Dueling Jedi Diorama

Here's another piece that I painted for Gencon's competition. Last year, I got to meet with sculptor Jeff Grace (who was working on a cool mini for Dark Sword at the time). We talked a little, and got on the subject of Star Wars, and how to turn his current sculpt into a Sith (we did consider that she could have been a jedi, but she wanted to be more evil than that).

We also discussed how this is true of a lot of his sculpts for Dark Sword, and how awesome it would be if someone were to create a diorama of a lightsaber fight between a Sith and Jedi using his sculpts.

Naturally, I had to agree that this diorama needed to exist. I'm not totally sure that he meant it as a personal challenge, but I couldn't just leave an idea this awesome on the table.

So, a year and many hours of converting and painting later, we have these dueling jedi (both created from Jeff Grace sculpts for Dark Sword's Visions in Fantasy line).

 I've done quite a bit of OSL before, but in this case I found it was quite a bit more complex than usual. The three light sources in three different colors did give me a bit of a headache at times. I have to thank Janci's criticism for letting me know when and how it wasn't working so that I could get the light just right.

 

Gencon Masterclass 2nd Place Single Miniature

I'm back from Gencon, and it was quite a cool year. I'll need a number of updates to talk about all of it, but here's something to kick it off.

 This year, I put a lot of effort into getting some good entries out for Gencon's Masterclass painting competition- especially for my Dark Sword entry (I've been eyeing those big trophies Darksword hands out to their winners for a long time).

 This year, I got to bring home their third place trophy (in front of me in the Dark Sword Competition were Michael Proctor and Jessica Rich).

 And in the single figure category, I placed second to Marike Reimer, and actually beat Jessica's entry (one of the judges told me that it came down to story telling against technical quality, so the different judges and criteria really mattered).

 Anyway, I'm very happy to have placed above or on level with so many of my heroes. Anyway, enough about that. Here is the entry:

 

Wyrmgear the Clockwork Dragon

This has been one of the most popular minis to come out of Reaper's first Bones Kickstarter. I must admit, the idea of a steampunk robot dragon definitely has its appeal, and the combined efforts of Julie Guthrie and Bob Ridolfi definitely pulled it off. I was super happy when a client requested him.

 There are tons of ways to compose this mini (you could pick out the various plates in a lot of different ways). I went with a NMM gold and silver scheme- keeping the golds in centers of interest where the saturation will help them stand out.

 Here is the finished mini.

 

Greyscale Inquisitor and Retinue

Here is a group that I got to paint up recently. The concept for this project was to do them all in a greyscale except with just a touch of color (kind of like Sin City).

 I found that this technique gives me a massive amount of control over centers of interest. Simply adding the saturation to one area brings it out to the eye. It also made me consider where to put what colors (I made sure that the Inquisitor himself had the most green on him, and that none of them had too much green in places that aren't central).

 This is an Ordo Xenos inquisitor along with his trusted retinue.

 

Warrior of the Sun (male)

Here is the second in the set of Warriors of the Sun. This time it is the male counterpart.

 I went with a fairly bright color pallet here, and again used some starscape effects on his clothing to give him a sort of Shadow Dancer feel.
 I was also quite happy to be able to do a light source effect on the lanterns that he keeps at his belt.

 

Kissing Gamers Cake Topper

Here's one more cake topper that I got to finish recently.

 I really find these toppers to be sweet. It's nice to always have someone for special for co-op.

 

Exodite Farseer

Here is a mini that I painted as part of a commission just a little while ago.

The base mini is simply a Wood Elf sorceress with an Eldar weapon placed in her hand.

 

Wedding Cake Toppers ready for the Zombie Apocalypse

Here is another set of Zombie Survivor Wedding Cake toppers. This group has quite a bit going on.

 Most of these look like they've been fighting zombies in the mud and blood for a little while. And they've been picking some of the more favorite of zombie battling weaponry:

 





Now, most of these toppers went with a battle worn look, this last one couldn't bear to bloody up the dress: " alt="" />

Kingdom Death Warrior of the Sun

Here's a great Kingdom Death mini that I got to paint up for a client a little while ago. She was splendid to paint, and made me rather fond of the KD line's quality.

 The starscape was all done in normal freehand, but the warpaint/tattoos were actually following some lines in the sculpt. They were shallow, and it wasn't very different from painting freehand, you simply had some guidelines to follow.

