MaGie Painting Blog

NMM tutorial

2012-01-22T11:51:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

I just posted a new tutorial, covering a step by step on steel NMM, on my website.
If you are interested, please look here: Tutorial NMM steel by MaGie

I would also like to share my new facebook page: MaGie Miniature Painting
On this page I will post anything miniature related that interests me, as well as updates on my site and blog. If you'd like to follow me, please click 'like'.

Cheers!

WIP: Caradryan

2011-12-19T12:20:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

I've been working on this miniature from Games Workshop for some time now. It's high elf captain Caradryan, and I am painting it for the new GW shop that opened in my city last month.

So here is what I have thusfar. Still some work to be done, and most parts that look unfinished probably are :)
I've been trying some new-for-me techniques. Some freehand patterns and also texture for the cloak. I need to tweak that a bit still though ;)

I'm also giving some lessons at that shop, and the first one was last Saturday. It's really fun to see some enthousiast gamer/hobbyists gather. The next lesson will be this Wednesday afternoon, so if you happen to be in the neighbourhood, please come and join :)

See you next time!

Undead Lady

2011-11-20T13:19:00.000-08:00

Now that the results are in, I can show you my entry for the Rotten Harvest contest at Wyrd Miniatures. This mini was sculpted by Werner Klocke for his Freebooter range. I tried to create a big contrast in subject and paint style. So while the subject is creepy and dark, the mini is painted in bright and clean colours. The base is darker to complement the subject. I'm quite happy with how she turned out, it's the first time I tried a translucent effect on black lace. I think it's turned out OK.
Because I was running out of time for the contest, I had to rush the base a bit. This is quite obvious I would say, but considering the breakability of this mini (I still need to get myself a decent pinning devise), I am going to leave the base as it is...

I'm glad to tell you that this mini placed second in the Not Quite Dead Yet category of the contest. There are also still some general prices left, but considering some superb entries I'm not keeping my hopes up too much...

Comments are very welcome!

I would like to conclude this message with mentioning something I'm really looking forward to. In a few weeks, I will take a holiday, of 4 weeks, that I will fill mostly with painting many minis :)

Little Princess WIP

2011-11-14T12:43:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

Here is my latest WIP. I'm painting this mini from Runic Miniatures for paint it pink. For those who don't know, it's a online contest to raise breast cancer awareness. It's a great idea, I think, so I wanted to put some effort myself. If you want to enter, and please do, here is the link: Paint It Pink

Anyway here is the Little Princess. So far, I finished the face I think, maybe some extra glazes, but I won't know about that until I colour in more areas. The rest is totally unfinished.

Soon I will show the pictures from my Rotten Harvest (contest at Wyrd Miniatures) entry. I'm not really sure if I'm allowed to show them yet...

Back in action

2011-10-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

After realising that it has been quite a while since I posted on this blog, it is time to wake it from a long slumber.
Time in the past few months has been mostly consumed by my work, so I haven't been painting a lot.
I did manage to finish two pieces:

Alice in Boots was painted for the Hasslefree contest at WAMP. I am fairly satisfied with how she turned out, but it mostly was a piece to get me back in the painting game.

I painted Frodo for the monthly contest at WAMP themed 'from the movies'. It has been a very long time since I finished a mini in one day but I managed with Frodo. It's a small mini but that doesn't make it much easier :)

Lastly I would like to share the mini that's on my workbench at the moment. This is the Great Game Hunter pinup model from Kingdom Death, that I'm painting for the contest at WAMP. No illusion of winning anything, but for me participating is more important. It's in a larger scale than I'm used to, and will be quite a learning piece. So far, no single part has been finished, but it's progressing slowly.

The last few months of the year are generally packed with online miniature painting contests. Currently I have minis in the making/planning for the Red Box Games contest at WAMP, Rotten Harvest 2011 at Wyrd and a very special contest, Paint it Pink. This last contest is organised to help promote breast cancer awareness, which is absolutely a great initiative. Please visit the links above to take part in these competitions :)

A short message for a short break

2011-05-28T05:50:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

This is just a quick message to let you all know that I won't be updating my blog for a few weeks. I'm in North America to do a field study for my research. Have fun everyone, and I hope to see you back sometime in July :)

Cheers!

