Wednesday, December 30, 2015

2015 Year in Review!


The Brush Wizard's 2015 Year in Review!

For starters, I wrote up a to-do list of projects that have been floating around my head. Normally, I wouldn't do this, but I felt like I had some Project ADD going on and need to sort it all out. That being said, I was able to knock out 5 of the projects. Most of them didn't get past the idea stage and a few of them are more than likely going to be permanently canceled. It was nice to have a list of ideas to go off of, but it also felt constraining.

This year also saw the return of the WIP posts. Since I've been working on a lot of display pieces, with a lot of details and time between beginning and end it seemed like a good idea. Plus it lets me show the process off a bit. With the reintroduction of WIP posts, I've ended up posting more than I've ever done before (over 80 posts this year, that's double last year's total). That makes 2015 a great year for painting and projects!

In October I finally bit the bullet and submitted some of my work to Reaper Miniatures to see if I could get in to their freelance pool of painters. But as of yet, I haven't heard anything from them. Though I think because I use a mix of paints, rather than their paint line exclusively, that might have hurt my chances. They say you can re-submit ever 3 months or so, so I'll work on upping my skill level more and send them another email later on in 2016.

Either way, 2015 was an excellent year for The Brush Wizard. Without further ado here's a run down of everything that happened in 2015!

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Sophie's Space Station


This project was originally intended to be an entry for the Finger Painter's November challenge, Winged Things. But due to my schedule, and my over active imagination, it ballooned into a much large project and I failed to get it finished in time.

It features the 2015 ReaperCon Sophie miniature, in a custom built space station corridor. I'm really pleased with how everything turned out on this. Especially since it was the first time I did a in-depth build using foamcore board (though I did build the Frostgrave fountain first).

Adventures in NMM - Learning Sky-Earth Non-Metallic Metal


It's time to up my game, thanks to Kickstarter Sophie. I really want to paint the pipes and engine of her bike in chrome, rather than metallic silver paint. But I have never attempted any time of Non-Metallic Metal painting before. So, armed with some paints, a slew of tutorials and some spare minis, it was time to get some practice time in.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Finger Painters - "2 Hour Challenge": Large Fire Elemental



After failing to make a showing for the November Finger Painters challenge, I was able to easily knock out an entry for this month's competition. The winner of last month's challenge offered up 3 options for the community to vote on. The choices were 2 Hour Challenge, Christmas Themed or Mystic Space Knights.

After a few days of voting, it was decided on a 2 hour challenge. Wherein the mini much be painted from primer to completion in 2 hours or less.

I chose the Large Fire Elemental from Reaper's Bones line.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

WIP - Frostgrave Terrain: The Well of Dreams and Sorrows - Build Continues

 
I came to a stop on the Well of Dreams and Sorrows awhile back, when I started trying to figure out the proper way to make my waterfall basins. I really wanted them to be round, but I was having trouble making them from scratch and I couldn't find a part that would work instead.

But then, while I was at Hobby Lobby for something else, I discovered some 1" wide smooth foam balls. Instantly I knew that was the answer and I picked them up.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Warhammer 40k: Forbidden Stars

Earlier this year, Fantasy Flight Games released Forbidden Stars. A brand new board game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. It has been on my radar for awhile and now that I'm back from U-Con and on a board game kick, I bit the bullet and snagged it.

Forbidden Stars is a space warfare game, for 2-4 players. It features four factions from the Warhammer 40,000 universe as they attempt to gain dominance over the newly discovered Herakon Cluster. The factions  included in the game are the Ultramarines Space Marine chapter, the World Eaters Chaos Space Marine warband, the Eldar of Craftworld Iyanden and the Evil Sunz Orks.