Waste Not

My 5E Ravenloft character is going to be a Halfling Undead Hunting Ranger. Mostly because everyone says Rangers suck and I like to be contrary. Also I like the visual of a halfling in a trench cloak with a hand crossbow. The sad part is I could not find one armed as such so I ordered a figure from Reaper specifically so I could cut off her hand for the weapon. I was left with a mangled figure, and honestly I hate waste so instead of sticking her in my melt bag I gave her a shield and painted her up. This was a quickie paint job, but came out great.

Dwarf in progress

If you read my Holder post you saw this guy on my table. I thought I would try doing a WIP on him.
Step 1: I based the metals in Game Color Plate Mail and the straps in Black. Please note, I have no particular standard colors I use, so Black will always be Black and could be from P3, Vallejo, GW etc...


Step 2:
I painted the axe brackets and end cap with Game Color Shining Gold. Stone Grey on the beard from Reaper, and Scorched Brown from GW on the tunic and Vallejo Heavy Brown for the pants. The red is Reper's Dead Rose Red HD.

Step 3: I washed the model with P3 Armor Wash and Army Painter Strong tone. The Gold I washed with Rust from Vallejo.

Step 4: I then blocked out the flesh with Bugman's Glow and highlighted with Elf flesh. I highlighted the black with a blue/green color from Reaper called "Sample." They tend to toss in experimental colors. I have been liking it as a way to highlight black. I cleaned up the brown blob left over on the axe.

This is the final model. I highlighted the metal with Mithral Silver from GW....old GW in the hex bottles, the red of the handle I used Blood Red with the orignial red until I used small dabs of the red to highlight. The Brown was then highlighted with Vallejo Heavy Sienna. I highlighted the pants with Ginger Cookie from Reaper. The beard was highlighted with Reaper Rainy Gray.

The Base is a Hirst Art Block. I imagine him being a warrior miner giving his king a briefing on the Goblin infestation in the mine and he is always expecting trouble so he still holds on to his axes ready for anything.

John Colt

After that emotionally deep post I thought it would be fun to share one of my better paintjobs. Allow me to introduce John “Mutha-Fucking” Colt. Back in HS, I rolled up a Paladin, yes actually rolled one. Anyone who knows about 2E knows how hard that was. He was your typical “look at my shiny teeth “ Paladin, talking on the bad guys no matter the odds. At one time he even took on and out an entire army, it involved a staff of the magus.  Cut to 4E (yes I know many hate it, but it was my edition). I “rolled” one out. While that system was known for its heavy combat mechanics he did develop a personality over the years based in part on Gibs from NCIS. He was played in various cons and retired at Winter Fantasy 2014 at 21^st lvl.

This is going to be an odd post today. While I did complete some models that will eventually get posted. I wanted to share my cup with you. No I am not giving you a drink, sorry I am not that nice. This is my water cup. Since I started painting back in 95 I have been using it to hold my brush water along with its sister cup (Riddler). Both were from the 3^rd Batman Movie given away at McDonalds. I still remember driving over to McDs after school on a half day with friends and paid the extra 1.99 to collect these cups.  20+ years later it still gets used. It represents my history, as it has been with me to college, numerous moves, it remembers the days my parents were around(as I type this I realize the irony of referencing Batman and talking about being an orphan), it remembers the various brands of paint I have used (Testors, Polly S, Vallejo, GW, P3, Ral Partha, Warzone, Rackham, Army Painter, Secret Weapons, and a few others that escape my mind), and the thousands of minis I have painted.

My most recent version of this model, current favorite



Painted for Matt Mercer of Critical Role, I
never found out if he got it

I no longer paint armies, and I loath to do units, but from time to time I will pick up the same model to paint and see how my skills have grown.  Below are some Dwarves I have done, why dwarves you ask? Have you read the name of this blog….nuff said.

2nd Bones attempt at this model

You will hear me bash Reaper  Bones from time to time. I hate their bendy weapons  and loss of detail.  While I am not the biggest fan I am super cheap. If I can get a figure cheap, I will jump on it. Also some of the Werner Klocke sculpts have translated over very well to the Bones line. Freje Fangbreaker 77073 is a great Bones model, it lost very little of the detail of its metal counterpart, and does not suffer from bendy weapon syndrome. This model is always a joy to paint.

I think I did this one in late 2014

The other figure is an Avatars of War Dwarf Slayer. I always loved the GW Slayers so when I see other minis emulate the style I know I want to own them. The best part of these Avatars of War sculpts is the fact I have a contact and can get them relatively cheap. I have painted him a ton of times. Here are my two most recent iterations. Please note I actually love how the one on the square base turned out and very rarely do I like my own paintjobs.

Early 2016

Nuts About Painting

Currently on my painting bench

I firmly believe that you can gain knowledge from anyone if you are wise enough to recognize it. One day at my real job a student gave me a huge nut with a cork stuck in it. He said he had found it and suggested I take it, so he would not get himself in trouble.  In my pocket it went, and I forgot about it until I cleaned out my pockets later that night.  It sat among the pile of junk that was my dresser along with pen caps, pencils, bent paperclips, change, lint, dice (I serious have no clue how those things end up in my pockets), and other crap.



Inspired by Season 2 of DD

Most of the time when I worked on models, I simply held on to the figures by the base, not realizing how detrimental my skin oils were to model paintjobs.  A blogger was talking about how they used cork to hold models, which I had even tried before but it did not work because it kept falling over. Suddenly I had a combination MacGyver/Eureka moment (that, thankfully, did not involve a man naked in a bathtub) as I rushed up stairs and used the cork, nut, and paperclips to secure a mini. I still have that nut/cork combo, which I have since added to by using other corks and the biggest nuts (too easy to make a joke) I could find at the hardware store. The upside to this method is a miniature painted separate from the base can easily be added to a scenic base later.

