Bette Noir, but with red and yellow

When I'm choosing a color scheme for my own minis, I generally shy away from the official color schemes from artwork or studio paintjobs.

 I'm not totally sure why I do this. You can paint a mini great in studio colors (and I often do that as well). But I really like to re-imagine the character in a very different light- and you can often fundamentally change a character simply by choosing different colors.

 Well, here's Bette Noir- there's a clear color scheme suggested in that name. But my client chose a color scheme that was very far from the official one:

 

Romantic Halo Cake Topper

Now, this isn't the first cake topper I've made for fans of the Halo franchise. In the past, I've had several brides and grooms ask me to make them into spartans.

 But, this is the first cake topper that I've made to feature the franchise' favorite protagonist- John 117, the Master Chief. Well, here's a romantic cake topper that features him with his true love:

 

 

Knight Cerastus x2

Just a little while ago, I got to paint up a few Knight Cerasti with a relatively simple color scheme (give the amount of freehand I often do on knights like these). 

Here are some pictures: 

Cthulhu and Mermaid Wedding Cake Topper

I get lots of different kinds of projects for Wedding Cake Toppers- themes range from Zombies, videogames, swordfighting, fantasy roleplaying, comic fandom and beyond.

 This couple had a very specific idea of the couple they wanted- that's not so unusual actually. Since I'm making all of the toppers myself, I can create a lot of things that no one has ever thought of before.

 They wanted a Cthulhu groom carrying his Mermaid Bride- all done with a much creepier style than what I normally make for cake toppers. In fact, I actually considered a number of ways to make the scales and transitions on the mermaid herself, but they wanted something very specific.

 And I really love how it came out. I get to work with the best people.

 

Rabid Squirrels for Super Dungeon Explore

Well, I don't have quite everything painted from my Forgotten King set. I know, there are Ninjas about to descend upon us, and I'm about to be buried underneath some of that Kickstarter craziness.

I've discovered that the money for Kickstarters isn't an issue in the least as long as I only get in on Kickstarters in as much as I can finish painting the minis.

And that puts me in a place where I really can't get in on very many of them.

 Anyway, I'm excited (and a little intimidated) so see the next set of SDE and Ninja All Stars show up, so it is good to have a few more creeps done:

 

Doctor Who TARDIS Wedding Cake Toppers

I have had a lot of requests for some interesting cake toppers. Here are two sets that I created- both of the couples independently decided that they'd like to see Doctor Who's TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension In Space) on their wedding cakes.

 First- here's what the TARDIS looked like all by itself:

 

 The first couple wanted to be running into the TARDIS (with the door a little open). I think it is the vehicles that's taking them on their honeymoon. I like how they wanted her to seem just a little more eager to get in there than he is:

 

The last ones wanted their clothing to show off some of their other fandoms. For some reason, I feel like crossovers with Doctor Who just work really well- I always imagine that he can arrive in any place/time/dimension that the TARDIS takes him to:

 

Harlequins are a really interesting bunch to paint. Mostly, you get to paint a whole bunch of freehand that you really don't get to do on most minis.

 They can be tricky- especially if you want the minis to still look like a cohesive force, and still have that sense of individuality that the Harlequin minis want so much.

 I painted up these Skyweavers to go with a force that I had painted up quite a few infantry for. For this force, the harlequins were each painted in black and white with one bold color each.

 Altogether, I felt like they came out rather well.

 
 

M4 Carbine Wedding Cake Toppers

Max Brooks, in his Zombie Survival Guide explains how he favors the AK-47 and assault rifles like it over the M series weapons. I've heard this sentiment before, and figured that these people probably had some point.

Then- I got to shoot an M4- and I must admit that I was impressed. The weapon is light- which works well for survivors on the move, and more over, it was the easiest to handle firearm that I have ever held. It fires accurately with very little kick.

 It was almost like shooting a very good .22 rimfire weapon- low kick, good accuracy. But then the holes in the target were significantly larger.

 Now, I didn't have to clean or disassemble the thing, but in a situation where the only shots that count are head shots, I'd definitely go with an M4 over something with more kick and less accuracy. Anyway, I am now completely on board with the most popular assault rifle used by wedding cake toppers.

 Here are two couples who decided that the M4 was the best way to dispatch the zombie horde.



 

And here are a few of the zombies that I've made to invade wedding cakes.

 

Khanjira the World Breaker

During Reaper's Bones Kickstarter, it became apparent to everyone that one of the best uses for Bones Plastic material is to create massive minis that are relatively inexpensive.

 It is great for the slightly large monsters (I'd rather spend less on ogres and bugbears) but it is particularly great for some of the absolutely massive minis that in the past have put me back hundreds.

