When Exploring Golarion Don't Forget Your Map!

Aptly stated, and in a world devoid of google maps (Apple maps are garbage even by medieval standards) someone needs to be toting a little piece of parchment that will guide the way.  

The fiery rogue, Bianca, has hers and judging by the deliberate placement of her index finger, she knows where she's headed.  I reckon a woman who wears garb as loud as she is wont to have her mind made up.

There's another fiery red-head (and that hair is RED-DDD) in the group.  This one is Lyanalis, a dead-eye elf archer from Sovyrain, one not to be trifled with.

Check out that intricate elven breast plate!

Here's both Bianca and Lyanalis hanging with some of my assorted display minis before being handed off to their owner Ron N.

But there's more!  Where would a group be without its fearless leader?  Meet the half elf-celestial Aeron.

Wielding a ethereal blade and heavy armor, this guy is one bad mama-jama.  When he calls down a righteous reckoning upon his enemies they're going to be reaching deeeeep into the pain locker for their big boy shorts.  

Then there's the mad monk Kahmal Khali, riding a flying carpet and slinging... a weighted chain?  Whatever he's doing I wouldn't want to be in the way, I just don't trust that sinister grin plastered on his face.

If you're looking for a pint-sized-spell-slinging-loud-mouth, Gwendle is your man!  I think him and Bianca get their duds from the same clothier, and I'd put a gold coin down on their both being prodigious drinkers (Gwendle by halfling standards).

Heck, with a few trusty spell tomes he can look any adversary square in the eyes!

Did I mention Moloch?  Oh that would be Gwendle's summoned dragon-kin who likes to chop heads with a wickedly rusty chakram.

Most of the time Moloch's adversaries don't even see him coming, be it in the dead of night or charging from behind the sun.  The expression of shocked disbelief is still hanging on their face as their heads roll in the dirt - schink!!

Ravasura is a rakshasa.. in Hindu myth that's a cat-demon.  The only thing demonic about this cat, devoted to the goddess Isis, is his fighting skill.  He also casts his patron's approved spells from a solid gold cobra staff!

Last, there's Cerulianus a fighter of great renown and greater skill. He prefers medium armor and a nimble shortsword with which to dispatch his foes.  His pose says it all, "hold it guys, I've got this."

And that's it, thanks for stopping by to check out my latest project!

The Band's Back Together, and There's Some New Faces

It's another snow day today in north-west Kansas.  Twelve inches of snow have fallen since yesterday and everyone has spent their morning digging out (my street wasn't fortunate enough to be plowed).  Now that we've cleared a path down our driveway and street and Harley was able to make it into work I'm back to the hobby desk.  In the spirit of snow days everywhere, I'm putting down my paintbrush today in favor of taking a day off to do some IT work (it's still working, but hey).  

Before I move onto coding and html, I'd like to share a group that I finished yesterday.  Some of the minis might look familiar to you, it's because they're Ron N.'s models that I painted up for him last fall and can be seen in the fantasy model gallery at the top of the page.  There's three new models he's adding to his roleplaying group's collection as well.  Let's take a look!

Ron's elf mage has progressed in his adventures, electing to take a darker path.  I got a brand new model from Ron to paint up and represent his character's delving into the arts of a shadow mage.  I jumped at the chance to a palette of dark greys, purples, and blues.  I also wanted to do something a little more different.

I have had an idea for some time to do star field in the place of shadows on a model.  As it happened, Wizards of the Coast beat me to it.  I haven't seen a shadow mage with anything like that represented, so I knew that this was the guy to be sporting a celestial cloak.  

And here are the two models representing the same character back-to-back.  His attitude definitely has changed with his more esoteric delvings!

The next model I received from Ron was a lot more wide open for artistic interpretation.  It was a "teen wolf" werewolf, wearing blue jeans and a letterman's jacket.

Ron wanted the wolf to be a kitsune (traditional name for a Japanese fox spirit) cleric with a magical bow.  The first thing I did was carve the big "W" off of his right breast, and then set to sculpting a few armor pieces.  A right pauldron, two greaves, and a sash around his waist brought the model from 50's noir to the land of Pathfinder.

The bow was made from a brass rod, bent to shape, and the quiver/arrows was grey stuff and pinning rods as well.  This was my first kitsune, and I'm excited to try my hand at another, possibly with a golden fur coat!

I can't take total credit for the final paint.  Ron gave me this previously painted model with the request that I "spruce it up."  

The flames had a traditional highlight paint scheme, so I inversed the color of the magical fire to bring it closer to true flame shading.  Some heavy highlights on hair, face, and shoulders and it looks like the fire is really emitting a brilliant purple glow!

And that's it for this week.  Thanks for dropping by the Monster Lab and checking out my latest project.  There's more to come and some exciting developments on the horizon.  Check back next week and I'll start previewing a special project that has been shaping the face and future of the newly renamed Monster Lab Miniatures!

Hope to see you then!

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!