Category Archives: Mini Monday

Tips and Tricks

WizKids Deep Cuts Familiars — Mini Monday 23

It’s Mini Monday, where I share customizing, scratch building, kitbashing, and miniature painting projects for your roleplaying and tabletop gaming. This week I’m painting the Pathfinder Battles: Deep Cuts Familiars, produced by WizKids and NECA.

Deep Cuts is my favorite RPG mini range right now, because the detail, variety, and price are spot on. The Deep Cuts Familiars blister contains a badger, bat, and a fox, which is a lot of value, even if nobody in your party is keeping a familiar around.

These little critters taxed me to the very edge of my photography skills. This will have to do.

For all of the Deep Cuts Familiars, finding good references really helped. Look for quality photos of real animals. It may sound obvious, but when you spend most of your time painting fantasy creatures, the chance to refer to nature is a rare treat.

The Key to Fur

The trick with fur is to get the countershading right.

Photo credit: Erik McLean

Countershading is the tendency animals have of having a darker coloration on their upper side and a lighter coloration on their underside, like this fox with his lighter tummy. Our badger friend is an exception, but only in that it’s flipped around for him, with his lighter top and darker underside.

You can paint countershading in a number of ways, but the important thing is to know where the graduations are and where there’s a sudden change in color. Look at how the orange fur under his eyes suddenly becomes white, while on his forelegs the change from black to orange is more gradual.

The Bat

Priming is already done for you, so we can dip right in. The stone was painted gray, then dry brushed with a lighter gray. The bat was painted a chocolate brown, then I mixed in a little white for the dry brushing highlights. Lastly, I washed the stone with a black wash.

The Badger

I painted him the same gray as the stone on the bat mini, but then dry brushed white on the top and painted the muzzle white. I touched this up with gray over his eyes to form the distinctive patterns on the badger’s face. Paint the legs black.

For the badger’s stone, I had painted it gray, but there wasn’t much contrast, so I went back over it with a dark brown, then light brown highlights. This made all the difference.

The Fox

This might be my best paint job yet. See, I’m learning!

I painted the whole fox orange, then dry brushed a lighter orange over that, with white over the tail. The nose, eyes, and mouth were all painted black. Also note that foxes have black inside their ears and on their forelegs. Getting the patterning right is half the battle, but so satisfying when you get it right.

The base was painted dark gray and then dry brushed light gray.

Done!

The last thing to do it varnish them and stick them on their bases, then you’re done. I knocked all three out over a Saturday, so they don’t take much time at all.

You can get the Pathfinder Deep Cuts Unpainted Miniatures: Familiars on Paizo or at most good hobby gaming stores.

It’s Christmas in July!

Celebrate Christmas in July with Aurora’s Whole Realms Christmas Catalogue, and : it’s never too early to start your Christmas shopping!

 

 

Be sure to check out our other Aurora’s Seasonal Catalogues, we’ve got something for everyone!

Aurora’s Seasonal Catalogues

 

Tips and Tricks

Kitbashed Grot Oiler — Mini Monday 22

It’s Mini Monday, where I share customizing, scratch building, kitbashing, and miniature painting projects for your roleplaying and gaming table. This week we’re making a quirky little grot oiler for Warhammer 40,000 or Wrath & Glory.

This little guy was loads of fun, easy to make, and is literally dripping with character. And oil.

The Oil Barrel

I guess this grot doesn’t want to be squig food, hiding in that oil barrel like that. The barrel is white metal, which I melted and then poured into a simple mold made from silicone and corn starch. The Crafsman has a great tutorial video on making molds this way. My first attempt wasn’t great, but it looked like a purposely dinged up barrel, perfect for an Ork job.

The Grot Oiler’s Body

The head and arm are from the Gretchin box. I first made the shoulders and knee out of modeling epoxy, then stuck these two bits on. It really helps to have some understanding of anatomy, so references are useful. This part of the build was enough to sell the idea of the grot oiler coming out of the barrel, even though the barrel is solid and there’s nothing more to this little dude than what’s stuck onto the side of the barrel.

Painting

I painted the grot, then used a black wash (watered down black paint) to make him look oil stained.
Who’m I kidding? I do this with all my minis!
I then painted silver on the edges of the barrel to give it a metallic look. A rust paint job would probably have looked even better.

