basing?

Half-ogre fighter from Bones 4! Initially thought this model was going to be a gunmetal from top to bottom but it hides a surprising amount of variety with little patches of skin, leather, wood and...in my case at least, scales hidden throughout. SKU provided is for the metal version, doesn't look like this fellow is getting a release outside the Kickstarter?

Here's a fun and simple one for you this week! Owlbears are one of my favorite D&D creatures. They're just such a silly concept and I love them. Any scenario were I could use a bear, I swap out for one of these guys instead. However, despite owning several different owlbear models, I have avoided painting them for a long time out of fear of ruining them. Finally decided to give one a shot. Reaper Bones 4: Lowland Owlbear (77674) More Photos Below What kind of Owls should I use as inspiration next? What mini did you put off painting for too long?

This is Mavaro, Iconic Occultist sculpted by Bobby Jackson from the Bone 4 Core Pathfinder Iconics II subset. This is now available on the Reaper store as SKU: 89051. He reminds me of a bard who went for oration as his talent.

A winter storm buried my part of the globe in snow last night so I'm filling a bit chilly. So today's the perfect day to show off these frigid little birds from Bones 4. More Below the Spoiler: These were a fun little set, though they took me longer to do than I anticipated. So much black and white really killed my motivation. Glad they're done and decently satisfied with the results. They make a nice addition to my winter collection. If you want to see more of my wintery minis, check out my ongoing Frostrun Project Here How's the weather where you live?

Arrgh! This week we be havin a dreadful lot o' ghostly pirates that'll be sendin shivers down yer timbers. This accursed crew of damned delinquents are the Ghost Pirates from Bones 4, or the soon-to-be-released Ghosts of the Drowned Nymph (77745) and the Shades of the Drowned Nymph (77747). I painted these up similarly to the way I painted the spiritual glow of my Demi Lich. But I didn't want them to all just be blue so I went for a transitional look. As if they are materializing out of the ethereal plane. They may have looked fine either way, but I tend to enjoy lots of colors in my minis. I also chose to paint over nearly all of the translucent material. I think I'm officially in the paint-over-it camp. Read on for More Photos: These guys were quite a bit of fun to paint. Check out their WIP and my other piratey minis here. Which ghost is your favorite? Also, where do you stand on the translucent mini debate? Paint over them? Washes and drybrush? Or leave them as is?

My work on the griffon from bones 4

Hello again. Here's another older paintjob of mine. This is the wyvern from the Bones 4 Core set. My players encountered a flock of Wyverns while traversing a desert valley. They were mounted on Giant Lizards and were chased by the wyverns. What ensued was an Indiana Jones-esque chase complete with daring leaps from mount to mount. All-in-all a good time. As such, I decided to paint this guy up to fit into an arid desert landscape. Had a lot of fun blending the sculpted base into the rest of the base. Also was really proud of the coloration I settled on for the Wyvern. I painted each scale individually, which was time consuming but worth it. I also tried some different glazing and layering techniques to add veining into the wings. Needless to say, I'm pretty proud of this one. Wish I had snagged up Blacksting during the Kickstarter as well though. Will have to get my hands on that one eventually.

Here is my take on the Dance of Death sculpt from the Bones 4 Kickstarter. I really enjoyed this one, finishing it up this last winter. I saw someone mention somewhere online that they were bummed that the heads didn't exactly line up, but I found it reminiscent of dogs when they are snarling while looking sidelong at each other. Apologies for the scratches and discolorations on the background. I've been meaning to pick up some black cloth to improve that. Thanks for taking a look!

I recently finished up my BlackSting Wyvern from the Bones 4 Kickstarter. I'm really pleased with how it came out. I've been working on it off and on since March. Thanks for taking a look. : )

This is another mini in the Bones 4 Fan Favorites expansion that really should have been in the Lost Valley expansion. The Mammoth. One of the tusks snapped in two because I have butterfingers and dropped the model to the floor at one point. This highlighted a crucial difference between the rigid and more brittle Bones Black material and the rubbery Classic Bones material that would not have snapped. (At least I have never had any classic Bones snap, and I have dropped quite a few of them, let me tell you. Also the large ones.) Luckily the break was clean and the tusk glued on without much ado nor filling or even filing needed. It had not even warped out of shape. Can you tell which tusk broke off by looking at the pictures? Mammoths dissappeared after the last Ice Age about 10.000 years ago, with a holdout herd on some remote island lasting up until about 4000 years ago. Exactly why they died out is cause for much speculation. I believe the answer is a rather down to earth; "them wuz good eatin' ". I hold no truck with the modern myth that says ancient humans were living in harmony with nature. Humans will hunt and eat other species to extinction, and have done so innumerable times in the past. I think humans as a species are and always have been too selfish and too small minded to see the wider consequences of their actions. Witness the ongoing burning or clearing of rain forests all over the world, the rampant overfishing of international waters, or even just the dumping of garbage everywhere from litter on the streets to throwing wet wipes down the toilet. Short term gains (or even convenience) for individual groups of humans will in most cases win over longer term conservation of our environment unless conservation efforts are forcibly enforced in force by other forceful groups of humans who are willing to actually use force. Such is the sad state of the human condition. Oh well, In the expansion art during the kickstarter, it said "huge" next to the image, but when the shipment arrived, it was not all that huge...so they called it "pygmy mammoth". It is not really all that small when placed next to a human sized model. IRL a woolly mammoth could be around 4 metres tall. Looks about right to me. Maybe not the largest individiual that could exist, but still within normal size parameters. Still not "huge" though. "Huge" would be a proper Fantasy mammoth. This mini was completed August 12th 2020 Pygmy Mammoth, from the Fan Favorites Expansion Bones 4 kickstarter, delivered 2019 Reaper Miniatures Sculpted by Jason Wiebe Made in Bones Black PVC 102x52mm bespoke 3D printed base available from reapermini.com