Monster Lab Miniatures

I'm showing off another batch of Freeblades minis this week, and is it ever an A-Team of mixed talent. The group of four includes a summoned bandit Spirit Warrior, bandit Thug, Urdaggar Snake Mystic, and a Haradelan Muster Archer. Let's take a look!

At long last I finally got my hands on bag of birch tree seeds (a few weeks before Kent P.'s birch tree shed its own) and put them to good use on the bandit bases as fall leaves. Secret Weapon offers birch seeds for $10 at your friendly hometown hobby store, but if you can gather them up for yourself for free that's your best bet.

Two of the models in this group received special attention: the bandit Thug, and Haradelan Archer. Jon C. wanted a Thug with a "baseball" swinging stance instead of the stock option.

Both the Thug's armed were chopped off and pins put in place for replacement sculpts. I also bent his legs into a "squash the bug" pivot (for all of you who played baseball as kids out there) to complete the body motion of an all out swing.

Here he is with two brand new arms and a paint job!

I was excited to do a five o'clock shadow on this thug as it fit perfectly with the rough-and-tumble nature of the bandit faction. Clean shaven is so Haradelan.

The Thug's leather armor is studded with rings and slugs to bolster its defenses.

The Spirit Warrior is a model that can be summoned by the bandit Enchantress. For this one I went with the classic spectral glow, adding blue light around his feet and where it reflects on the tree stump behind him.

Here they are, a live and dead bandit, back-to-back fighting in the fray. Trivia!!! If you can name the image that inspired the bandit's bases you will win one free paint at my Level 2 showcase quality! So, what was the image (probably something from Freeblades, hint, hint) that inspired the basing scheme on these bandits? Be the first to comment with the correct answer or email me at midwestmonsterlab@gmail.com and I'll paint one of your infantry sized models for free!

This Snake Mystic is an Urdaggar model released for the DGS role-playing game Bright Swords. It will be included in an upcoming Urdaggar faction, but you can get the model now!

I couldn't resist doing another... Urdaggar... redhead. Ok, one of those was a guy, but yeah, I can't help but want to paint my Urdaggar females with red hair, I've had to fight the urge to do it on each one! The Snake Mystic is a great model for red hair though. It contrasts nicely with he drab clothing and the bright green snake and makes the model pop.

Of course, I wanted to do a bunch of snake tattoos on the mystic and so I decided to do a shoulder sleeve and one lurking around her pelvis... bow chick wow wow. I have found myself doing this on a number of female models as well. I imagine these free-spirited and war loving women are a bit randy as well.

The final model in the group is a Hardelan Muster Archer. Like the archers I've done for Haradel before, I wanted to add some umph to this model with an arrow and bowstring.

Here's another archer I've done before with an arrow and bow string. It really is that extra bit that pushed the model over the top.

That's it for this week, thanks for stopping by and checking out my Freeblades minis! Come back next time to see what's cooking over here at the Monster Lab!

I've got two cool minis to show to you this week. One of them I'm especially excited for because it's a conversion done for an unreleased model, the Questing Knight of Barek.

Questing Knight of Barek

Questing Knight of Vidnuar

Questing Knight of Tahnar

There's three playable questing knights for the Haradel faction in Freeblades right now: Barek (boar/battle aspect), Vidnuar (lion/leadership aspect), and Tahnar (falcon/mobility aspect). Two have released models (Vidnuar and Tahnar), but the QKoB doesn't have a unique model yet... so I got to converting.

The QKoV is an awesome model and I knew it would be an excellent base for my Barek conversion. After removing both arms and his sword, I used three brass pins to create the foundation for his new arm positioning and axe.

I also slightly repositioned his legs and head, giving him less of a stalking look in favor of a striding posture. A bit of foundation on his arms and I was ready to add the bulk of my new arm sculpt.

The QKoB got a padded under-tunic and some crab shell shoulder plates to represent his extra heavy armor of 7. I also wanted his helmet to be very unique and stand out as a true representation of the boar, so I beefed up his face plate and added a couple of tusks.

The axe got some more fleshing-out with an embellishment on its hilt and a leather grip. Boars are known for their unruly mohawks and I wanted this knight of Barek to have a similar look. A bit of green stuff hair did the trick.

The axe received a bit more 'stuff on its blade, giving it some relief designs, and then the model was done!

This was a really rewarding project and one that was greatly appreciated by its commissioner, Jon C; and a great chance to keep working on my modeling skills. I'll be doing a custom sculpt for the Falkaaran Fire Wizard for entry into the sculpt and paint category at this year's GenCon, so I need to be on my A-game!

The last model I have this week is the Falkaaran Witchcat. After winning a free paint job for his Fire Wizard by answering a trivia question correctly, Jason C decided to have me do the whole lot of them for him. Which reminds me... there's still an unanswered trivia question from last week's post (look down by the pictures of the spirit warrior and thug)! Answer it correctly and I'll paint up an infantry sized mini for you for free!

Until the Falkaaran kickstarter finishes, there's only two members of the freeband released and the witchcat is the final one for me to do. (I am really excited to paint the rest of the band, check out the pics of the models on the KS site!)

The witchcat isn't your everyday predator, he has very real psychic potential! This is represented in-game by his ability to cancel the "spirit" talent some models may have (think spirit warrior) and outside the game by its ability to communicate telepathically! Really cool stuff, and something I wanted to depict on the model for sure. To do this I decided a pair of creepy glowing eyes would do nicely.

The witchcat also has very faint panther spotting on his legs and haunches.. this isn't an official look for the cat and you can paint yours any way you see fit!

That's it for this week, stop by next time and see what else I'm working on here at the Monster Lab!

Good gaming and happy hobbying!

Hobby-gaming is time consuming stuff. You have to put models together, construct their bases, clean mold lines, fill gaps and defects, prime, paint, wash, paint... Great hobby is an investment, and one well worth the time and money. Life-long friendships are forged over the table top, wits are tested, and it's good clean fun.

But for some of us, we don't have the time to paint (and in some cases completely assemble) all of our miniatures. Year after year, our prime coated or naked minis wage monochromatic war, still looking for that extra something that will make a game or campaign truly epic. The Monster Lab can help.

Count Draigo & Grey Knight Terminators: $360

For ten years I've been an avid hobbyist. Starting first with a force of Iron Warrior chaos marines in high school, before moving on to the enigmatic eldar and the even more strange chaos demons. I've played 40k, Fantasy, Mordheim, and Freeblades, collecting armies, warbands, and freebands for each. In ten years I have done A LOT of painting.

One year ago I decided that I wanted to earn my bread by painting some figs. It's gone great, and since then I've been hired on as the studio painter for the fledgling game company DGS Games. I get to paint minis everyday. It's awesome.