Liquid Effects

Finally, I mixed black paint into silicone and painted this onto the grots base, which was sitting on waxed paper. When this dried, I could pull the whole thing off and it looks just like oil is spilling over the base. This “spill” comes off the base easily and sticks back on again without anything other than the silicone’s natural tackiness, so I can remove the effect when using this mini on the battlefield.

If you enjoyed this little tutorial, or if you have any questions, let us know in the comments below.

Tips and Tricks

Keeping Motivated to Hobby — Mini Monday 21

It’s Mini Monday, where we share customizing, scratch building, kitbashing, and miniature painting projects for your roleplaying table. This week we talk about motivation and keeping motivated to hobby.

Phew! Is anyone else finding they’ve got less time during lockdown? I sure am. These days, I finish a good chunk of work at night, so my hobby time is at a . But let’s not get discouraged. If anything, lockdown and new obstacles are just opportunities to do better at the things we count as important. Let’s see how we can keep the motivation high and paint more minis.

The Satisfaction of Starting

Taking your first steps on a new project can be just the change of scenery you need (ha, modeling pun)! If other projects have stalled, a quick project can bring out the joy of the hobby and get you excited again. New ideas are often the most exciting, so use that energy to revitalize your enthusiasm.

Having a few projects on the go helps too. Just be sure to keep finishing some of them off, otherwise you’ll feel overwhelmed by the number of incomplete projects waiting for your attention.

The Joy of the Journey

Every step closer to done is a small victory, so get a little done when you can. If a project sits for too long, it can kill enthusiasm, so a little progress often is the way to go. You’ll probably find that, if you keep progressing, you’ll find time to finish the project off in one final, satisfying go. This was the case for me with my Gundam Deff Dreads, which took ages but were finished off quickly over a few final sessions before a big tournament.

The Dopeness of the Destination

Finishing is possibly the greatest motivator, and it will energize you well into the next project. It’s also an important part of learning, because you’ll learn more from completing the whole process than from only getting through a part of it. With a completed model you can take a step back and consider the work as a whole, and you’ve got something you can show off n your display shelf.

Good luck, get minis painted, and stay safe!

Tips and Tricks

Sculpt Saxon from Mouse Guard – MM #20

It’s Mini Monday, where I share customizing, scratch building, kitbashing, and miniature painting projects for your roleplaying table. This week we’ll build Saxon, from the Mouse Guard comics.

In case you’ve never heard of it, Mouse Guard is an award-winning series written by David Petersen. It was also turned into a best-selling tabletop roleplaying game, based on the Burning Wheel system, by Luke Crane. I love the series and the RPG, and I wanted figures to use in my games, so I made one. Let’s take a look.

Saxon from Mouse Guard

I built a wire frame for the model, then covered it with aluminium foil to give it more shape, particularly around the body, face, and ears.

I then used paper mache, much like in our recent Barrow-downs project, to cover the model.

Paper Mache

For fine detail like this model, which stands about 8 cm high (excluding the base), I made a very fine paper mache by shedding newspaper. I tried to soak and mash it finer, which took a lot of effort but did give me a slightly finer paste in the end. Mix this with 1 cup of water to 1 cup of flour.

Paper mache is great for model terrain projects, and although it’s not great for detail work, I chose it because I figured it would give me a furry, natural look, which worked out well.

The base is made of hardboard, and his hands are made of modelling epoxy. You could use Green Stuff too.

Painting

I base coated the model brown with acrylic paint, and picked out the skin of the hands, feet, ears, and tail with a browny pink. I used grey for the base, stippled on with a brush.

I then switched to Citadel Colours for the main coat. I used Snakebite Leather/Ballor Brown and Bestial Brown/Mournfang Brown for the fur, with Skull White/White Scar for the white patches. I heavily watered down the paints to blend them better.

Finally, I used a brown/black mix with lots of water as a wash, covering the whole model.

Finishing

I used pliers to cut a tiny black bead in half, which I superglued on for the eyes. Two coats of matt varnish, and Saxon was almost ready to the Mouse Guard.

Sword and Cape

I’ll cover Saxon’s iconic sword and cape in a later tutorial, because I’ll need to experiment with a few techniques for the sword first. I’ve already tried plastic card, and now I’m shaping some alluminium, which seems to be working very well. Have any ideas? Drop them in the comments below, we’d love to hear from you.

