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New Year, New Goals (2022)

2021 was a year of goals for me but looking back not a lot got done, unfortunately. While I was fairly productive, basically, none of the larger projects got finished which was the big thing I wanted to do.

Here’s a reminder of my 2021 goals.

Things I did do:

Started Grimtalon
Participated in 9 months of the RCL.
Cleared a little of the Shelf of Shame.

As for hobby adjacent goals I:

Leveled up photography skills some.
- I do still need to get into the habit of, when finished, using the light box.
Worked on spreadsheets.
- I need to do so much more but I did get those updated somewhat.

So now onto 2022. I have reigned it in a little and decided on less specific goals and far fewer of them. I’m sticking with 5 for both sets of goals.

Let’s start!

Hobby Adjacent Goals:

Do an in-depth inventory of paint
- I’ve amassed a collection of paint. This is a given but as of late I’ve gotten quite a few new colors. I want to make sure they are all in the paintRack app and have the right number of bottles for the colors I have multiples of.
  - I love this app. I have no affiliation with them, just a big fan. Available on Android and iPhone. In my opinion, it is the best paint inventory app covering tons of different lines of paints and they update on a fairly regular basis.
- In doing this inventory I will also be adding agitators and using the vortex mixer to make sure that things are in working order.
Update paint swatches.
- I need to figure out how I’m going to organize some things. There is some confusion, probably on my end, about new SKUs and where they go.
Get in the habit of using my light box more.
- I’d really like to have not only my WIP photos in places but actual finished shots that aren’t just propped up against a paper towel or what have you on the desk.
- This will also probably include figuring out how to take photos of the larger things that won’t fit.
Work on my photo backlog.
- I’ve got a lot of stuff that I’ve done that I don’t have photos of that I’d like to get taken.
Mini inventory
- This one might be reaching a bit but I’ll at least try to update my spreadsheet with new things coming in.

Hobby Goals:

Work on some larger WIPs
- This includes things like Ma’al Drakar and Grimtalon.
Clear as many WIPs as possible.
- While I want to get the larger things done I’d like to finish at least a handful of minis that already have paint on them.
Participate in RCL 2022.
- I had a blast this past year and I would like to plan this out a little more now that I know how it works.
I want to start my smaller axolotl diorama that I haven’t started much of yet.
I want to work on making my blends smoother overall.
- Especially when it comes to skin tones.

So all in all I’ve scaled back my goals to a, hopefully, more manageable list. I think these things are doable but will be very time consuming, especially the swatches and inventories.

What are some goals that all y’all have for the coming year?

Happy Holidays and Happy Painting,
~S

Minivember Wrap-up

Minivember was awesome but I was not able to get the full 30 done. I am very happy with the ones that I did get done though. I think all told I got about 8 done. Not the best but Life^TM got in the way.

These are the not super great photos I have of them. I’ll post nicer ones at some point in the future.

I’m going to be very busy the next few weeks so I might not post here until after the New Year.

So until then have a happy holiday and as always happy painting.
~S

Minivember! Today!

Today is the start of Minivember 2021. I keep saying this year is my last for the last few times I’ve done it and it keeps pulling me back in. So, once again, I am here bringing you lots of painting in one month. This is what I’ve been up to the last couple of weeks.

Before I forget all of the minis this year are from various expansions of the Bones V Kickstarter that delivered over the summer. I wrote down the number and expansion as listed on the Kickstarter project page.

I took a while to choose which minis I wanted to use but then settled on these:

I ended up changing out the Feejee mini because I do a lot of posting on the Reaper forums. As per forum rules nudity has to be linked away from the site so I figured it would just be easier to choose something different. I chose the, clothed, succubus from the Dungeon Dwellers expansion.

Somewhere around this time I cleaned and removed mold lines from things. I probably need to get an opti-visor of some sort because I sure did miss a lot of mold lines. I also took some time to coat them all in Reaper’s Brown Liner paint. It works well as a primer for Bones.