Stylish Blogger Award

2011-05-22T04:14:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Last week I was pleasantly surprised that I was tagged for a stylish blogger award, by both In Chigh and Mario. Thanks a lot for this guys.

In Chigh's little world blog is a great site with many lovely painted miniatures. I especially like the historical minis he has painted :) Be sure to check it out!
Mario's Dutch blog, Miniaturen maken met Mario, shows a whole scala of miniatures from different companies. With very nice paintjobs by Mario and also interesting non-miniature related blog threads. Also very nice for non-Dutch speaking people, because of the pictures.

I must admit that I had never heard of this award before, but it's been traveling around on the blog side of the internet for a while. Apparently, there are some rules that I will need to follow.
So here they are:

1. Thank and link back to the person who sent the award
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Award recently discovered bloggers
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award

7 Things about myself, here we go:
1 - I'm 26, currently I'm doing a PhD student in evolutionary genetics. For this I work with parasitic wasps. Although I love working with these wasps, I'm quite scared of many other bugs!

2 - I live together with my boyfriend and we have two cats, Bobby and Bengel.

3 - I enjoy playing board games (Puerto Rico & Agricola are my favourites), watching movies and tv series (Damn why did they end LOST?)

4 - I also love reading books, especially while taking a bath. Unfortunately it relaxes me too much, so I fall asleep with the book in my hand. Thusfar I haven't soaked a book yet though.

5 - I started painting miniatures about 3 years ago, though I only started seriously about a year ago.

6 - I have read/listened to the Harry Potter series probably about ten times. Never gets boring, I could start again anyday now. Stephen Fry's voice is amazing.

7 - You can wake me up for tiramisu anytime :)

And here are the blogs I would like to award the Stylish Blogger award:
http://bestienmeister.blogspot.com/ Amazing miniatures painted by Chris. Also has great pictures from events and other miniature painters.
The Brush Brothers Wow, those are some beautiful miniatures. This blog is run by Adam, Krzysztof and Tom from Poland. They also run a painting competition!
SDR miniatures Shane Rozzell's blog with pictures of his latest work. I'm a big fan of Shane's painting style, and although he only started his blog a little while ago, I'm sure this will be an awesome place to be!
Studio Giraldez This is the place to be if you want to see some ultra smooth incredibly painted miniatures. Angel Giraldez is the studio painter for Infinity and also shares techniques and colour recipes.

So that's it! Thanks again for awarding me In Chigh and Mario. Hope to see you soon on the blog!

Tutorial: Display base step-by-step

2011-05-09T12:40:00.000-07:00

Hi there!

Just thought I'd let you know that I have written a step by step on how I created and painted the base for Bör Dragonbane. You can find the tutorial HERE.

As I've been getting many questions on my paint recipes (especially on NMM), I will add a section to my website with the paint mixes I use. I will let you all know when it's online!
So if you have any question, don't be afraid to ask :) Also, comments & criticism is welcome as always.

Finished: Bör Dragonbane

2011-05-03T05:05:00.000-07:00

Hi there!

As I'm currently with busy planning my trip to North America, and with finishing all the work I need to do before I leave, I haven't had much time to update this blog. So forgive me for not posting sooner.
In the mean time I've finished Bör Dragonbane from Avatars of War, for the contest at WAMP. There are many great entries, be sure to check them out here.

So here is my entry:

This has been a real learning piece when it comes to gold NMM. There's loads of it. And I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. Soon I will post the colour recipes at my website, and for those interested there will also be a step on creating and painting the base.

Cheers!

WIP: AoW Bör Dragonbane

2011-04-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I realized that I forgot to post my latest work in progress here. I'm working on Bör Dragonbane, a dwarf berserker from Avatars of War. It will be my entry for the AoW contest at WAMP, and also for a ladder challenge on that site.

For this piece I want to put the focus mainly on the NMM, because there is not only a lot of it, there are many detailed metal and gold areas. So more options to practise, let's say...
Still loads of work to be done. The skin needs some more glazes, and the beard needs some work as well.
Let me know what you think, and if you have any ideas they're always welcome :)

WIP update: Al-Vianna

2011-03-20T11:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend has been all about Al-Vianna. The deadline for the Studio McVey contest at WAMP is next week, so I need to get finished.

