My Favorite Miniature Things

I've accumulated a lot of stuff over the years, most of it stemming from my passion for collecting miniatures & related paraphernalia. After having a certain holiday song stuck in my head, I decided to write about a few of my favorite things related to miniature painting.

First off, I fully-admit I have too many bottles of paint. I've long-admired the organizational systems of those who custom-craft works of wood. However, these plastic paint bins make my life much easier as they prop up and can be easily accessed on my table. I have three-- one with neutrals and browns, another with muted colors, and the third with bright colors organized by hue & value. 

In addition to my paint organization, I hold my Optivisor near & dear to my heart... or rather, my eyes-- not only mine, but the eyes I paint on miniatures. At first, I was wholly uninterested in bulky, magnifying lenses that claimed to lend itself well to the art of miniature painting. However, these were given to me as a gift, and after getting used to them, I have to say: they really do make a positive difference! I find that my eyes are strained less and it's much easier to use since they're essentially strapped to your head. They conform to the very angle of your vision and, despite looking pretty goofy, are indispensable when it comes to detail work!

Optivisor

My last two favorites are the micro clippers and my files. I use these immediately after I free the miniature from its packaging. I use the clippers to trim the flash (a.k.a. "sprue") and the files to banish & smooth mold lines. With these tools, I set myself up for success before I even begin to paint! You're doing yourself a huge favor if you take your time during these steps! (Trust me, I've seen the results when you skip these steps and they're not pretty). 

Mirco Clippers 

In the meantime, I'm uploading the audio files from our Sunday D&D session, tangents & all. Fair warning: adult language and cheesy puns are involved so please listen at your own risk :)

Holiday D&D · Part 1 of 3

The other two audio files are in progress!

Desk Quest Complete

Happy Miniature Monday! A lot has happened over the weekend. On Friday, I came home after a week of travel to this Halloween quest:

Concerned that my messy painting area was suddenly clean, I went in search of the culprit. Armed with my trusty Minecraft sword ("It's dangerous to go alone. Take this!"), I followed the trail to a brand new miniature painting desk!

Such a wonderful surprise, I'm one lucky lady! I've been painting so much over the last few days. This month marks my seventh month of consistent painting. While I've been painting intermittently for a few years, finding time for my hobby has been a struggle. Seven months of painting & blogging may not sound like much, but for me, it's a significant accomplishment!

At the Reaper Artist Conference, I picked up a few (okay, a lot) of the special edition Bonesylvanian miniatures they had available only in the month of October. These chibi-style monster minis are too darn cute! Sculpted by Bob Ridolfi and Julie Guthrie, they feature big eyes and tiny little bodies. I love painting Gus so much, I had to buy the whole set! They're being proudly displayed on my wall by my desk until I can paint them. I primed Tish, the female vampire, last night and I'll be painting her next. Part of me wants to hoard them as collector's items (it's silly, I know), but they're just too cute not to paint! 

Using my knowledge from Derek Schubert's Painting Monochrome class I took at RAC, I tackled Gus with only these colors below, using Brilliant Blue to make his eyes pop just a bit more. This ghostly mini was perfect for my experiment, and I intend to use a monochrome palette in the future on larger scale, more detailed miniatures. 

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! Without further ado, here's Gus:

Handsy McShakerson

I started a great adventure this weekend: I started a personal training routine. I just paid off my car, which means I'll have a bit of extra money every month. My first thought, of course, was "More minis!" but since I've already amassed quite a hoard, I think I'll hold off (at least for now). As it is, I'm slowly painting through my box of Reaper Bones Vampire Package from the Kickstarter while practicing how to "speed paint"-- basically, learning how to paint faster & with more accuracy. Painting miniatures is a sedentary activity and lately, I wouldn't call myself active by any stretch of the imagination. (Though I bet Lindsey Stirling could somehow paint and dance at the same time). 

Now, there's no need to worry. This blog is not going to turn into a fitness blog and I won't post about my workouts or upload pictures of food from my nutrition plan. However, something unexpected happened when I sat down at my painting table this weekend after my first training session. I realized I had a dilemma: I couldn't paint. The curls, push ups, planks, rows, dips, and weighted lunges had my arm stabilizer muscles freaking out. I couldn't hold my miniature still, and the tighter I tried to hold it, the more I would shake. So frustrating. I had to give up and as I shuffled around the house in my mopey soreness, the door bell rang. My Amazon shipment had arrived! Perfect timing. I bought a few things on Amazon last week, including some reusable mounting tape for minis (because the 3M foam tape that I use doesn't completely come off) and James Gurney's "Color & Light".

You may have heard of James Gurney-- if not, definitely look him up! He's a prolific artist & creator of Dinotopia, a series of beautifully illustrated books. Check out a few of his Dinotopia images here. The realism he creates in his fantasy realm paintings is truly stunning. "Color and Light" was recommended by one of the digital painters that I follow and I wanted to incorporate some of Gurney's brilliance into the way I approach miniature painting. 

So far, I'm really impressed by what I'm learning and I can't wait to try out some of the techniques that will directly apply to miniature painting. However, directly applicable or not, it's all interesting! One section I'm currently reading is the "Color Zones of the Face" where lighter skin tones are broken up into three sections from top to bottom-- light golden, reddish, and blueish/greenish. Complexions subtly shift colors in each zone with the forehead being generally lighter. The ears, nose, and cheeks are in the central zone of the face, and since that area has more blood capillaries closer to the surface of the skin, it has a reddish tinge. Men with five-o'clock shadow will have an especially darker blue/green third which can contrast nicely with a warmer color painted on the lips. Fascinating! It's one thing to paint what you see, it's another thing to know why we're seeing what we're seeing. 

While a 3D miniature poses a few different challenges than a 2D painting, I'm learning how to "see" things in a different way. Mostly, I want to be able to easily visualize how light interacts with objects without depending on lamps & photos-- one of my biggest personal struggles. With more research and experimenting, I hope it will come more naturally to me soon! I know real-life examples are still important, and that combined with insight contained in this book will definitely bring me to the next level, both as a painter, and in the way I observe things in everyday life. I may not have been able to paint this weekend, but I still found a way to improve upon myself and learn some new things!