Jump into Mouse Guard

Looking for the comics? You can find Mouse Guard issues on Drive Thru Comics for a cheap $1.99 each. I highly recommend finding the printed books though, they’re gorgeous.

Tips and Tricks

Painting a Doom Cacodemon: Mini Monday #17

It’s Mini Monday, where I share customizing, scratch building, kitbashing, and miniature painting projects for your roleplaying table. This week we’re paining a Doom Cacodemon.

Here’s another miniature painted with Flesh Wash, my new secret weapon that I used to paint my Yochlol. For this post I painted a Doom Cacodemon, from the Doom: The Boardgame Expansion Set, which came out in 2005. I’ll be using this mini as my Patriarch in my twisted Genestealer Cults army — more on that soon!

 

There’s not much to painting the Doom Cacodemon really; he’s big, but not overly detailed. I undercoated the mini white, then painted the pinks, followed by the coconut crab pattern on the back. This was based on CatgutPainting’s excellent Tyranid ‘Coconut Crab’ paint scheme tutorial on YouTube. I know this isn’t strictly “canon,” but I think it adds some visual interest.

The back of the Doom Cacodemon

I replaced the last two coats of CatgutPainting’s wash mix with Flesh Wash, which made him look more fleshy — surprise surprise. Generally, I don’t like Flesh Wash for skim, but monster skin is a different story.

I painted the base black, then added detail with metallics for the s, wire, and steel rods. I might go back in and use the rust technique on some of those s later, but I’m happy for now.

Next, I mixed white and yellow to paint the teeth. I finished them off with a little Flesh Wash around the base of each tooth to give them some grungy definition. Avoid pure white teeth at all costs!

Finish off with matt varnish, or with gloss varnish if you want a wet look. Done!

Follow Mini Monday on Pinterest and CMON

We’re sharing mini painting and kitbashing photos on Pinterest, on our Mini Monday Pinterest board. I’ve also been collecting a huge amount of Warhammer 40,000 Ork kitbashing pictures. Check it out and get inspired.

We’re also on CoolMiniOrNot now, come and check out our growing gallery and vote!


Tips and Tricks

Mini Monday #16: Painting Skeletons and Easy Rust

1 Comment

It’s Mini Monday, where I share customizing, scratch building, kitbashing, and miniature painting projects for your roleplaying table. This week we’re painting skeletons and rust.

Walking skeletons are a staple of fantasy, so knowing how to paint them will come in handy, even if you’re only painting a few for your roleplaying sessions. This method is super simple and very effective. If you haven’t already had a look at how I painted Yochlol, be sure to check it out. That tutorial goes into using Flesh Wash, which is the key ingredient in this recipe.

1. Basecoat White Then Flesh Wash

Basecoat your skeletons white, then wash with Flesh Wash, aka Ink Wash: Flesh.

2. Dry Brush Off White

For this step, I used a 1:1 mix of white and a brownish flesh tone. You’re looking for whatever looks the most like bone.

The guy in the middle isn’t dry brushed, so you can compare the effect.

All dry brushed… and done!

To dry brush, dip your brush in the paint, then wipe most of the paint off. Paint this residue over the raised edges of your model by flicking the brush back and forth. It takes a little practice, but the technique is very useful.

And that’s it, those bones are done. Let’s move on to the rust.

3. Paint Rusty Surfaces Orange

‘Nuff said!

You can mix things up and have patches of different shades of orange, if you like. We’ll be adding plenty of visual variety still, so don’t worry too much if you don’t.

4. Sponge on Brown

Using a small bit of sponge and tweezers, sponge brown over the rusty surfaces. Like with dry brushing, you don’t want too much paint on the sponge here. The aim is to get a random pattern of dots.

5. Paint in Metal Edges

Now, here’s the magic part. Paint a metallic colour on the edges of the swords and shields, focusing on raised edges that would see wear in battle.

It’s a smoke and mirrors technique, but the metallic edges sell the rust and suggest that the weapons and shields are actually made of metal… actually.

6. Finishing Up

Lastly, put some Nuln Oil or a black wash over the rusty armaments, paint or base the bases as you wish, and seal off the miniature with two coats of matt varnish.

