Multi-Tasking

I am not normally an advocate for multitasking, but, in this case, I am finding it quite pleasant. As I have blogged previously, I am working on a large dragon miniature:

As you can see, I have made quite a bit of progress. I have even mounted the beastie to its (his? her?) base, but the process of painting and shading hundreds of scales takes its toll on the sanity. In an effort to mix in a little variety, I started work on the shiny new TDR-1C Thunderbolt miniature from Ironwind Metals - released at Gencon last month.

Experience is Everything!

Sadly, no pretty pictures for this update.

I was at GenCon a few weeks ago, and I had a great time at the show. I was able to play some great games with gamers from all over, including some good friends that I only get to see once or twice a year at conventions.

The two miniatures-related highlights for me were the painting classes I got to take from Sue Wachowski (a.k.a. PaintMinion) and some time I got to spend pestering sculptor Patrick Keith for tips and advice at his booth in the vendor hall. Both artists were incredibly friendly, helpful and full of good advice. My big take away from the con is: "There is an easier way to do everything".

Think Big

As is probably clear from my past updates, the majority of my painting projects are more or less "conventional" single-figure sized miniatures. The largest things I commonly paint are usually Battlemechs, which are bigger than your average 32mm "heroic" figure, but are still not titans in the miniatures world.

With the arrival of my Bones Kickstarter I am awash in inexpensive plastic miniatures, including a variety of large monster models, perfect for terrorizing PCs in fantasy role playing games. Given the low cost of Bones (especially at the KS rates), I wanted to try my hand at painting a big model, so I buckled down to paint "Deathsleet", the Ice Dragon.

Patience is a Virtue

I have never worked on a substantial sculpting project before. I never really had to deal with the patience it takes to watch putty cure. It's almost exciting as paint, but it's much more monochromatic. Even so, there is something pretty satisfying about watching a three dimensional object slowly take shape, one tiny patch of putty at a time.

After last time, I had just about completed the chain barding along the bird's neck. You can see that I had also installed a series of brass loops along the armor and gear to attach to the straps and belts later on.

Nothing Ventured...

Not too long ago, I posted this image as a teaser for a future project:

That project is now underway as a grand experiment in sculpting and conversion work.

I decided to set out on this project as a way to stretch my sculpting skills. I have done a number of conversion projects, and I have used putty to reconstruct damaged or incomplete miniatures in the past, but this is, by far, the most extensive reconstruction and modification project that I have undertaken to date.

It has been fun so far, and it brings me one tiny step closet to being able to sculpt a whole part, or even a whole figure, from scratch.

Bones-apalooza Arrives

My Reaper Kickstarter Bones have arrived!

It will take me a little while to go through them and make sure everything's in order, but for now:

Woo-hoo!

Note that the small mountain of plastic in front is just from add-ons. The Vampire box is lurking in the back of the pile - that's where the real numbers are.

I had better get painting. :)

Hawkman Revisions and Conclusions

Last time I walked through the marble technique I wanted to try out on my Hawkman's base. I am happy with the technique, but, as mentioned, I wasn't completely satisfied with the warm-tone floor I created, when set against a very cool-themed miniature. Rather than randomly paint and repaint the base (which I had foolishly epoxied to the painted miniature before reaching this stage), I clipped some styrene tiles from spare stock and experimented with colors.

I didn't use any of those patterns exactly, but I was much happier with the greyer and bluer marble style for this figure.