A Couple of Old School Minis recently Completed

I've actually been painting quite a bit these last few months since January, I just have not posted anything.  Now I suppose I should binge post mini pictures.

Below are a few of the minis I have completed recently.  The first up is a Gnoll Champion done sometime in May, part of Julie Guthrie's Grenadier Personalities collection. My daughter wanted him for gaming, but she wanted a Polar Bear Paladin, so I painted the mini in that style. I would say this was a fairly quick paint for me, less than 8 hours LOL. I'm getting older and so my eyes are getting bad!

Next up is one I completed in July, a Ral Partha AD&D Gnoll. I tried to use a Zenithal highlight technique on the mini during the priming stage.  This means I spray primed him black first, then I spray painted yellow at a 45 degree angle, then I sprayed him from straight above with a shot of white primer. I then tried to glaze on paint over the primer highlights.

The yellow spray paint was too globby, and I should have used a finer primer, but it worked OK.

He has a lot of metallic paint on him, and I find this makes the mini extra reflective for photos.  The camera kind of freaks out.

Grenadier Personalities: Desert Warrior

Here is Grenadier's Desert Warrior.

I chose this model for several reasons, one of which was the ornate shield he carries. I thought it would be interesting to paint that up in NMM style.  The pose on the model is quite good too, but that is expected from Julie Guthrie. He looks ready for anything thrown at him.

I purchased this mini from Mega Minis.com while they were still in business a few years back.  He was only $2 - what a great deal.  Too bad they went out of business because of the high metal prices.

I researched pictures of Saracens, Moors, and other desert warrior groups throughout history.  One thing that stood out was how colorful their clothing was, and this surprised me. I thought they only wore white or black robes and head dresses.  I saw lots of reds, greens, and blues in the pictures. With the whole array of colors available to me,  I took a while to decide upon the color scheme.  I decided on blue and yellow,  which always gives a good result .

That's it for now.  Happy painting all.

Grenadier Personality: Female Cleric

One of my twin daughters really likes this cleric, and has been playing with her for a year now.  She has only had primer on her until this last week when I decided to paint her up (get off my lazy butt).   I buckled down and forced myself to paint the face first.  Once the face came to life, painting the rest of the figure went really quick.  I asked my daughter to choose the color combinations for her clothes, which always seems to stump me, and she made a really great selection.

This is one of Julie Guthrie's sculpts I believe.  It seems Julie has worked for all the big names like Reaper and Grenadier and Ral Partha.   Julie, if you are reading this, you are a fantastic sculptor!!  My favorite !

Here is the back of her cape.

 I used a Reaper metallic gold paint on her..and the problem with these metallic paints is that the metal flakes bunch up and don't give me a really smooth surface. The mini looks crusty in the metal areas.  Oh well, there must be some way to water it way down, perhaps shake it for an hour, and then get a smooth metallic.

Lashtash: Another Lizard Warrior

Here is Lashtash...a lizard man with a striking resemblance to a crocodile.  He's got a cool tail with three prominent bone spikes to lash out at any flanking enemies or even those behind.  So watch out backstabbing thieves..you could get Lash slapped.

I like the serrated blades that Julie Guthrie gave these guys. They add nicely to their savagery. Also, the bluish metal is proving over and over to be a good choice on these guys.  It seems to contrast well with their skin, and it also complements the tan colors.

 I also think the armor is very nicely sculpted for a 1990's miniature. I sort of assumed that their armor is not shiny clean and bright, but weathered a bit.  I presume either they know how to make their own banded armor or they stole it from poor adventurers.

Lashtash now joings his comrade Sslishtassh for hunting duty.  What do they eat???

The First Lizardman: Sslishtassh

As part of my three lizardman reconnaissance team, I have completed the first warrior. This is a Grenadier sculpt by Julie Guthrie from the late 90s perhaps. He is really a true 25mm guy, looking very small compared to most other mini makers except perhaps Red Box. Anyways, another really nice semi-old school scult with good personality and the typical Ral Partha "open Stance".

I like going with the greenish yellow skin on these guys, similar to the old Citadel Orcs.  The yellow just helps the highlights pop out so well.  I did try to wash some blue into the crevices of the scales, but it does not show too much.

Here is the back.  I did a crazy logo on the shield of the red dragon god they worship.  They might even have a more primitive logo or sign than this one, but I got carried away.  For the basic NMM on the sword, I added in some blue to my grey colors and I love it.  The handle is supposed to be a dirty bronze metal.