Done dun dun dun DONE!

I was blown away by how easy and effective these techniques were. I’ve used the rust technique a bunch of times on my Warhammer 40,000 orks already, and painting these bones felt like cheating, it was that easy.


Tips and Tricks

Mini Monday #14: Jump into Miniature Painting

It’s Mini Monday, where I share customizing, scratch building, kitbashing, and miniature painting projects for your roleplaying table. This week I share why you should take the plunge and jump into miniature painting.

Many of you already know that I got back into miniature painting after 20 or so years away from the game. In all this time, and the four or so years I’ve been back, my Space Marines have gone unfinished, all because I was too intimidated to paint their Angels Encarmine chapter symbols. Here’s how I took the plunge.

Jump Into Miniature Painting

Blood Angels fans might know about their sister chapter of the Second Founding, the Angels Encarmine. Their chapter symbol is a blood drop between bat wings. Drawing symmetrical bat wings is hard enough, but try painting them freehand on a 10mm wide shoulder guard! There are no transfers for this. I didn’t want them to look cheesy, so I left my minis unfinished.

Now, these were some of the first minis I ever painted. They don’t look great, but I didn’t want to scrap them or strip them. Why I thought badly painted chapter symbols would make a difference, I don’t know, but ego is a powerful thing.

Skilling Up

Knowing how to paint freehand is half the battle.

I had already tried making a template, which worked well for the company symbol — a single yellow-gold blood drop for my 2nd Company. Miniac, a prolific mini painter on YouTube, recently posted a great video on freehanding, which showcased templating along with a load of other freehanding tricks. That got me onto using electrical tape to make templates, and I was halfway there.

But the template didn’t always work. Most of the time it left me with a big black blotch. What did work was painting in the detail with red on the red shoulder guard, hiding the black. Think of it like deleting parts of the image to get what you want. This worked phenomenally well, and turned out to be pretty easy.

But That’s Not the Point

The point is, you have to try, otherwise you’ll never learn. These Space Marines aren’t about to win any prizes, but this has given me a bunch of ideas for improving, and I can move on (finally).

Yes, I’m posting embarrassing photos of my poor painting skills, but that’s not the point…

The other thing is motivation. I’m very interested in what motivates me. I realized it would be awesome to do “painted” Adeptus Astartes that looked like they’d been worked over by a Renaissance artist.  Maybe the Angels Encarmine decorate their armor with elaborate images in veneration of the Emperor or as a reminder of past battles. It sounds like a cool bit of lore to me.

So now I’m not just freehanding chapter symbols, but scrolls and oaths of moment, and have plans for much more intricate work. I have a vision, a plan, and all I need to do was jump.

So jump into miniature painting.

Us

Paintbrushes, water, or regular old caffeine. Whatever it holds, it does so in style.

If you enjoy these posts, please share, leave a comment, or buy a funky gargoyle mug or gargoyle sticker.



Mini Monday

Adventurer’s Guide to Fey Magic

The Adventurer’s Guide to Fey Magic is an introductory guide featuring advice, treasure, charms, and other rewards for your journeys into the Feywild. Written by David N. Ross, the PDF clocks in at 26 pages, with the OGL and credits taking a page of that, together.

From the Back Cover

The homes of the fey — in the Feywild or in enchanted regions of the mortal world — offer power and danger for local heroes and intrepid interlopers alike. Many seek their fortunes there for good reason. Any adventurer might quest for the otherworldly power of the fey courts, or even aspire to become an archfey, in the right circumstances.

Part 1 of the guide helps adventurers orient themselves among the fey.

Part 2 provides a variety of unique fey rewards for adventurers to seek out.

The Adventurer’s Guide to Fey Magic is available on the DMs Guild.

The Adventure Begins

David, who has many writing credits, particularly for Paizo, came to me with an idea for a series of books on the Fey and Feywild of Faerûn, and the ball got rolling.

Now, we’d like you to us as we plan for the next book in the series. What would you like to see David and I unpack with book 2? Let us know, in the comments below.

Magic Life Lessons and Mini Monday

I’ve decided to put our two blog series on hold for now, so that we can focus on producing more exciting RPG content. If you enjoyed Mini Monday, please leave a comment on one of the posts in the series and let us know. Your means a great deal to us.

