Something Newish This Way Comes

Three additions to the Red Ghouls are done. As the title suggests, the painting here isn't entirely new. The penanggalan was nearly complete last October while the boy and dog had their base colors blocked in at about the same time.

These, and a couple others, were intended for Zomtober '16. I'm either quite tardy with that or getting an early start on Zomtober '17.

All three miniatures were sculpted by the incomparable Paul Muller.

The Penanggalan is from Otherworld... a strange Malayan vampire that appears in the old Fiend Folio. The sculpt is a nice homage to the Russ Nicholson artwork from that book.

The boy/dog combo is something of an undead tribute to Dennis the Menace and his dog Ruff. I may be dating myself with this, I suppose. In my defense, I am rather old... cut me some slack.

Truthfully, it was mostly the sling that lead to this notion. My first impulse was to remove it so the mini would better match Otherworld's unarmed ghouls I'd already painted. Then inspiration struck... Dennis the Menace carried a slingshot... he was small in stature... so was the mini... he had a dog... I had a suitable dog mini languishing in the lead-pile. In short, one thing led to another and here we are.

The boy is from Reaper while the dog is from Wyrd's sadly discontinued line of metal miniatures.

The two were painted in the evil-clown scheme I've been using for the Red Ghouls; the only problem being that red hair was required while they were both bald. I addressed this by sculpting some hair on Dennis and, after rejecting red ears, painting Ruff's tail the appropriate hue.

Yes, Ruff is lifting his leg. Would undead canines need to relieve themselves in this fashion? Perhaps not. I guess old habits are hard to break.

Zomtober 2016/3: A Boy and his Dog

I'm a day late and a dollar short this week with my Zomtober efforts. Two minis are in the works and should hopefully be completed in time for next Sunday.

The kid with the sling is from Reaper while the rude puppy is an OOP metal mini from Wyrd. Both sculpted by Paul Muller. The tufts of hair behind the ghoul-child's ears were added with green stuff to allow the red hair motif to be followed. My only option with the dog was to paint the tail red... we'll see how it goes.

The Year Ahead

Happy New Year to one and all! My gratitude to those who visited Minis by Finch last year and especially to those who left comments. Knowing that others, however few, take interest in this secluded backwater of the internet is a great motivator. Thank you so much.

The Holidays took their toll as my paint table was pressed into service as a Christmas wrapping-staging-area. No space = no prep = no paint = no posts. Happily things have returned to normal and while the painting machine is spooling back up it seems appropriate to lay out a mission-statement for the coming year.

• The blog goes straight to Hell: A boatload of Fractured Dimensions stuff on hand and a commitment to paint for Mike at Mortal Arrow means we'll be spending some time on the lower planes in 2016. Pack your fire-retardant underwear.
• It's a Wyrd, Wyrd, Wyrd world: Wyrd miniatures' new plastic stuff isn't half bad. That said, their sadly discontinued metals are much better. In 2015 I added a new range of foothills to Lead Mountain while gobbling up as many first edition minis as I could lay my grubby mitts on. Some of these will work their way into the rotation in 2016.
• The bloom is off the rose: I've largely lost my taste for Kickstarters. Mr. Solarz at Center Stage Miniatures saw to that. I may, however, make an exception for Cauldron Born Miniatures' campaign if and when it goes live. 
• The Muller-Man-Crush continues: It bears mentioning that much of the aforementioned Fractured Dimensions, Wyrd, and Cauldron Born stuff was sculpted by Paul Muller. What can I say? I'm a fan. 
• Zombtober rocks!!: It's never too early to plan.
• Lest we forget: Reaper's excellent Peryton (sculpted by someone not named Paul Muller, oddly enough) remains fully prepped but unpainted. That needs to change.
• Fantasy Staples: I've painted some giants in the past but strangely no dragons. Can I paint one or both in 2016?
• Outside the box: I really can paint non-fantasy subjects. Honest. Something to prove the point may be in order.
• Conversions anyone?: Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's been a while since my last serious conversion project.
• The Prime Directive: Have fun. This is a hobby, after all. 
• Same time next year: The ramblings above are starting to look suspiciously like New Year's resolutions. Whatever they are, a re-visitation of the list next New Years Eve seems in order. 

So ends the stream of consciousness/blather portion of the program. I conclude with two pics; one of the overflow from last Zombtober's Red Ghoul Project, the other, a first look at Bael, Duke of Hell and his retinue. They barely qualify as work in progress pics but I need to start the new year somewhere.

