People You Ought to Meet and the Games and Art They Create

KantCon 2013 is a week behind us, but I want to take one last look back at what I believe really made the convention special.  For me, it was the vendors, local artists and visionaries with passion for the games they produce and the art they create.

Last weekend I had the great pleasure of meeting some truly talented people, and if you didn't make it to KantCon this year, here's your chance to meet them too!

Sentinels of the Multiverse, all rights reserved Greater Than Games 2013

Many of you may have already played the game Sentinels of the Multiverse, a co-operative card game that pits you and up to four friends as a diverse array of original super heroes against a single arch-villain, if you haven't you've been living under one of these.  In the two years since its release the game has found a rock-solid (no pun inended) following amongst board gamers, card players, and hobbyists of all stripes.  Started up by three local boys: Christopher Badell, Adam Rebottaro, and Paul Bender, Greater than Games flagship release Sentinels has crossed the country and is now available in game stores all over the world.  

Sentinels is a fantastic game for those easing themselves into hobby-gaming, while still providing the complexity that experienced players are looking for.  A new player can easily sit down and follow the simple turn structure of "play a card, use a power, draw a card," while avid hobbyists will enjoy the incredible diversity of game play afforded by mixing and matching 18 heroes, 18 villians, and 12 environments.  To top it all off, Sentinels is a LCG (living card game) that requires no booster pack purchases, each set has exactly what you need to play included.

After playing the game for the first time at KantCon, my fiancée Harley, caught the Sentinels bug and has been having a blast thwarting evil villains with her favorite characters Absolute Zero and Tempest ever since! 

(L to R) Chris Batell, game designer, and Adam Robattero,
art director, two great guys with a fantastic game.

Chris B. and Adam B. were on hand to help guide newbies like Harley and me through a game of Sentinels at the convention, with their help we took down the evil computer A.I. Omnitron!

Black Blade Publishing sets itself apart from the RPG crowd with an array of rule sets that cater to a very niche crowd.  For those role-players wanting to recapture the magic of their games played during Advanced Dungeon & Dragon's golden years in the 70's and 80's, Black Blade Publishing has an array of rules compendiums, monster sheets, and character profiles at the ready!  As frontman Jon Hershberger put it, "Black Blade helps gamers go back to a time when role-playing was about rulings, not rules.  When dungeon masters had more freedom to build their adventures."

Black Blade not only takes a look back, but also explores what could have been with unique rule sets that represent classic AD&D had it taken another path in its evolution.  So check out Black Blade's site and take a step back in time with your next dungeon adventure to how D&D ought to be!

Jon Hershberger, co-founder and President of Black Blade Publishing.

Jon H. is a super nice guy and was a great neighbor during the convention, he even became a new customer of the Monster Lab with a commission for three painted owlbears.  Welcome to the MML family Jon!

"Air Goddess," all rights reserved Project Shiro 2013

Sara Rude deserves credit, I'm going to say that up-front, she has serious talent.  Propreitor of Project Shiro, Sara is a physicist by education who is a self-taught illustrator, doing an array of inkings, coloring, and sketches for her clients.  At the KantCon she brought convention goers' role-playing characters to life with pencil sketches and inked drawings, inspiring at least one shout of, "this is awesome!" from a pleased client.  Sara also works as the resident color wizard for the Zero's Heroes comic, a series about heroes tasked with taking down some of the... oddest villains known to mankind.

If you're looking for an original piece of fantasy/sci-fi/super hero artwork, Sara's your girl, she's both got the talent and skill to bring it to life.

Sara Rude surrounded by her fantastic work.

"Captain America" corset, a creation by Elinor Parker.

To say that the Costume Wrangler's Closet wrangles costumes is an understatement, they wrangle style.  At one point in the convention I could have been quoted as saying, "if I were a woman I think I'd be into cameos, as a guy I just think they're cool, but if I were a girl I think I would be into that sort of thing."  I settled for a handmade Star Wars coozie instead.

The woman behind the wranglin', Elinor Parker, is combining traditional concepts with nerd-inspired style in her creations.  Like the Captain America corset above (there's an Iron Man one too), and her line of steampunk necklaces and earrings made out of old gears and doo-dads.  Whatever it is, it's cool, and well crafted too.  Next time you need a piece for your costume, drop the Costume Wrangler a line, she does custom orders that are sure to please.

