Paint Your Minis for Dirt Cheap! (at least what I consider dirt cheap)

Hobby-gaming is time consuming stuff.  You have to put models together, construct their bases, clean mold lines, fill gaps and defects, prime, paint, wash, paint... Great hobby is an investment, and one well worth the time and money.  Life-long friendships are forged over the table top, wits are tested, and it's good clean fun.

But for some of us, we don't have the time to paint (and in some cases completely assemble) all of our miniatures.  Year after year, our prime coated or naked minis wage monochromatic war, still looking for that extra something that will make a game or campaign truly epic.  The Monster Lab can help.

Count Draigo & Grey Knight Terminators: $360

For ten years I've been an avid hobbyist.  Starting first with a force of Iron Warrior chaos marines in high school, before moving on to the enigmatic eldar and the even more strange chaos demons.  I've played 40k, Fantasy, Mordheim, and Freeblades, collecting armies, warbands, and freebands for each.  In ten years I have done A LOT of painting.

One year ago I decided that I wanted to earn my bread by painting some figs.  It's gone great, and since then I've been hired on as the studio painter for the fledgling game company DGS Games.  I get to paint minis everyday.  It's awesome. 

Changeling & Pink Horros of Tzeentch: $260

In fact, I want to paint more models and share the hobby I love with as many people as I can.  I want to paint your minis.  

Do you need your 40k army painted?  Fantasy?  Warmachine?  Hordes?  One model?  A squad?  I can paint just about anything you've got.  Like these demons above. 

Custom sculpted bases starting at $3

 I'll even go the extra mile and do custom bases for you so models can really stand out on the table top.

Eldar Swooping Hawks: $240

In my opinion, my prices are dirt cheap.  I know some painters will paint for peanuts, sometimes literal peanuts.  But besides that, my prices are as low as you can go.  Here's the breakdown:  Say you want a squad of Swooping Hawks or Striking Scorpions painted.  I'll charge you a flat $10/hour rate, factor in a few bucks for supplies like paint, green stuff, etc. and that's it.  Dirt cheap.

But what about those Hawks or Scorpions?  The swooping hawks above would take me about 3-4 hours per model (sometimes it's less), depending on size, how many colors, and conversions.  So your bill would come out to $180-$240.  Not an amount of money to sneeze at, but lookey there, you've got your models painted in record time and now all you have to do is have a fun time playing them on the table top!

Eldar Striking Scorpions: $200

Commission prices vary depending on what level of quality you want.  My standard paint is like the one I described above, three to four hours per model.  I call it "Showcase Quality," and with it you get a finely painted model with unlimited colors, fantastic basing, and the assurance that when you put it on the table top it will draw looks and complements alike.

If Showcase Quality is too rich for your blood, or you just need something basic, you can also go cheaper in the $15-20 range.  These guys won't turn heads, but they're painted with a basecoat of three main colors,  a wash, another basecoat, a highlight, and enough details picked out to call it "Table Top Quality."

I can also go nuts on your model or models, and labor on the detail, time, and layers of shading and highlights.  For $100 and up I can paint you something competition worthy (I've placed top 5 at both Golden Demons I've entered into, 2011 Diorama and 2012 40k Monster).

Questing Knight of Vidnuar: $40

But most people are looking for something that's reasonably priced and has their friends saying "wow, that looks great!"  And Showcase Quality is for them.

What if a whole army is out of your reach?  How about a painted skirmish force Warmachine/Hordes, Freeblades, Mordheim, or Blood Bowl?  Maybe you need one model as a centerpiece for your force or for you role-playing character?  Not a problem.

Morgryd the level 8 Dwarf Fighter with one-day rushed delivery: $52

Need it rushed to you?  For a few more bucks (up to 20% of your order value) I will bump your order to the front of the line and hustle to get it done by the deadline that YOU choose, it can even be as early as the next day.  That's some great service.

Falkaaran Witchcat: $30

Still, many of us like painting our own models (and luckily have the time to do so), but we want to add that something extra to the minis we paint.  If that something extra is a conversion or sculpted piece just outside your skill set, I can gladly make you anything your heart desires!  For instance the "dock" basing done for this female rogue is the perfect in-scene basing to make her model truly special.  For $10-20 (maybe less, sometimes I can do things faster than I even knew I could) I can convert a model to your exact specifications like the one below.  The more involved the conversion the higher the price, but the sky's the limit!

Dock basing: $10

Female Rogue with crafted basing: $40

A conversion can be as simple as a weapon swap or a few additions...

"Polythemus" the Undead Cyclops conversion: $30

Or as intricate as complete reposing and remodeling of a miniature.

Soul Grinder of Tzeentch conversion: $60

Extreme Ghetorix conversion: $180

Resculpted ax hand and ax for the Extreme Ghetorix

I can even take an idea you have and bring it to life from scratch!

Charon Boatman of River Styx "counts as" Black Coach: $250

"Skethar King" Skethar Alpha: $400 (given as a gift)

So, if you have a hobby project that isn't getting finished, or you need just a little help here or there, I can help!  Send me an email at midwestmonsterlab@gmail.com and I'll shoot you back a bid for your project.  And remember, it's your hobby, so I'm committed to getting it just right!

Karonnan Necromancer: $40

Questing Knight: $35

Showcase: Questing Knight of Barek Conversion and Falkaaran Witchcat

I've got two cool minis to show to you this week.  One of them I'm especially excited for because it's a conversion done for an unreleased model, the Questing Knight of Barek.