I charted out my calendar as I do most years (probably should’ve used a pen):

Then today I got started. I decided to take all the ones I’d planned out with the same skin tone and start them all at once. It’s motivated me a little more than if I’d just done them one by one. It also saves a little paint.

So far I have finished the succubus but am making way on the others.

I will note that while I say she is done I have not done anything with the base. I will again take some time at the end of the month and paint up all the bases at once since I’ve planned out similar colors for most of them. This, again, will help me save paint.

I’ll do my best to update here regularly but, in case I don’t or can’t, here is a link to the forum post that I will keep updated. I update this at least once daily.

https://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/97095-minivember-2021/

Let me know if any of y’all are doing your own Minivember in the comments below.

Happy Painting,
~S

Minivember 2021

I keep trying to move away from Minivember but it sucks me back in. So I’m currently in the planning stages. I’ll probably paint a lot of the Bones V Kickstarter or at least the majority of the minis painted will be from that.

Right now I’m in the choosing phase. Picking minis and pulling them from which ever box they are in. Next I’ll start planning colors, with which I’ll probably be vague and kick myself later for not pulling paints as well.

Anyway, that’s what has been up around here. Not much hobbying has been done. I received and mailed out the Reaper Forum’s Box of Goodwill to the next recipient. So now maybe I can get things organized enough to do this.

Happy Painting,
~S

Spooky Season Goals

September is almost over. Which means not only a new month but the end of Q3 of the RCL. I did not get as much done as I had planned for Reasons^TM . Life happens and it has happened hard this month.

So because of all of that I’m tentatively going to take October off. I’ve been working on the All Mini’s Eve calendar for a while now. It is still not done and I don’t think I can get it done in a few days and paint everything the way I want to.

I’m going to spend October and probably the first couple weeks of November writing and doing real life stuff. Hopefully this time off will help me recenter and get things done when I return. I might post some small updates here and there during this time.

Thanks in advance for your understanding.

Happy painting,
~S

September…Soon™

September is coming up very quickly; I’ve got a little less than a week to finish things for August. Some things are not getting done that I thought would and some that I didn’t expect to get started got started.

First off here is my list for the month:

I finished everything highlighted in green as well as the Trio category. It is not yet highlighted because they have not been submitted for points yet.

I’m still not clear on what the current New Release guidelines are so I never got around to doing something with that. Fungal Queen is going back on the shelf for a while.

Since most of these are not available for general sale I will list the closest name and corresponding “SKU” from the Kickstarter.

Please forgive the lack of nice photos for several of these. I have been busy and haven’t had a chance to mess around with light settings and whatnot to get them where I’m happiest.

We are more than halfway through the quarter now so here is what’s going on with that.

Going to go down the list then talk about the pop-up challenges.

Diorama: Eldritch Desert
- This is on hold while I get other things done. I’m hoping to be able to pick it back up soon(TM)
Quarterly Contest: Female Minotaur
- This is also on hold and may not get done before the end of September due to not being able to locate her.
Large Model: Overgourd
- I’m actually almost finished with this one. Need some details and touch-ups but otherwise it’s ready to go.
Large Group 4+: Terror Fish w/ wings
- This one is finished. Need photos and to submit still.
Heavy mod/Conversion:
- I don’t do these. My skills with modding is not good enough currently to make anything count as heavy.
Seasonal Themed: Powder Monkey (#732 from Brinewind Bones V KS)
- Doing talk like a pirate day for my seasonal category. Thus painting a pirate.
Bust: Dragon Bust (Bones V Add-on)
- I have started on this. I’m debating what color it should be but the plinth it is on is painted up like marble.

Pop-ups. These are extra challenges presented for more points each quarter. This is the list of pop-up challenges for Quarter 3:

Cake Topper: I haven’t yet picked minis for this, I’m thinking something horror themed though.
Under-lighting: I’m not very good at OSL so I may not do this one.
Trail of Blood: I’m having trouble picking a mini. When I see it though, I will know it.
Textures! Oh, my!: I have a mini pulled, I’m hoping to do an awesome worn leather on the cape of the mini.
I have finished the Spirit of the Forest category.