I tried using the different mixes of the same colours for each part, hoping to create coherence in the colours. The only part I used completely different colours is the hair, which I want to stand out against all the blue and purple. I tried to paint the bottom of the dress to resemble the foam on waves, therefore the blending is not super smooth, but a bit blodgy.
Still figuring out the photography, some colours are just not right. The red is redder in real life, and the light blue has more contrast.

Wamped results & Al-Vianna WIP

2011-03-06T03:39:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

For the last few months the WAMP forum community has been captivated by the Wamped competition. Many great painted have entered in the competition and everyone gave their best effort resulting in amazing entries all around. If you want to see those minis and the 'best in show' winning miniature painted by Shane Rozzell, then check out the gallery at WAMP.

I entered three miniatures in this contest. Captain Jack sparrow and the Griffin magistrate in the 'general category' and Eilwyn in the Guild of Harmony category. And I'm very happy to say that Eilwyn won in the category :) This was quite a surprise as I was really amazed by the wonderful entries.

And now it's also time to start another WIP thread. So this weekend I started painting Al-Vianna. I already wrote in a review how much I love this miniature, so it's quite a challenge for me to paint it to my liking because I get very picky with this.

So I started with all the flesh-work. I'm going for a cool colour, because she's supposed to be some sort of waternimf (in my view at least). Therefore I used some purple-blue in my basecoat, and adding more to the shades.
The basic shading and highlights are finished, but I still need to clean up some rough blendings and I will do some additional glazing to hopefully create a more interesting skin surface.

And for those of you interested in my paint mix:

Ratio is about 12: 2:1:1:2 (I'm guessing here because I just mixed until I was satisfied. It gives a more grey/blue version of Vallejo (V) basic skin.

The shades are created by adding Oxford blue and Chocolate Brown (V), in steps of course.
The highlights are created by adding Light flesh (V) up to pure Stencil (V).
I already tried some glazing with basecoat + dark flesh (GW) using Vallejo's glaze medium and that stuff really makes glazing a piece of cake :) Bit glossy though so I'll have to work on a better dilution mix.
That's it for now, might do some more work on her today :)

Queen Ileosa - Reaper Contest :)

2011-03-03T15:04:00.000-08:00

I just received the wonderful news that my entry for the reaper contest, Queen Ileosa, has placed second in the contest :) I'm very happy with this. It was a great contest with very nice entries. Check out the Reaper forum to see the other entrants and the great paintjob that won, painted by Anne.

Here is the mini I entered. I will post some better pictures on my website soon.

WIP: Queen Ileosa

2011-02-11T12:43:00.000-08:00

Hi there!

I just realized I forgot to post my latest WIP on my blog. So before I finish it, which will hopefully be tomorrow, here are some shots.

I am planning to enter this miniature into the Reaper Winter Contest, the deadline is after this weekend, so I'll have to hurry a bit ;)

Happy New Year!!! + WIPs

2011-01-01T14:21:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everybody :) Thank you all for checking up on my blog and I wish you all a prosper and healthy 2011!!

So let's continue 2011 where the previous year has ended, more painting!

I forgot to post these WIPs, that I worked on a few days ago. Just an update on the navy guy. And yes, he does have a head ;) (click to enlarge)

Since I plan to enter the diorama in the WAMPED contest, I cannot post finished pictures of Jack Sparrow yet, but he is more or less finished :)

Today I also worked on Eilwyn, the Guild of Harmony miniature. So here's a little update for that:

So there it is, everyone enjoy 2011!!!

WIP update: Jack Sparrow & navy dude

2010-12-18T07:52:00.000-08:00

Today I've worked on the miniatures for the "through the looking glass" diorama.
I plan to have both miniatures in the same colours/recipes, but different composition. Here are some shots:

Hopefully I can get some more work done tomorrow. And I might even finish captain Jack :)

WIP update: Jack Sparrow, painting the leather

2010-12-12T11:29:00.000-08:00

This weekend I wasn't really in the painting mood, so I didn't do as much as I had planned before. I wanted to finish Jack Sparrow so I could work on his counterpart in the "looking glass" diorama. Unfortunately I didn't manage to finish him, but I'm getting there :)
I figured it's not a good idea to paint when I don't feel like it, because it ruins the idea of the hobby for me. It also descreases my patience a lot, and I don't want to rush the miniature.

