Last week I found myself in search of a project that would challenge me and take me from my comfort zone, but that I could regard as an experiment rather than a piece to be finished to display level. I ended up pulling the Logan, er, human academic bust from Hera out of my box of resin.
Baroom baroom! I scored this great bust of an ent, sculpted by Lucas Pina and released by Robot Rocket Miniatures and I couldn’t wait to get some paint on him!
The figure is based on ‘Mean Tweets’ by illustrator Justin Gerard, but as I omitted the nasty crows I am just calling him Treebeard. Justin’s clever wordplay doesn’t really work without the tweeters.
Continue reading “Treebeard Comes!”Almost exactly a year ago I finished a dwarf bust by Lukáš Žaba. I wanted to do another at this time, punctuating a weird, stressful, yet productive period in my life and representing my artistic growth over the last twelve months.
This is a piece that hopefully captures something of what I’m trying to convey in my painting. Deep colorful shadows, lively & complex skintones, and compositional focus were my aims.
Continue reading “Dwarven King”I smashed out another mini project over the last week, an ogryn bust painted to look like a soldier in the Imperial Army of the Warhammer 40k universe.
This fun, simple bust was sculpted by the legendary Alfonso Giraldez, AKA Banshee. The model can be purchased from his webstore.
Continue reading “Ogryn Imperial”This past weekend I dove into a familiar bust, Maxime Penaud’s Acolyte (Secret Workshop). I painted this model last Summer and liked it enough to get another copy. It was an interesting and inexpensive (though now sadly unavailable) mini for practice and experimentation.
This time around I was trying to work out some color ideas I’ve been chasing for months. I like it when the colors mix and pollute one another in the manner of an oil painting. I was trying to reproduce that magical luminous color that seems to emanate from within the prevailing hue.
Continue reading “Acolyte Again”My weird cult priest is finished! Two weeks on this mini, equal parts difficulty and fun. I’m happy with the result, especially as I approached this as a learning project as much as a display model.
My goal was to balance intimate warm fire light with cold moonlight, with a touch of magic thrown in for fun.
Continue reading “Priest of the Unspeakable”I have the day off, and it’s time to start my next project. Why not take this Presidents’ Day as an opportunity to paint something topically historical?
I’m looking forward to trying to strike a balance between historical and fantasy norms, realism and the portrait style of Washington’s era. Hopefully this will be a quick project to help me feel productive in these cold dark isolated weeks.
I hope Presidents’ Day finds you healthy and happy, wherever you are. Stay tuned for pics of my cultist project.
For my next miniature project after Conan I decided I wanted to try a piece with very strong environmental light. I’ve been sitting on this great bust from Secret Workshop for months, and I finally felt ready to take on the challenge of painting it.
While not strictly OSL (there are no luminous objects present), the effect of the strong, directional ambient light aims at much the same thing.
Continue reading “A Colorful Journey into the Occult”By Crom, it’s been a Hyborean Age since I’ve posted! Well, it hasn’t been for lack of productivity. A month of effort has produced this bust of Conan.
What a big effort for a mini, but a very satisfying project and full of enjoyment.
Continue reading “Conan!”Happy New Year, mini painting friends. 2020 has finally released her crushing grip. We are, of course, no better off than we were two days ago, but I believe in the psychological power of beginnings, even when nothing has ultimately changed. The new year is a time to set goals and define success in the months ahead. So I shall.
Read on to learn my miniature hobby resolutions.
Continue reading “At Last, It’s 2021!”
