Tinywars.com

I’ve had alot of issues getting back to the workbench and one of them was my ability to stay seated for a reasonable amount of time. I figured out that my painting time had decreased due to my chairs and workbench heights not quite being aligned. I also find that no matter what the chair, if I sit too long it messes with my leg circulation. I did a little research and decided I’d try a kneeling chair. The one I ordered arrived in the mail today & I’m giving it a whirl. So far, it seems to encourage better posture and the height adjustment is helpful. The instructions could have done with a few more words (there weren’t any), but it wasn’t that hard to put together.

I purchased this figure with a few others of his ilk in a Pinnacle Entertainment miniature pack: DL-1504 Walkin’ Dead. I think it was somewhere in the 90’s. Reaper Miniature’s RotD (Reich of the Dead) development AND the Halloween season has got me thinking about all things creepy crawly and gruesome… so the timing is perfect. He took a few hours, divided up into lots of tiny bits…

I’ve taken the plunge and changed the site’s interface. I’ve also removed the “beta” forum. The goal is to spend less time fiddling with the site-mechanics and more posting new content. wish me luck!

While not a showcase paint job, it’s good enough for RPG’ing… now, the story of how this one came about:

Somewhere in the early 90’s I ran a 3rd edition AD&D game with a great group of people that I had met during college. One of the folks (Mike) ran a character named Brelvin. I didn’t need much of an excuse to paint figures up & Mike picked a figure out of my vast collection (30 or 40 figures) of Ral-Partha, Grenadier, and Citadel figures. At that time, the paint job was the best I had ever done. To make a long story short, the pack came with two figures: A Male Halfling Fighter/Thief and a Female Halfling Fighter/Thief. I lost the male, but not the female & searched high & low for a used pack, or loose mini.

I finally found the male figure, but minus a few parts. A fellow painter who shall remain nameless negotiated the purchase from a friend of hers (Thank you A!!!). Oddly enough, I also received an original unopened blister of the figures for my ‘07 birthday! As a result, instead of converting the figure back to it’s original design, I used it to practice a few things.

First, I created a scale sword out of wire to confirm that I could have a scale sized weapon that was not weaker than a pewter/lead sword. The hilt and pommel were sculpted with greenstuff. Second I used a buckler from a Foundry miniatures Gladiator “Horde” pack. Once attached to the figure I used greenstuff to sculpt a strap for it. Finally, it’s a standard cork & texture topping on a 20mm x 20mm base.

Who will find this article useful?

Anyone who wants to be able to use thin paint built up in progressive layers to achieve a smooth clean finish using acryllic hobby paints. This technique is an advanced technique that is the foundation for creating show-quality paint jobs.

Note that I said The foundation.

This technique, combined with an awareness of “light-sourcing” is what is used by many contemporary miniature painters to accomplish smooth, realistically painted miniatures. Ever heard of NMM (Non-Metallic Metal)? Thinned paint is necessary to achieve good results with NMM. (more…)

My latest assignment from Reaper is the Master’s Series Urban Legend Cowgirl. I’m including a WIP picture of one of her eyes. It’s a technique that I’ve been playing with & I feel it’s almost time to do a tutorial about it. It’s got similarities to the technique that I’ve seen used by the great miniature painters that do regular work for Reaper, but it’s slightly different.

The basic technique is to flood the eye socket with a base skin-tone, paint the whites, paint a large iris using a color slightly lighter than the color you’d like the eyes to be. Next, dot the pupil using black (it’s ok if it’s larger than it would be on an actual person). Then, use white to dot an even smaller highlight or two.

To me it’s pretty realistic looking AND it adds depth to the expression on the face. I’ll do a step by step tutorial once I’ve got this assignment done.

I fiddled with this sucker longer than I’d like to admit. I went through 4 or 5 different color schemes… and finally settled on this one (with much help from many friends)

The back of the cross is notable since the sculpt does not have the texture that is sculpted on the front. My goal was to make it hard to tell the difference.

It’s hard to see, but the sword pommel has the cross-trefled that appears on the mini Shin-guards and Overcoat Edge.

Overall, I’m happy with this piece.

Ron Hawkins and Bobby Jackson thought it would be a great idea to create a miniature version of Wayne Reynolds Avatar. This is the Viking version of it. I’ve got pictures of a German Soldier version, A Samurai version, and the original one, WAR himself.

Ron Hawkins and Bobby Jackson thought it would be a great idea to create a miniature version of Wayne Reynolds Avatar. This is the German version of it. I’ve got pictures of a Samurai version, A Viking version, and the original one, WAR himself.

Ron Hawkins and Bobby Jackson thought it would be a great idea to create a miniature version of Wayne Reynolds Avatar. This is the Samurai version of it. I’ve got pictures of a German Soldier version, A Viking version, and the original one, WAR himself.