In response to some reactions about the pants (which some persons thought looked to much like faded blue denim - and I quite agreed), I've changed them to look more like khaki. I also painted the other leathers parts (hat & boots).

Cheers!

WIP update: Jack Sparrow

2010-12-05T10:04:00.000-08:00

Another day of painting Captain Jack. I worked on most parts of the clothing today. I still need to do some contrasting glazes though. I think this picture is much better than yesterday. I hope...

Because I'm really working hard to finish an experiment I don't have a lot of time to paint during the week, so probably the next update will be in the coming weekend. See ya!

WIP: Jack Sparrow

2010-12-04T11:07:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,
I'm taking a small break from Eilwyn - will continue working on her during the Christmas break :)
Now it's time for something completely different!
This is the "Pirate Captain" miniature from Tale of War, Fotogramas series. Obviously it's a sculpt of the ever-famous Caribbean pirate. So therefore I also want to paint it the way he looks in the movie. In this early WIP shot, you can see I've tried to mimic the sun-tanned dirty look of the skin.

I'm painting this miniature to be part of a diorama called 'Through the Looking Glass', for a ladder challenge an WAMP. But I also intend to enter it in the Wamped! competition.

Here a shot of the colours I used for the skin:

I also used GW dark flesh as a wash.

More to come soon! Let me know what you think so far.

WIP: Eilwyn

2010-11-29T11:16:00.000-08:00

It's been a while, forgot to update my latest WIP. So here it is. It's a miniature from Guild of Harmony, which is a company owned by a great painter & modeller automaton. I am painting is miniature for entering the Wamped! contest at WAMP, but also because I absolutely love the sculpt :)

Still lots to be done, the face is almost finished - she just needs eyebrows. And the dress is also quite near finished. I think I might change the colours of the (now yellow) gems to blue or turquoise.
Let me know what you think!

Finished: Basti Priestess

2010-11-14T10:01:00.000-08:00

Today I finished the Basti Priestess from Crocodile Games. Just in time, because the deadline for the challenge is today :)

Let me know what you think! Like always, more pictures can be found on my website, or CMON gallery!

Hyrekia - Wyrd Rotten Harvest Entry

2010-11-10T09:01:00.000-08:00

Finally I can show the mini I entered for the Rotten Harvest contest at Wyrd. I entered in the category "witches & warlocks". Unfortunately I didn't win anything, but it was a great contest with some very nice entries. I guess next time I should focus on getting really decent pictures (the ones in this post are already much better compared to my entry pictures), and maybe put some more focus on the Halloween / autumn theme.

So here she is:

More & bigger pictures can be found on MaGie Miniature Painting and CMON (leave a vote if you can :) )

Any comments & criticism is very welcome!

WIP update: Basti Priestess, final WIP

2010-11-06T12:21:00.000-07:00

Here's the last WIP picture of the Basti Priestess, as it is almost finished. Just a few more touch-ups to be done, but so far I'm really happy with the paintjob. Let me know what you think!
I also started sculpting the base today, will have some pictures up tomorrow probably.

Unfortunately the pictures of my Wyrd entry have turned out really bad, and it doesn't look as well as I hoped. The voting for this contest ends in a few days, so we'll see how it turns out. I've already made some better pics - and I have realized that working without a light box gives much better results for me - and will post them as soon as the voting ends :)

WIP update: Basti Priestess

2010-10-31T11:54:00.000-07:00

It was a great weekend for painting: The weather sucked and I was really in the mood. So now I can present the latest WIP pictures of the Basti Priestess (Crocodile Games) that I am painting. Man I love this mini! The casting quality was awefull but I just really love the cat faces, and I like the feminine curves on this one :)

I made some bad spills that need fixing and of course the shawl has to be painted. But overall I'm really happy with the dress & gold. Let me know what you think :)

Finished: Wyrd rotten harvest entry (no pics)

2010-10-26T11:58:00.000-07:00

Today I finished my entry for the Wyrd rotten harvest contest. It has been a great piece to work on and definitely proved to be a learning piece once again. Thanks to my optivisor I now can see little details I missed before, so it's really helpful.
I will show the final pictures of this mini when the contest is over.