 I normally dislike that sort of freehand guide (I prefer to have blank flags rather than ones with relief sculptures set into them) but they were so shallow that a simple layer of gloss would have completely taken care of it.

 Altogether, a fine mini.  I'd consider getting one for myself, but they're all sold out (like most of Kingdom Death's LE resin lineup).


 

Zombie Apocalypse with Futuristic Weaponry

SO, I get a lot of cake toppers of couples who are preparing for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. I get to see all kinds of weapon scenarios.

 Some prefer bows or crossbow for their silence, shovels or machetes for their convenience, and some prefer assault rifle for the sheer damage they can do.

 And some prefer to use weapons that humanity hasn't yet discovered how to build:
 
 

A Game of Cakes

Here's a unique cake topper that I got to make a little while ago. The couple wanted to create a tribute to their favorite fantasy series by presenting themselves as victorious with their banner (proudly displaying the Guinea Pig Heraldry).

 Here they are with their banner:
 

And to show
their vanquished foes, here are some banners to be strewn about the scene.

 

Eldar Exodites

Here are a few minis that I got to paint up recently. My client created all of the conversions here, and sent them along for me to paint.

 I'm honestly rather fond of Eldar Exodites. They were always a portion of the Eldar force that fascinated me- especially back in the 2nd edition days when there were actually rules for them. Here are three of them.

As I understand it, these are played as War Walkers.

 

Munchkin Legos on Kickstarter!?!

Ok, the line between small toys and minis has always been a little blurry for me. I first started my foray into miniatures painting the Monster in my Pockets werewolf.

 And I've always loved Legos. Some friends of mine once started playing a miniatures game using Legos (to this day, I'm not totally sure where the rules set came from).

 I often look at the variety of Legos and wish they'd had Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, or Halo Legos when I was younger. I'm a little ashamed that I'd never even thought about how absolutely amazing Munckhin Cthulhu would be.
 

And they come in glow in the dark, too! I mean, who is ever going to recover from how awesome this is? 

They're not official Legos, but like the Halo set, they'll fit in with any other Lego-like bricks you may already have. And really, who doesn't want a Munckinomicon?

Cake Toppers with personal touches.

Here's a couple cake toppers I'd like to share today. These two had some less ordinary items for me to customize.

 First off, not all brides feel the need to wear white. This bride send me photos of her lovely red dress to match.

 

And this groom decided that he wanted to use his skateboard to fend off the zombie threat. Including the design on the top and bottom.

 

Eldar Exodite

I got into miniatures wargaming a long time ago. Back then, Games Workshop regularly created rules for crazy things that they never intended to create minis for.

 Among these strange things were the Eldar Exodites. Included as a small sidenote to the Eldar army list, the Exodites brought something to the table that no one else in the 40k universe had at the time:

 Dinosaurs! Anyway, the love for the old dinosaur riding Eldar hasn't died, and a client of mine has had me work on several pieces for his Exodite force. Here is one of those minis:

Cake Topper Antagonists- Zombies and Werewolf

When you have two people on top of a cake, sometime is just seems logical for them to be assaulted by werewolves or zombies. So, here are some of the antagonists that I've made for people's cakes:

 




And naturally, the bride and groom will have to be able to defend themselves:

 

And here's a couple that's clearly been successful.

Halo Bride and Groom Cake Topper

Here is a couple that wanted to be Spartans on their big day. I definitely found myself admiring their selection of weaponry. They asked for metallic armor- as sort of a tribute to the first Halo game and the way that everyone's armor had a sheem to it back then.

The Forgotten King Kickstarts

Well, I've been a pretty avid fan of Super Dungeon Explore for a while now (my wife has commented that it is our prettiest game).

 Right now, Soda Pop Miniatures have split with their publisher and are Kickstarting a new stand-alone expansion called The Forgotten King. It also features a new edition of the game rules, and a host of new minis.

 And there's a chibi version of Kingdom Death's Twighlight Knight. She's adorable.

 Now, I figure I need to post up a picture along with this post. While I could use one of the pictures of the new minis from the Kickstarter, I've got quite a few Super Dungeon minis that need posting. So here is my Von Drak. He's not part of the Kickstarter, but he'll totally kill all of those new heroes at some point.

 

Wraith Knight in Cool Bone

A little while ago, I had the opportunity to paint up this Eldar Wraith Knight from Games Workshop.

 The bone color was quite a bit of fun to create. It actually incorporates several different colored variations on bone- the darkest areas are tinted greenish, the next up are tinted yellow while the highlights are tinted blue.