Catsong

Indy, Ragdoll Bard
28 mm scale

Tomorrow will take us away
Far from home
No one will ever know our names
But the bards' songs will remain

A bard's coin and living rest on their reputation, and Indy's songs and sagas are certainly well-reknowned.  His passage through town always leaves behind happy, entertained folk purring a new song or two... and the occasional unexpected litter of kittens...

This Cats & Catacombs figure is actually the first bard I've ever painted.  As lovely as it is on its own, I felt like it deserved a well-done pastoral base, to suit a bard's itinerant, poetic nature.  I used bark for the rock, and these are my first sculpted mushrooms, which I think turned out okay.  The figure is posed pretty statically, but makes up for it with a poised, handsome character that suits a notoriously charismatic profession.

 

Come, for the dusk is our own; let us fare forth together,
With a quiet delight in our hearts for the ripe, still, autumn weather,
Through the rustling valley and wood and over the crisping meadow,
Under a high-sprung sky, winnowed of mist and shadow.

Cowabunga Cruiser

Turtle Party Wagon
15mm scale

YO! It's the green machine
Gonna rock the town without being seen
Have you ever seen a turtle get down?
Slammin and jammin to the new swing sound
Yeah, everybody let's move
Vanilla is here with the New Jack Groove
Gonna rock, And roll this place
With the power of the ninja turtle bass

Gotta have some cool wheels while you're cruising NYC to take down Shredder and The Foot!

This (pizza) slice of the late 80's was a random Hot Wheels find at the dollar store before Christmas.  It's a very faithful design, AND pretty much perfectly 15mm scale!  All it needed was a paint job.

Of course I had to add some Big Apple civic pride along with the other graffiti:

And now for the kicker... A while ago, as part of a swap, @winnipegmichael on Instagram sent me these incredibly obscure TMNT figures he'd painted.  They're big-15mm scale, and this van suits them absolutely!

The sincerest form of flattery pt. 2

Ejhin de Vanth
28mm

Fear of the dark
Fear of the dark
I have a constant fear that something's always near

This Rackham Confrontation miniature has been kicking around my collection since... Confrontation was the newest and coolest thing, years ago.  It just never jumped out at me to be painted.  But, as they say... every dog has its day.

I've been following the amazing work of Matthias Radtke, aka @gravewraithterrain on Instagram for a while.  As well as experimenting with unusual materials and textures, his smoldering, dark paint jobs contrasted with intense light effects are both immediately eye-catching, and piqued my artistic interest.  So many of my works are bright... I wanted to try and duplicate his technique, and produce my own thing of sinister darkness.  And this arcanely creepy sorceress was a good sculpt to work from.

I think it worked pretty well... considering I have little practice emulating others' styles, and I deliberately asked for a minimum of technical advice from Mr. Radtke (who was, however, happy to oblige).  The eldritch green glow and filthy smoke coming off her staff was both the first thing I did here, and a great focal point for the figure.

This was a fulfilling hobby project, and I'm pleased to say, a quick one! I didn't agonize over blending or pumping my highlights up to eleven, just matching the grim mood and spectacular depth of my inspiration.  The results are at least fairly close to what I was hoping for.

 To conclude, this is where I plug the Grave Wraith Terrain Etsy store, if anyone's interested in owning one of Matthias' many lovely works.

Jungle Patrol

Jungle Patrol and monolith
15mm

 

The galaxy is filled with mysterious relics: the structures and artifacts left behind by long-lost peoples on a thousand planets...  Some are crumbling ruins, others are active and even dangerous technologies waiting to imperil the unwary explorer.  This squad of troopers have discovered such a relic in the deep jungle... crumbling ruins, but holding a huge crystal glowing with some inner power...

These figures were a gift from @winnipegmichael, they're apparently "Yenpalo troopers" from Brigade Models.  The CO's "fish head" is from CP Miniatures.  The monolith is just made from an aquarium gem and chunks of cork, with a light dusting of very fine foam flocking (so fine I rarely use it, actually, but it makes good moss).

"Fan out and scan for EM spikes!  There might be more of them!"