Shadow Demon Blues

The shadow demon is complete and The FF Project has gained another member:

(L to R) Blindheim, Shadow Demon, Forlarren

The mini allows a nice contrast between the very simple scheme on the actual demon and the abundance of color on the base. The colors used on the demon were Reaper Military Blue, P3 Frostbite, and GW Chaos Black.

The three-part WIP photo below shows the base in various stages of completion: A) black wash and grey/white drybrushing over grey primer,  B) the basic colors glazed on followed by some selectively applied washes, and C) highlights and some stronger shadows where needed.

Revisiting the construction of the base for a moment, the Reaper treasure mound was too large for the base until I reduced its size with my trusty motor tool. I had a pretty good idea of where the demon should be mounted and tried to work things out so that point wound up at the base's center. This required the removal of everything behind the chest. The resultant void was filled in with green stuff.

The coin-pile was extended to the front edge of the base with some stretched plastic sprue cut into disks and embedded in more green stuff. 

And finally a few more pics of the end result:

It's a Salem's Lot Thanksgiving Charlie Brown

Happy Turkey-Day.  I'm sure everyone knows the critical role that vampires played in the first Thanksgiving. From teaching the pilgrims how to cultivate corn and survive in a hostile wilderness to participating in the storied feast, the undead were there every step of the way...

Is anyone buying this? Hmm, I thought not. Suffice it to say that I'm one holiday behind.

This old Grenadier mini was slated to appear in October along with a wight as part of Otherworld's ongoing painting pledge. The Wight made it, the vampire didn't. In the hope of rectifying this sorry state of affairs, here is the pair as intended:

See that? A miniature world premiere right here on Minisbyfinch. Now you truly have cause to give thanks.

You're welcome. Glad to be of service.

Anyhow. Briefly returning to reality, a few notes are in order before awaiting the inevitable flood of gratitude by way of the comment section.

Skin tones: I wanted to depart from my previous efforts in the undead arena. Both minis began with a shaded basecoat. For the wight I then used Reaper's Moldy Skin, shaded with Secret Weapon's Sewer Water wash and highlighted by adding Reaper's Linen White to the mix. The vampire's base skintone started with a mix of Privateer Press' Carnal Pink and Reaper's Military Blue. More of the blue was added for the shadows while the highlights are Army Painter's Matt White with just a touch of the pink. Glazing was used extensively on both.

Bases: I sculpted the vampire's base myself. The wight's is an insert from Dark Age Games wet sanded and carved so as to fit on a standard 25mm base. This was done in large part to fit the mini onto a 25mm base rather than the 30mm one that Otherworld provides. The nails on the right foot were bent so they droop over the edge of the stone. The wight and his base were painted separately.

Together again: The wight joins his blister-mate that was completed some time ago. The record still goes to the vampire though; he's actually been sitting, prepped and based, in the lead-pile for many years. A priming mishap caused me to put him aside in disgust for all that time.

Faded Glory: There's an awful lot I don't know about digital photography. I greatly reduced the exposure to photograph the vampire due to his very pale skin. In so doing the wight wound up looking much better than in earlier pics. Must remember this in the future.

Von Pickford Lives...

And so do I.

This is where I might offer a half-arsed explanation as to why I haven't posted in nearly a year. It's a long story. In the interest of brevity, and to preserve my positive state of mind, I'll forgo my tale of woe and just move on to new business.

The titular Von Pickford is none other than the evil wizard Johann Von Pickford from last year's Otherworld Miniatures' painting challenges; specifically, the December 11/January 12 installment. Chris (AKA DukeoftheBloodKeep) has done a great job of keeping the Members on the OW Forums engaged and producing painted minis from month to month. I must confess to being proud of my own small contribution to this continuing undertaking.

Ironically, the mini is produced by Reaper, not OW. The rules are pretty forgiving and require only a 50/50 mix of OW to non-OW products. I'm especially pleased with how the back of the cloak and my first halting attempts at freehand painting turned out. The skin-tone is a happy accident. I was aiming for a sickly, undead look by combining Vallejo Red Leather and Bronze Green with GW Rotting Flesh. Guess the tales of how the old masters would add green to their flesh tones are true after all. Despite my best efforts, old Johann wound up the very picture of health. Given the direction my experiment was heading, the undead angle was shelved, and I opted for ivory-colored robes as a contrast to my subjects dark complexion.

More suitably undead results were obtained on these ghouls (the OW component of my entry) by using a paint recipe similar to my previously completed wight. They're mounted on resin bases from Forgecraft. Nice bases. The garish paintjobs on the site do them a disservice.

I'm a sucker for converting figures as well as obscure/unloved D&D critters. The forlarren (also part of my OW entry) fits the bill on both counts. Sandwiched in The Fiend Folio between the flumph (undisputed king of all crappy monsters) and frost man (so forgettable that in the time it has taken to type this, I've actually forgotten him) the forlarren gets no respect. If there is, or ever was, a miniature of this guy, I'm unaware of it. I once suggested on the OW forums that Richard consider producing a forlarren. I was asked to go away and not return until I had something sensible to say ;-)

It seemed that if I wanted a forlarren, I"d have to build one myself. Or, being the lazy sort that I am, find an extant miniature that met my needs. Satyrs and demons offered the best hope and, in the end, an old Grenadier mini (M-20, Kadastraal Spreader of Plagues) came very close. Ultimately, I decided that his lack of hooves wasn't a deal breaker and went with him 'as is'.

The 'conversion' part of the project was limited to basing and painting. Placed in a woodland setting and painted in earth tones he really looks the part. A miniature's base is a chance to provide context. The same figure, if placed on a lava-themed or flagstone base, would not have conveyed the needed information.

It occurs to me too that Kadastraal was part of a box-set and some of his demonic brethren present similar opportunities for unmodified conversions. I'll have to put that on my to-do list. As things stand, I've committed myself to painting something by OW every month. There's no rest for the weary.

The Shadow of the Past

I come before you today bearing eye-candy. As promised, the current post includes pictures of miniatures that I painted back in the day… the 1980’s… when the A-team still walked the earth and enamel paints ruled. For starters, here’s a link to a thread on the Otherworld Miniatures forum where I posted a few examples a while back.

But wait, there’s more! I’ve honed my puny photographic abilities somewhat since then through trial-and-error and the receipt of a tripod for Christmas. At this point, pride of authorship tempts me to shout something cheesy like, “Feast your eyes on these!”, but journalistic integrity compels me to keep my composure. At any rate, here is a new batch to look at: link. Enjoy.