Harlequin Solitaire with Sonic the Hedgehog Style

Eldar/Aeldari Harlequin have always been a favorite force of mine. When the Solitaire rules were reintroduced, they presented the fasted character around- this guy can outrun most bikes and skimmers just running.

 I had a client who saw this as an opportunity to bring a Sonic the Hedgehog theme to the Harlequins- and I think it worked rather well. The pattern on his cloak is all spiky V shapes to match Sonic's bristles, and I used the iconic shoes from Sega's superstar.

 

Umaro and Mog Chibi Miniatures

When Super Dungeon Explore first hit the scene, I almost immediately wanted to start making characters from some of my favorite 16 bit JRPGs.

 For some reason, my favorite characters in Final Fantasy 6 were always the least central ones, but the chances that Sodapop were going to make a suitable Mog or Umaro mini was pretty low. So, when I saw that a local Blood Bowl commissioner had some Big Foot minis for sale, I had to jump at the chance to make an Umaro. I only had to adjust the hair a little and it was perfect.

 For Mog, I started out with a Giri creep from the Super Dungeon Goro set (I ended up with lots of extra Giri after the Forgotten King Kickstarter. Mog has always struck me as a particularly badass moogle and I felt like that needed to shine through.  Anyway, here they are:

 

Customizing Outfits for Wedding Cake Toppers

When I'm making custom wedding cake toppers, one of the things I always love to see are all of the beautiful dresses for me to match.

 Groom's clothing tends to be a little more similar to one another, but there are some grooms that have more varied attire.

 For example, I've made quite a lot of grooms in Dress Blues from every branch of the US military.

 

I've also done several grooms wearing kilts (matching the tartans is always a fun challenge).

   

And once in a while, I get something I've never done before. Here's an example of this- the couple went for wedding attire from times of old:

 

Gorm for Chibi Kingdom Death

When creating a full Chibi Kingdom Death set, I found that a number of the larger Kingdom Death monsters already had large heads (or head like areas). In some cases, no actual modifications were needed to turn them into Chibi Kingdom Death creatures.

When I'm creating chibi characters, I tend towards some of the more official color schemes. It helps the characters to be recognizable. However, with the unmodified monsters, it makes more sense to approach them with a brighter pallet (and go for chibi eyes).

 So, here is my Gorm- in strong purples. I painted the eyes similar to the way that I paint Chibi Zombie eyes. I also decided that the head stalk wasn't a great spot for a light source unless I wanted the mini to be mostly in darkness, so I opted for a second eye instead. Here he is- all ready to dismember cute little survivors.

 

Reaper Adventurers

Reaper just finished off their Kickstarter for a lot of crazy new stuff in Bones (got to love the zombie shark). While Bones is fantastic for having a legion of monsters, or the very large ones, their metal heroes definitely have an advantage in direct comparison. Here are a few of the PCs that I've had the chance to paint up.

 

Geek Wedding Cake Toppers Made to Match Fans

Lately, I've had a lot of requests for this particular mix of fandoms. I think it makes sense- some fandoms really endure the test of time and will be with us for our whole lives.

 One thing I'd like to show off is just how different all of them are. The wedding dresses here were all made to match the dresses these brides actually wore, the groom's outfits were matched as well, and we even have some changes to the pose and height differences showing up.

 



 



 

Super Kingdom Death Explore: Phoenix

There's no doubt that the Phoenix is the great centerpiece of the core Kingdom Death board game. It is a massive, twisted and brilliantly detailed mini.

 For my own set, I've decided to follow Super Dungeon Explore logic- as the creatures get larger, they also become less chibi. This follows the way that old videogames would work (good examples are Final Fantasy or Pokemon- proportions become less chibi as the characters get larger).

 Also, the mini already has a massive head in comparison to its body. Ultimately, I decided to simply change the face instead of rearranging the whole thing.

 

Inside you can see how the human face inside the mouth has been replaced with a chibi face. More subtly, the other eyes on the phoenix have been re-scupted to be a little larger.

 

Whole Wedding Party Zombie Cake Topper

Here's a cake topper set that included the bridesmaids and groomsmen as well as the groom and bride. I got to match the whole group- although some of them were less than at their best health.

 The whole thing created a sort of diorama on top of the cake, with the bride and groom fending off familiar zombies.

 

Possibility for official Chibi Games Workshop minis spotted

This is big news to me. Games Workshop has licensed Ninja Division to create board and card games based on Games Workshop properties.

 They're starting out with a card game in which players play as dwarf slayers competing to see who dies with the most glory. Very Old World. But speculation crops up quickly- Ninja Division are well known for making brilliant Chibi miniatures (I have some of their fantastic Rail Raiders in front of my right now). And they've recently started fleshing out their crossover lineup. So far, they've done crossovers with Kingdom Death, Mutant Chronicles and three of NJ's own properties (Takaoshi University, Relic Knights and Way of the Fighter).