And some other news: My little goblin mutant won the monthly contest at WAMP :) The competition was tough and the end results were really close to each other. But I'm really excited. it was great fun and also very nice to see the different interpretations of the theme.

my CMON gallery

2010-10-12T10:31:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

My CMON account name now matches my name used here and elsewhere: MaGie, and can my gallery there now be found here: http://www.coolminiornot.com/artist/MaGie

All the old images are still in the gallery. Many thanks to Chern Ann at CMON for helping me change my username :)

Finished: Rackham Goblin Mutant

2010-10-11T04:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend I finished painting the goblin mutant from Rackham for the monthly competition at WAMP. I tried to create a little scene by only the minimal addition of the goblet with the blue liquid, as if the goblin drank something he shouldn't. "Greenskins and blue drinks don't mix".

I enjoyed painting this little critter. It was also my first try at copper and verdigris. I'm not too sure about that really.I painted this miniature with a little less dilution than I normally do, but I must say I like it much better. I'm not patient enough for the über-dilution and I think this is a good intermediate.
More pics can be found on my CMON page or on www.magie-miniatures.webs.com

And some other GREAT news.
Tre Manor has added my painted version of Yvander to his webshop catalogue: RED BOX GAMES.
He really liked the paintjob and I'm really honoured by this :) Be sure to check his miniatures! They are of great quality, lots of choices and just wonderful sculpts.

WIP: goblin mutant

2010-10-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest WIP. The goblin mutant from Rackham I mentioned in one of my previous posts. Still a lot needs to be done, deadline for the contest is in 9 days so I might have to rush it a bit.

This is a great piece if you like painting eyes. When I picked the mini from my stack I didn't really like the idea of painting all the eyes. I couldn't paint eyes at all. It's so tiny, and seeing it clearly was nearly impossible for me. Plus my painting hand gets really shaky. But I've found my saviour:

With the optivisor (2.5x enlargement) I can finally see all the details. It really helped my paint the eyes on the goblin. I can even paint the pupil, I must admit that I'm pretty proud of that :)

Review: Painting secrets with Natalya

2010-10-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

I've written a review on the HD download version of the DVD tutorial "Painting secrets with Natalya", a video tutorial by famous miniature painter (golden demon + slayer sword winner) Natalya Melnik aka Alexi Z. You can find it on my website HERE. Enjoy & let me know what you think!

WIP: Basti Priestess

2010-09-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

For a paint challenge at WAMP (against TaleSpinner), themed 'She's got style', I'm working on this basti miniature from Crocodile Games. Here's a little WIP shot, very early though and lots still needs to be painted.

I'm also working on a Rackham goblin for the monthly contest 'Oops!' at WAMP. I will post some WIP shots of that soon!
And third on my workbench is a miniature for the Rotten Harvest contest at Wyrd, but due to the anonymous nature of the contest I cannot display any WIP pictures or completed pictures until the contest is over. Category & type of miniature I will keep to myself as well ;)

Yvander HalfBlood finished + NEW WEBSITE!

2010-09-19T03:24:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

The miniature I painted for the Red Box Games contest at WAMP is finished:

I had a lot of fun painting this miniature. It's a great sculpt with a lot of (not overdone) details. I hope I managed to do it justice. This piece helped me practice my use of colours, (gold) NMM, and creating a display base.

Also, time for an announcement: MaGie Miniature Painting Website is now online. On the website you can find a gallery with more angles than I can show here. There will be some tutorials and reviews. I hope you will check it out & have fun!

WIP update: Yvander

2010-09-12T07:05:00.000-07:00

Today and yesterday I made some progress on the RBG mini. Most of the basic colours are done. So all that's left to do is some glazing to create some depth. The metallics still need to be done, and I also need to attach and paint the swords.
I tried to paint to gold NMM on the back of the mini, I hope it works.

WIP:Yvander Halfblood

2010-08-31T13:46:00.000-07:00

Hi there!
Here's another miniature I am painting for an online contest at WAMP. The contest is sponsored by Red Box Games, a company by Tre Manor that makes wonderful miniatures.
For this contest I am painting Yvander Halfblood, MarchWarden Scout. It's a wood elf, and I intend to keep the colours mainly greens and browns. So far this paintjob is still WIP.