Changeling & Pink Horros of Tzeentch: $260

In fact, I want to paint more models and share the hobby I love with as many people as I can. I want to paint your minis.

Do you need your 40k army painted? Fantasy? Warmachine? Hordes? One model? A squad? I can paint just about anything you've got. Like these demons above.

Custom sculpted bases starting at $3

I'll even go the extra mile and do custom bases for you so models can really stand out on the table top.

Eldar Swooping Hawks: $240

In my opinion, my prices are dirt cheap. I know some painters will paint for peanuts, sometimes literal peanuts. But besides that, my prices are as low as you can go. Here's the breakdown: Say you want a squad of Swooping Hawks or Striking Scorpions painted. I'll charge you a flat $10/hour rate, factor in a few bucks for supplies like paint, green stuff, etc. and that's it. Dirt cheap.

But what about those Hawks or Scorpions? The swooping hawks above would take me about 3-4 hours per model (sometimes it's less), depending on size, how many colors, and conversions. So your bill would come out to $180-$240. Not an amount of money to sneeze at, but lookey there, you've got your models painted in record time and now all you have to do is have a fun time playing them on the table top!

Eldar Striking Scorpions: $200

Commission prices vary depending on what level of quality you want. My standard paint is like the one I described above, three to four hours per model. I call it "Showcase Quality," and with it you get a finely painted model with unlimited colors, fantastic basing, and the assurance that when you put it on the table top it will draw looks and complements alike.

If Showcase Quality is too rich for your blood, or you just need something basic, you can also go cheaper in the $15-20 range. These guys won't turn heads, but they're painted with a basecoat of three main colors, a wash, another basecoat, a highlight, and enough details picked out to call it "Table Top Quality."

I can also go nuts on your model or models, and labor on the detail, time, and layers of shading and highlights. For $100 and up I can paint you something competition worthy (I've placed top 5 at both Golden Demons I've entered into, 2011 Diorama and 2012 40k Monster).

Questing Knight of Vidnuar: $40

But most people are looking for something that's reasonably priced and has their friends saying "wow, that looks great!" And Showcase Quality is for them.

What if a whole army is out of your reach? How about a painted skirmish force Warmachine/Hordes, Freeblades, Mordheim, or Blood Bowl? Maybe you need one model as a centerpiece for your force or for you role-playing character? Not a problem.

Beezelbub the level 10 Dwarf Warrior with one-day rushed delivery: $52

Need it rushed to you? For a few more bucks (up to 20% of your order value) I will bump your order to the front of the line and hustle to get it done by the deadline that YOU choose, it can even be as early as the next day. That's some great service.

Falkaaran Witchcat: $30

Still, many of us like painting our own models (and luckily have the time to do so), but we want to add that something extra to the minis we paint. If that something extra is a conversion or sculpted piece just outside your skill set, I can gladly make you anything your heart desires! For instance the "dock" basing done for this female rogue is the perfect in-scene basing to make her model truly special. For $10-20 (maybe less, sometimes I can do things faster than I even knew I could) I can convert a model to your exact specifications like the one below. The more involved the conversion the higher the price, but the sky's the limit!

Dock basing: $10

Female Rogue with crafted basing: $40

A conversion can be as simple as a weapon swap or a few additions...

"Polythemus" the Undead Cyclops conversion: $30

Or as intricate as complete reposing and remodeling of a miniature.

Soul Grinder of Tzeentch conversion: $60

Extreme Ghetorix conversion: $180

Resculpted ax hand and ax for the Extreme Ghetorix

I can even take an idea you have and bring it to life from scratch!

Charon Boatman of River Styx "counts as" Black Coach: $250

"Skethar King" Skethar Alpha: $400 (given as a gift)

So, if you have a hobby project that isn't getting finished, or you need just a little help here or there, I can help! Send me an email at midwestmonsterlab@gmail.com and I'll shoot you back a bid for your project. And remember, it's your hobby, so I'm committed to getting it just right!

Karonnan Necromancer: $40

Questing Knight: $35

KantCon is only one more week away! This is an event that is near and dear to me for a couple of reasons. First, it's local. Some of the best events in hobby are miles away, and between travel expenses like: gas, lodging, and eating out, it puts a strain on our wallets to attend them. For those in the KC Metro area, KantCon is just down the street (in this case that street is Interstate 35), and it has some top notch vendors and events scheduled; like the creators of this game.

That brings me to the second reason, the vendors. A lucky series of events led to a conversation in my local game store and then a commission for me to do this year's convention sculpt, Help! the prop gnome. Besides the amazing opportunity to do my first original humanoid sculpt, I was also given vendor space at the convention! I'll be proudly displaying my wares and hawking services for model painting and my newest endeavor 2-D illustrations. Since early this year I have been collaborating with Jessie A. over at Sweet Olive Books to make a line of painted journals. They're really cool, and some are a bit unexpected...

I'm sure most everyone has heard the phrase, "sex, drug, and rock & roll", well this is a magical spin on those famous words. I chose a snake, hearkening to Slytherin's basilisk, to add a bit of sex to this piece. If anyone is going to take a rock-star approach to spellcasting, it would definitely be a Slytherin.

This one pretty much speaks for itself. Press start to begin.

For all of those Dr. Who lovers out there... or should I say Dr. Who haters?

Celtic knots are really cool, they look great and are fantastic designs to add to almost anything. These are two designs that I made completely from scratchs. I have to say, it was really creepy (exciting too) watching the over-under over-under repition of the knot unfold perfectly within each design. The designs do it themselves! I had always suspected that they were made to alternate correctly, but I was wrong, it's something in the math... or maybe a higher power at work? ha ha ha

Can you see the hidden image in the knot above? Hint: it's a video game reference, and one for which I named my dog .

Girl on fire? Sounds pretty painful.. or awesome! This is a Hunger Games journal for those aspiring to be like their heroine Katniss Everdeen.

Jessie and I will have a complete selection of painted journals at KantCon, so stop by and pick one up before they're gone!

I can't mention KantCon without bringing up the little guy I sculpted for the convention. This paint was commission for the director of the event as a door prize. In case the reference isn't clear, this should do the trick.

Help! is a perfect candidate to be a joker. Like Heath Ledger's rendition, he has the same pants, vest, and button down shirt.

For this paint I separated Help! from his kit (he can be assembled with it on the same base as well) so that I had room to add some extra skulls. As if killing the poor unfortunates wasn't enough, Help! had to paint big red smiles on each.

His trunk also had a bit of rogue artistry on it as well...

That's it for this week, I hope to see you at this year's KantCon!

