Hinton

Thanks, callumrice. Okay...as far as I'm concerned, unless there is a glaring error (and if you see one, please, for the love of pants, point it out) I'm calling the directed lighting/OSL done and moving on to the NMM parts - the sword and belt buckle. Comments and critiques always welcome.

Aw, thanks, you two. The only reason that I've shown any improvement is because of really helpful people giving me some great tips and advice. Looking forward to seeing your stuff, Ayla. *Edit*: Finally put my gallery up here at Wyrd. The link's in my sig.

I don't know about the Slo-Dri, but I use Folk Art Extender (wonderful stuff, IMHO). My local art supply store carries it, so I imagine just about any other craft store would as well.

Welcome, Ayla! You're not the only new one here; I only got started with the hobby about 2 months ago. People here are really great and helpful. So, don't be shy. Post some of your work, ask some questions, or just rant about your day.

Hey all. Just posting another update pic. Getting closer, but still a ways to go yet.

Well, I haven't been over at CMoN very long, but I haven't seen an "in-group" or clique. People there, much like the other forums I belong to, have been nice and made me feel welcome. Sure, there's the "Freak Bar" for those with 1,000 posts or more, but some of those people still reply to me and other "newbies" and give some great feedback. For those of us that are new to a forum it can seem like we don't belong since we are new. It's like meeting new people: you don't really know them or anything about them. They also have people that they've known for a long time and know quite well, so you may feel like an outsider; not part of the group. The best way to get over that feeling of being outside is to just talk to people. Post replies, comment on people's work, or, best of all, ask them questions ("How did you get that effect?", etc). Sometimes they'll reply; sometimes they won't. At least you're making yourself known and that's the biggest step. The only time I'll ever leave a forum is when the people start being rude. That hasn't happened to me yet and hopefully it never will; here or anywhere else.

The list of heroes on the computer in "Homecoming": Name...............Location Felipe Acerra......Deceased D.L. Hawkings......Las Vegas, NV Byron Bevington....Marshfield, VT Niki Sanders.......Las Vegas, NV Daniel Buzzetti....Greeley, CO Isaac Mendez.......New York, NY Tracy Chobham......Frostburg, MD Nicholas Datre.....Deceased Paula Gramble......Monteith, IA Curtis Hovsepian...Grant Pass, OR Nathan Petrelli....New York, NY Noel Menzies.......Deceased Penkala Burton.....Albert Lea, MN Teresa hue Pham....Shreveport, LA Matthew Parkman....Los Angeles, CA Hiro Nakamura......Tokyo, Japan [Name Unknown].....Midland, TX On the other side of the screen, the list is cut off and it's difficult to make out the names beyond a certain point. David Berman.......New York, NY Leonie Pinkham.....Deceased Adam Soo Hoo.......Kailua, HI Linda Tavara.......Deceased Norman Ventris.....Deceased Sparrow Redhouse...New Mexico Anid Halebiu.......Los Angeles, CA Michelle........... Candace W.......... Harry Fle.......... Ethan Kim(ble?).... Abu Aswan.......... Frank Cav.......... Diego Vel.......... Jess Murp(hy?)..... Sue Lande(rs?)..... Pam Green.......... A screenshot:

In another thread, Frustrated Father mentioned getting stressed with painting minis and decided to take a break. I've seen others mention something similar, so I was wondering if people are (or have gotten) so stressed with the hobby that they've just quit painting. Not so much dropped out of the community, but just put the brushes away for awhile. (I'm posting a new thread to avoid a hijacking). So, to anyone that has done it or is contemplating it: What was it that caused you to hang up the brushes? A specific mini? A painting technique that caused you headaches? Low scores at CMoN? I'm just curious. There are some seriously talented painters here and I wouldn't want to them hang up their brushes because they got stressed and started hating a hobby that they loved so much before. @FF: Sorry to hear the hobby got stressful for you. I told myself (and so far it's still true) that if I posted over at CMoN, I wasn't going to worry about the score. I only post there to get feedback and I usually get it. Some people over there seem to stress more about improving their score instead of their painting techniques. Although, to be honest, I do have my ranking in my sig there. I'm in the top 4,000! ( yay! :clap: ) and perfectly happy with that.

Those are some pretty cool minis. I'm with Queeny on this one: La Grange runs through my head every time I see them. Very nice work.

That's some great artwork, Alaric.