 

Method two is using pill caps and blue tack. I much prefer the double sided lids that can be screwed on assuming you don’t need the lids to be child resistant. Sadly, my new pharmacy does not use these lids, so I have to horde what I have.

Madness....or another way of saying my methods and materials.

There is madness to my methods, or is that the other way around? Either one seems to apply.  I thought people might want to know how I do what I do. I am a pallet painter, but this has not always been so. Many years ago, I never wanted to paint minis.  I thought the bare metal/plastic looked cool. Then, I picked up some cheap paints and a brush. I did not know the difference among the paints and actually used Testors enamels on old Grenadier and Warzone models. I think about those models, and I just want to cry. Later, I picked up Polly S and then GW acrylics, which had become my go-to for many years ago until I discovered the paint that changed it all for me-Vallejo

You have no idea how hard those lids were to remove!

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My arsenal

In the early 2000s, a small French company was making its name big on the scene called Rackham, they had some of the most dynamic models in the industry and were pushing the boundaries of what could be done with painting techniques.  All their painters were using Vallejo paint. The only place I could get them was online, but I found a game store up north called Games-Plus that carried them. I took what extra cash I had at the time and bought my first few colors. From that point on, I was using blister packing as my pallet, and I had become a pallet painter.  Years later, I took a painting class with James and Cathy Wapple, wonderful people and even better painters. What came out of it was the experience of working with my first wet pallet and an explanation of how easy it was. A trip to GFCs and the dollar store and I had created my first wet pallet.

 

I tend to use strictly acrylic paint, but I have experimented with alcohol based metallic paints. I use a ton of different paint brands over the years, but my personal favorites are Vallejo, Reaper, Privateer Press P3, and, most recently, Army Painter. I have heard good things about Scale 75, but their price and difficulty to get seem prohibitive. For brushes I tend to do use cheap Hobby Lobby brushes, GW brushes, and Kolinsky Sable. I grab what seems right.

Painting, it's kind of like that....

 

Back to my original statement about there being no method, that is 100% right. Jazz music is very indicative of my style- I follow no plans, I grab what color seems correct, and I slap paint where I feel it needs to go. To make things even more confusing, I very rarely paint one model at a time. I started as an army painter using an assembly line style to my painting, and I still use that to this day. I will put a color on my pallet and spread it across my projects. The brown I use for boots will be used for the hair of another model, a red color I use for hair might be used on a pouch.  You get the idea. I also paint different elements at a time. I might paint a staff on a model brown, use that brown on a different element for another model, then add another color, use that, only to go back to the original color in a different area. Yes I realize I have painter ADD, hell forget the painter part, I am pretty sure I have normal ADD.

Welcome to my Blog

Hi there! I am Chuck, and I like to paint. This blog, which will be updated semi-weekly, will chronicle my adventures in gaming, painting, and being a human. I don’t expect to have a ton of followers; I will be surprised if my wife even follows this blog. I will try to keep this blog as family friendly as possible, but I might occasionally drop one of the 7 words you can’t say on TV, and I do paint the occasional scantily clad/nude female so there is that.

 

That being said, let me tell you about myself.  I am married (well, at the writing of this first post, I am to be married in 3 weeks, and honestly we have spent too damn much, and are so super crazy about each other that there is no way it won’t happen) and have been in education for the past 16+ years in various capacities. Neither of which I will be discussing in-depth on this blog. Mostly because I find it unprofessional to discuss teaching/students in a public personal blog and as for my relationship, my wife is my editor, and she knows where she can find a gun. I have been painting for 20+ years first painting a Ral Partha model with Testors paint I bought from Venture.

 

I have entered various local competitions and once a entered Golden Demon (lost, and an entry I did for giggles almost took a bronze, I wish I would have put more time into it. I make no illusion to my abilities, I am not a Haley, Wapple, or a Lovejoy, but for the most part, my models look good on the battlefield/play mat. The worst critic of my figures is myself.  Very rarely do I paint a figure I am proud of, but other people like my work, so that counts. After talking with various artists over the years , this is actually pretty par for the course.

 

I am a commission painter, not sure if “professional” is the right term, but I have sold on Ebay for many years- mostly to fund my hobby, pay for conventions, and prevent myself from being buried by tons of miniatures bought due to poor impulse control.  I never intended for this hobby to be profitable or a job, but as I have been lucky over the years, and people have requested more of my work, I feel it is time to go in that direction. Plus, I am looking into buying a house and am lucky enough to have a supportive spouse who is encouraging me to do this (and I am not just typing that because she is reading and editing this post).

 

So what are you going to see in in this blog? How about Live Nude Girls? If I end up painting them for a client, then perhaps that could be seen, but my posts are going to be divided into a few categories:  minis I paint for myself, Ebay, and other clients. Along the way, I am going to discuss my technique, muse, and what was going on in my head(I apologize in advance for that) as I painted them.  Honestly, you are going to see a ton of dwarves. I love them as a race and I have played one in some form or another in every edition of D&D. That explains part of the title; the “Tiny Happy” is an homage to Bob Ross. Much like him, I find painting to be a calming activity, and it centers me before a long day as I do a huge chunk of my work in the mornings. I will try to document my work, but to be honest; a good chunk of my pictures will come from my cell phone camera and a crappy digital camera I use for Ebay. Someday, I would love to have my own professional set up. Ideally, I would love to do videos, but as you will see my methods might not allow for that.

So welcome to my blog, sit down, enjoy the show, and feel free to leave a comment or a critique.