Crazed Owlbear

 

This is a really wild model from Reaper Miniatures. It definitely doesn't look like a classical owlbear, instead it is a slim, wild-eyed and berserk mutant. while this isn't what I had in mind for my run-of-the-mill owlbear encounter, I think it works perfectly for the crazed owlbear found in Cragmaw Castle of LMoP, so it found a home in my collection. The end effect with the tiny pupils isn't perfect but it is definitely unsettling. It was nice working with the different shades of brown on this model, but it wasn't an overworked piece so the work is otherwise unremarkable. I tried to play up the crazed angle in the paint by adding details such as a frothy mouth and bloodshot eyes for a "that owlbear isn't right" effect.

Because this model is so specific, I still want to complete a regular one for the random encounter table of LMoP. I'll do another with a very different aesthetic now that I am nearing a complete LMOP set.

 

Old Owl Well / Old Shitty Well

 

I don't often post terrain, but I am hoping to include more pieces in my collection, particularly if they fill a thematic role in one of the modules I am working to complete. With that in mind, you can't have an encounter at Old Owl Well without an old well! This free sculpt from EC3D fills that need perfectly - it doesn't get better than that.Yes, it is called "Old Shitty Well", but it's great. This is also a support free model which ended up ended up being a really pleasant hobby experience. It went from file to done in no time, which went a long way to reinvigorate my painting mojo this fall. I'll have to start using more support free models to make prep a more relaxing experience. 

I'll close with a rough shot of the whole encounter. I apologize for the  photo edit - I didn't have a backdrop big enough to capture the whole group. I'd like to do more encounter shots like this as my collection grows, so ill need to work out a better system for photography.

Actually, this photo makes me wish that I had also done the tent for this encounter - more terrain to come, it seems!

Zombies (4) #1

 

 Every adventure needs undead, and zombies are endlessly useful.

 Zombies are pretty sloppy monsters, so it was more important that I linked their color palates while giving each some unique elements rather than making each one a masterpiece - The herd is where they make their impact. They were painted at different times over a relatively long interval, so they aren't perfectly consistent, but I think that actually benefits them.  It is much easier to photograph them a few at a time, so I've decided to post small groups over a few weeks. Despite the simple paint jobs, I really appreciate that each is totally unique stylistically.

This first pack of zombies were made by Reaper Miniatures (two of them are plastic bones material, and two are metal). 

As can always be expected with zombies, more to come!

Wraith, Mage / Mormesk

 

 This was a nice on-theme simple speed paint to keep my momentum going. Not my best work (I prefer my earlier wraith to this one), but it was an effort to improve upon my quick ghostly green subjects (e.g. the banshee). Most notably, this is another model that fills a spot in the lost Mine of Phandelver roster - I'm (slowly) making progress!

This model is from Monolith Arts - they make some of my favorite sculpts for incorporeal undead and a "Ghost Mage" is perfect for Mormesk.

Pumpkin Dragon, Wyrmling / Harvest Dragon

 

 

 I have been struggling to do hobby stuff since the start of autumn, due to other responsibilities, which is really unfortunate because this is my favorite time of year. This also seems to be the season for the absolute best miniatures releases. So, to shake off my low productivity, what better way than to paint a seasonal release! This cute little dragon is from the under appreciated Dillon Olney, and took paint like a champ for a speed-paint. I had such a fun time, I will start work on a bigger pumpkin dragon mamma dragon. Not sure what the timeline will be there, but ill definitely post more thematic Halloween treats this month.

Color balance was tough on the photo here - I went with a more naturalistic orange, but the smartphone wanted to crank this think up to neon red.

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....

Night's Cult Leader / Spyron “Moonface”

 

 

This is my evil cult middle-management leader, to go along with the previously posted Night's Cult models. This guy is simple, anonymous, and effective as a cult leader stand-in for most of my needs. Like my other Nights cult models, he was a speed-paint for the table a few years ago.

Night's Cult Swordsman (3)

 

 These cultists are the muscle for the captain I posted previously. These guys really shine as groups of mobs -  it makes them much more impressive and formidable on the table. Only some minor stylistic differences, and a slightly better picture, but this post is much more satisfying than the captain.

