Hello attendees!
--21 May, 2010, 23:42:11
Yep, I know, this is getting revamped soon, but the How Not to Suck is still alive and kicking!
How Not to Suck, the Digital Version
So far this year these have been some fantastic classes; I hope you had a helluva lot of fun, along with maybe even learning something useful.
--21 May, 2010, 23:42:11
Yep, I know, this is getting revamped soon, but the How Not to Suck is still alive and kicking!
How Not to Suck, the Digital Version
So far this year these have been some fantastic classes; I hope you had a helluva lot of fun, along with maybe even learning something useful.
Yeah, yeah, shoosh!
--5 January, 2010, 13:06:17
For those who might be coming here from the new Reaper pages, hello! I know this site is a bit behind, as I have been web-monkeying for a miniatures company and have not had much time for my own stuff. Also, I will be moving everything to allterrainmonkey.com instead of having two different websites for stuff, so hopefully that will all happen soon. Anyhoo, enjoy what I do have going on!
--5 January, 2010, 13:06:17
For those who might be coming here from the new Reaper pages, hello! I know this site is a bit behind, as I have been web-monkeying for a miniatures company and have not had much time for my own stuff. Also, I will be moving everything to allterrainmonkey.com instead of having two different websites for stuff, so hopefully that will all happen soon. Anyhoo, enjoy what I do have going on!
Hallo to mah stoodenz of painteenk!--18 May, 2009, 12:02:08
Hello to everyone who took my classes on How Not To Suck and NMM this weekend! I hope my classes were at least half as entertaining as they were informative :). I forgot to bring my First Mini Ever into the Con, but you can see him here, which should hopefully reinforce that not only does every painter start somewhere, but that with practice anyone can paint better.
For my HNTS students: I realized I don't have my materials list up currently, so to tide you over here's links to Dick Blick and Micro Mark. Most of my utensils are pretty basic, but for brushes, I use Winsor Newton Series 7's in sizes 0 and 1 and Da Vinci Maestro's in 0 and 1. The online article is here for your perusal, and the recipe section here.
For my NMM students: my first NMM piece of black enameled armor is Corvus. After him, I did an Arnise whose steel NMM on the axe and breastplate are decent, but whose gold NMM and steel everywhere else are completely messed up (trying to follow rules and not break them). The Reborn has some nice warm golds on him, though the steel blades were hella rushed. You can see burnished gold NMM and black enameled armor on Gabriella, which suffered from not enough highlights on the gold for both the brightest brights and the under-reflections. The Avatar of Aurellius has complex shapes all over done fairly well, but suffers from the darkest dark not being quite dark enough. Alvhaera has some nice cold golds and a not-so-nice obsidian mace head, while Shaedra has warm burnished golds throughout; be sure to look at her left side view for the leg plate to see how using the angle of the armor to determine what it's reflecting can make complex shapes "work". My badly photo'd Almaran still shows him well enough; I think he could use a bit more of the brighter colors to make him pop. And, of course, Halbarad, metallics mixed with NMM style lighting to decent effect.
Anyhoo, I'm off to go pick more painter and sculptor brains up at Reaper; I hope all of you were able to get home safely and soundly, I hope you not only got a lot from my classes but also have a better idea of where to go for the next steps, and I look forward to seeing you all again next year!
I can too paint!--11 March, 2009, 22:59:40
See? I have a new mini up! Aren't you proud of me?
He was just supposed to be a warmup/practice mini for me, but I got too attached and kept working on him. Being a perfectionist's so good and so bad for a painter, lemme tell ya.
Anyhoo, click on the picture in the top left to see him, and I hope you like him!
Well, that's sorted out.
--24 February, 2009, 23:04:49
I got most of the length-altering functions in place to make sure the right side area's at least as long as the left, no matter how many auctions I put up at once. I've been working on a few more tweaks to this site here and there in-between working on the new web project (a kennel site) and new minis. Yay fun!
--24 February, 2009, 23:04:49
I got most of the length-altering functions in place to make sure the right side area's at least as long as the left, no matter how many auctions I put up at once. I've been working on a few more tweaks to this site here and there in-between working on the new web project (a kennel site) and new minis. Yay fun!
Schazammalambdabam!
--20 February, 2009, 15:29:29
Oops, I did it again.
I know, I know, yet another rework of the site, and no pretty minis to usher it in; I'm a bad monkey. However, I have leveled up my web-design skills hooooogely, even it's mostly in the guts.
In any case, there's a lot of new stuff added to the site. I went for a much less cluttered/busy look, which I happen to like quite a lot. Also, the off whites/off blacks tend to make the minis look nice and purdy as well.
The Gallery has changed considerably. The scroller at the top will default to showing all the minis, and replaces the old forward/backward trudgery. As you click on an image when it loads it'll automatically go to where you left off, which is handy-dandy. Users in all browsers should be able to move it via the arrow keys on their keyboard, the arrow image to the right and left, or by scrolling their mousewheel on top of it (which I like da best). Choosing a sub-gallery will update it with the new results.
Gone are the comments system; the coding was quite horrendously clunky and a huge pain to update. If a lot of people clamor for something of the same again I'll put in a forum, but otherwise for now they'll be gone.
There's still a lot more tweaking of whitespace to do, as well as finishing up a few touches here and there, but it should all be functional now; as always, if you find something off, letting me know about it would be great :).
