Ordinary Bat

A tiny "ordinary bat" miniature on a 15mm base. This unassuming creature marks a return to one of my favorite subjects - non-fictional animals! Despite their bad reputation, I love bats. While most people associate them with the fall, I look forward to our small friends first arriving at the end of long summer nights. Watching them flutter over the fire pit in the back yard is a favorite pastime with the fam. 

 

The "ordinary bat" title is a joking homage to how they are named in the AD&D MMII. Evidently the fantastical creatures are so abundant in some fantasy worlds that natural ones need to be specifically called out as "ordinary." This convention applies to other ordinary critters which are sure to wander onto my painting table in the coming year. 

 

This itty bitty miniature is from the reaper Bones familiar pack. Thankfully, it is a light enough material that I was able to attach it by the wingtip to a branch with a small pin, and it has proven sturdy enough to survive several falls and even a rampaging house cat over years of play. I think the added height is needed to capture the character of this little flying fellow. 

A Shiver of Sharks; Bullsharks (4)

 

Yay! I finally finished something new! I have had a bunch of projects bogging down my painting, but I was able to find some quiet time to finish these sharks this week. They might be my favorite project of the year so far. It has been ages since I finished an extant animal, and I feel a little invigorated returning to real world critters as a subject. I had thought they would be a fast project, being fairly monotone, but I sorely underestimated how much surface area I needed to cover for these large sized models.

The sharks themselves are really great Bullshark sculpts from  Wundervale Games - I was impressed with how anatomically accurate they are, and I was happy to get a set of four. In the same spirit, I based the paint-jobs on real pictures of bullsharks to keep them as realistic as I could. My son said the paint was "basic" - LOL. Sometimes you can't beat the real deal - I like 'em! 

I'm not really a fan of "flight stands" for models, and fortunately creatively basing undersea creatures is forgiving. I remixed these bases with elements from scatter terrain by "Fantastic Plants and Rocks" and some sand bases by "Cobra Mode" I reshaped. The kelp was perfect for creating an elevated look. The execution wasn't flawless, but definitely captures the idea. 

Same could be said of the whole project, I suppose. I'm pleased, so I included a lot of pics. 

 A note about bullsharks: they are a really fascinating species of large shark capable of living in fresh water (they may even rely on fresh water to breed). This often puts them in conflict with humans - we both occupy the near shore environment and estuaries. They are probably responsible for more shark attacks than the usual suspects, but their populations are in decline. Bullsharks are fierce predators, but they are also vulnerable to overfishing (they mature slowly). Take a moment to learn more about these amazing creatures!

Shark Fin Surface Markers (4)

 

 

Sharks! Its that time of year and lately I have been in the habit of working on things that are on-theme for the season. That said, these are not my actual project but, rather appropriately, a preview of what is to come. I thought that some shark fin surface markers would be a fun and useful addition to my miniatures toolkit while I work on the sharks themselves. They'll be a good way of ratcheting up the pressure for encounters over water and I think it'll feel better in-game than having underwater models over the waters surface. 

I made these by grabbing the fins in Meshmixer and stitching them to simple 25x20mm bases before printing. The water texture was added later with green stuff, and the models were painted easily in a single short session. 

Now, on to the fins owners....

Wolf Eel Familiar

 Another tiny sea creature from Reaper. I modeled this paint scheme after one of my favorite local species, the wolf eel. Not a true eel, but so cool! They get really big, so this would be a smaller specimen. 

I had a lot of fun with the stippling on this piece. Its a technique used commonly in canvas painting, but rarely gets used by miniatures artists. 

The toothy smile is really fun and not unlike the real thing.

 This may be my favorite of the set, so far.

 

 

Bull Ray Familiar

 

 

Another model from Reapers aquatic themed familiar pack VII. I did some light re-sulpting of this model; It was a faithful rendition of living rays, but had a cartoonish mouth with sharp teeth unlike the actual critters. I prefer my animal models on the realistic side, so I filed off that area and did a little work with greenstuff to give it a mouth more fitting a real ray. They have funny little mouths and I think the model is more realistic and a lot cuter!

I based my paint-job on a real species, the common eagle ray/bullray.  Sadly, while the bull ray was once "common" it is now a critically endangered species.

Small Shark / Shark Familiar

 

This little guy is a slight change of pace, but on theme. It is from the aquatic familiar pack VII, by Reaper Miniatures, one of my favorite collections of small models. Sharks are a super popular topic with my kids, so this simple piece is much loved. It is a nice addition to my collection of animals and, though it is not representative of some specific species, I did my best to base the paint on real world images of sharks.  After a long hiatus it is nice to get back to a non-fantasy creature.

Giant Centipede (3)

These giant centipedes were a nice quick speedpaint of some slightly modified miniatures from Reaper Miniatures. while these tiny little sculpts aren't particularly impressive they fill an important role in my collection - they were painted to round out the baddies I need to run "A Most Potent Brew" (see "inferno spider" posted previously). I love running that module as a starter adventure for nearly any campaign, so I expect they will be among my most used models. I might still add an NPC for that module in the future, before I put a fork in it.

 I was pretty happy I was able to manage three pretty distinct poses from the base model, which would've bothered me otherwise. The ruddy brown color with a hint of orange that I achieved on these guys was great, and I definitely plan on using it for their (bigger?) cousins. 

Speaking of which, I always thought the use of "giant" in monster descriptions was unsatisfactory. These creepy crawlies are on 20mm bases and are probably the size of the biggest living real-world centipedes, whereas a "giant spider" is the size of a horse!