As of 8am this morning KantCon 2013 has been underway! The gaming and hobby goodness continues until 11pm tonight at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Overland Park, KS just off of I-35 and 95th street. So far, it's been a blast; I've gotten in a game of Sentinels over at the Greater than Games booth, and met a lot of awesome people. The crowds are really digging all the DGS models I've been showing off for Freeblades and some of my other paints, conversions, and original sculpts. Sweet Olive Book's Jessie A. is side-by-side with me and she's enjoying her first convention, especially as a vendor.

I'd like to show off a few minis I've painted recently for a brand new client Ron N. before I get to some shots of the convention.

Let's take a look!

This is Morgryd a level 8 dwarf fighter for Pathfinder who wields a frostbane axe. Morgryd is a tough old nail and the grey in his beard is starting to show his years. Ron got this model 1-day rushed to him, that's some good service!

Another member of Ron's group's raiding party is Kaidyn, an elf wizard. Ron really wanted to showcase his character's arcane prowess with a glowing staff and some eldritch runes.

Taking inspiration from the Lord of the Rings, I put some glowing elven script at the hem of his cloak.

The last model Ron had me do so far was this Tiefling magus named Epoch. To show Epoch's pyromantic skill I gave him glowing orange eyes. Another add was the sword in his left hand, fabricated from green stuff and plasticard.

Epoch has the more extreme dark red skin that Tieflings may possess and the blue hair to match. The blue hair was achieved with Valejo's German Grey and GW Hawk Turquiose (I'm slowly transitioning to dropper bottles as my paints run out).

Which brings us to this year's KantCon!

Two returning characters are Help! the gnome and the Jabbergluck, both of which were sporting enough to pose for this picture.

The Midwest Monster Lab and Sweet Olive Books booth is in the vendor hall located between the Costume Wrangler's Closet and Black Blade Publishing.

Harley and Jessie have been working hard at the booth all day, making food runs and holding down the fort while I caper off to see what's going on in the gaming area and to take these pictures.

Come down to KantCon and visit us tonight, Saturday, and Sunday!

KantCon 2013 is a week behind us, but I want to take one last look back at what I believe really made the convention special. For me, it was the vendors, local artists and visionaries with passion for the games they produce and the art they create.

Last weekend I had the great pleasure of meeting some truly talented people, and if you didn't make it to KantCon this year, here's your chance to meet them too!

Many of you may have already played the game Sentinels of the Multiverse, a co-operative card game that pits you and up to four friends as a diverse array of original super heroes against a single arch-villain, if you haven't you've been living under one of these. In the two years since its release the game has found a rock-solid (no pun inended) following amongst board gamers, card players, and hobbyists of all stripes. Started up by three local boys: Christopher Badell, Adam Rebottaro, and Paul Bender, Greater than Games flagship release Sentinels has crossed the country and is now available in game stores all over the world.

Sentinels is a fantastic game for those easing themselves into hobby-gaming, while still providing the complexity that experienced players are looking for. A new player can easily sit down and follow the simple turn structure of "play a card, use a power, draw a card," while avid hobbyists will enjoy the incredible diversity of game play afforded by mixing and matching 18 heroes, 18 villians, and 12 environments. To top it all off, Sentinels is a LCG (living card game) that requires no booster pack purchases, each set has exactly what you need to play included.

After playing the game for the first time at KantCon, my fiancée Harley, caught the Sentinels bug and has been having a blast thwarting evil villains with her favorite characters Absolute Zero and Tempest ever since!

(L to R) Chris Batell, game designer, and Adam Robattero,
art director, two great guys with a fantastic game.

Chris B. and Adam B. were on hand to help guide newbies like Harley and me through a game of Sentinels at the convention, with their help we took down the evil computer A.I. Omnitron!

Black Blade Publishing sets itself apart from the RPG crowd with an array of rule sets that cater to a very niche crowd. For those role-players wanting to recapture the magic of their games played during Advanced Dungeon & Dragon's golden years in the 70's and 80's, Black Blade Publishing has an array of rules compendiums, monster sheets, and character profiles at the ready! As frontman Jon Hershberger put it, "Black Blade helps gamers go back to a time when role-playing was about rulings, not rules. When dungeon masters had more freedom to build their adventures."

Black Blade not only takes a look back, but also explores what could have been with unique rule sets that represent classic AD&D had it taken another path in its evolution. So check out Black Blade's site and take a step back in time with your next dungeon adventure to how D&D ought to be!

Jon Hershberger, co-founder and President of Black Blade Publishing.

Jon H. is a super nice guy and was a great neighbor during the convention, he even became a new customer of the Monster Lab with a commission for three painted owlbears. Welcome to the MML family Jon!

Sara Rude deserves credit, I'm going to say that up-front, she has serious talent. Propreitor of Project Shiro, Sara is a physicist by education who is a self-taught illustrator, doing an array of inkings, coloring, and sketches for her clients. At the KantCon she brought convention goers' role-playing characters to life with pencil sketches and inked drawings, inspiring at least one shout of, "this is awesome!" from a pleased client. Sara also works as the resident color wizard for the Zero's Heroes comic, a series about heroes tasked with taking down some of the... oddest villains known to mankind.

If you're looking for an original piece of fantasy/sci-fi/super hero artwork, Sara's your girl, she's both got the talent and skill to bring it to life.

Sara Rude surrounded by her fantastic work.

"Captain America" corset, a creation by Elinor Parker.

To say that the Costume Wrangler's Closet wrangles costumes is an understatement, they wrangle style. At one point in the convention I could have been quoted as saying, "if I were a woman I think I'd be into cameos, as a guy I just think they're cool, but if I were a girl I think I would be into that sort of thing." I settled for a handmade Star Wars coozie instead.

The woman behind the wranglin', Elinor Parker, is combining traditional concepts with nerd-inspired style in her creations. Like the Captain America corset above (there's an Iron Man one too), and her line of steampunk necklaces and earrings made out of old gears and doo-dads. Whatever it is, it's cool, and well crafted too. Next time you need a piece for your costume, drop the Costume Wrangler a line, she does custom orders that are sure to please.

Elinor P. and all her gamer chic accessories.

The coozie I bought was made out of an old children's blanket. In the 70's it was keeping a child snug at night as visions of lightsabers danced in their head, now its keeping my beer cool. I'd say George Lucas would be proud.

That's it for this week, thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out all the great folks I featured here at their web sites!

Raiding and pillaging is hard work, and those who are on the front lines take the brunt of the abuse. Throughout the ages an army's expendables have gone by a plethora of names: cannon-fodder, grunt, chaff, kamikaze, the list goes on. For the Black Rose Bandits in Faelon they simply call theirs "thugs." This week we're going to look at four unlucky fellows who pulled the short straw and got the thankless duty of being bandit cannon fodder. It's hard work, and as you can tell by every single one of them having an eye patch over their left eye, not a great career move if you want to keep your left side as your best side.