And, as added fun, my hosting company said something about a server migration (haven't heard back from them yet on it), so the site may be down in the near future for an unknown length of time; hopefully I'll have a better idea of the window for it soon.
--20 February, 2009, 15:29:29
Oops, I did it again.
I know, I know, yet another rework of the site, and no pretty minis to usher it in; I'm a bad monkey. However, I have leveled up my web-design skills hooooogely, even it's mostly in the guts.
In any case, there's a lot of new stuff added to the site. I went for a much less cluttered/busy look, which I happen to like quite a lot. Also, the off whites/off blacks tend to make the minis look nice and purdy as well.
The Gallery has changed considerably. The scroller at the top will default to showing all the minis, and replaces the old forward/backward trudgery. As you click on an image when it loads it'll automatically go to where you left off, which is handy-dandy. Users in all browsers should be able to move it via the arrow keys on their keyboard, the arrow image to the right and left, or by scrolling their mousewheel on top of it (which I like da best). Choosing a sub-gallery will update it with the new results.
Gone are the comments system; the coding was quite horrendously clunky and a huge pain to update. If a lot of people clamor for something of the same again I'll put in a forum, but otherwise for now they'll be gone.
There's still a lot more tweaking of whitespace to do, as well as finishing up a few touches here and there, but it should all be functional now; as always, if you find something off, letting me know about it would be great :).
And, as added fun, my hosting company said something about a server migration (haven't heard back from them yet on it), so the site may be down in the near future for an unknown length of time; hopefully I'll have a better idea of the window for it soon.
Just a falsish alarm
--20 February, 2009, 2:37:20
No, those auctions aren't the ones you're looking for. I'm running a few last things through the wringer at the moment, and I'm going to leave them up while I catch a little bit of shut-eye. Later on today's gonna be great, though!
--20 February, 2009, 2:37:20
No, those auctions aren't the ones you're looking for. I'm running a few last things through the wringer at the moment, and I'm going to leave them up while I catch a little bit of shut-eye. Later on today's gonna be great, though!
Not dead!
--14 February, 2009, 14:12:59
Working on stuff, more soon!
Just about there...
--14 February, 2009, 14:12:59
Working on stuff, more soon!
Just about there...
A class act
--16 November, 2008, 18:46:04
I managed to finish a NMM 4-hour seminar today with no exploded heads or minis thrown through walls, so I chalk it up as a success. After my students practice (and you are going to practice, aren't you?) a bit I'll be eager to see what they come up with.
I managed to do a number on myself with late-night miniature cleaning a few days back. I couldn't sleep, so I pulled up to my work bench in my t-shirt and boxers to work on a mold line or two. Well, it was late, and my fingers were clumsy, and I managed to drop a scalpel right down onto my crotch. Blade down.
Naturally I went to the bathroom and waited to see where I'd start bleeding, as a cut from a good X-acto blade takes a bit to get going. I finally found the cut, cleaned it, put on some Neosporin, and called it a night.
Fast forward to yesterday, and the site was a little puffy and swollen. No big deal, I thought, as I biked nine miles to Paint Club, then a couple of miles to a friend's house later that evening, and nine miles home (in 35 degree weather) around midnight.
So, I wake up this morning, and the cut plus the bee-line to the nearest Lymph node are on high alert. I had a nice mild fever that I think is over and done with, but I'll be watching the next few days to make sure I don't get some crazy flesh-eating bacteria in the worst place for that sort of thing. However, it did make me trying to focus on how to break down various styles of NMM into quick, easy steps for nine students that much more fun than it already was.
--16 November, 2008, 18:46:04
I managed to finish a NMM 4-hour seminar today with no exploded heads or minis thrown through walls, so I chalk it up as a success. After my students practice (and you are going to practice, aren't you?) a bit I'll be eager to see what they come up with.
I managed to do a number on myself with late-night miniature cleaning a few days back. I couldn't sleep, so I pulled up to my work bench in my t-shirt and boxers to work on a mold line or two. Well, it was late, and my fingers were clumsy, and I managed to drop a scalpel right down onto my crotch. Blade down.
Naturally I went to the bathroom and waited to see where I'd start bleeding, as a cut from a good X-acto blade takes a bit to get going. I finally found the cut, cleaned it, put on some Neosporin, and called it a night.
Fast forward to yesterday, and the site was a little puffy and swollen. No big deal, I thought, as I biked nine miles to Paint Club, then a couple of miles to a friend's house later that evening, and nine miles home (in 35 degree weather) around midnight.
So, I wake up this morning, and the cut plus the bee-line to the nearest Lymph node are on high alert. I had a nice mild fever that I think is over and done with, but I'll be watching the next few days to make sure I don't get some crazy flesh-eating bacteria in the worst place for that sort of thing. However, it did make me trying to focus on how to break down various styles of NMM into quick, easy steps for nine students that much more fun than it already was.
How you doin?--14 October, 2008, 23:05:16
New mini up!
I think she might be one of the best things I've done; she's quite the cutie. She also marks the return of the gradient backdrop, which I think is here to stay; I got panned quite a bit for poor Rosie's presentation, so we'll see if having a silly color backdrop helps or not :).
I was going to finish up another mini for today but I got too far behind on it due to futzing with her. He'll just have to go in the next batch, and stop his whining.
In any case, that's all for the moment!
Click here to go to the auction.
