Painted Fire Vs. Age Of Consent

I finally DIPped another round of minis so here is your 'Photo Blog'...

First up is aobut half of a group who are are linked by their Yellow, Black, and dark Blue color palate.  I have a knight who needs some eyes, and then the DIP as well as some bowmen, crossbowmen, and I think a sword weilder to add to this group.  The duel weilder is a Hobgoblin who is the Man-At-Arms for the Knight.  I've started doing more small groups of minis who because of how they are painted are basically squads.

Here is the Hobgobling up close.  So a LOT of these minis have minimalistic to no eyes.  this was done because A) I can't paint F'Ning eyes & B) I thought the DIP would color in the area beneath their brow helms.  I was wrong.  This mini has a Wargames Factory Orc head on a Warhammer body.  I like this miniature a lot, and now being accutely aware of the missing eyes makes me sad.

Next up is one of the Spearmen in this contingent.  I only posted a picture of one of the two since they are the exact same.  The DIP did a good job of getting into the furrows of the face and giving them both a grizzled looking visage.  The minis themselves are from the old board game Lionheart which I pillaged for miniatures.

This is a Lord Of The Rings plastic mini, and for whatever reason these guys are a bit small compared to the heroic 28mm scale, however I sort of like that fact.  To me the minis should have some of that personality of different sizes.  I feel like he works well in this group looks wise, but again the eyes thing bothers me.

Here is a Battle Masters halberdier, who is honestly just a GREAT miniature from a GREAT game.  He is loaded with interesting curves and spots for the DIP to really give him some personality.  He really turned out wonderfully in my opinion.

This is the Bones fountain from the first Kickstarter.  Honestly, I think this mini really turned out wonderfully.  I did a few coats of drybrushing, a techinique that I'm attempting to use more and more.  I hit it at the end with a muted gold that gives it a look like it has been so worn down that only the last layer of paint remains.

Here is a 'meh' shot of looking at the water 'effect' I attempted.  I let the darkness of the primer set as the center of the pool, then moved outward in ever lightening circles of blue into an off white.  I wish I would have shrunk the dark down a bit, but overall I'm pleased with the results.

This is the Bones Fire Giant.  The eyes pop insanely with the flash of the camera.  This might be one of the best things I've ever painted.  The dry brusing layers really come out, the bronze, black, and red look great together, and lets be honest it is a GREAT miniature to paint.  I still have two more Fire Giants to paint, I just hope I can give them at least as good a paint job as I did here.

I didn't start this mini, actually The Jakester did.  He gave it the green skin, and I just ran with it.  I really wanted this one to look great since he started it, so I spent a lot of time working on it, and honestly it was the first mini that I really started using the color up dry brushing that Woody, THE Karl, and the Geneimal had been suggesting.  Honestly, the picture doesn't do this miniature justice, and Tre Manor's sculpt is stunning.

So I got my hands on some redonkulously small miniatures awhile back and just decided to use them as Halflings.  I also have this Collus Shipping Guild in 2nd Group that needed foot soldiers.  I was having a hard time picking a color scheme so I just used the Chelish Marine color scheme from Pathfinder's Skull & Shackles set.  It is a simple white, black, bronze, and red.  I have a nice contingent of these done, and only a few DIPped so far.

This is a repurposed Mage Knight miniature, who I decided to give a swanky Tom Selleck moustache.  Since I use black powder in my campaigns the crazy gun works perfectly.  There is a nice 'Storm Trooper' vibe that it also has.  The one thing I don't care for is the way the DIP makes all the whites look overly dirty, but I guess it works for a contingent of ship boarders.

Here is another of the Collus Shipping Guild's Halfings.  I really like this miniature with its armored face guard, its nasty looking crossbow, and the buckler on the arm.

This is the last of this batches Halflings, and the weakest of the sculpts.  It isn't bad, and has a nice Conquistador feel to it. 