This project is thanks to Jon C. who commissioned up four different poses for his thugs. He wanted something different, a little more dynamism, different flavor, but he didn't say anything about the eye patches...

Here's the stock thug pose, you may remember this guy from a previous post where I converted yet another thug for Jon.

To get the all-pewter models into different poses took a little green stuff, some brass pins, and a fair amount of elbow grease.

This guy is probably my favorite, somewhere along in his adventures he found a conquistador helmet! Sometimes I have a very rough idea of what I want to do with the green stuff and I let it tell me what it wants to do when I put it on the model. After smoothing and shaping the helmet a bit, it said, "Matt we're going back to the 16th century with this guy." I can't argue with what the 'stuff says.

In hindsight I probably should have given him a silly little moustache.

Here he is painted up. I really am pleased with his color palette, the contrasts are subtle and classic with a nice disbursement of light, medium, and dark browns.

It's hard not to like this pose, it says exactly what it means, "I'm going to brain you with this chunk of wood!"

This model needed a major leg reposition. I cold get away with simply bending the leg on some with jeweler's pliers, but on this guy I had to get out the bone saw and take some off the top of his left leg to get the pewter to move as far as I wanted it to. Repositioning the legs really is the difference in building the overall feel of this model's action, without it his lower half would look terribly rigid compared to the action above.

This guy has a lot of potential for interpretation, what is he doing with his right arm?

Is he punching? Taunting? About to lay across with a backhand?

Ultimately it's up for you to decide, though I think he could be just about to do this.

This guy is really swinging for the fences!

So much so that he's completely weight bearing on his rear foot.

A blood trail streaming off his mace would push this guy over the top...

Well, that's it for this week and these thug models! Thanks for stopping by and checking out my work. If you'd like a model professionally converted contact me at midwestmonsterlab@gmail.com and I'll get started on your project!

In most peoples' hobby kits there's knives, files, green stuff, paint, brushes, pliers... but one of the most important hobby "tools" that I can't find in my tackle box, and one which I use every single day, is my radio. In fact, I couldn't imagine starting my work day, or hobby time for that matter, without flipping on some tunes. So, this week I'd like to put the models aside that I've been working on and talk about what I've been listening to, and maybe hear back from you, and see what motivates you while putting paint on plastic (or pewter or resin).

I'm a 21st century man, so my radio is actually my laptop computer which I hook up to a pair of old MCS 24" speakers and stream either Pandora or news radio.

Usually the first thing I turn on in the morning is NPR and listen to Morning Edition to get the day's scoop and so I can feel worldly. Throughout the day I'll check back with NPR and listen to All Things Considered, Here and Now, and This American Life, and even listen to the BBC's World Service, but after the morning news it's time for something to put me in the fantasy mood...

Fantasy metal is by far, my most favorite thing to listen to while hobbying. My obsession started on a Wednesday night game night over at my buddy Justin's, when he turned on Type-O Negative, Amon Amarth, Manowar, and Rhapsody of Fire. I had grown up with with rock and metal bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden, but never realized there was a whole genre of music dedicated to fantasy themes. I was hooked.

There's almost as many fantasy metal bands, with differing sounds and subject matters, for each and every fantasy lover, and that's really what I enjoy about the music. No two bands sound or feel the same.

One of my early favorites was Kamelot, who has a classic 80's hair metal feel and uses strong lyrical references to classic fantasy themes which they tie together with fantastic instrumentals and melodious vocals. Tons of Kamelot songs jump out at me as truly great, like: Wander, Blucher, The Fourth Legacy, Karma, Center of the Universe, Farewell, Across the Highlands, and Wings of Despair.

Blind Guardian is another band that seems to transport the listener back in time to when music was a bit more gritty. Guardian's lead singer has a haunting tinge to his voice that perfectly complements the age old themes in their songs and is backed up by sharp guitar riffs and instrumental solos. I highly recommend: Otherland, Lionheart, Skalds and Shadows, Mirror Mirror, and Mordred's Song.

Another band I would consider as a 'Classic' fantasy metal band is Dark Moor. Like the two previous, Dark Moor's sound is shared equally by compelling vocals and enrapturing instrumental accompaniment. A strong, albeit somewhat effeminate, lead vocalist sings along with the tinny ring a mandolin and lyre and rises above the pounding of deep guitar riffs. Some of their favorites are: Before the Duel, Nevermore, Maid of Orleans, Starsmaker (Elbereth), and Hand in Hand.

If you like pirates, you've gotta listen to Alestorm! With a uniquely "piratey" sound, due to the use of an accordion or ketar, Alestorm is characterized by fast-paced feel good lyrics and instrumentals. It's impossible to listen to them without a smile on your face. Check out their songs: Wenches and Mead, Huntmaster, Captain Morgan's Revenge, Terror on the High Seas, and The Sunk'n Norwegian.

There's a ton of great other bands and songs out there and not time to feature them all! Here's a quick rundown of songs that you have to hear: Manowar's Sons of Odin, Falconer's Lord of the Blacksmith's, Korpiklaani's Pine Woods, Hammerfall's Let the Hammer Fall, Sonata Arctica's Don't Say a Word, and Turisas's To Holmgard and Beyond.

These are some of the songs that fuel my hobby, so, what fuels yours?

It's new release Tuesday! The Falkaaran adventurers have surpassed their Kickstarter goal, hit a stretch goal, and are on their way out to backers and retail stores!

I just finished painting the company's studio models this week, so let's take a look at what the finished freeband looks like...

Where to start? There's a ton of character in each model and they're all so different, the opportunities afforded while painting a Falkaaran freeband are huge. I was directed to paint each model to its "codex" standard, but as we'll see in the weeks to come when I paint more, there's a ton of ways to make your adventurers stand out from the rest on the table top.

The Bladeseekers hail from their home in the Falkaaran city Jendal, where the country's most renowned blade-schools can be found. Some of the best swordsmen in the world, Bladeseekers often lead freebands after committing to a blade-quest, seeking to attain the rank of master.

The colors of Jendal are green and white; to accent those colors on the model, dark brown was chosen for leather armor, cream for clothing, light brown for trimming, and brass for buckles and studs, just enough contrast between pieces so that all his great details stand out.

Jendal

The pikeman doesn't hail from one particular city, but is found across the country in the most populous areas, defending its citizens and protecting its baronies. This model has fantastic scale armor that looks awesome painted with a dark silver and highlighted with mithril.