With MLL and MM out of the way, we’ll be able to focus on our free fiction. The first release, First , is on the blog.



Tips and Tricks

Mini Monday #13: Level Up Your Painting in 2020

It’s Mini Monday, where I share customizing, scratch building, kitbashing, and miniature painting projects for your roleplaying table. This week I’m playing it lazy and sharing an excellent video from Midwinter Minis that will help you level up your painting in 2020. I’ll also add in a few of my own tips.

Guy and Penny from Midwinter Minis share great painting and scenery making tips on their YouTube channel. They’re one of the top mini painting channels, in my opinion, and their 23 Free ways to get better at painting models video (below), is worth checking out.

Rodney’s Tips

Here are a few of my own tips:

1. Paint with a Pal

Painting with others is a great way to learn, make time for painting, and keep motivated. Kim Frandsen (writer of Heaven & Hell) and I chat over Google Hangouts while we paint. We talk about the industry and all sorts of things, and we share our progress live or by sending photos of our work. Kim used to work at a games shop, where he also had to paint minis, so I’ve learned loads from him.

2. Finish Models, Keep Painting

Mini Monday is all about keeping motivated and getting through that pile of plastic. After 20 years, I got back into painting and found it to be a great (and even cheap) way to clear my mind and relax. But why had I given it up for so long? I loved the hobby, and even made it into a career, but I’d started collecting prepainted minis and my grey plastic ones were collecting dust. I realize now that the pile of unfinished models was intimidating.

Now I pick my battles and get models done, and that keeps me motivated.

3. Batch Painting

Batch painting really sped up my painting. By painting squads or groups of similar miniatures, I can turn each step of the painting process into a production line. That way, the minis are ready for the table at the same time and I don’t have to switch tools or paints often. You can literally do your whole army like this, as Brent from Goobertown Hobbies did with his 100 goblins (another YouTube video).

I painted four drow together, before finding four more that needed the brush. Doh!

May 2020 be a great year for you as you level up your painting!


Tips and Tricks

Mini Monday #11: Basing Basics

It’s Mini Monday, where we share customizing, scratch building, kitbashing, and miniature painting projects for your roleplaying table. This week we get down to the basics of miniature basing. It’s Mini Monday #11: Basing Basics.

I’ve been tinkering with this basing method since I started painting Warhammer 40,000 figures, and have refined it into a simple method that gives great effects.

The Gretchin on the left has sand from my garden. Sam, on the right, has a larger grain of dirt. You could paint this grey or brown to look like gravel, but it’s good enough for gaming, and that’s the point.

, the main thing you’re looking for when basing your army or figures for roleplaying is consistency. You can differentiate heroes from the rank and file with special bases, but generally, you want a process you can apply to all your figures, to give them unity.

1. Preparing the Miniature

Paint your miniature and glue it to its base. Leave the base for now.

2. Texture

Get sand from your garden and sieve it. You can cook it in the oven for 10 minutes to ensure it’s free of life, then let it cool. I keep my sand in small plastic containers. Mix PVA or wood glue with water, in a 1:1 ratio. Paint this on the top of the base and then dip the base into the sand. Leave to dry.

“Homemade” sand sieved and ready for use. Costs nothing and you can get tons of it.

3. Glue it Again

You can use the same mixture again over the sand when it’s dry to ensure it stays down, otherwise it might come off when you’re painting it. You can also spray the PVA and water mixture onto the base, but I find an old brush works well if the glue is dry: start at the edge and work your way inwards.

4. Paint

When this is all dry, paint the textured base. There are a few options for this. I like to paint the whole base in Warboss Green, from Citadel Colour. Some people like to paint the edge of the base black, or you might choose a sandy tan colour — it’s up to you.

5. Flock

Use small bits of flock to represent scrub and bits of vegetation. Stick this on with PVA glue.

6. Varnish

When it’s dry, varnish the whole mini. Sprays are great, but if you don’t have a spray, you can paint it on using an old brush.

That’s it. This technique is cheap and easy, and really finishes off a model. Doing batches of miniatures together makes waiting for things to dry less of an issue.

You can the blog by purchasing a gargoyle mug from our store.

Paint brushes, water, or regular ol’ caffeine, whatever it holds, it does so in style.