Covering new ground

Here's another one of the Dark Sword miniatures that was used in the "How to cover a broccoli base" series of posts.

It was a fun exercise in muted colors, and balancing the browns vs greens.  Grey was used as a "go between" color, to make it easier in blending those two together.

Also, this was my first chance to try out the new foliage that I brought back from Reapercon.  I really loved it!  Not only did it mimic the colors I painted on the figure, the leaves were light enough to stand out against the shadow areas of the cloak!

The individual leaves are very nice... actually shaped like real leaves, with a touch of the veins in the lighter ones.

He's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/221798815146?

Know when to fold 'em

This product is something brand new... a photo studio that really is portable.

It's from Foldio, appropriately enough, and I think it will be just the solution to my 'on the road' photography issue. This box holds everything, even the lights!

That was always the bugaboo with my previous "portable" suite.  The backdrop folded up, but it was heavy, and I was still left with two pretty big lamps that would get scalding hot.  This meant that I had to wait for the lights to cool down enough so that I could pack them.

Not such an issue here, as you can already see the LED light strips.

It comes with all sorts of AC adapters, so they will work in all regions of the world.

There were four backdrop colors.  I have a great deal of testing to do with these.  For instance, I am very curious to see how the black backdrop might work in this system.

Furthermore, I am quite hopeful that the Hangar 18 backdrops will work with this system.  My assumption is that the larger backdrops will be required.

As I mentioned before, it is very lightweight, and small.  It uses magnets to allow you to assemble and take it down in no time at all!

You can see the magnets pretty well in this image.

Now the box is turned right side up...

And we have the LED strips.  What's truly amazing is the concept of allowing you to control the intensity of the light!  Those round dials on each strip let you turn the light up or down as needed.

It took a few seconds to stick them onto the surface.

This is the bar that holds the backdrop in place.  It is so much better than my previous system, where the backdrop was held in place by a velcro strip that was tough to use, and didn't work with anything else besides the one or two backdrops that came with the set.

These are the four background colors.  Again, I want to see what happens with that black backdrop!

For my initial experiment, I went with the neutral grey backdrop.

Lights are plugged in, and a figure in the box!!!

Did I mention that this suite is quite large for something so portable?  That's a 40mm base, and it looks tiny.  So, this should fit those vehicles, big monsters, groups shots and even buildings!

My next post will show you all the various test results.  No matter what, it will certainly be replacing the massive, bulky setup that I must drag around with me when the show goes :on the road".

Stay tuned!!!!

A guiding light

Once more, we have a fantastic figure from Dark Sword Miniatures.  I had some fun making the glowing wand/spell effect on it.

As usual, there is a lot of fin detail and cleanly sculpted lines.  They also have a new kickstarter under way right now for a small line of new miniatures.

This view shows the new foliage a little better.  It's part of that big batch that I got at Reapercon!  I love it.  I never had this color of static grass flowers before, and it made a very nice contrast to the greens!

She's also here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221798063816?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

The sound of Sirens!

You will be seeing some interesting miniatures on the blog very soon.  These are some wonderful figures from Siren Miniatures.

The packaging is very nice, with solid clamshells and a big piece of foam.  You can also see a very nice card that comes with each figure!

Here's a painted figure from the Siren website.

I thought I would show just a few of the figures that I have prepped.  I have another handful of figures that I will save for future posts.

These are some action dwarves, to be sure!  I could see using a few for our Lord of the Rings games :-)

This figure has a very dramatic cloth that hangs from his back, billowing in the wind...

And this mischievous has a shovel, no doubt searching for some treasure!  I have left that off for the time being so that it's easier to paint.

This assassin is taking cover behind a broken column...

If you visit their Facebook page or official website, you will be treated to a variety of painted figures, and incredible concept sketches such as these.

There are also a lot of renders on the page, just like this set which I have also prepped for painting!

New renders are being added all the time, so things are ramping up fast!

Here is your link to the Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/SirenMiniatures?fref=ts

Throne of the Dead

Here's a classic Reaper mini... Dragoth!

One of the things I remember most about painting minis when we first got started were the Reaper Undead minis.

I don't think any other company has a many figures seated on thrones such as this.

There was a lot of nostalgia running through my mind as I painted this.  We learned a lot painting those early Reaper figures... and by a while back, I mean 2002-2003.

You can also find him here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/221797134910?

Blood and ice...

Yet another monster from Mierce Miniatures.  As I am starting to learn, however, this is considered more as monstrous infantry.  A few of the 'real' monsters have graced these pages thus far.

To get an idea of size, the base is 60mm.

Another one of the Mierce sea creatures is under way.  He's also one of these 'monstrous infantry' figures.

Contain yourself.

I mentioned some step by step painting of Burn In Designs terrain pieces that are coming soon.

Here's a preview... one of the many fun shipping containers!

As you might be able to see by the notches at the top, these can be stacked, just like the real thing!

The truck rig is very sweet!

Nice wide doors...

And you will be able to stack them up just like these:

I wanted to paint them something other than grey, so I did the Google thing and found a lot of great reference images.

There is a lot of information written on the sides of these, and I looked up a variety of ways in which it's designated on the containers.  This will make each side of the container have a bit of interesting freehand to check out!

Of course, no shipping container would be complete without a corporate logo.  A few minutes in Photoshop and I had this ready!  It is one of three logos which will be featured on the various containers.

I wonder if I should have this made into a t-shirt.  It follows along the same line as my "Earth First: We'll strip mine the other planets later" theme. :-)

To give you a sens of scale, we have a set of Victoria Miniatures Highland Moss Guard.

Stay tuned for much more!!