My goals for September are pretty much do as much RCL as I can cram in. This includes quarterly minis because Q3 ends at the end of September. Once I get a list together for monthly figures I will update.

Happy painting,
~S

August Approaches

July is almost over. I have no idea where the month went. I feel like I never know where the time goes. Anyway, a quick summary of July and goals for August.

Overall, July was pretty productive. I managed to get all but two of my RCL minis done. I still might finish them since I’ve still got a few days to get them in. I just need to start the monster and finish my new release minis.

I finished the following in green:

As for August I’m mostly planned out. I’m waiting for our shipment of Bones V before picking the rest for sure. This also means I don’t have access to photos of these yet with the exception of the Fungal Queen, which I don’t currently have a photo of where it’s at.

I’ve got a lot of quarterly things planned but again I’m waiting on the shipment to decide. It should be here tomorrow.

I’ve got other things I need to do this month that are hobby adjacent but I’m not talking about that yet since a lot of details have changed surrounding it. So for now I’m going to keep working on all of that and the RCL.

Hope y’all are well!

Happy Painting,
~S

July is Nigh

It’s the last night of June. I figure this is the optimal time to go over what I did accomplish this month.

My goals for this month were pretty simple. Finish the duo and trio groups I was committed to and do some small paintings. I did all of those things. I did not get to magnets or frames though. I did have more things I wanted to get done as far as cleaning and reorganizing the hobby room but there was a heatwave across the PNW this past week hitting record breaking high temperatures. Needless to say, because of the location of the hobby room, I did not even set foot upstairs during the heat wave.

I am planning on carrying those organizing goals over into July which should be much cooler. Here is the list of those:

So I’m probably going to spend the rest of this week and the better part of next week doing these things. I will be a busy bee.

For the RCL I have come up with this list:

I am lacking plans for a few things but I will work on getting the rest of it nailed down this week.

I will also note that there are several quarterly goals that I am planning but have not finished ironing all that out yet. I will make a post at a later time with those laid out.

I did pick back up my All Minis Eve calendar. I have started doing more embroidery for it. I need to order a few things to keep me going but that all shouldn’t take too long to get here. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll finish it before October of this year. *Knocks on wood.*

I also do plan on looking more into frames and stuff for the small paintings, that will just be on the back burner for a little bit while I work on all of this and getting the shop set up.

Anyway as always,

Happy Painting,
S

Brushes, Brushes Everywhere: Shape and Size

We’re back!

It’s been a while so here is the first anatomy post to refresh your memory.

Now let’s break the general anatomy of the bristles down a little more starting with shapes. While there are tons of shapes, I’m only going to go over the ones that I find myself using most often to save some time.

TALK ABOUT SHAPES AND HOW THEY WORK

Round:

Round brushes are very versatile. They are made up of hairs that come to a sharp point. They can be used for almost, in my experience, any application. However, rounds are often used for detail painting.

Flat:

Flats are used when you want to get paint over larger surfaces and doing washes. While small flats are made I find myself using larger ones. I have found that flats are harder to keep in shape so they usually end up being my go to when I need to do something that is particularly rough on them.

Bright:

Brights are flats but considerably shorter. They are generally made with stiffer bristles than other shapes. They are helpful when I’m painting something like a cloak. It gets into crevices and covers broad areas well. In my experience, these hold their shape a little better than the flats.

Filbert:

Filberts are flat brushes that have rounded tips. These are also very good at getting into small places and covering larger areas. They can also be used for some detail work. These are also ideal when doing blending.

Angle:

Angled brushes are flats with a tip that is angular. I like these even better than filberts and brights for getting into small places. However, like the flats they don’t seem to hold their shape as well as other shapes.

Now for sizes. This is where it gets complicated.

“Why is this the complicated part?”
Brush sizing is complicated because it directly affects working time. Combined with the fact that there is no international standardization amongst sizes. So something that is labeled a 1 could very well be a 0 or 2 in a different brand.