And here is the base, also still work in progress.

Back with a vengeance (part 2)

2010-08-30T13:42:00.000-07:00

It's been a very long while since my last blog post. I've been away from painting for a while due to an injury, but now I'm (almost) healed and I can enjoy the hobby again.

Meanwhile I discovered a great online community: WAMP. Many wonderful painters & sculptors reside on this forum and are willing to share their tips & tricks, which is great :)
WAMP hosts many online competitions, so it's a great way for me to improve my painting and get feedback on my work.

Last month a contest was held sponsored by Avatars of War. The winning entry was a great miniature wonderfully painted by Scott Radom.
Here is the miniature I entered for this contest, it placed 5th along with two other entries.

WAMP also hosts a monthly competition for fun. I entered with a Pyg burrower from Privateer Press, and placed 4th.

More pictures can be found in my CMON gallery.

Let me know what you think. Tomorrow I will post the miniatures I'm working on right now.

Almost finished... Dark Elf Shade

2009-04-12T07:54:00.000-07:00

Today I made some progess on the Dark Elf Shade. It's almost finished. Just need to paint the hair and finish the handle of the sword. I'm quite satisfied, although - in retrospect - I believe I should've spend a little more time in preparing the mini before painting. But that's a good lesson learned for my next project ;)

So without further ado...

(Please feel free to comment and criticize)

Empire Wizard (finished)

2009-04-05T09:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finished my empire wizard. I re-did the scythe, added some highlights to his cloth, and gave him a base. First time sculpting ;) even though it's still just a rock.

So here it is:

Back with a vengeance... many WIPs!

2009-03-01T10:14:00.000-08:00

Wow it's been a really long time since I posted anything on this blog. Doesn't mean I've been a couch potato ;) On the contrary, I started my PhD in September which sometimes takes a lot of my spare time too.

Anyway, I would like to share some of the miniatures I'm working on at the moment...

Here's an empire wizard (from Games Workshop), I wanted it to get a dark, sinister look.

I also started a collection of Orks (Warhammer 40.000, Games Workshop), as you've seen before. Here is a new Ork boy (left). Since the previous posted one got messed up, I started anew with this one.

On the right a mini I started today. A Goblin Cyclop Gong Banger (Rackham). I love this mini, it has much character. Hopefully I can paint it to match.

And finally a Dark Elf Shade (Games Workshop), still a very early WIP

See ya soon, hopefully :)

Ork boys

2008-10-12T07:54:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I received a nice package by mail containing a number of boxes with ork boyz/lootas/burnas and so on from Games Workshop. I found an internetshop in the Netherlands with great service and most importantly low prices. It's called AVS gameshop (this is no advertising ;) ).

So I got my orks and have started assembling and basecoating them. I found that basecoating using an airbrush is so much easier and more smooth compared to the spray cans, so I'll never ever go back to that.

Anyway here is my first try in painting ork skin. I wanted it to look different from the goblin skin and have tried to apply some of the methods I learned from the Miniature Mentor video. Not sure I succeeded... shading and highlighting using these extremely diluted paints is quite hard, and incredibly slow.

Feedback would be nice. See ya!

Second Night Goblin Fanatic (almost finished)

2008-08-31T08:50:00.001-07:00

It's been a while, mostly due to a very nice holiday in Germany :)

So here is my latest work on the second fanatic. It's almost done, still need to paint the ears, the moon on his hat and some final highlighting on the rope material.

And as requested by my father, here is the real size of the miniature (as seen on 15.4" monitor)

See you soon for more updates :)

Base

2008-08-08T02:13:00.001-07:00

Taking a little break from the goblins (being a little bit preoccupated with graduating)...

But I did manage to make my first (hrmm) sculpt, sort of. Well, actually it's just a simple base I made out of milliput, and painted to look like a marble floor.

I also started experimenting with blending using a dry retardant, but it's still difficult and it looks rather messy. Thus so far, no pictures of that :)

Anyways here is the base:

Tips are appreciated, especially on blending ;)

First Goblin Fanatic finished

2008-07-30T04:10:00.000-07:00

Here's the final result (will probably still make some minor changes):

I really like how he turned out, hopefully the other two will match this one :)

Goblin Fanatic 1 WIP

2008-07-27T03:08:00.001-07:00

Just some progress pictures of the first goblin fanatic I'm painting. Blending still gives me some problems, but I guess practice makes perfect!

