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!

What's on My Desk: Harry Potter Painted Journals

This week I've put away the miniatures and I'm back to work painting journals for my collaboration with Sweet Olive Books.  This next batch includes everything from Hunger Games to Harry potter, taking inspiration from well established and already beloved designs and also a number of originals I've crafted myself.

Let's take a look at what I have on my desk so far..

From Slytherin green to gothic baroque, there's a beautiful spectrum of colors to the covers to be painted.

Though the colors look great, and Jessie Alexander did a fantastic job hand-crafting them, there's still designs to be painted on their covers.  To to that, the first step is to create a stencil.   For each, I took a regular piece of 8 1/2 x 11 printer paper and sketched a design onto it in pencil before going back over the final draft with a fine tipped black sharpie.  Not only does this create a template from which to make more, but it also prevents you from having to edit on the cover and run the risk of marring it with eraser blemishes.

Here's the stencil I created for House Hufflepuff, it doesn't look like much now, but just wait!

After I transfered the design with a piece of graphite paper and a stylus to the journal's cover (a process I'll detail in a later post) I broke out the paints and finally got to work bringing the design to life in earnest.  At this point it was really rewarding to see the badger in full color and get a feel for what the end piece would look like.  Another hour and the finished project would look like...

I wanted each great house's coat to have a very individual feel, apart from their animal sigil and the arms' colors.  The helm and breastplate at the top was the perfect to add some extra details.  Hufflepuff's armor is surrounded by food and drink, indicative of the welcoming nature of its members and their hospitality.  In contrast, Slytherin's coat is decorated with the poisonous blooms nightshade and hemlock. 

A simpler, but by no means less elegant, design finished for Harry Potter is this HP cover.  Though it's not nearly as complex as a house crest I still think it looks quite nice!

Many of the journals Jessie and I are making come in two sizes, small and medium.  This Twilight journal is the same as one that I painted before, but this time its in a larger size.  The smaller size is perfect for a personal journal and the medium is a great size for keeping track of character stats in role playing games.  In fact, we plan to launch a line just for that purpose!

That's it for this week and the look at what's on my desk.  Come back next week and I'll be showing off a bunch of cool Urdaggar tribesmen for Freeblades.

Thanks for stopping by, and as always, happy hobbying and good gaming!

What's on My Desk: Big Bang & Twilight Journals

For all of those who have been following KantCon 2013 on Kickstarter, I'm excited to say that it's a go, and that they met their primary goal!  If you're considering contributing, there's still 28 hours left, so you still have an opportunity to contribute to their stretch goals (cool stuff like cook books, dice, mugs, and other gamer gear) and grab some of the perks they're offering.  The success of their Kickstarter is awesome for local hobby and gaming in the Kansas City area, and is really exciting for me.  First, because the model I sculpted for the convention is going into production and second, the Midwest Monster Lab is also going to have booth space at the convention (right next to the Sentinels of the Multiverse guys, which is ridiculously cool) where I'll be showing off some of the models I've posted on the blog over the past year.  I'll also be taking painting, conversion, and modeling commissions at the convention, so if you'd like to drop by and talk about bringing a hobby dream to life, I'd be excited to meet you!  I'm also going to be joined by Jessie Alexander from Sweet Olive Books as we debut our joint venture we're calling "Sweet Monster" painted journals.  

We've got a ton of designs planned for the convention, from popular TV shows like The Big Bang Theory to movies like The Hunger Games and themes like fantasy and classic video game characters there's bound to be something for every gamer girl and nerdy chick.  This week I'm showing off the first three I've finished: one for The Big Theory tv show and two for the Twilight saga.

Let's take a look!

This is one of our Big Bang designs, the show's iconic symbol on a star-field.  It's a fun and simple design that I think is really cool.  Depending on personal color preference, the center neutron, electrons and their orbits can all be customized to colors the buyer desires. 

This is one of my favorites, the cover to the New Moon book, subtle and elegant.  

For those who want to proclaim their love for Edward, Bella, and the whole vampire crew, there's this design.

Jessie and I hand picked the paper for each journal to match its theme, but attendees to the convention will also have the option of building their own journal from our paper palette and any of their favorite fantasy/gamer/sci-fi themes.  

Thanks for stopping by and checking out what's on my desk, if you're at KantCon 2013 be sure to stop by the Monster Lab/Sweet Olive booth!  See you there!