Darkstar's Mini Blog

Hi, my name is Sean and I paint stuff. Miniatures mostly. I go by Darkstar on the various miniature related sites on the web, welcome to my Tumblr!

[darkstarminis-blog]

Full on incredible work you goreous salt n pepper haired God of the brushstroke. I am in love with your work and checking out a video, am struck by the calming rich tone of your voice. Oh yes, I will be going to sleep with your video playing next to me. G'night Sean.

Haha thank you for the kind words!  Maybe I'm in the wrong business?  Reading bedtime stories might be my true calling...Seriously though painting minis is very calming and relaxing, which is a big draw for me because these crazy days where everything is 'always on'... it's nice to have an escape. 

[darkstarminis-blog]

You are an inspiration!! You've made me start painting for real (I've always read and watched more painting than actually holding a brush) with all the stuff I bought "in preparation" for painting. :) Your Descent thread is what got me into it, after that I painted my Avric Albright.. which is the first mini I've ever painted to completion! I see that it needs lots of work to step up a notch in terms of quality.. especially with the metals. Do you use your pen technique for descent mini metals?

Hey thanks!  I'm glad to be an inspiration for ya, it's super important to have a good inspiration with anything art related to keep the motivation flowing.  Regarding the pencil technique for metals, with the Descent minis I've painted I went with the Non Metallic Metal technique for those so I didn't get into any realistic metal techniques like the pencil or anything using 'real' metallics.  A very fun technique though that you can easily get lost in trying to buff it up to a luster.

[darkstarminis-blog]

A new profile pic for 2015 heh.  Not really about posting my face on Tumblr, in fact this is only the second time in two years that I've done so, but felt it was time to update my pic since time does move on after all.

[darkstarminis-blog]

It's been awhile since I've posted anything here but when my HD died on me a couple of months ago I took some time away from my 'digital life' to just focus on getting a shiny new rig all set up for 2015 going forward. I was hoping to get up and running again with all my digital shenanigans around the new year and here I am.

I have stuff to show, I've been busy (always busy) and I'll get some up here to share soon.  See you then!

[darkstarminis-blog]

Hi, what's the name of the miniature you jave on your background? The black haired woman with a gun. The black and red freehand on her top is fantastic and I would love a closer look.

Hey, sorry for the super late reply, that would be Xiufang, Femme Fatale from Reaper's Chronoscope line!

[darkstarminis-blog]

Augur Grisom from Descent Journeys in the Dark 2nd Edition Trollfens Expansion by Fantasyflight games.

I painted this exceptionally tiny Dwarf priest up over last week, a little at a time.  I'm painting all of these to match the card art for their character card.  In this case, I really enjoyed painting the complementary and unusual color scheme quite a bit.   Also, I really like this mini, great face and expression on the sculpt.  The flail was a bit miscast, but I did the best I could with what I had to work with, which was kinda blobby.

[darkstarminis-blog]

Alys Raine from Descent: Journeys in the Dark 2nd Edition, Manor of Ravens expansion from Fantasy Flight Games.

Received a bunch of expansions for Descent as an early birthday gift and got busy painting one of the new heroes from Manor of Ravens.  I resculpted her hair and face a bit before painting since the sculpt didn't really do the character card art justice really.

[darkstarminis-blog]

Jain Fairwood from my Descent 2nd Edition box all painted and ready to game with.  4 down, some odd couple dozen to go!  Not including the monsters!

[darkstarminis-blog]

Hey there, (sorry this should probably be "fan mail" but it says I haven't been following you long enough to send it) I'm currently in the process of painting up my own Descent minis and I stumbled across your blog while looking for pictures to use as a reference. Just wanted to say, your stuff is AMAZING! It really is an inspiration, I hope I can paint half as well as you some day. Look forward to seeing what you do with the monsters! :D

Hey thanks, Descent is a great game with a ton of cool characters to paint, have fun!  I'll get to the monsters just as soon as I finish the characters but there's so many characters!  What a great variety though, having fun painting all of these.  Alright, I'm glad I could be an inspiration, take care!

[darkstarminis-blog]

Grisban the Thirsty from my Descent 2nd ed. game backlog of characters that I'm painting.  This guy is like the Dwarven Santa I swear.  But instead of toys he brings screaming drunken death.

[darkstarminis-blog]

Monthly game night last weekend. Four player Relic plus Nemesis expansion! Fun expansion although Three of us veterans got stomped by the brand new first time player...beginner's luck was in full effect. Even the Nemesis didn't stand a chance!

[darkstarminis-blog]

Avric Albright from Descent: Journeys in the Dark 2nd Edition main box.  Painted to match the card art as close as I could.  Hence some of these color choices looking kinda cartoony, like the trim around his pauldrons for example.  I like them to look just like the art from FFG.  This makes two of the heroes I've done now, including Ashrian.  (I'm painting them alphabetically)

[darkstarminis-blog]

Ashrian from Descent 2nd edition.  Painted over the weekend.  Some better shots than the comp I made, which Tumblr shows as a little out of focus and loses the detail.  These shots are up close and personal leaving nothing to the imagination!

[darkstarminis-blog]

I started painting my characters from Descent 2nd edition over the weekend.  This here is Ashrian.  This mini is...tiny.  Comes up to around the neck of a typical space marine for example.  But hey, if they can sculpt it? I can paint it. 

I want to bring to life my Descent characters with paint because I love the game so much and the character card art is just a great reference for the color scheme for each character. I gave her a little more life by adding a freehand pattern to her cloak. Otherwise I kept her true to the card art. Many more to come, and the monsters and lieutenants as well!

[darkstarminis-blog]

A couple of Talisman 2nd edition minis that I just completed painting.  The Dwarf and the Assassin.  Whopping huge photo of the Assassin trying to capture the detail of his eyes.  Of course, that's tricky at this tiny scale.

[darkstarminis-blog]

Another day another classic mini painted up!  Today we have the Wizard from Talisman 2nd edition, painted to match the card art for the game.

He seems lost in thought.  Or lost on his way to the job opening to be the Wizard of McDonald's.  Maybe that's a map he's holding not a scroll?

[darkstarminis-blog]

The Druid from Talisman 2nd edition.  Finished up this guy over the weekend.  I'm typically not one to go overboard with flora on bases but this guy just hollered for it.