Giant Space Hamster

I just finished this cute big guy this morning for Roleplaying & Miniatures first paint contest. I thought I was out of time so I rushed it at the end, but it turns out the contest was slightly delayed. Ah, well, it got my but in gear!

Since this is a bit of a silly topic I got a little "cheeky" with the model. The original design was missing the rear part of the harness, and my family and I decided that it was because the booty would look like it was sporting a Giant Space Thong. I obviously had to add it in. I also opted for the low road and put poops on the base. My recollection of hamsters is that they are adorable, but that they drop pellet poops everywhere very casually, so, big ol' space poops had to be on the base.

On a more serious note, because I had limited time to finish this mini (only a few days to print and paint were available in my queue), I had to focus on something other than an ultra clean paintjob with smooth transitions. Instead I opted to try and really nail the color balance. Because the model was very ruddy brown I thought I would contrast that with a bright blue base and slight tints of blue in the metals. 

I never really imagined having a GSH in my collection, but now that it is done I think it will make a fine addition to the collection. I suspect it will make a memorable NPC.
 

Warg

 The warg! I went with a naturalistic look for this classic wolf monster, but tried to make its face as malicious as possible with evil red eyes. I think it looks pretty darn mean. I think the pop of yellow flock is an interesting if mundane addition. I find it keeps my eye in the center of the photo and also acts as an interesting counterbalance to an otherwise wicked beast. I like this sculpt quite a bit. that snarl is perfect, and is a pose I'd like to see more frequently in wolf miniatures.

Giant leech (2)- painted!

 

Not sure how I missed cross-posting these here - they are a special set for me. this is my copy of the leeches I sculpted for reapers bones line. While not complex, I think their simplicity makes them among my favorite sculpts of mine to have ever been produced. The sculpts themselves were not perfect, but I personally love the end result. Just as I modeled these inspired by actual leech anatomy, I also painted them based of of some of the more striking colors I found in my research. 

I have a third incomplete leech that I never submitted floating around in my WIP drawer that I may have to dust off this year.

Bluejay

 

This is one of my favorite animal miniatures. Despite the simple techniques and brushstrokes I think it is one of the most effective and striking outcomes I have achieved on animal mini.  This is a very tiny model and a somewhat poorly defined Bones miniatures (on a 20mm base). It is listed as a hawk, but I think it actually looked more like a bluejay, si I reskinned it with paint. Of course, I have never actually seen a real bluejay....

This is the last of the animal miniatures I have previously published that I will be posting here for the time being. . My backlog of animal miniatures to post is pretty sizeable, so I expect will revisit them at some point, but for now I am looking forward to moving on to more monstrous blog entries. 

Cat

 This black cat is actually an accompanying piece / familiar to a classic witch miniature I have. It isn't particularly impressive, but it is an interesting conversation piece relating to techniques for painting the color black. at the time of my painting this (2013-2014) I had been using blue-black to get that deep black look. in retrospect it looks, unsurprisingly, blue. when compared to my more recent "fanatical acolyte" miniature, where I used the dark elf and dusky skin triads heavily, it is pretty clear that my  skill with that end of the color palate has improved significantly. Painting solid black colors has always been a barrier for me and it seems I am finally starting to understand the subtleties (shading, highlighting) of the color better.

Ferret

 The Ferret is probably the most "useful" of the animal miniatures I have posted so far, since they are often companions or familiars. The tiny sized animals are so small I really just make an effort to have some part of the head identifiable as a face despite the fact that it is about the size the head of a pin. To achieve this, I find the eyes are critical. The spot of reflection is usually the defining bit of paint to pull it off.

Based on a 20mm base. Originally published in January of 2015.

Skunk

 

Based on the North  American Striped Skunk.

 Based on a 20mm base. Completed in January of 2015.

Tortoise

 

Super cute! I need to paint more reptiles.

 Mounted on a 20mm base. Completed in January of 2015.

Penguin

 I just spent the day at the zoo with my fam and the penguin exhibit is always a hit.The paint scheme here was inspired by the emperor and king penguins, but is not accurate to either. Size wise (at scale) they are closer to the king penguins.

Really, I feel like I need a ton of penguin minis....for some reason.

 Mounted on a 20mm base.

Completed in January of 2015.

Hedgehog

 This hedgehog is easily the smallest miniature I have ever painted. It is swallowed up by the small 20mm base he is on. despite the minuscule size, I think I managed to make it work - it definitely reads hedgehog to me - its cute!

Originally completed prior to January 2015.

Vulture

 

Ah, the vulture! "Vulture" is my most frequently used moniker on the web, and this guy has served as my avatar on more than one occasion. I plan on painting up a wake of them at some point. 

this guy was completed and published on or before January 2015.

Raccoon

 

I really like raccoons, despite popular opinion and derogatory nicknames. I find their inquisitive and rapacious natures to actually be endearing -curiosity and resourcefulness are qualities I appreciate. Occasionally they visit my garden and I always consider it to be a treat. when I see this little guy on my shelf it brings me a little happiness.

This piece is pretty tiny - he is on a 20mm base. Originally published prior to January of 2015.

Fox

 A red fox! I am going to post a number of animals today in a bit of a binge (including some stuff I have never published before!). I have decided to post them individually even though I usually post animals in groups. As a favorite subject of mine, I think each one deserves its moment in the sun here in my blog

 

They are usually so small that they paint up in a single fast session, and they typically don't require much in terms of techniques - just some quick washes and highlights. I probably spend as much time on researching these little critters as I do actually painting them, but hey, that's fun too. I try to make each as close accurate to their living counterparts as possible.    this little guy was originally painted and published prior to January 2015.