The shield has a lot of canvas for something cool to be painted on, or battle scarring from its time in the field, maybe something like this...

That's the Falkaar royal heraldry, but you could use any of the cities heraldry to make your shields stand out.

Falkaar Royalty

This tough looking guy is the Knight Defender, a royal guard and leader in the field. Super tough this knight can stand up to a mountain of punishment and still lay down his own with his massive warhammer.

Hogwarts is located in Scotland, but the wizarding elite of Falkaar study the arcane arts in Tlhar (a tough name for a mere mortal to pronounce). Their colors are a gold pterodactyl resplendent on a field of black. The Traazorite Legions to the south are rumored to ride dinosaurs, and this seems proof positive of that.

Tlhar

I wanted to give this Fire Wizard the look of a true pyromancer, so a bit of glow on his staff, hand and eyes lets you know he can cast fireballs with the best of them.

The Falkaaran rune for fire is "Thra," which is featured prominently on the back of his cloak, surrounded by the signs of the celestial and mundane. North (covered by his hanging hood), south, east, and west are at the four points on the circle, accompanied by sun (above east), moon (above west), earth (on the lower left), and more. It's a kind of zodiac, if you will.

The Bladesisters of Karadel are resolute and pragmatic fighters, seeking the killing blow as swiftly as possible. Red is a fitting color for such a maiden of death, and it just so happens that is the color of their home as well.

Karadel

The Bladesister is wonderfully posed and a true joy to paint, I had a lot of fun putting lipstick and eye-shadow on this one!

Those of Falkaar's cities open to the ocean host a swarm of sailors, so when the freeband heads out, there's sure to one or two tagging along for a chance to claim their share of the booty!

This cool Sailor sculpt can easily be converted to be holding a brace of daggers or a sword for a bit of variation in your freeband. The anchor does look cool though!

That's it for this week and a look at the new Falkaaran Adventurers for DGS's fantasy skirmish game Freeblades! Come back next time as we start getting ready for GenCon.

Good gaming and happy hobbying!

This month has been a blur; late nights working on projects getting them ready for GenCon, and then an eight hour trip to Indianapolis and the hobby gaming nirvanna that followed. It was awesome, and I can proudly say that my GenCon virginity is no more. Four straight days of games and hobby, and more miniatures than my wallet could possibly handle (Dark Sword took almost $100 from me at their booth).

I took a few offerings for the painting competition too, sadly I didn't place, but it was still rewarding to have given it a shot and I want to share some of the pics with you. Let's take a look!

This was one of my single mini entries, a Pathfinder Legionnaire with a Max Mini Black Lotus Tribe shield, and a custom made arch and base. All told I put in about forty hours creating and painting this piece and it was a first serious attempt at non-metallic metal (I don't often do NMM for commissions as it takes a long time to create the effect and is therefore pricey).

I dropped the stock shield that came with the model for this fantastic Max Mini Greco-Roman one. The details on the shield are perfect for NMM and offer a lot of reflection areas and places of shadow. In hindsight, I should have pushed the highlights higher.

Army Painter's poison ivy made great climbing ivy for the arch which was fabbed out of four pieces of 1mm plasticard, cut, glued, and filed to shape.

After looking at the top models in the category, I feel that the base is the weakest part of this model and would have benefited from more color variation and could have done more to make the model pop. Another aspect of the winning models was total light source shading, correct shadows and shading from top to bottom which don't rely on natural light and shadow. Forty hours of work isn't going to cut it in single mini, time to plan on eighty plus for next time!

I entered two models into single mini (GenCon allows two per person per category) and this is my second offering. It's a Freeblades Bladesister, again utilizing NMM on metal portions.

I topped out at twenty hours on this piece and primarily wanted to use it for more practice (I knew it would be a long shot to place!).

The base is cut plasticard filed to a spiral stone pattern. I did run out of time on this one and couldn't fit in the designs and braidwork on the back of her coat I wanted to include. I had planned to do the three stacked horses of her hometown Karadel and some knots and trim running down its length.

These horrors were a revisitation of a squad I completed two years ago. I wanted to update their paint jobs and create a movement tray that tied the group together. The tray was created and painted in two days and the horrors were touched up on the third day. Three days to create a squad entry! Madness!

An initial layer of Apoxie Sculpt was sculpted on top of a Gale Force 9 movement tray to rough up the smooth surface and add variation. A 1:1 mix of Apoxie Sculpt and green stuff was used to make waves and ripples and pure green stuff was the basis for all bubbles, eyes, teeth, and horns.

My favorite thing about demons is all the "gribblies," the nasty eyes and teeth popping out of nowhere. My absolute favorite is the elder horror (light pink in the foreground), his base, and the accompanying eyes and teeth on the movement tray.

This demon has manifested three eyes, a mouth, and some tentacles! One eye has a tri-pupil and another has two!

Two entries were revisitations of past projects, and Kairos was the second. You might remember him from last November, when I showed off his completed model. Kairos was essentially me throwing my hat into the large mini ring while sticking to a strict time budget, I only had time to update the edge of his base with dark red...

I like this Kairos model, but he was definitely outclassed by the dedicated competition pieces entered into his category. So much more needs to be done to bring him up to speed: detail on his nails and horns, shading on the fish, better detail on the book, updates on his highlights... I wish I had had the time to do it all, but it was still fun seeing him in the case and crossing my fingers for judging.

The painting competition was just one part of my trip to GenCon and I had loads of fun perusing the vendor hall and playing games day and night. It was humbling and an honor to have my pieces judged alongside the other entries and I have a lot of respect for those who entered and especially for those who placed, great job guys!

It's time to get back commission work and turn out some minis for my clients, I have some super cool owl bears I'm working on now that I'm excited to share with you next week!

Until next time, good gaming and happy hobbying!

GenCon 2013 has come and gone and now it's time to get back to the commissions waiting on my desk. I've got a wait list until mid-September, so I've got a lot of great projects to show you in the weeks to come! Let's take a look at a project for Jon H. over at Black Blade Publishing. I met Jon at KantCon 2013 and after he saw my display models he was excited to get a trio of his owlbears painted to showcase quality.

The task was to do arctic themed owlbears. I didn't want a bland or overwhelming polar-white look, so I went with German Grey shadows to white highlights. Subtle wet-blending on the models made a great shade gradient that I'm really pleased with. The bases were adorned with a few twigs and rocks and then topped off with Secret Weapon's snow (crushed glass & realistic water). I like the wet snow effect a lot, but for a purely arctic feel, with fluffy snow drifts, I think something like Techstar's snow might be a better bet for a pure white look. The Techstar stuff uses micro blown white bubbles instead of glass to achieve its effect (both are hazardous and protective masks, gloves, and eyewear should be worn).