Night Goblin Fanatics

2008-07-26T05:16:00.000-07:00

Taking a little break from painting the Anubi Hero, because I got a great large-sized base of MicroArtStudios from by boyfriend that is perfect for the three night goblin fanatics I was planning to paint a little later. But since I got a little excited I started them now...

So without further ado:

Here's number one, only finished the skin, grey shading is just a little guideline for further reference...

Here are number 2 and 3. Only assembled them, and drilled holes for pins to attach them to the base.

Suggestions and comments are always welcome :)

Anubi Hero Base

2008-07-18T13:32:00.001-07:00

This evening I finished the base for my Anubi Hero mini. I made it using some sort of cork (which has a horrible smell I must say), and sand of differing sizes.

Now I just have to see what side is best, and where I want to position the mini.
Comments and suggestions are welcome as always :)

Anubi Hero - 1st attempt at gold NMM

2008-07-17T06:43:00.000-07:00

I think the gold looks ok for the first attempt, next step is to do the same for the metal parts.

Anubi Hero pt 2 WIP

2008-07-13T04:45:00.001-07:00

Did some more painting on the Anubi Hero,

finished the skirt and the skin, although I think I'll redo some parts of the skin, I think I've been a bit too hasty in trying to finish it.

As you can probably see, I've been experimenting a little bit with my camera, and a coloured background. I think the picture looks a lot better now :)

Anubi Hero WIP and some experiments

2008-07-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, I've been trying some new things:

- Using spray primer instead of paint on primer: I have to say: "This is hard!", I really suck at this. The primer is way to thick, and much detail is lost. So I'm thinking this will be good thing for me if I have to prime many miniatures at one time, but there's no way I'll ever use it again when painting one mini.

- On the other hand, I'm very pleased with the white paint on primer I bought from Vallejo. It has great cover :) Before I didn't use specially designed primers, I just painted black or white acrylics as undercoat, but this is definitely a lot better, as grabbing the mini doesn't result in paint 'falling of'

- Used citadel washes for the first time. Very nice to use in blacklining minis that are primed white. I don't think I'll ever use it to really shade a miniature because I think the flow of the paint is still rather unpredictable.

So to show the result of some of my experiments, here is an Anubi Hero by Crocodile Games (http://www.crocodilegames.com/). It is still a very early WIP.

So far: I primed it using Vallejo Foundation White, and then shaded the entire mini (exept for parts of the cloths I wanted to be white). I painted the white cloth using a mix of astronomical grey (GW) and skull white, and added skull white for the top layers and pure skull white for the highlights.

Next up will be painting it's skin, which will be dark grey (skin colour used by Crocodile Games), the remaining cloths will be red, and I'm going to try some NMM (non-metallic metal) on the sword and dagger, we'll see how it turns out :)

Any comments and advice is appreciated!

Goblin Shaman FINISHED!

2008-06-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

I finished the Goblin Shaman I started painting a while ago! I'm very pleased with how he turned out, and it took me quite a while to make it look like this.

I based the idea of the base on a story I'm writing (still mostly in my head though) which features goblin from the 'tribe of the black river'.

Hope you like it!

Update WIP goblin shaman

2008-05-28T06:16:00.000-07:00

Finished some more parts of the goblin shaman miniature, like the tooth (he only has one ;) ), the nails, boots, hair and a little bag he carries.

Goblin Shaman metallics

2008-05-21T08:14:00.000-07:00

Finished painting the metallic parts of the goblin shaman mini.

Things aren't really going as fast as I wish they would, but I'm kind of busy graduating....

Advice and comments are always welcome!

(Night) Goblin shaman WIP part 2

2008-05-17T03:19:00.000-07:00

Just a little step further... Finished the robe and his lip-piercing ;) and I kind of managed to paint the eye, which I should've painted before the skin as someone on 'Da Warpath' forum suggested.

The highlights on the robe are a little bit harsher on the picture than they are in real life.