Questing Knight of Barek

Questing Knight of Vidnuar

Questing Knight of Tahnar

There's three playable questing knights for the Haradel faction in Freeblades right now: Barek (boar/battle aspect), Vidnuar (lion/leadership aspect), and Tahnar (falcon/mobility aspect).  Two have released models (Vidnuar and Tahnar), but the QKoB doesn't have a unique model yet... so I got to converting.

The QKoV is an awesome model and I knew it would be an excellent base for my Barek conversion.  After removing both arms and his sword, I used three brass pins to create the foundation for his new arm positioning and axe.

I also slightly repositioned his legs and head, giving him less of a stalking look in favor of a striding posture.  A bit of foundation on his arms and I was ready to add the bulk of my new arm sculpt.

The QKoB got a padded under-tunic and some crab shell shoulder plates to represent his extra heavy armor of 7.  I also wanted his helmet to be very unique and stand out as a true representation of the boar, so I beefed up his face plate and added a couple of tusks. 

The axe got some more fleshing-out with an embellishment on its hilt and a leather grip.  Boars are known for their unruly mohawks and I wanted this knight of Barek to have a similar look.  A bit of green stuff hair did the trick.

The axe received a bit more 'stuff on its blade, giving it some relief designs, and then the model was done!

This was a really rewarding project and one that was greatly appreciated by its commissioner, Jon C; and a great chance to keep working on my modeling skills.  I'll be doing a custom sculpt for the Falkaaran Fire Wizard for entry into the sculpt and paint category at this year's GenCon, so I need to be on my A-game!

The last model I have this week is the Falkaaran Witchcat.  After winning a free paint job for his Fire Wizard by answering a trivia question correctly, Jason C decided to have me do the whole lot of them for him.  Which reminds me... there's still an unanswered trivia question  from last week's post (look down by the pictures of the spirit warrior and thug)!  Answer it correctly and I'll paint up an infantry sized mini for you for free!

Until the Falkaaran kickstarter finishes, there's only two members of the freeband released and the witchcat is the final one for me to do.  (I am really excited to paint the rest of the band, check out the pics of the models on the KS site!)

The witchcat isn't your everyday predator, he has very real psychic potential!  This is represented in-game by his ability to cancel the "spirit" talent some models may have (think spirit warrior) and outside the game by its ability to communicate telepathically!  Really cool stuff, and something I wanted to depict on the model for sure.  To do this I decided a pair of creepy glowing eyes would do nicely.

The witchcat also has very faint panther spotting on his legs and haunches.. this isn't an official look for the cat and you can paint yours any way you see fit!

That's it for this week, stop by next time and see what else I'm working on here at the Monster Lab!

Good gaming and happy hobbying!

Showcase: Snake Mystic, Spirit Warrior, and More!

I'm showing off another batch of Freeblades minis this week, and is it ever an A-Team of mixed talent.  The group of four includes a summoned bandit Spirit Warrior, bandit Thug, Urdaggar Snake Mystic, and a Haradelan Muster Archer.  Let's take a look!

At long last I finally got my hands on bag of birch tree seeds (a few weeks before Kent P.'s birch tree shed its own) and put them to good use on the bandit bases as fall leaves. Secret Weapon offers birch seeds for $10 at your friendly hometown hobby store, but if you can gather them up for yourself for free that's your best bet.

Two of the models in this group received special attention: the bandit Thug, and Haradelan Archer.  Jon C. wanted a Thug with a "baseball" swinging stance instead of the stock option.

Both the Thug's armed were chopped off and pins put in place for replacement sculpts.  I also bent his legs into a "squash the bug" pivot (for all of you who played baseball as kids out there) to complete the body motion of an all out swing.

Here he is with two brand new arms and a paint job!

I was excited to do a five o'clock shadow on this thug as it fit perfectly with the rough-and-tumble nature of the bandit faction.  Clean shaven is so Haradelan.

The Thug's leather armor is studded with rings and slugs to bolster its defenses.

The Spirit Warrior is a model that can be summoned by the bandit Enchantress.  For this one I went with the classic spectral glow, adding blue light around his feet and where it reflects on the tree stump behind him.

Here they are, a live and dead bandit, back-to-back fighting in the fray.  Trivia!!!  If you can name the image that inspired the bandit's bases you will win one free paint at my Level 2 showcase quality!  So, what was the image (probably something from Freeblades, hint, hint) that inspired the basing scheme on these bandits?  Be the first to comment with the correct answer or email me at midwestmonsterlab@gmail.com and I'll paint one of your infantry sized models for free!

This Snake Mystic is an Urdaggar model released for the DGS role-playing game Bright Swords.  It will be included in an upcoming Urdaggar faction, but you can get the model now!

I couldn't resist doing another... Urdaggar... redhead.  Ok, one of those was a guy, but yeah, I can't help but want to paint my Urdaggar females with red hair, I've had to fight the urge to do it on each one!  The Snake Mystic is a great model for red hair though.  It contrasts nicely with he drab clothing and the bright green snake and makes the model pop.

Of course, I wanted to do a bunch of snake tattoos on the mystic and so I decided to do a shoulder sleeve and one lurking around her pelvis... bow chick wow wow.  I have found myself doing this on a number of female models as well.  I imagine these free-spirited  and war loving women are a bit randy as well.

The final model in the group is a Hardelan Muster Archer.  Like the archers I've done for Haradel before, I wanted to add some umph to this model with an arrow and bowstring.

Here's another archer I've done before with an arrow and bow string.  It really is that extra bit that pushed the model over the top.

That's it for this week, thanks for stopping by and checking out my Freeblades minis!  Come back next time to see what's cooking over here at the Monster Lab!