The Reaper owlbears have a great and rabid look to their movement. They also have huge, dilated eyes, perfect to show off irises, light dots, and bloodshot veins. Each iris is orange mixed with light brown, with yellow/light brown flecks, highlighted with pure lemon yellow. A dot of light grey flanked by white makes the light dots, and a thin trail of blood red was used to make the veins.

The upraised feet of the owlbears has snow clinging them as if they've been truly tromping through the drifts.

There's a lot of area to build gradients across the model for some wonderful variation, even for such a simple grey/white coat.

This one has a darker aspect, with deeper rings around the eyes and harder shadows on the belly and under its wings.

I took away a new found appreciation for heavy shadows after GenCon and viewing the winning entries. At the showcase level of paint quality (4-6 hours a model), monster models with a few colors are especially great for doing this effect while under a strict time budget.

That's it for these owlbears and the Monster Lab for this week, come back next time and check out the elf Pyromancer I've been working on and more!

I'm back this week to show you a quick five-hour paint done for one of my role-playing clients. This is a Pathfinder Elf Pyromancer with requested lava basing and flamekin familiar.

The basing is a piece of the Warhammer Achaon base cut to fit on a 25mm round. Lots of people use cork board to do a nice simple cracked earth effect, but this this little gem was on hand I was happy to use it instead.

The skin tone is the Reaper rosy skin triad with a bit of dark brown added to make rings under the eyes. His unhealthy pallor is what every mage should have.. too much time delving into arcane lore is bad for your health!

The rock glow was a gradual blend from 1:1 German Grey and Red Gore all the way to yellow. For a piece with a longer time allowance I would definitely like to a glow from the lava up onto the pyromancer and from the familiar onto his head, arm and shoulder.

I've always wanted to do a lava base, and I had a lot of fun doing it on this model for the first time.

That's it, another painting commission down, now it's time to get started on some sculpting commissions. I'll have converted Fimir and a Cygor to show you next week and an original sculpted dragon base after that!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my work!

I'm back this week with a look at a work-in-progress commission for a returning customer Michael P. Michael has come to rely on my modeling skills to add a special twist to his models, and this time he wanted work done for his Warriors of Chaos Fantasy army. Nine fimir are acting as counts-as chaos warriors. Each fimir comes armored and has a cool looking club, but Michael wanted the models armor beefed up to represent the higher save on a chaos warrior and to add weapons to their tails.

Let's take a look at the work so far...

Each fimir's helmet is unique, though some share stylisitic similarities. These three I've dubbed: "Thor, Skullcap, and Storm Trooper."

The entire time I've been working on this commission, I couldn't get over the fact that these Fimir look a lot of the Koopas from Super Mario World...

"Thor" is one of my favorites, his helmet reminds me a lot of the winged one from Marvel.

I think the "Storm Trooper" helmet style is very fitting for the fimir; subtle, simple, and perfectly round.

This next set has another storm trooper-esque helmet, a funky tri-horned one, and what I've come to think of as a miner's helmet with a single prow horn.

Remove the horn and replace it with a lamp and it has a stunning similarity to this.

This guy's headgear captures a look from an old fimir helm that had a lot of design work braided about it.

Each fimir's tail has been bound, yoked, and tied with nasty barbs, blades, and spikes. Like the helmets, each tail-weapon is unique and expresses the individual personality of the bearer.

This is another set of my favorites (though they're all really great), but I really like how (L to R) the storm trooper, miner, and magi turned out. Magi... Yeah, the fimir's helmet on the far right looks like an esoteric spell casters headpiece to me.

That's it for this week and what's on my desk, come back next time to see the other projects I'm work on a the Lab!

We're back with an update to last week's project, converting helmets and bladed tails onto Forgeworld Fimir. Last time, the helmets were finished, but there was still work to be done on their tails.

They're finally complete, so let's take a look!

There were a ton of interesting options for creating the blade-tails, so I really let my creativity run wild. Hooks, crescents, cleavers, spades, barbs, and daggers are all the styles of weapons I used to make them. Each weapon was fabricated from plasticard and then accented with green to create straps, bolts, and rope to hold the blades in place.

I roughed up the edge on most of the blades by making simple "V" cuts with an xacto blade to make them look worn and notched from hard use. It's nice to add a bit of wear and tear to weapon pieces, especially to those wielded by the disciples of chaos, too much their time is spent maiming and killing to keep their weapons shiny and new!

This is one of my favorite weapons, a truly vicious sickle big enough to cleave a man wholly in two!

These three got spade tails. The tails and each of their blades were notched and then fitted together to form a snug fit before being finished with a dab super glue and some green stuff.

The top left tail is a nasty set of barbs that was made out of three pieces of plasticard, one to form the main section with an arrowhead end and then two pieces that were fitted to the sides to give the weapon barbs on all four sides.

This guy's weapon tail has a spear-tip fitted on the end of his truncated tail and then simple rope bindings to hold a row of blades.

All of the fimir sacrificed part of their tail to augment it with something sharp and killy, this guy went the extra mile and grafted his blades onto his tail bones, requiring no binders at all to hold them in place. Besides having two nasty spikes for slamming down into an enemy, his weapon also has a axe head for side-to-side sweeping cuts.

The nine fimir are finally done and will soon be in the mail to Michael for his chaos force, I'll be showing off more conversions he's requested soon; a demon possessed fimir giant and two ascended demon prince fimir!

Before I sign off for the week, I'd like to make a quick plug for Between Two Beards, a video project my brother, Andrew, and our long-time friend, Dave, put together. The bearded duo have been doing game reviews and are starting to branch into live coverage and "let's play" content. They're putting a lot of work into their channel and are really excited for the great projects they have planned, check them out on YouTube and stay tuned for even bigger and better content coming soon!

I've finally had time to put aside the sculpting tools and get out my new airbrush! At this year's GenCon I purchased a Sotar, Partriot, Badger tank/compressor, and full line of paints for under $450. It was a great deal, and one that I couldn't afford to pass up. To get my airbrush station set up, first we moved Harley across the room to where she has a larger desk and more space (that corner had previously been housing an old organ that no longer could play music). I inherited her old desk and immediately put it to good use by building a brushing cubby out of a cardboard box. I also taped a plastic to-go cup to one leg of the desk. By putting another cup into that one I had a removable, and thus cleanable, place to dump cleaning solution.

With that it was simply a matter of hooking up the compressor and getting started!

I'm taking up all the window space now that Harley has moved into her new spot. It's really nice transitioning to the painting/assembly desk over to the airbrush station. To get more light I take my LED lamp and move it from one desk's corner over to the other's. It's a great fit.

