Painting weekends are the best.  I'm trying to maximize as much as I can before fishing takes over my life and every free moment of the weekends.  Although, I can't complain about wanting to get outside after being trapped inside for the last 6 months.
 
These little fellas got done over a 2 month period.  I primed them, then let them sit.  Then started a litte, didn't like what I did, then put them back down for another month.  Decided to spice it up and go for broke and just lay paint down on whatever came to mind.  Glad I did as it pushed me to do something different.
 
BATTLE REPORT! 
 
Wins:
*  I ended up doing an Army Primer Plate Mail color - even though I put this in as a win, it did have a few complications.  The AP primer seems to make them tacky.  The longer it sits the more tacky it gets.  However, the win here is that it saved me a lot of time covering all the plate mail.  
*  Got to test out what inks and paints do over AP primer in metal color.  I'm not sure the paint properties were all that great, but I definitely learned a lot in the process.
*  The red on the broadsword knight was a test of shading and layering.  Not my best work, but it gets the idea across.
*  I liked the brighter "knightly" colors used in Orange and red. 
*  The checkering on the red/black knight was my favorite.  A real test of patience in laying the lines down and then filling in.  VERY CAREFULLY.  
*  The Orange checker was less consistent, but good to test across a wider stretch to see if I could.  It worked, Iiked the result, but still more to improve upon next time.
*  I really enjoyed practicing black lining with these two and trying to keep a steady hand separating the plates due to the primer just coating the whole thing one color.
 
Misses:
* Black ink does NOT coat well on AP primer.  It takes two good coats and ends up with this slight, for lack of a better way of describing it "crackling" appearance in the ink.  It's like it has a hard time bonding and drying evenly.  Learned not to do this again.
*  I also learned that doing a checker pattern is easier with a dark undercoat and you don't notice mistakes as much.  The orange/black combo really stands out where there's a slight line out of place.  
*  Silver/Gunmetal are still super difficult for me to do and finding a way to make them pop is challenging.  Any advice here is appreciated.  Just something to make the weapons and armor stand out.
 
Here they are!

This is a relatively recent paint job and I struggled with colors for a while before taking inspiration from another model and strengthening the contrast in places.  I like the model but she feels very stiff and doll-like.
 

 
Or maybe she doesn't like the light in her eyes:
 

 
Fiddled around with some freehand on the back:
 

 
 
 
 

This was a repaint from earlier this year. I bought Quickshade Strong Tone for speed painting some of my board games and tried it in Woody. I liked the way it worked for the most part but as you can tell I got some frosting when I matte coated it. Another thing that happened was my paint cracked on my base but I kinda like the way it looks. I probably won't bother fixing any of the issues as I moved on to another figure I am struggling with.

Fun and quick one for RCL new release. Have been aiming for a more dull/gritty looks wtih a lot of my recent figures. 

Such a fun idea for a mini!
But then you have to paint all the dragon scales.
I was going for a more Asian skin tone.  I tried to speed through this one since her sword was so bent.
 
WIP link below.
https://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/92275-darcstaar-vs-bones-i-ep-8-janan-female-dragonslayer/&tab=comments#comment-1955669
 
Enjoy.