It is important to mention, the size of the paintbrush will be printed on the handle. Sometimes it will also include the company name and/or brush shape.

The general sizing starts at the smallest being a 20/0 (brushes of 30/0 sizes are made but are not common) to the largest being a 30.The most common sizes are 000 through 20. For miniature painting I have heard of people using up to a size 4 at most.

Brushes from a size 2 down to a size 000

Brushes that are X/0 are very small and as the number X gets bigger the smaller the brush gets. For example a 30/0 is a smaller brush than a 20/0. However, once you get to a size 0 the sizes then continue in sequential order as would be expected (0,1,2,3,etc.) getting larger the higher the number is.

This not only can be confusing but it makes it hard to recommend brushes in specific sizes. Like I said previously, the only brush that is “right” is the one that works for you. So play around with sizes as well as shapes and when comparing brands, in person, take a look at how the length and width of the bristles compared to one another. After a while you will get a general sense of what makes something a 0 for example.

“How does all this affect my working time?”

The widest part of the bristles is called the belly. Essentially, the larger the belly, or bigger the size, the more paint the brush will hold. It is important to know when you need a bigger brush. Larger brushes are good when you are doing large areas. The brush holds more paint so you need to go to your palette less.

These are both size 0 paint brushes from two different manufacturers. You can tell the slight differences in the handle length, bristle length, and belly sizes.

This can be a confusing topic, I know it is for me. However, I’m hoping I’ve shed some light on how shapes and sizes affect your painting.

Next up: when and when not to wreck your brushes.

Happy painting,
S

June Goals…Late

Uhh, time kind of got away from me here. I’ve been on a mini vacation the last week so this month has been totally thrown off.

My main goals for the month were to:

Start and finish my two RCL minis I committed to.
Get some small paintings done.
- Figure out how to make frames for said paintings.

I have done most of these things already. My two RCL minis were for the duo and trio categories.

Crab Man and Ape

Now my second goal has two parts listed but it’s definitely more complicated than that.

I painted a total of twelve (12) complete paintings, two of them being triptychs. So if you count those as separate paintings I’ve done sixteen (16) of them.

I’ve managed to do about six (6) in two days each. So less than 48 hours per six (6).

The first six (6) I did about a week and a half ago:

These came out much better than I’d anticipated. I’m still getting used to tube paints and how they behave. I will get back to the frames shortly.

These are the second set of four (4) single paintings. I did these plus the two (2) triptychs in about 36 hours. The pink tree and the island triptych are done on 2.75-inch by 3-inch canvases.

The two triptychs:

Now for the second part of my second goal. Frames.

I decided I would make my own frames. I took craft sticks (i.e. Popsicle sticks) and cut them down to fit. This is more or less working. However, I did not do the best job at this. I am looking into some tools to make them more even cuts so, hopefully, it will fit together more snugly.

Those are the two I finished. I simply used a ruler and heavy duty Xacto knife to make the cuts. You can see the gaps at the corners don’t fit together very well. I had to trim them down small amounts after I’d made the initial cuts and this just did not work. On the first one I attempted to shove pieces of discarded craft sticks to fill the gap. Again, not working. I have some small tools on order that should make this much easier or, at least, more uniform.

As for the canvas pieces. I have not figured framing out yet. I’ve watched a few video tutorials on how to do it but I currently can’t find the materials to make it cost effective for myself or the customer.

The other thing that I’ve done that you can’t see is on the backs of the framed pictures. I added small magnets to them. Frames and magnets will be add-ons once I get set up to sell them. The ones on canvas paper will be mounted onto the same canvas paper that has not been painted. I hope to be able to use actual photo mats, or something similar, soon. I also have ideas for some slightly fancier frames but have not tested this out yet. That is next on my to-do list.

That is what I’ve been up to. I’ve been very busy, even on my mini vacation, but I am getting things done. I hope to have July goals up in a timely manner.

Happy Painting,
~S