Night's Cult Captain / Cultist Duelist

 

 A quick speed-paint that fills a critical role: an elite cultist. Legend Builds cultists are perfect models to fill the shoes of most of my cultist needs -  they come in tons of flavors and they are properly anonymous without any overly specific iconography. This guy acts as a champion type for a small squad of these guys I have already completed. My thinking was that they could be stand-ins for the dragon cultists in LMoP, as well as play part of the Cult of the Reptile God for module N1, among other things.

 I printed them slightly enlarged to scale with the rest of my collection. The paint palate was kept very simple so that I could easily reproduce it (or something similar) quickly as I add to the ranks - I expect I'll need quite a few! I used muted grey-purple and green-purple to play off the inherent contrast of that palate (as well as with a touch of green on the base,) to add some visual interest to an otherwise very dark and monotone approach. Simple can be good!

Wight, Monk / Dreadmere Wight

 

My painting has been sluggish with a slew of spring projects to tackle, so while I work on something new here is a piece from the display cabinet that I have never previously shared. This rotten fellow is from the Reaper Bones 4 Kickstarter, and was the first piece I painted when the loot came in. I was feeling inspired and knocked him out as fast as I could as a speed-paint. 

It is a nice standalone piece, and I really appreciate that it is an undead with some character! The living dead are often stripped down to rags, or just bones, so an undead with some personality, or at least personal history, is much appreciated. It is also one of the few robed undead I own - the old manuals are stacked with robed corpses and the concept is nostalgic for me, but they are surprising hard to find as miniatures.

This wight remained unshared for so long mostly owing to how difficult it was to photograph - it has a forward lean which throws much of the model into shadow under natural light. I'm happy with these shots, after a few prior failed attempts, which I achieved by using a vertical light source.

I really enjoy painting the dead; they are one of the few times I allow myself really let loose with a gritty style and "ugly" models, with lots of haphazard washes. Of course, that is a self imposed concept. At one point I remember finding a miniature artist who did everything like that, in a limited unusual color palate to really great effect. I envied the stylistic commitment which I could never fully push myself to adopt.

Animated Armor

This is a single session speed-paint I just completed as a rainy weekend project. It is Printed Encounters monthly paint club model and was a perfect casual subject. Low pressure painting exercises keep the hobby fun and light, not work. This suit also fills a useful spot in my collection; I plan to use it for the module Death House.

Living Icicle / Iceheart Lamproid (5)

BRRRRRRRR!

with the cold snap I decided to shake off my painting slump of the new year with a speed-paint. not one, but five models in a single evening session! these little fellows (from PrintYourMonsters) are definitely fitting for the deep chill outside. they are notable for a few reasons, not least of which is that they are possibly the fastest time-per-model I have achieved, ever.

 This is the first time I have worked with transparent models. while I typically use clear resin, I have never once tried the painting techniques for clear pieces that have become popular these days. The method is very fast, relying on clear inks and, in this case, a light drybrush. I have some alcohol based inks I received as a gift awhile back, and have never touched them until now. Now, I'm glad I have 'em because it was fun to try new techniques and materials. A word of caution, though: transparent models and paints are unforgiving! I think I went a little too blue here, but there is no way back once that pigment is down. I think it still works, though - I have seen some pretty blue icefalls, and maybe the magic that makes them tints their color. While it isn't super realistic, it is definitely visually striking. Definitely a technique I'll try again.

Also worth mentioning is that these are an example of prints I have been making lately where I print the model already attached to the base. The supports are a little more tricky, but darned if it isn't fast, and it seamlessly integrates the model with the setting. Well worth the upfront effort, so it is something I plan on doing quite a lot moving forward. These were slightly reduced in size (80%), so the bases here are 20mm.

Finally, I should mention my true motivation with these models: they are for an adventure! An aspect of my gaming hobby I don't often discuss is that I enjoy collecting adventure modules (the old school ones, mostly), and I enjoy tying in my painting efforts to them. In this case, they aren't for an old school module, but the new free "Peril in Pinebrook" introductory adventure, which I thought was cute (& perfect for my kiddos). These Living Icicles are one of three or so encounters I want to prepare for that mini-adventure over the next few weeks. 

Stay toasty!

 

Moai Golem

 

 

I knocked out this huge size Moai  Golem from Wundervale Games from in just a few days; a speed print and paint, if you will. The hardest part was getting a nice photo in the winter sun. I kept it really simple and close to the Moai inspiration. The size and stony nature of this sentinel would make it a fierce opponent indeed for a wayward party on a remote island.