Elinor P. and all her gamer chic accessories.

The coozie I bought was made out of an old children's blanket.  In the 70's it was keeping a child snug at night as visions of lightsabers danced in their head, now its keeping my beer cool.  I'd say George Lucas would be proud.

That's it for this week, thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out all the great folks I featured here at their web sites!

Live from KantCon 2013 (no really, we're live, right now)

As of 8am this morning KantCon 2013 has been underway!  The gaming and hobby goodness continues until 11pm tonight at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Overland Park, KS just off of I-35 and 95th street.  So far, it's been a blast; I've gotten in a game of Sentinels over at the Greater than Games booth, and met a lot of awesome people.  The crowds are really digging all the DGS models I've been showing off for Freeblades and some of my other paints, conversions, and original sculpts.  Sweet Olive Book's Jessie A. is side-by-side with me and she's enjoying her first convention, especially as a vendor.

I'd like to show off a few minis I've painted recently for a brand new client Ron N. before I get to some shots of the convention.

Let's take a look!

This is Morgryd a level 8 dwarf fighter for Pathfinder who wields a frostbane axe.  Morgryd is a tough old nail and the grey in his beard is starting to show his years.  Ron got this model 1-day rushed to him, that's some good service!

Another member of Ron's group's raiding party is Kaidyn, an elf wizard.  Ron really wanted to showcase his character's arcane prowess with a glowing staff and some eldritch runes.

Taking inspiration from the Lord of the Rings, I put some glowing elven script at the hem of his cloak.

The last model Ron had me do so far was this Tiefling magus named Epoch.  To show Epoch's pyromantic skill I gave him glowing orange eyes.  Another add was the sword in his left hand, fabricated from green stuff and plasticard.

Epoch has the more extreme dark red skin that Tieflings may possess and the blue hair to match.  The blue hair was achieved with Valejo's German Grey and GW Hawk Turquiose (I'm slowly transitioning to dropper bottles as my paints run out).

Which brings us to this year's KantCon!

Two returning characters are Help! the gnome and the Jabbergluck, both of which were sporting enough to pose for this picture.

The Midwest Monster Lab and Sweet Olive Books booth is in the vendor hall located between the Costume Wrangler's Closet and Black Blade Publishing.

Harley and Jessie have been working hard at the booth all day, making food runs and holding down the fort while I caper off to see what's going on in the gaming area and to take these pictures.

Come down to KantCon and visit us tonight, Saturday, and Sunday!

Paints with Attitude (and something unexpected)

KantCon is only one more week away!  This is an event that is near and dear to me for a couple of reasons. First, it's local.  Some of the best events in hobby are miles away, and between travel expenses like: gas, lodging, and eating out, it puts a strain on our wallets to attend them.  For those in the KC Metro area, KantCon is just down the street (in this case that street is Interstate 35), and it has some top notch vendors and events scheduled; like the creators of this game.

That brings me to the second reason, the vendors.  A lucky series of events led to a conversation in my local game store and then a commission for me to do this year's convention sculpt, Help! the prop gnome.  Besides the amazing opportunity to do my first original humanoid sculpt, I was also given vendor space at the convention!  I'll be proudly displaying my wares and hawking services for model painting and my newest endeavor 2-D illustrations.  Since early this year I have been collaborating with Jessie A. over at Sweet Olive Books to make a line of painted journals.  They're really cool, and some are a bit unexpected...

I'm sure most everyone has heard the phrase, "sex, drug, and rock & roll", well this is a magical spin on those famous words.  I chose a snake, hearkening to Slytherin's basilisk, to add a bit of sex to this piece.  If anyone is going to take a rock-star approach to spellcasting, it would definitely be a Slytherin.

This one pretty much speaks for itself.  Press start to begin.

For all of those Dr. Who lovers out there... or should I say Dr. Who haters?

Celtic knots are really cool, they look great and are fantastic designs to add to almost anything.  These are two designs that I made completely from scratchs.  I have to say, it was really creepy (exciting too) watching the over-under over-under repition of the knot unfold perfectly within each design.  The designs do it themselves!  I had always suspected that they were made to alternate correctly, but I was wrong, it's something in the math... or maybe a higher power at work?  ha ha ha

Can you see the hidden image in the knot above?  Hint: it's a video game reference, and one for which I named my dog .