Night goblin shaman WIP

2008-05-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

Time for another update...

A few days ago I started painting this night goblin shaman from Games Workshop.

I'm hoping to get a good highlighting effect this time, especially on the skin...

So that's where I started. I think the wooden staff and the skin are done, next step is to start on the robe.

Comments are appreciated!

Mini Squig

2008-05-05T06:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I started and finished the mini squig from the Goblin fanatics box set from Games Workshop. I had a lot of fun painting this miniature, it is tiny but has this sinister look about it which I love! It was the perfect opportunity for me to learn to paint reds (many miniature painters consider it to be a pain in the ***!!) and finish my first stone base....

Let me know what you think!

Some WIPs

2008-05-04T07:44:00.000-07:00

Looks like I haven't been up to much painting lately, but.... Looks can be deceiving :)
Actually I have been working on a few miniatures at the same time but I never really get around finishing one....

But anyway just to show what I've been doing here are some WIP pictures, dedicated to my loyal blog reader Freek :)

I started working on a Empire wizard (Games Workshop), so far I only finished the front of his robe and his base which is not really to my liking yet. Anyway highlighting keeps getting smoother... Honestly I'm rather proud of the gem on his chest :)

Another miniature I started is a pixie trickster from the Rackham miniature company. This is actually the first metal miniature I've painted and the first time I've used white as a basecoat (which I think is the most horrible thing to do...)

The pumpkin head is not finished by far and the rest also needs some more highlights...

And finally I'm working on a miniature from Crocodile Games, it's a Basti Hero. First time painting boobs ;) But this one is only undercoated and I've added some blacklining. Just to show my 'working process'. I also made a base using a styrofoam cobblestone sheet. Still needs to be painted though...

As you can see, much more work to do! Today I've been painting a tiny squig from Games Workshop but I kinda want to finish it before posting here....

Thanks for reading and don't be shy to post some comments or painting advice :)

Wood Elf Glade Guard (finished)

2008-03-29T05:14:00.000-07:00

Here is the finished Glade Guard (finally!) I had some difficulties doing the base, still need to figure out the most effective method. The colour of the bow doesn't really satisfy me either, maybe I'll change it later... But generally I'm pretty proud of it.

Comments are very much appreciated :)

Wood elf glade guard (WIP)

2008-02-17T08:40:00.001-08:00

After a short break from painting I started all fresh on this wood elf glade guard from the Warhammer miniature range.

These are just some WIP pictures, but the finished miniature will follow very soon.

Comments and advice are very welcome!

Making Beads

2008-01-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

While browsing on the internet I've discovered a very interesting way to make beads: using polymer clay and so called canes. After seeing some amazing creations made by some experienced bead makers, I decided to give it a try myself...

These are the first beads I ever made, it's so much fun! I'm planning to make enough beads to create a nice bracelet...

War of the Ring - First miniature

2007-12-16T02:41:00.000-08:00

Recently I've started a huge painting side project: painting the miniatures from the War of the Ring game http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/9609. These miniatures are really amazing, considering they are part of a boardgame that really isn't that expensive! They are slightly smaller than the Warhammer Fantasy miniatures (about 20 mm), but they are great for me to get some experience in painting, and they're a lot of fun as well.

This is the first completed Elven regular:

I still need to figure out how to make some more decent pictures, as these are a bit dark (the actual colours are slightly different). Eyes remain a difficulty!

See ya...

Battlelore - Medium Infantry

2007-12-13T06:39:00.000-08:00

This is the first batch of Medium Infantry miniatures I painted, from the BattleLore game. (http://www.daysofwonder.com/battlelore/en/)
As a beginning painter, I still have a lot to learn and improve: painting the faces and eyes, and painting more neat. But anyway, hope you like it and please leave comments!

Bracelets

2007-11-27T06:40:00.000-08:00

This is the collection of bracelets I made in the past year or two...

And the latest...

Starting a blog

2007-11-24T01:49:00.000-08:00

Well... first time I'm making a blog, so I'll probably need a lot of time figuring out how everything works. Anyway, this blog will mainly consist of my miniature painting work, which I started doing a few months ago (so I'm still a beginner), and some of the bracelets I made.
Just using this blog to show my painting progress and maybe just a little chit-chat!

See ya!