 Here is Khanjira the World Breaker- a fantastic monster that resembles the Pathfinder Terrasque. To me, he looks just right to be the Iron Kingdoms Chimera- an insane dragon whose shape keeps changing.

 To go with this interpretation, I used a sort of "Everblight" composition for him- light colored skin with dark colored armor plating.

 Overall, I feel this approach worked quite well. Have a look:

 

Cosplay Candy and Rin Farrah

Here are a couple minis from Relic Knights that I painted up.

 I really enjoyed mixing up the skin tones on my forces- I find that a large variety of skin tones gives you a lot more freedom as you go. So far, none of the characters I've painted for the faction have the exact same skin tone, and that's been working well for them.

 Anyway, here they are:

 

Armed to the teeth Wedding Cake Toppers

get to do a whole lot of interesting wedding cake toppers. While I do quite a number of different ones, the most popular concepts for them remain the Zombie Survivor couples.

 I've made quite a number of different weaponry for brides and grooms. Here are a few sets that all decided to use firearms against the zombie horde.

 

Science Fiction Gamer Cake Topper

Here is a couple that really needed to have some strong science fiction styled body armor for their wedding cake topper. They're definitely set to fight some pretty fierce aliens.

 I've got to admit that I heartily approve. Here they are:

 

Arena Rex Gaius Pallidus

Here is a mini from Arena Rex that I had the chance to paint up a little while ago.

 The miniatures for this game are terrific- superbly detailed and well cast, they take paint like a dream and really deserve some wonderful paintjobs.

 This one was done for a client. I don't have any of my own Arena Rex stuff yet, but I've had several clients ask me to paint them (so they'll likely get their own gallery before too long).

 The character, as I understand it, was a war hero from Brittania who was saved from death by a druid- hence, he is now part tree.

 

Zombie Survivor Wedding Cake Toppers

Here's another set of Bride and Groom Cake Toppers doing battle against the living dead.

 Some of these zombies were created to match bridesmaids and groomsmen, while other zombies were just created from my imagination.

 These couples also all picked great weaponry for fighting against the zombie horde.

 

Mouselings: Child's First Adventuring Party

I have a three year old little girl (she'll soon be four) and she has a good imagination. Naturally, we'd like to steer this in the right direction, so I've been GMing once a week with my family. Right now it is just a homebrew system that we're keeping quite simple. We'll be moving up as we go.

 Our first hero is Drella. Her character class is definitely Princess, and while her normal tactic is to use either scorching ray or fireball, she also tends to pull a sword out of hammer space when things get rough.

 

 And this is Ella, my wife's spellcaster. She's very helpful on adventures

 

Last is Prince McGuffin. He mostly gets kidnapped by ogres, sorcerers, dragons and such.

 

 Our heroes have noted his aptitude for being captured, and have started keeping him from going out by himself for any reason. Last time our heroes sallied forth, they started out by locking him in a closet until they come back.

 I expected this campaign to mostly feel standard (we kill the monsters, save the prince and everyone is happy). But then my little girl realized that some of the monsters can talk- and if they can talk, they can be talked into doing things for them. My favorite was when they convinced an ogre that the dragon would be tastier than eating them, so he came along (all the time threatening to become too bored or hungry and start eating the party).

 Here are the three of them together.

Vault Dweller Wedding Cake Topper

Here are a couple cake toppers I got to make recently.

 Their love will survive a nuclear fallout in a world ridden by radioactive mutants.

 Anyway, here they are:

 

Infinity: Cherry Blossom Yu Jing

Corvus Belli make some excellent sculpts for Infinity.  The detail is excellently sculpted for some all together terrific miniatures. I was definitely excited when I got a chance to paint up a Japanese Sectorial army.

My client had me paint them with a cherry blossom theme to them (and I'm already considering a variation on this for some Ninja All Stars minis I've got coming).

Without further ado- here is the force:

Kingdom Death: Monster Bases

The time has finally come. People are actually getting their Kingdom Death: Monster base games. Yes, it has been an extremely delayed kickstarter, but in the end, it has delivered a game that is really fantastic.

 And the miniatures are wonderful. I didn't actually get in on the Kickstarter (I've played the game with a friend of mine, and now I'm staring at that $400 retail price tag and doing the math).

 However, I did get a commission to create bases for the monsters that more closely match the plane of faces (like the scenic bases created for the survivors).

 These are to be painted by my client, so what you see here is just the sculpture- made from a mixture of Apoxie sculpt and green stuff:

 


- One of the few details my client asked for specifically was to have a face spewing blood out of its mouth for the Butcher.

 
And some places for lava.