Corpse Mound

 

Oof! I may have bitten off more than I could chew with this one! I decided to all-in on Halloween painting and participate in MZ4250's monthly competition - there is a printer up as a prize, and it was worth a shot. Unlikely to nab it, but I am more than happy for the extra motivation to work on spooky topics befitting the season. MZ has been making a bunch of creepy monsters on his end, so I wanted to work on something new to the catalog. This piece immediately struck me as being ambitions and audacious - perfect! I tried a few other prints as well, but my print game was weak and this fairly complex and delicate piece was the only one I was satisfied with. Ambitious was right!  

After printing I had only a precious few weeks left, and my initial look at basing was unimpressive. I spend some solid time building up a base worthy of the title "corpse mound". It is partially clay with some woodfiller and a good dose of chopped up chunks of bad prints. I even made a few skeletons from MZs catalog to bulk it up. I followed that up with a few rounds of late-night speed-painting. I pretty quickly realized I was in over my head - so many bits and bobs here and there. I mostly just went sloppy with it with the hopes that the decayed nature of the undead would mask my mistakes. The photography leaves a lot to be desired - I was forced to use my old phone in a pinch and it struggled with focus on all the protruding bits. Next time ill do better with my painting contest goals.

The end result is decent, but suffers from some balance and detail issues. I think it gets the point across though. Maybe. My kids have differing opinions on what it is - green magical fire, ooze blob or ectoplasm. Not sure what I had in mind, actually - necromantic magic? 

Not sure how I will use it - it is almost more of a terrain piece. Maybe is is a mobile portal to the realm of the dead?  Or perhaps just mundane rotting zombie stench? Time will tell.

Happy Halloween!

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!

Violet fungus (2)

These fungal monsters pair nicely with the shriekers in my previous post, and were part of the same set from Reaper Miniatures. They were cast in transparent purple, and initially I tried painting them with some transparent painting techniques I had seen elsewhere. somewhere along the line I decided my attempt had failed, so I went with a more contemporary approach (though, they are still slightly transparent). My failed initial approach left these somewhere in between and as a result I wasn't entirely happy with the end result. Ah well, Ill try again! There is always room to grow as an artist, and transparents are definitely a technique / subject I need to research more before my next attempt. 
 

Shrieker (3)

 A set of shriekers by Reaper Miniatures. These were really fun to paint and I enjoy the variety of color combinations I was able to play with on this set, where each model is clearly unique. This is both practical from a game-play perspective and a pleasure to paint. These fungi are smaller than the photos suggest - each is mounted on a 20mm base. while I painted these a few years ago, I have been itching to revisit a mushroom theme so I can really play with fun colors and shapes.

Mandragora (2)

 

 

 

Some cute little guys from Schlossbauer I finished as a speed paint. Despite their vegetable cuteness they are definitely a perfect post for spooky season. The little screeching fellows are also a little known entry in AD&D Monster Manual II, probably because they lacked art, so they check a box on my journey to complete miniatures for every entry in that tome.

Brown Jenkin

 This is a fun one! Brown Jenkin is one of my favorite HPL antagonists. Sure, lesser known than the big squid head guy, but so disturbing, sadistic, and no less enigmatic. He is something of a household boogeyman, so naturally I had to paint him up! This piece was sculpted by Schlossbauer, and I printed it at a very small size. For reference, the base is 15mm, making it one of the smaller works in my collection; roughly in-scale with a rat. 

As the years go by, I find myself increasingly interested in smaller and smaller miniatures. I even have a few projects that are at 10mm or less, and I thoroughly enjoy printing itty-bitty models. They are fast, I guess, and as a parent , I really need that to keep a glimmer of my hobby alive.

Sand Paraelemental / sandman (2)

 Following up on my elementals theme I seem to have going recently, here are a pair of "sand elementals" from Ral Partha's crucible line. These are great little sculpts that really capture the feel of beings made from sand very effectively - simple grainy details with exaggerated humanoid proportions. The styling works *perfectly* as D&Ds "sandman" monsters, which havn't seen much action, but are definitely very cool. These were painted ages ago - just simple drybrush and wash and the sculpt did the rest.