 It would be a terrible shame if they don't make a few chibi minis based on Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar.

 So here are a few minis that I really think would make great Chibis: Most things Nurgle would be great in chibi form. This guy's a good example, but so would some plague bearers



Ok, I'm probably wrong about the horrors. I love Tzeentch, but to be honest, he's got such a huge head that he's probably already chibi enough:

Maybe it'd be better to go with a Lord of Change

On the 40k front, I've always been fond of Harlequins



 And Space wolves. Ragnar Blackmane used to be the poster boy for the chapter, but recently it has moved more towards Logan Grimnar



From the Eldar, it would be a shame to miss out on Eldrad Ulthuan



And Chibi Genestealers would be so amAZing


 Honestly, the possibilities of this are crazy. Games Workshop has been expanding their worlds with iconic characters for years and years- Ninja Division have plenty to work with.

Tzeentch Lords of Change

This was a good while back- in those days, a Lord of Change was mounted on a square 40mm base, and wasn't much larger than the ogres of the day and they fit into a blister pack.

 The new Lord of Change may very well be the best mini Games Workshop has in its lineup. A very fine piece indeed, and I'm happy that I've gotten to paint it a few times now.

 Here are two of them (for the same force).

 

Wedding Cake Topper vs. the Zombie Horde

A lot of the cake toppers that I make have a zombie theme to them. Somehow, it just feels natural that the happy couple defend the top of the cake from the undead.

 Often, the zombies are made to match members of the wedding party- usually in the groomsmen suits and bridesmaid dresses- but in this case. In this case, they do match real people, but they're all dressed casual for the event.

 

If you think your big day just wouldn't be complete without a little zombie invasion, let us know.

Tzeentch Daemon Characters

Here is a set of Tzeentch Daemon characters that I painted for a client. I've painted quite a few daemons for this force over time- I find I really love the bright blues and pinks of Tzeentch.

 Flames are very present throughout the Tzeentch force- but with so many magical flames, the colors for them can vary quite a lot- blue, pink and orange flames all get their day in the sun.



 

Player Character Wedding Cake Toppers

I met my wife in a weekly Dungeons and Dragons game (and her wedding dress had dragons on it). So if I have been making geek cake toppers back then, this is probably the theme we would have gone with.

 Here are two couples that used this theme in different ways- one of them added their fantasy gear to their wedding clothes, and the other one had me dress them as adventurers. In both cases, I was matching the two of them

 

Half Orc Barbarian

My clients sometimes let me choose the color schemes for characters, and at other times, they prefer to tell me what they'd like. In every case there are always choices for me to make. In this case, I really enjoyed this Half Orc barbarian.

 I think he was meant to be simply human, but his physic made me think he might even be half ogre.


 

Cute Kissing Fans Wedding Cake Topper

The custom cake toppers I make can really vary quite a lot. While a lot of my clients prefer one of the poses that I've done before, some of them like to do something new.

 Like this one. I've done kissing poses before, but this one is different, and I think it came out very cute.


 

I Can Has Halo Wedding? With Cats?

The wedding cake toppers are all custom made for a particular couple. Sometimes, after I've posted one, another couple might want something similar, and just want a few changes.

 In this case, the happy couple loved this Master Chief, but wanted to change his bride to match their wedding colors, and add in their cats. They sent me quite a few photos of their cats for the cake topper.

 

Tzeentch Demons and Charoit

Tzeentch has always been my favorite of the Chaos gods. It might have been how the Lord of Change reminded me of a Skeksi.

 Since then, Tzeentch has gone through many incarnations- with the rise and fall of M'Kachen, and the introduction of Fateweaver and Ahriman. Horrors went from funny little chibis to wild messes of tentacles and back again, flamers went from headless fungoids, to bird skull monsters and later to a jumble of gibbering firey mouths.

 Here is the current Tzeentch chariot for a Chaos Demon force:

 


Now, I had previously painted up quite a few blue and pink horrors for this force, so he had me paint his Brimstone Horrors. They're pretty fun little guys, and very numerous (here's just a sample of the many brimestone horrors that are part of this force).

 

Post Apocalypse Alpaca Wedding Cake Topper

I make a lot of cake toppers for some very different people. It is great to see all of the varied ideas people have for them.

 So I think it goes without saying that I never expected to be making an Alpaca for anyone's wedding.

Yep, that's an alpaca with goggles joining these two in the post apocalyptic wasteland. And I'm not sure exactly why, but I'm now convinced that alpacas are just great at weddings.

 

Stormcasts and Stardrakes

Just a little while ago, I got to paint up a full force of Stormcast Eternals riding various drakes. I was a little surprised by just how many Stardrakes fit into the force, and there were quite a number of Dracothian Guard as well (I only got a couple of them photographed).

 Here they are in their glory.