I'm not sure what Russian company makes some of these miniatures I got my hands on, but the Ogres are really rock solid.  The face isn't that good on this one, but the rest of him is very nice.  I don't think my paint job is that bad, I wish the face had a bit more lines and crevasses in it for the DIP, but its decent looking, and adds some muscle to my Collus Shipping Guild boarding party.

Here is this group assembled.  I think they look even better as a group than they do as single entities.  I can't wait to get eyes on the other 10 to 12 minis in this group and get them DIPped, then I think they'll look fantastic.

This a Dungeon Crawl Miniatures crow, that I painted as a Magpie which is one of my favorite birds.  I think the paint job is super simple, but very effective.

Here is another of those Russian Ogres.  I tried to do some different things with the colors of the outfit, and I think it works.  I like that the helm seems to hang over his eyes in an almost cartoonish manner.  I think this miniature will see a lot of table time.

I didn't paint this miniature, Julie 'The Meatloaf' did and I think she did a bang up job.  The armor wear and tear she did looks really good.  This is another Russian miniature.

This is an Alkemy Orc, and his paint job is spot on to fit in with the Pathfinder Orcs that Wizkids is doing.  Let me just say that matching pre-paint colors is NOT easy.  My only real complaint about the Alkemy miniatures is sometimes their faces are a bit subtle for my clumsy hands, but overall it is solid looking, and is a great looking Barbarian.  Oh and has a rockin' butt crack I didn't show here.

This is a Heroquest Orc, and unfortunately the lighting change I attempted to make really sapped the chance for me to capture any of the actual dry brushing I did on the face.  I was really happy how these Orcs have been turning out.

Here is my other Heroquest Orc, and again same lighting issue.  I'm going to use these guys in 2nd Group's Pirate goings on, so I went a little bright on the clothing color choices.

PUGWAMPI's!  These are the Reaper Bones Kobolds, but since popular RPG's have turned Kobolds from tiny Dogmen to tiny Lizardmen I'm using these decidely dog faced guys as Pugwampis.  I think they turned out decently, and now I have a slew of them.

I don't play Descent, but I like to get some of their plastic minaitures to paint, and this Ettin turned out brilliantly.  To me it was oneof the flatest prior to the DIP, but once I applied it the miniature just popped!  I like the armored heads, the club, the stooped posture, and the general pose.  Great miniature with a solid paint job.

This is the Reaper Bones Stone Golem, and I feel like he is a great example of how when I take my time and use the techiniques that others have shared with me I can do some decent work.  The stone work looks cool, the other color choices look like they were painted on the statue, and they work well.  I'm very happy with this miniature.

I didn't paint this just, I just finally DIPped him.  I don't remember where I picked him up actually.  He's a Warhammer Fantasy Chaos guy, and he's really a solid looking miniature.

I painted this miniature to accompany the one above.  I think I painted this miniature about 4 years ago and he only got the DIP because I noticed some paint chipping.  He's an ok looking miniature, but maybe a bit too monochromatic to me.

This was another miniature who needed some touch up work after breaking, so I had touch up the paint and reDIP. 

This was one of the first miniatures Cassandra ever painted.  I finally got around to DIPping it.  This was her first 4E character, Vannar.  I still think it is a rock solid paint job, and the DIP didn nothing to change that.

This one is from the 90's D&D Board Game, and maybe is one of more solid, well rounded paint jobs I've done.  Hell I even got some good looking eyes in there.  I free handed the lines on the toga as well.  I just wish his proportions weren't quite so cartoony.

I think this is a Wargames Factory miniature.  I just think it has a nice look to it, and works well as a Druid.  The lines on the paints help break up the color a bit. 

I don't know where I picked this miniature up, but all I did was DIP it.

Edgar painted this to sort of look like yours truly.  He has a bit o' the crazy eyes going on, but I sort of like it overall. 

This is another mini that I picked up form somewhere, that all I did was DIP.  I really like this miniature a lot.  It has a dynamic pose for a Mage. 

