Tasty food and fun!

Tuesday was mostly a culinary extravaganza, punctuated by adventures with ZBrush and so on.

Babo had his first blueberry sunday earlier in the day!

The it was off to the factory to reorganize things, hunt down paints and minis.

I had a few brief moments to dab paint on the dwarf wizard.

When you are at these things, you see all sorts of wonderful stuff sitting right in front of you, such as Victoria's amazing figures!  After so many years seeing these only through the prism of the internet, it was fantastic to actually view them in person!

This has become world famous, and a standard for dioramas, OSL, and storytelling in general.

Darn!  Rolled that '1'.  Time to duke it out!  Yet another marvelous set of minis from the talented brush wielding Victoria.

Even more yummy foods for Babo.  Marinated Chicken breast with sauteed onions, BBQ sauce, and sauteed mushrooms.  Wanna make this for myself soon.  However, I think I will have to substitute baked or mashed sweet potatoes for the sweet potato fries.

Sorry for the nasty images, but my light was left behind at the studio.  I was so involved with the ZBrush action, I forgot to take images while I was there!  My apologies.

I don't know what the blogging situation will be like for the day.  I anticipate a lot of running around, and things will have to be packed up, possibly leaving me with only the phone.

We shall see.  It's going to be a long trip back.

Under a Big Texas Sky

Off to the Reaper Factory!  Time for more of 'dem Bones.

Some persnickety green stuff was passed to me from everyone's favorite Aussie, and I had to find a use for it.  Not so easy, since I am sans sculpting tools.

Ron handed us the paint pokers, which would do in a pinch as a sculpting tool!

An exacto knife was my other weapon of choice.  Good thing I had some cider to make sure my had was more steady!

On to the next guy, and some bark.

Oh yeah, some tank sketching going on as well as stuff dried.  Lookin' at you, Mr. Justin :-)

Happy little plastic dudes have a home.

I think the wood elf guy is jealous of the dwarf's viney tree roots.

He has to look away in disgust.

Everything's big in Texas.  The evening sky on the way to chow.

Minis ready to go!

Kurganova takes a Gold!

I was not aware that there was a painting contest at Reapercon, so I didn't bring any Reaper pieces with me that would not be part of my demos.

I did, however, have a few spare Raging Heroes minis along, including one of my Kruganova sisters.  

Some of you will remember her leading the Imperial Guard contingent of my Adepticon tournament army.  I was assured that it was OK to enter her, even though I assumed it would only waste their display space :-)

This contest works quite differently than any other I have seen, and it took quite a bit of explanation to get me to understand.  In fact, as it was being explained during the awards ceremony, I heard my name called.  

Much to my surprise, one of these very nifty gold medallions was issued for Kommisar Karinna, as I called her.  She is, of course, from Raging Heroes!

Less than three weeks had passed since she went head to toe with a Tau Riptide in solo combat.  Now, she fought a new kind of campaign!

Just like cookies, Babo claims all trophies and shiny things as his own.

Something tasty from the bar across the parking lot.  Still getting used to objects such as the Sun... and temps above 50 degrees.

On Monday, it was off to the Reaper factory.

Derek is hard at work behind the forest of lights.

I grabbed some more Bones minis, and created a few bases for them.  More on the painting over the next few days.

This is the reaction of most of the students when the Shaded Basecoat class began.  It's why I had to chain them to their seats when they first came in.

A wee spot of paint at the con...

Here are some more pictures of the Fire Giantess that I was painting off and on in the Main Hall.

When I could, I tried to slap on some paint, and then start bending the parts to see if any of the paint would flake off. :-)  Tried it dozens of times, and the paint is still there!

There are definitely certain uses for the Bones line.  I could toss this thing in a box with all the other painted Bones figures with nary a care in the world.  The base was the most vulnerable thing on the whole mini!

Yes, swords and spears can end up a little bent or bendy, but indestructible is a rare expression for a miniature in this land of eternal resin :-)

'Dem Bones

During my stay in the main hall, I decided to work on the Fire Giantess as an example for all three classes.  The hope was that the students could watch me paint it here and there in the main hall and see the practical application of what we would be doing.

First up was the basing.  I wanted to incorporate some bark that had been generously given to me earlier that day.

Bark on cork.  I loved the textures that it offered on the top surfaces if the rocks!

Good old Oxide Paste!  It helped to hold in all of the tree bark, and fill in any gaps.

Lunch was provided every day, which was a big help.  It was not too heavy, but with enough oomph to get you through an afternoon class!  Babo approved, especially the cookie.

On the base, and now primed.  I then primed the additional miniatures for the Shaded basecoat class so it could dry.

The first layers of fluorescent paint.  This was something that got the attention of a lot of people in the main hall, as I had hoped.  By demonstrating a practical example using the paints, it was easier to convince the viewers that these paints could indeed fulfill that role nicely!

A few more layers...

Babo also lent a hand after eating the cookie.

Priming the additional Karungs...

Babo drew a WANTED sign for cookie theft!

Reapercon adventure and the Knights of the Round Table

So, early Wednesday morning, the adventure began.  Rich was kind enough to drive me over to the airport early in the morning, which was a massive help!

Looking down at Wappelville during the vertical takeoff required by all planes at Midway :-)

A stowaway seems to have found their way on board!  IceBatMan!

In the main ballroom.  Dealer's area, announcement stage, and a huge area for people to set up their paints and so on.  Power was supplied to each of the tables so that lights could be used.  A lot of work to get that all up an running.

There was a Murder's Row of staff and instructors set up along the wall, so that people could come up and ask questions, etc.

Babo quickly took charge, and set up the bases on the table.  I have spent many hours working down in this room all weekend.

One of the Shaded Basecoat classes.  As always, fear, shock and horror reigns supreme at the start.  Quickly, however, the victims (aka students), begin to adapt and seize onto the concept.  Eventually, they incorporate the process into their own painting collective.

Each of the 12 painters who participated in the two classes created new and interesting color combinations as we worked on "paint flow charts" on the palettes.  This was quite the opposite of everything they had been accustomed to, so it was wild to see the process of transformation take place in about 90 minutes!

Each person did a different flesh tone, and treated other areas of the mini in ways I would never have thought of, which was fantastic!

Typically, you learn as much from the people taking the class as they learn from you.  This was certainly the case in all three classes so far.  Just one more to go!

A big thank you to all who took part in the shocking Madness!!!