Taking Pictures

I have a lot to learn when it comes to taking decent miniature photos. I know it's one of the most important things to get right-- why spend the extra time painting display miniatures if you can't take decent pictures of them? They're difficult to photograph since the miniature scale is so small and the details are even harder to capture with an average camera phone. I've seen various set-ups of small studios with camera tripods and light boxes-- though the professional-grade equipment is a considerable financial investment. I've also seen home-made light boxes and economical solutions that seem to yield quality photos that fit the needs of most painters.

While images of the most-recently-completed Troll Axer mini are posted here, I have a long way to go before I can photograph them with perfect diffused lighting, etc. So far, I've been taking pictures with awkwardly-placed desk lamps, scrapbook paper backgrounds I found at my local Hobby Lobby, and my iPhone4. Since I've practicing new & different techniques as I build on my experience, that's been totally acceptable. However, it's time I thought about investing in a proper camera.

I gave myself a goal of painting & blogging consistently for 6 months (I started April 2014), and only then will I allow myself to start looking a decent camera. It's the next practical step and I know it will motivate me to commit the time needed for bigger projects & display-quality miniatures. In the meantime, I'm focusing on speed painting to learn how to paint faster and smarter!

Troll Axer • More photos here 

Dragon Age II

I haven't painted since Monday. I feel guilty. What have I been doing you may ask? Watching Twitch. As much as I was opposed to Twitch in the beginning, I'm now kind of obsessed. I watch it while I paint and I've really enjoyed Azure's channel. It's a good-sized following so the chat isn't out of control and the broadcaster is really involved with his viewers. Recently, he started streaming Mass Effect 3, a Bioware RPG series which has been extremely popular over the past few years. I personally love Bioware games. I played Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic so many years ago that got me hooked on the BioWare franchise. Watching Azure play ME3 made me want to go back and replay one of my favorite game series-- Dragon Age. Since there's been so much buzz about the upcoming Dragon Age: Inquisition game release, I decided I'd pop the Dragon Age II disc into the XBOX 360. 

While I usually play a mage or ranged-weapon characters, I decided to try something I've never done and play a rogue character. As far as personality, I'm usually a straight-and-true, goody-goody Paragon in BioWare games. I always do the right thing throughout the quests & stories. I always just felt too guilty when I role-played a jerk character and hurt other people's feelings. Yes, it's true, I feel bad even when I hurt fake people's feelings with my fake character's responses. In my first play-thorugh of Dragon Age 2, I was a goody-two-shoes Mage. However, I've decided to finally try something new. I'll play my newly-created character as an impatient, practical, sarcastic woman. (I'm also going to crush Anders the second he starts to flirt. Seriously, I have no sympathy for that guy). My character will also have a somewhat-unhealthy obsession with moody Fenris. I'm liking this plan already. 

For those of you who are less familiar with BioWare RPGs, the games give you dialogue response options throughout the storyline. The available responses usually fall into 3 categories: Nice, Sarcastic, or Rude. The player's choices will affect the course of the story and  certain responses with different characters will open and/or close doors throughout the game. That concept alone makes these games attractive because of the high replay ability. I remember the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books that were so popular in the early 90s-- it's basically like that but better! 

One of my favorite parts of BioWare games is the character creation aspect. As with tradition, I attempt to design a female player character that looks like me. It's not everyone's preference, and I like to indulge in a bit of narcissism in this regard. Dragon Age II face options are varied, though I find it's hard to find an exact match for my own big, oval head. The character inevitably turns out cuter. Oh well. Without further ado, meet "Mocha Hawke":

Mid-character creation

Yep, I'm pretty happy with how she turned out!

Last night I drank wine and played this until 3:30am. Needless to say, today's been a bit rough... 

Trollblood Complete!

Happy Miniature Monday! While these pictures are not high quality (taken with my iPhone), I wanted to show you the first plastic/resin miniature I've ever painted! Final pictures to come. In the meantime: behold, the Privateer Press Trollblood:

What I learned:

1. Plastic/Resin seems to be much harder to clean up than pewter. Prior to painting, I should have taken more time to identify & smooth the mold lines.

2. Painting metal is my personal Kryptonite. While I like painting skin, faces, and leather, metal is not beautiful. It's full of cracks, chips, wear & tear, and I find it difficult to paint. It's tricky-- the light falls in different places and reflects in unexpected ways. 

3. His weapon needs more interest. I want to learn how to paint corrosion and/or gore on weaponry.