Well, as far as miniatures go, I can only comment on Reaper's Dark Heaven Legends line since that's the only kind I've bought. It's nothing against any other companies, but they were the first site I came across so I've just kind of stuck with them. I'll probably be picking up some from Wyrd before too much longer. For the most part, Reaper does have some pretty decent miniatures by some great sculpters. I like Klocke's sculpts as well as some of Garrity's. No real problems with excessive flash/mold lines (although there have been a couple...). Reaper has been great as far as customer service and I haven't run into any delivery problems. They do have a pretty wide selection of minis that can be used to fit into just about any category, whether it's fantasy or sci-fi. Although their CAV and Warlord lines are pretty specific, they could still be used in other settings. Their Master Series Paints are outstanding. They come with flow improver already included in them and are available in triads: shadow/base/highlight. This makes it much easier to determine color selection and takes away some of the guesswork; this can be especially helpful for those new to the hobby. The MSPs come in dropper bottles and there is a bit of a debate over which is better: paint pots or dropper bottles. Personally, I use both and don't really have a preference. I've received a couple of their brushes that I wasn't overly happy with. It may have been a bad batch, but the ferrules came right off the handle. With one of them I hadn't even used it yet; I just picked it up and the ferrule fell right off. They also have their Learn to Paint Kits which are not only a great place for those new to the hobby to start at, but they're also a great value. You get two minis and a bunch of paints for about $25.00 (USD). In addition, the instructions were written by Anne Foerster, an award-winning painter. The instructions could be a bit better and more detailed, but I believe they are currently working on improving them. My one "complaint" would be the infamous broccoli bases; I hate those things. I don't have the tools (yet) to remove them, so I've had to either just paint them or find some way to cover them up. Some of the more recent minis (3100's) have moved away from those bases. Overall, Reaper is pretty good.

Pretty good episode tonight. I agree with FF on most points, but I'm leaning toward Nathan being more of a villain type down the road. While it's true that he could have been acting out love for his brother, there's still the cavalier attitude he has towards his and Peter's powers; almost like he's embarrassed by them. He seems to be willing to do anything to get elected. The question is: just how far will he go? I am thinking that Sylar is going to turn out to be someone we've already met. I'm hesitant to put my guess out there, but there are certain things that point in the direction that I'm thinking. Hiro going back really messed something up. Sylar didn't kill the waitress until Hiro and Ando were at the diner. Hiro goes back and the waitress is killed even sooner. Can Sylar bend time and space as well? Again, just supposition on my part; but I have a bad feeling that I know who it is. At least there's still new episodes to come. I'm going to hate it when we have to endure re-runs.

No, Ritual; I got the joke. Ocular means eye; occulac (or occulak) must mean many eyes. I just never heard of one before. Trust me, I did laugh.

No worries. @gi6ers: Yep, that worked. It's a Beholder.

Thanks. Oh, ok; I know what beholder is. Searching for "occulac" didn't return any results.

What the heck is an "occulac"? Progress report: Just putting up a picture of where I'm at right now. Of course, suggestions or comments are always welcome if you have any.

Outstanding work!

You're not the only one that's suggested that (although, you are the first). I'll be going back and doing that later today, along with a couple other things and then post more pics. The eyes seemed to go much better than usual. I wasn't nervous about screwing up since I knew that I didn't have anything else painted. Normally, I have quite a bit (if not all) of the mini done, so it's going through my head: "Don't screw this up!", which, of course, only makes things worse. Unfortunately, the shadows do take away or even cover up some of what I did, which kind of upsets me; I finally got some decent eyes done with what looked like the perfect amount of darklining and everything and I had to cover it up! Aaarrrggghhh!!! Oh well; at least I know what I did this time and should be able to apply it and perhaps even improve upon it with the next one.

I've done the back of her cloak. However, it's just not looking right to me. I know what I want to do, but it seems like it just won't come out right. Suggestions?

It'll be from another light source, specifically from a window to her right side. It's kind of a mini-diorama.

@DrEvilmonki: I thought it would be best to at least have an idea of what I was looking for/at. I'm posting over at CMoN in shawn's thread since he's agreed to help me out and I've read his tutorial on OSL several times now. @supervike: Oh sure; now you tell me. :laugh: It's cool, though. At least I know to do that next time. @Duende: At least I'm not the only one that's crazy. Okay, here's a small update. I always start with the eyes, face and skin areas. Very little of that with this one (pardon the slightly messy painting).

I got my latest shipment of minis in and as I was looking at them, I decided to paint Alidee first. As I sat looking at her, she just screamed to be painted with directed lighting/OSL instead of the normal "sun as a light source" method. "No," I said to the mini, "I'm not that good yet." "Paint me with OSL!" she screamed back "OSL! OSL!" After much debate I decided to take the plunge and do it. Then, I decided to go ahead and try NMM on this one since it seemed to fit with the OSL theme. (think I'm crazy yet?). I debated whether I should do a WIP post or not, but I figured I probably should since I'm trying so many new things. (gotta be out of my mind) So, here she is, primed and ready to go. I shot her with only one light to get an idea how the light and shadows would fall. I've already decided on which colors I'm going to use for the cloak, clothes, etc. I'll try to keep this updated at regular intervals, but sometimes I get started painting and just keep going. So, if anyone wants to toss in their ideas and opinions (like trying to talk me out of this insane endeavor), please, by all means, jump right in.

Excellent blood and gore. Love the base. And thanks, Nathan.

Hey, Steve. Welcome to the boards. Nice to see some new "faces" here.

Yes, it does.