Harley got a nice new desk from Office Depot and has her KU diploma proudly hanging above it!

Back to the airbrush.. For my first project I wanted to ease into airbrushing by using my Patriot. It's a general use double-action internal mix brush great for priming, and base coating. Badger's president, Ken, was nice enough to throw in a couple of quick releases so that I could transition between Patriot and Sotar on the fly. You can see it hanging down under the brush in this picture. After cutting a small chunk out of the carrying case foam, the brush and QR fit snugly inside.

Here are the Freeblades Plankha (demon hounds) and young Grush that I airbrushed. I did each model, from base up, with the Patriot. It made the job super fast and allowed me to do a simple color gradient from brown to red in no time at all.

This order was for table top quality, so after their airbrushing, each plankha got three highlights and a few detail touch-ups. Table Top is the most basic painting package I offer and the Patriot helps a ton with basing and quick shading while sticking to a budget.

Here's the whole group, ready to wreak havoc in Jason C's next Freeblades game!

This young Grush was also painted with my new Patriot. I used it to do the basing, base coat, and under shadows on the model. A quick dry brushing anda few detail points later and he was done.

Using an airbrush to quickly base coat and shade monster models was fantastic, and I'm glad I finally made the plunge this year at GenCon to get one. I'm looking forward to using the 'brush more and seeing what the Sotar can do!

Thanks for stopping by to see what's going on at the Monster Lab!

Until next time, good gaming and happy hobbying.

One of the most feared denizens of the Eye of Terror has emerged this week for a brand new paint job! This was a 15-hour piece commissioned by Dave the "Aegman" for his chaos army. Dave wanted a centerpiece model for his forces and so he asked for an Abaddon that would really stand out on the table top. To get the job done right, we settled on a 15-hour paint job. At that time limit, the painting starts scratching Competition Quality work, bringing in time intensive effects like source glow and ambient shading. I can do both of those in a small way on Schowcase Quality jobs, but on a model as intricate as Abaddon, and with two light sources, I was going to need more time. In the end, I was really pleased with how he turned out.

Now that the work's done, let's take a look!

Abaddon's basing is made from the mounted Archaon kit. I've gotten a ton of utility out of that kit, first using Archaon and his steed for a Hades Vampire Counts conversion and then again using a smaller portion of the basing on a recently completed pyromancer. I knew the rest of Archaon's base would look awesome with Abaddon towering over it. The only decision was what glow I wanted it to be emitting. I chose sickly green, or a "Minas Morgul glow" as I fondly refer to it. I'm a fiend for this color scheme, it's a surefire way to make your featured baddy look unquestionably evil while he's standing over a pit of vile corruption!

The two glow sources on the model were going to be the corruption on the base and his sword, Drach'nyan. His demon sword has a plethora of trapped souls contained within it and oozes raw power, so a spectral blue glow does a nice job on getting the point across. With the sword as a heavy left-hand light source, I really enjoyed painting his face two-tone, with one half illuminate by spectral glow and the rest falling into shadow.

The right half of his body falls into a general shadow, being neither lit heavily by the sword or the pit, so I took the opportunity to add some much needed color and life into the eye-of-Horus on his shoulder pad.

And here is again from the front at ground level, the view his victims are treated to before they are summarily dispatched.

... Or the view you are granted while watching your friend get beheaded...

That's it for this week, thanks again for stopping by and checking out what I'm working on at the Monster Lab!

Come back next week and I'll be showing off a custom sculpted dragon chariot base!

I've got an exciting project on my desk this week, a custom sculpted dragon base! The client who commissioned this piece requested a 50mm x 100mm chariot base that featured a dragon's nest with a few eggs and one with an emerging hatchling. I loved the idea; I've been a dragon fanatic ever since I can remember and jumped at the opportunity to make my first themed piece.

To get started, I needed to make the base's foundation. To do this I cut three pieces of 1mm plasticard to dimensions and lightly glued them with super glue. Two brass pinning rods also added some stability to the plasticard sandwhich before a rough sanding on the sides created the edge gradation.

A layer of Apoxie Sculpt gave the foundation some natural terrain variation, and Procreate rocks began to build the scene. Larry the skeleton also did a great job providing scale reference. Thanks Larry!

What I envisioned was the dragon-mother digging out a bowl for her eggs, and breathing dragon-fire out from her nest to clear the surroundings. Each of the rocks has been sculpted to be "slagged" away from the nest, showing the intense heat they were under from the she-dragon's cleansing fire.

What to do to represent the nest was the most exciting part for me, there were so many cool options when it came to building a dragon's roost. I decided to go with a simple earthen base, strewn with artifacts in its foundation and bedding made of a pile of coins! Dragons love treasure, and this seemed to encapsulate that perfectly for me.

The she-dragon used a round shield, heraldic shield, sword, dagger, and skull to build her nest.

And here's the completed piece!

One early bloomer is already pushing its way out of its egg. The skull is evidence that some unfortunate human became the dragon's lunch, and then part of her nest.

This unlucky horse calf was another meal for the waiting mother.

The coins were sliced from a round plasticard rod and pressed into a green stuff foundation. Though many casting companies use a "cold casting" technique that doesn't require vulcanization these days, I wanted to play it safe and go easy on the use of glue, which can melt in high heat casting and ruin the mold. Most joins are made by adhesion to green stuff or Procreate.

The shield is beaten and worn, and was of no use to its bearer in defense against the expecting mother!

And here's Larry again with the finished piece, hopefully the dragon-mother doesn't come home while he's shambling about or he'll likely find himself part of her next nest!

That's it for this week and what's on my desk, I hope you enjoyed the custom sculpted dragon base. I'm looking forward to making a whole series of these so an entire army can be dragon/wasteland themed!

Until next time, good gaming and happy hobbying!

I'm wrapping up a conversion project this week and it's not quite ready for pictures just yet. I'm excited to show you the completed project using Darklands Miniatures next week! Until then, let's take a look at a quick 3.5 hour paint I did a couple of weeks ago for a new customer David D.

David wanted the codex paint scheme for the sorcerer and I was happy to oblige. The combination of regal blue and gold are fantastic.

I used Valejo's Old Gold, which has a rich dark color, for all the gold pieces on the model. Old Gold is one of my favorite paints and is perfect for the time worn and chaos weathered armor of the Thousand Sons.

The sorcerer's sword blade was a major contrast point and I had fun digging out a color scheme from a previous commission to do his. The sorcerer's and the backpack's eyes were another minor contrast point, simply done with Goblin Green and Scorpion Green.

After a few hours I had a model I liked and was proud to hand over to David. Both the Abaddon he commissioned previously and this sorcerer have been rampaging across our local game store's table tops claiming glory for chaos!