More lizards are on the way slowly....can't do half ass jobs on these for some reason - I did bad and quick paint jobs for years and all I have to show for it are piles of minis that I can't stand!!

Lizard Time!

For my next project I have selected several lizardmen from my collection.  The two small ones, 25mm, are Grenadier models sculpted by Julie Guthrie again.  She is terrific.  The big guy is some kind of Reaper Dragonkin or dragon warrior.  He would obviously make an excellent leader of a group of lizardmen.

The trick on the small guys has been to shade the recesses and get the raised parts lighter using dry brushing. The problem this poses is that dry brushing, the way I do it, is kind of messy and leaves the mini sort of powdery looking.  I have tried some glazes of a darker color to reduce that effect.  Also, I'm experimenting with using blue in the recesses of the scales as opposed to dark green.

So, I expect the guy in the middle to be done first, then the guy on the right.  The dragon guy will take a while.

That's it for now from the Fun House..

Gromgar - Dwarf of the North

All hail Gromgar...brave dwarf from the northern mountains. This is one of the Grenadier Personalities miniatures from the 1990s, and it is also the last of my adventuring group.  He turned out the best of all of them, probably because I had practiced so much before starting on him, that my metal painting was more in tune.  His face was the only one that turned out good in my eye...he may have had his face painted first before the other guys. Anyways, I really like this mini and may not coat him with Dullcote so that I can preserve the paint work.

And here is the back of Gromgar...a bit tougher to do for me than the front. My favorite parts are the axe, the shield, the beard, and the horns.  Least favorite is the chainmail...I tried for a bronze colored effect.

Adventuring Group Progress: 6 out of 7 Minis Done!

It is very nice to have finished most of the minis in this adventuring group. The latest addition is Bleasely the fighter on the far right, who required quite a bit of NMM steel work.  The result is something that kind of passes for metal ...but seems cleaner to me than metallic paint.  These minis are smaller than Reaper, being true 25mm, so painting them is tougher for me.  I  bought some reading glasses to wear while painting so that I can see them up close.

Here are the backs of the party. I decided to paint on some dungeon stones on the bases instead of adding flock or rocks. This makes for a cleaner look.  I'm not super happy with Bleasely's face, but he is a sorry fellow, so I shouldn't be surprised.

Now, it is time to paint to the final member of the party, the dwarf known only as Gromgar.

Some More Adventurer Works in Progress

Well, this first mage is called Mr. Fancy pants for lack of a better name right now. Perhaps his first name is Nigel or Boris. He is done in a high quality tabletop fashion...no Golden Demon caliber painting here ...yet.

I do need to finalize the bases on all of these guys.  My idea is to paint cobble stones onto the gray bases when I have all of the guys done.

Here is Fancy pants from behind. Nothing fancy on that scabbard..he is sort of a low to mid level adventurer.

Finally we have the party fighter who stays up front, Bleasely.  He likes to have a drink or two before delving to keep his nerves calm.  This one is still in progress with lots of NMM metal to be done on the sword and legs.

I thought I would give him some kind of crest/symbol on his shield from his previous employer.  It is kind of a Dire Boar.  Bleasely is tired.

The backpack turned out nicely. I used some strong highlights from a color called Beige Brown..then I washed it all with some of that magic Gryphon Sephia stuff that is rare and no longer made because it was too excellent and awesome.

WIP Adventurers

Here is a Work in Progress (WIP) picture of some of the adventurers.  These chaps don't have a lot of armor on, so they do not need the extra time for NMM metal effect...or half ass NMM which is what I do.  I still think it looks cleaner and brighter than regular metallics.  I'm happy to say that I have gotten a bit more wild in color selection...sort of a crazy 1970's vibe to these guys which would make them good for Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG...a great game.

More pictures to come in the next few days...most likely of the dwarf and the fighter. 

Building and Adventuring Party

I'm using some of Julie Guthrie's Fantasy Personalities to build up an adventuring party of 6 people. Of course, this means I need to make a lot of color choices on outfits which is going to be a bit tough for me...an ironic weakness for a mini painter. 
I am not sure what a few of these characters are in terms of their class.  Can anyone out there chime in?   The guy with the two weapons seems like he could be a rogue or a bard...very brash and cocky.  The wizard looking guy in the red cloak could have been a druid, but he is carrying a sword so I assume he is a mage of some sort.  I believe the guy with the bow is a ranger and that the old man is a wizard.

Anyways, here is the beginning stage of this Work in Progress.

I think I will call the old man Perplexis the Travelling Wizard. Any ideas for names for the others?