ReaperCon Fun - Part 1

What. Just. Happened? I attended a whirlwind of ReaperCon fun and returned with two Gold Medals and a Golden Sophie. I'm shocked and truly humbled! 

Compare that with my Certificate of Merit from last year-- I've come a long way! With so many talented painters, sculptors, and mentors at this convention, I'm inspired to paint every week and continue to work on my painting skills. I'll write more about the classes I attended, upload my pictures, and share my detailed thoughts on the entire experience. But for now, I'm home safely and recovering from an amazing past few days! Here's what I took home and what pieces I entered:

ReaperCon 2015

Entries

Some of the pictures were photographed in some funky lighting. I also realized (after the fact) they picked up a lot of dust in my carrying case on the trip home. Whoops! Final photos to come soon on my main page.

  1. Corvus Belli - Infinity Hacker
  2. Dark Sword - Euterpe
  3. Reaper - Betty, Space Heroine + Illyrian Scout
  4. Hasslefree - Mystic Warrior Jen
  5. Reaper - Andromedan Hunter

ReaperCon Prep - Part 1

I've made progress! It's not a lot, since painting is still emotionally taxing given everything the family's still going through, but it's enough to make me proud. I finished one of my competition entries! Behold, Hasslefree "Mystic Warrior Jen" (the first picture is for scale):

I also finalized my ReaperCon itinerary today. It includes advanced painting classes, basic sculpting, advanced basing, airbrush classes, and two evening banquets and plenty of unscheduled free time. Last year, I took several full days of back-to-back classes which resulted to little time to socialize and relax. I shuffled quickly from class to class for eight hours straight and absorbed as much information as possible-- totally worth it (for me). I enjoy binge-learning things I'm passionate about. While I don't recommend over-scheduling one's self during conventions, I found that cramming that much information into my head (and taking plenty of notes) improved my painting ten-fold. 

While there's plenty to look forward to at this convention, I'm most excited to see the friendly faces I met last year. Some are accomplished, full-time professional painters, others are casual hobbyists-- many of whom won multiple medals last year in the painting competition. I was inspired by their knowledge, graciousness, and encouraging words. In fact, one of the friendliest of the bunch is teaching some classes for the very first time! Since I don't currently have a "Blog Roll", I wanted to list a few of the talented folks I met in person at last year's convention. These individuals have positively influenced me in the past year (apologies if I've missed anyone!) and I encourage you to check out their websites and/or examples of work. In no particular order, here are the people I can't wait to give a great big hug to when I see them in two weeks!

Jessica Rich "The Brushmistress" 

Michael Proctor of "Clever Crow Minis" 

Rhonda Bender a.k.a. "Wren"

Kuro Cleanbrush (check out his Youtube tutorials!)

Cash Wiley of "The Wiley Brush" 

Shannon Stiltz of "Queen Penguin Productions"

Andy Pieper a.k.a. "TaleSpinner" 

Max Styles a.ka. "Hot Chicks Jeff" (my own personal nickname for him!) 

Now I'm working on my newest Reaper mini I hope to enter in the competition, with my future color-scheme inspired by the character Kaylee's costume design from the show Firefly. Right now I'm still working on her face and blocking out shapes with liner. I have far too much to do with several works-in-progress during the next two weeks. Trying not to panic!

Dark Sword Box Party

They're here!!! The Stephanie Law Masterworks Dark Sword Kickstarter miniatures I ordered arrived yesterday. I wrote about this Kickstarter a few weeks ago, and I can't believe how time has flown-- Dark Sword really worked hard to ship these out during the busy holiday season!

Box Party

I opened the box and squealed like a crazed fangirl. Inside were glorious boxes of the Kickstarter miniatures along with my Thief of Hearts bundle & Marike Reimer DVD add-ons. Beautiful. I promptly popped the DVD into my Blu Ray player and hit "play" while I spread out & fussed over my new miniatures.  

Marike Reimer Introduction

Stephanie Law Kickstarter miniatures + Thief of Hearts Add-Ons

I'm really excited about the "Dark Sword Masterworks Miniature Painting with Marike Reimer" DVD made in 2012. Marike is touted as one of the most accomplished miniature painters in the industry and her work is absolutely stunning. She values smooth blending and has a sharp eye (and steady hand) for freehand detail. Just look at her "Guardian of the Sea" miniature:

Image from Dark Sword Miniatures - Guardian of the Sea sculpted by Jeff Grace & painted by Marike Reimer

It's truly amazing. Like stupid-good-hurts-my-eyes-how-is-this-possible amazing. I'm looking forward to learning more about her style and practicing similar freehand techniques. Practice makes perfect!

Chapter on Sheer Fabrics

I've already binge-watched Disc 1 (of 4) which contains:

  • Dark Sword Introduction
  • Marike Introduction
  • Tools, Paints & Brushes
  • Terminology & Paint Consistency
  • Basic Color Theory, Blocking and Base Coating
  • Blending & Layering - Shadows & Highlights
  • Female Skin Tones, Faces & Eyes
  • Sheer Fabrics 

So far, I'm loving it-- Marike has a calming voice and a fun sense of humor (I love the part about her sexy magnifying glasses). There is so much more content in the next few discs, including in-depth freehand sections on 3 different patterns on cloaks & capes. In fact, I needed to feed the cat. He jumped up on the table and pawed at me as if saying, "Stop staring at the moving light box and playing with these tiny boxes. I'm hungry now!". I obliged him, but I would have rather started Disc 2. If it were up to me, I would have ordered a pizza and painted late into the night. But alas, the pets and people needed feeding so painting will have to wait until tonight. In the meantime, I made some killer spicy chili, which was perfect with this cold front rolling through-- a perfect night for staying in & painting. Now for the hard part: I need to decide which of these many miniatures to start painting!