Cassandra and I painted this mini together for someone in our very first 4E D&D group.  I finally got around to DIPping him.  He's a Reaper miniature so the sculpt is solid.  He's a nice looking roguish caster.  The DIP really made the back of his cloak pop.

This is the first miniatures I EVER painted.  It is a cobbled together Warhammer miniature.  I was very proud of how this turned out then I used a spray sealer on it, and it sort of made the miniature look like he was covered in a film of dust.  So I had sort of hoped that the DIP might help mute that.  It sort of did.  I like this miniature quite a bit, and hope to use him soon.

Julie The Meatloaf painted this Beastman.  He looked pretty decent, but then he got the DIP and ALL the lines on the miniature burst to life and it really gave the miniature a breath of fresh air and personality.

THE Karl painted this Dwarf, I think originally to be Georgee for 1st Group D&D, however it just never got DIPped to now.  I Love the way this turned out.  THE Karl is a rockstar painter, and even a job he did in one night has a lot of flair and personality to it.

I believe Edgar painted this Warhammer Dwarf, and like THE Karl he is able to squeeze a lot of life and vibrancy into a small amount of quick work.  It is a nice, solid looking miniature.

I picked up this villagers off Ebay, honestly I don't know what company they were put out by.  They were sort of partially painted so I just came in and finished them.  They are some really great miniatures, and will fill out the ranks of my townsfolks well.

I had to do a lot of work to get this one finished, which was funny since the person I bought it from had already flocked the base.  I really like this miniature, because while he's armed he looks terrified.

The one miniature in this group that had no flocked base was the one that I had to do the least work on, in fact I just did minor touch ups on this one.  The eyes are hella creepy.

Here is a group shot of these not too friendly villagers. 

You can't see it here that well, but the face of this miniature is really non-existant.  For whatever reason the sculpt of the face was terrible.  So I decided to capitalize on that and have painted the face like a mask.  I used a LOT of dry brushing here, and you can sort of tell in the picture.  Overall I don't feel like the picture does this miniature justice, as it is one of my favorite things I've painted, not despite the strange face/mask, but because of it.

Here are some large plastic Ants and then some Dungeon Crawl Miniatures ants.  I painted them black, dry brushed them with a burgundy.  I think they turned out pretty well.  My only complaint with the Dungeon Crawl stuff is it takes them a LONG time to stop being tacky after painting and DIPping.

Reaper Bones Scorpions, that were really an easy and fun paint.  I tried to ggo with something a bit weird paint wise.  Also you can really see the dry brusing on the one onf the right's carapace.

Here are two ticks or beetles.  I went with some purples and blues as well as a sickly green on the mandibles.  I think they turned out pretty good!

Super simple Reaper Bones Beetle swarms.  All I did was hit them with a metallic blue, and then do another clear glittery brush over the top of that.

Here is a whole bunch of Rats.  Almost all of them are Reaper Bones, with the exception of one Heroquest Rat. 

Here is said Heroquest Rat.  I like the Bones Rats a lot, but they have zero personality compared to the Heroquest Rat. 

Reaper Bones Rat swarms.  I don't have much to say here, except these really were not that much fun to paint, there were too many tangled spots in which I had to try and paint tails.

I started this miniature, but THE Karl did the finishing work on this Skaven.  The dark colors and light don't really allow you to see much with this pictute.

Here is the other Skaven that THE Karl finished for me.  I wish the camera and the lights did them both more favors.

PUGWAMPI's!  Again I think these guys turned out really well.  The colors, the dry brushing, and the detail work really have given me a pile of these guys I'm proud to put on the board.

PUGWAMPI's with spears!  It was hard to get a good picture of these guys due to the pose.


Last but not least are MORE PUGWAMPI's! 



As you can see, there was a lot minis there, and the thing is I think that was only about half of what I had 'done'.  Cassandra has said she is going to get on the eyes of what is left and I should have another large group to DIP soon.  I am getting progressively better as a painter, but I still have an awful long way to go.