One can never have too many red ghouls.

Lady devil arrived New Years Eve.  Went straight onto workbench.

Zedvember 2015/1: Ghoul Power

* Zedvember being a chance to complete some not-quite-done undead...  the brainchild of Bob Kinnear at BZA Bob's Zombie Apocalypse in 28mm and Chris Hird at Chris's Miniature Woes.

By my estimation, the first installment of Zedvember equals the sixth of Zomtober. Loose ends have been tied and hatches battened, t's crossed and i's dotted. Translation: the red-ghouls are done. Many pictures to follow.

The whole red-ghoul pack is pictured up top. The last member completed was the boss, a Reaper miniature featuring the world's largest meat-tenderizing hammer and a lovely belt ensemble made of flayed skin, severed heads, and assorted viscera. Yum:

The ghoul-hag is, at long last, truly done:

 The boss with the hag & with the original Fractured Dimensions perribos:

The grunt-level ghouls by Otherworld as well as a side-by-side comparison with one of the same minis painted some years ago:

I've said it before, I'll say it again: Paul Muller can do no wrong. The sculptor did an especially good job on all the faces. Some yearbook photos to illustrate the point:

One final piece of good news: anyone wishing to get some perribos of their own is in luck. Fractured Dimensions miniatures are now available through Mortal Arrow. More on this next time.

Zomtober 2015/5: End of the Line

Not quite ready for his closeup

Officially, Zomtober 2015 ended last Sunday. That won't prevent one last bite of the apple.

In that spirit, here are some WIP shots of the Boss Red Ghoul, Reaper's Dreg Chieftain; a Paul Muller sculpt with some seriously crazy hair. That hair was key in showing that the clown ghoul theme could, nay should, be carried beyond FD's Perribos.

 

 

The washes are complete, establishing the shadows. For the flesh, the darkest of these went to the usual suspects (armpits, groin, and under the jaw). This guy also sports a goiter, pot-belly and man-boobs, all of which received similar treatment.

A fair amount still needs to be done to re-establish the midtones and highlights plus some detailing and the base.

There will be at least one more post featuring all five minis once they're all truly completed.

Thanks are due to Pulp Citizen of Eclectic Gentleman Tabletop Gamer, Simon Brummie Quinton of Brummie's Wargaming Blog and Rob Bresnen of Four Colour Super Minis, for organizing another successful Zomtober. Well done, one and all.

Zomtober 2015/3: A Modest Proposal

The subject of today's excursion is one of three minis (that I know of) by the incomparable Paul Muller featuring an infant in imminent danger of becoming lunch. What exactly does this Muller guy have against babies, anyway?

All kidding aside, this mini from Reaper is one of the sculptor's finest (and for the record, I'm sure Mr Muller thinks babies are just swell... as do I).

It's vile. It's horrid. That's the whole point. Representing an irredeemably evil, undead cannibal leaves no room for nice.

I threw squeamishness to the wind and tried to make the piece as harsh and nasty as possible. Lots of very hard shadows, a skintone like rotting meat, a subdued palette except for the baby (I want the viewer's attention immediately drawn there). 

Base Colors

Highlights

Shading

Touch-ups & Details

The base still needs attention. I'm saving it for the end when I'll do all five minis currently in the works together.

The Ghoul-Hag in all her repulsiveness:

Is it normal to feel like one should take a shower upon completing a miniature? Am I going straight to Hell because it occurs to me that what this mini really needs is a bubbling cauldron? After Zomtober should I paint nothing but unicorns and pixies as a form of penance?

The answers to these and other burning questions in our next episode. (or not.)

Four and Change

Where the heck did Summer go? More to the point, why does that countdown clock in the margin show only four plus days until Zomtober? That can't be right, can it?

It can and it is. Zomtober '15 is upon us.

For the full scoop, check out Pulpcitizen's post HERE. (Also the source of the banner at the top.)

I've got five minis under construction as we speak. More ghouls than zombies but hopefully still in keeping with the spirit of things. Removing the broccoli-bases from the Reaper offerings took some doing but everybody's now ready to move forward.

On the Fractured dimensions front, Dispater is done save for the varnish and mounting to the base. My problems with brush-on matte varnish persist, otherwise he'd be finished.

The next FD minis on the table are the larvae. I'll see if I can push forward with them along with the Zomtober ghouls.

There's also a rather bizarre conversion project in the works that ties in with the larvae but that stays under wraps for the moment.