Sticky Things

I'm on a hunt for the best of the best sticky stuff that works for me. I'm fairly picky about my sticky stuff-- so much that I won't use the plain poster putty people prefer. Have I mentioned I like alliteration? Anyway, I've been using the 1x1" Scotch Restickable Tabs for Mounting. Previously, I used the foam tape which would leave residue and sticky foam bits on the bottom of my miniature. I chose the restickable tabs since they're not permanent, but they're not strong enough to hold up to long sessions of painting under the lamps. I much prefer the sticky tape over the sticky putty, but I'm staying open-minded!

This week I'll be trying these out and writing about the pros & cons of each:

  1. Locktite's Fun-Tak Mounting Tabs
  2. Scotch Permanent Clear Mounting Tape
  3. UHU tac

Other than that, I started my Speed Paint Challenge! I had less than an hour, so I chose to pick out most of my paints and work on him for about 30 minutes laying down base coats for his robe and scroll. He's looking pretty rough right now, but he'll come together soon enough! I'll write about the whole process next Monday when we share our results, but for now, here's a bit of a non-spoiler preview:

30 minutes down, 3.5 hours left! So far, the Loctite is holding fast to the wooden spool I'm using! 

It's Back!

The Speed Paint Challenge is BACK! A few months ago, we had a fun thing going where we'd choose a miniature to paint about once a month & share our results on social media. It's a fun way to interact with painter friends near & far and it's always interesting to see what everyone comes up with. Since many of us were part of the previous Reaper Kickstarters, we would choose a Bones miniature for the challenge-- they're great for speed painting and super-affordable too! However, some of our overseas friends weren't able to find Bones as easily as we could here in the U.S., so we switched it up for challenge #4 and painted a Hasslefree miniature of their choosing. 

Everyone's welcome to join-- here are the basics for this round:

THE MINI: Reaper Bones "Darkrasp" 

At $2.79 (US Dollars), you can't beat it!

THE TIMING: 4-HOUR LIMIT

But you don't have to use it all! Some people paint some epic stuff in 2 hours or less. The standard 4 hour time limit makes these painting challenges beginner-friendly. (The extra time is helpful when painting minis with more detail too).

THE PAINT: 7 COLORS + BLACK & WHITE

Again, you don't have to use 'em all, but this comes in handy-- especially when your palette includes metallic paints! 

THE SHARING: Monday, July 27

When you're done, share it on social media and tag your friends-- I personally love Twitter for this! Using #SpeedPaintChallenge  will make it easy for everyone to find & see your stuff!

Want to know more? Here's my full process for Speed Paint Challenge #2 from last September. But don't just look at my stuff-- other painters came up with some great minis too!

Some even posted about their process & results on their blogs:

Excited yet? You should be! If you don't already have this mini, go order it now! We still have a week and a half to acquire and paint "Scroll Guy"! Don't forget, on #MiniatureMonday, July 27th, we'll be sharing our results. I hope you join us! Can't wait to see what you'll do with this guy:

Good luck and happy painting!

Painting in Progress

So this wonderful-yet-horrible thing hijacked my painting plans this weekend:

I played the ever-loving-crap out of my Empire Twi'lek Inquisitor 'til Level 15. I stopped once I got my own spaceship and figured it's now time to paint. Be right back... Let's paint!

A few hours later... I filed & prepped a few miniatures, primed some more, and unboxed Carla McCarthy, my very first commission! I had an unboxing party-- I'll write another post with all the details. She's amazing and I'm so happy I'm finally able to get to her!

I also primed Bailey's hand/dagger and the Kingdom Death's head/hood. I'll be attaching these pieces soon to further progress these miniatures-- it's about time! I did a little work on Bailey's cloak and added the first round of highlights to the top of the folds. I intend to use more of a yellow/gold highlight rather than a white/pink highlight to keep it consistent with the rest of her color scheme. I want it to be muted, cohesive, and have enough contrast to make the back view interesting! Painting a freehand border around the edge would be nice, but I'm not quite ready for that yet-- maybe I'll save that for next time. I love this Bailey Silverbell sculpt so much, I hope it won't be the last time I paint her!

I also thought about which colors I'd choose for the upcoming Speed Paint Challenge. I remember I'd section off 30 minute intervals with specific goals for a total of 2-4 hours. Reaper has inspired me to paint Bones again after I just pledged during their Bones III Kickstarter-- only 10 more days to go!

I'm not sure when the next Speed Paint Challenge will be, but stay tuned-- I'd love to get that trend running again!