Girl on fire? Sounds pretty painful.. or awesome!  This is a Hunger Games journal for those aspiring to be like their heroine Katniss Everdeen.

Jessie and I will have a complete selection of painted journals at KantCon, so stop by and pick one up before they're gone!

I can't mention KantCon without bringing up the little guy I sculpted for the convention.  This paint was commission for the director of the event as a door prize.  In case the reference isn't clear, this should do the trick.

Help! is a perfect candidate to be a joker.  Like Heath Ledger's rendition, he has the same pants, vest, and button down shirt.

For this paint I separated Help! from his kit (he can be assembled with it on the same base as well) so that I had room to add some extra skulls.  As if killing the poor unfortunates wasn't enough, Help! had to paint big red smiles on each.

His trunk also had a bit of rogue artistry on it as well...

That's it for this week, I hope to see you at this year's KantCon!

KantCon 2013 Sculpt: Help! the Gnome

Wow, it seems like not too long ago I was writing about the Knight of Vidnuar and the Grular Bludgeoneer I painted, but two weeks have already passed since then.  In that post I talked about how I had to wait five months before I could show off the pics since they were unreleased models by DGS Games.  There's a creepy amount of symmetry between that comment and this post (I'm showing off a sculpt done months ago and just completed a commission that won't debut here until it's released).  Actually, I think that means I've finally made it to the higher leagues of contract painting/sculpting, that done on a release schedule.  And in all honesty, it feels good.

Like I said, this week I'm showing off a sculpt done last December for KantCon 2013.  The commission was for Help! (quite an unorthodox name, I know) the gnome.  He's the guy who assists on raids and dungeon crawls and brings anything you need from his Trusty Trunk or bag-of-holding at the call of, "help!"

Let's take a look at the finished sculpt.  

Help!'s an expressive guy and I love the comical grin he has on his face (maniacal even, if you consider he's holding an explosive).  You may be wondering how Help! came to be...

Once upon a time he was a wire frame, paper-clip in this case. A bit of soldering held him together and readied him for his green stuff body.

I work in the "body part steps" fashion, making body part groups and then then moving on.  I start with the lowest (closest details to the frame) details and then build on top of that.

This was a satisfying landmark in Help!'s creation, one that told me I was on the right track in terms of capturing his character and that his primary body proportions were correct.  I was starting to breathe a little easier.

Help! comes with some cool gear, among which are his 50 inch rope, Bomb! bomb, and bag of holding (satchel).

To make his trunk I cut pieces from a plasticard sheet and fashioned them together in a box shape.  The lid was made by scoring the sheet on one side and then bending it into a curved shape.  The whole thing was filled with green stuff for added stability.

I was most nervous for this step, forming his head and features.  He's at what my fianceé (I proposed this last weekend!) and I called the "old man" stage.

The addition of his hair started to bring him into the "gnome" phase.  I was still sweating it a bit here, unsure if his features would truly turn out the way I wanted them to.

And viola!  His teeth and beard really brought the whole thing home, at this point I sat back and breathed a sigh of relief.  With the deadline looming, I finally felt like he was on his way to being a successful sculpt.

That's it!  There were a few minor modifications (if you could call completely resculpting his left hand minor...) to be made, but at this point he's pretty much done.  I added a few rocks to his basing, put hinges on his trunk, and fleshed out the knuckles on his right hand before splitting his basing in two, separating him from his trunk.

Attendees to the convention and contributors to the KantCon kickstarter will all have a chance to get their very own Help! miniature!  This is the first model I've sculpted for large scale production, and I have to say it's really exciting.  

Those who get their Help! model will have the option to put him and his gear on the same base, or split the two pieces up between two bases (think objective marker) for added gaming opportunities.  I'm pumped to paint my own!

That's it for this week, thanks for stopping by and checking out my latest project here at the Monster Lab!

Remember to drop by KantCon's kickstarter page and contribute to their stretch goals (they've got awesome stuff planned, from cook books to special guests) and congrats to the guys for meeting their primary goal!

As always, happy hobbying and good gaming!