Thanks for stopping by this week to see what's going on at the Lab, come back next time and check out two unique demon prince conversions for a fimir themed fantasy army!

There's the faintest foul hint on the fell north wind. A thrum, a pulse, the suggestion of alien voices chanting in unison. The strangeness of the sound is abhorrent, but in it lies a truth begetting something more. A piece of primal suggestion tugs at the soul recalling bygone eras of immemorial past. It is the ancestral memory of an elder horror which stalked the world before man raised his first monument, and now it seeks to return!

Yes, I have been reading a lot of Lovecraft lately. The Shadow Out of Time, Mountains of Madness, and of course Call of Cthulu. I've really enjoyed stepping into Lovecraft's universe, where a daring scientific expedition or even a simple backwoods can be the setting for mystery, suspense, and horror. It just so happened that a returning customer, Michael P., wanted a commission that fit perfectly with the great stories I've been reading. With inspiration readily on hand, I set to work crafting a pair of horrors that would make Lovecraft proud.

Let's take a look!

The job was to convert two demon princes for Michael's fimir themed warriors of chaos army. The basis for the conversions came from the Dark Lands collection with a few bitz from Warhammer and Warhammer 40k thrown in.

A lot of the work was original sculpt conversions done with Procreate (grey stuff) and green stuff modeling epoxy. Procreate works really well for details that you want to hold a crisp edge, like this Cthulu prince's face tentacles. Procreate also performs better than green stuff under an xacto blade or file for when you need to fine tune details or make adjustments.

To build the Cthulu theme on this piece I sculpted barnacles clinging to his shoulders, back, and appendages, and made ribbons of seaweed dangling from his horns and loin cloth.

Michael wanted a scythe hand for this model, so a bit of green stuff and a tyranid scything talon later.. and Cthulu prince was packing some serious stabby action.

I had the idea to make the tail have a mouth and teeth (chaos tip #1: add extra mouths, eyes, and teeth to increasy chaosy-ness). After some thinking I came up with the notion to make it a blind snake as serpents are classic nautical beasts.

The demon prince plastic kit's wings fit excellently with the sculpt and scale of this piece.

The whole thing came together quite well, as it gets the theme across but doesn't ride the Cthulu-idea too hard. I'm excited for Michael to add this to his force!

I did say that there was another prince in this commission, one that is certainly no less horrific than the last!

The theme of this one was definitely "eyeballs." Which once again comes back to chaos tip #1 in stunning fashion.

I've done a stomach mouth before on a soul grinder project and was looking forward to take number two on the design. For this one, the direction was stubby "frog" teeth (I know, frogs don't have teeth, but the descriptor strangely works). I wanted a series of eyes low-set over the mouth to give a strong facial impression and a long forked tongue to drive home the amphibious nature of this grisly mutation.

Eyeballs are everywhere on this model, mounted on two shoulder tentacles, on its tail, on its fingertips, head, shoulders...

Technically this prince is a biclops, or two-eyed cyclops. Yes, there is a difference, he has two eyes, but one is aligned over the other!

This giant got converted three-toed "fimir" feet as he is a mutated fimir champion.

And in case a slew of extra eyes wasn't enough, this prince has four more on the tips of his fingers; probably for use as a strange hand parascope or looking into finger-sized cracks. Come to think of it, that would be quite handy, though you would have to be careful not to stub your eyes!

That's all the horrific and eldritch terror I have to unveil this week. I'll be back next week with a look at some X-Wing minis that received new paint jobs!

Until then, good gaming and happy hobbying!

This week I have something a little different than what I usually show off here on the blog, X-Wing minis! The X-Wing miniatures game has taken a lot of game stores by storm, its popularity due to its ease of play, complexity, and of course, the Star Wars universe. Another probable factor contributing to its success is that the minis come pre-painted. But, just because a piece is pre-painted that doesn't mean it can't be altered! That's exactly what I did for new customer, Donovan, who requested a fresh look at his Millennium Falcon and Slave 1.

Both the Falcon and Slave 1 are duplicates in Donovan's collection and he wanted models for "vanilla" versions of those ships, ones that don't represent the craft popularized by episodes IV, V, and VI.

With a little bit of art direction I was ready to go and broke out the airbrush for a base coat.

The classic M. Falcon uses a red palette, so I wanted to go in the other direction and use a blue based gray and rich royal blue. Yellow was my choice for headlamps and cockpit glow, a nice natural contrast color.

I mentioned to Donovan that a "bomber babe" on the cockpit would be a nice touch and he jumped on the idea, eagerly requesting that she be a Twilek.

"Trudy the Twilek" now graces the newly re-christened "Trudy be True!"

Can you guess what inspired the design for Trudy's paint scheme? You might just push one at home or work every day...

I stuck with the classic sky blue engine glow for Trudy. Some times you just can't beat an oldie.

It was definitely a blue week, as once again the Slave 1 draws upon a red palette. I happily used the chance to paint with my favorite color hue again.

I stayed on the dark end of the blue spectrum, inspired by the idea of a "stealth" coloration, perfect for hunting down bounties and committing space piracy.

Though the paint scheme was a stealthy one, I still wanted to add something bold to the design. Alien-tribal seemed like a fun way to add some complexity to the repainted Slave 1 while not breaking with its subtle approach.

I used my Badger airbrush for both base coating each ship and adding their engine glow. I went back with a bristle brush and added more highlight to the effect, and was done in minutes!

I hope you enjoyed checking out my X-Wing alters, come back next week to see what else I'm working on here at the Lab!

Showcase: Snake Mystic, Spirit Warrior, and More!

Showcase: Questing Knight of Barek Conversion and Falkaaran Witchcat

Paint Your Minis for Dirt Cheap! (at least what I consider dirt cheap)

Paints with Attitude (and something unexpected)

Live from KantCon 2013 (no really we're live, right now)

People You Ought to Meet and the Games and Art They Create

Bandit Job Posting: Those Who Wish to Keep Their Left Eye Need Not Apply

The Glue that Holds it all Together

Showcase: Falkaaran Adventurers

My 2013 GenCon Miniature Painting Competition Entries

Attack of the Owlbears!

Showcase: Pathfinder Elf Pyromancer

What's on My Desk: Fimir "Counts-As" Conversions

Update: Fimir Helmet and Tail Conversions

What's on My Desk: A New Airbrush Studio

Showcase: Abaddon the Despoiler

What's on My Desk: Dragon Chariot Base!

Showcase: Sorcerer of Tzeentch

Elder Horrors for the Warhammer Universe

Showcase: X-Wing Miniatures, Millennium Falcon and Slave 1 Alters