Miniature Monday – Mavaro
This week’s posting is actually last week’s, maybe that’s why Mavaro shows such a grave expression? But puns aside, we have some nice paintjobs for you here, come and have a look!
(posted by Antonia)
And here we are! As you can see, the lockdown-related closing of daycare is still eating up all of our hobby and painting time and we are late again. Still, we hope you all are healthy and financially okay for the time being and we’ll just try and do our best while enjoying your comments and entries and emails (sorry for the late answer!) and finally present the next article!
This weeks miniature is interesting and fun to paint if you have a steady hand and bit of time – Dirk did a great job on it but I didn’t finish this time because all the detail took too long even for my standard “Base coat plus wash” technique. Some organic surfaces and a wash on top work better (quicker) for me. Owlbear, anyone?
(I planned some nobility invoking color scheme with impractical beiges and expensive blues. Although, if I think about it, this guy could totally be Harry Dresden from the urban fantasy novel series, right? He wouldn’t have technical gadgets anyway, and even owns (or co-habits with) a talking skull!)
Dirks mini seems to be the darkest:
He said: “With this mini I tried speed painting* because of our lack of time. I concentrated on using as few different colors as possible, painted most of the mini either in black, red or brown and used simple drybrushing (on the black) and washes (on the other colors). I really like how everything came together and am especially proud of the eyes and the lighting effect.
*It still took me one day to paint the miniature because of a lot of interruptions, but due to the reduced palette I still saved a lot of time compared to other combinations.”
Black and red are a classic combination to invoke a supernatural impression and the brown leather helps balancing the piece. Reducing the number of colors used is a great technique, also because it prevents the color scheme from becoming too busy. I totally love the eyes, both on the living person and on the skull, Mavaros stern look is great, and the glow effect on the eyesockets is really convincing!
Arjen used the mini for practice.
He said: “When I painted my first Iconic, I sort of decided to go keep these in line with the official Pathfinder illustrations, so I have been doing that since and you will find only small deviations from the pathfinder color scheme in my mini.
My specimen had a bad fit with the pieces on the back, so I had to cram in some greenstuff. My mini painting is a bit rusty, so I used this one to get some practice without trying too hard. I experiented a bit with the sword (silver over a layer of purple to get a magical shimmer of purple peeking through the silver, it sort of worked) and the wand container on the back (painted evenly brown and then a layer of very diluted purple, to get the effect of not evenly stained aged leather, in the end it still is rather even in color, though I like the shade). There is a lot of improvement possible (for instanced, not happy with the eyes, and the sleeves I kept the same as the coat for lack of a better plan) but it works well enough on the RPG table [except we are doing all RPG online thanks to Corona].”
It’s great to have your mini here and I’m glad this blog motivates or inspires you to re-active your painting skills! Very interesting how you used different washes for effect, the magical sword is a neat trick, and I wouldn’t have thought of using purple on brown – now I’ll definitely try that on one of my next projects!
How often do you manage to have online RPG sessions, and which platform/app do you use? We used to play via Skype for a long time with family and friends who are living far away, but the “no time for hobby” problems at the moment unfortunately reduces those sessions to chats in messengers…
Michael stayed close to official art for reference:
He wrote: “Here’s my model for the week. I’m pretty familiar with a lot of the Pathfinder character art, so sometimes I do reference it and try for an approximation, as is the case here. The artist – Wayne Reynolds – loves adding layers of clothing and accessories, so it’s also good just to see what in the heck each little bit is supposed to be. I did add a little Phantom Blue to the skull and finished it with gloss varnish to make it more magical.”
I don’t know much about pathfinder or the system’s art(ists), but the result of your work ist really cool and showcases all the little details much better than I could find them on my miniature 😀 I like how many rivets and simple red borders help structure the whole piece, and elements like the runes on the skull add another layer of depth, well done!
Jim’s Mavaro might be an explorer:
He told us: “I have to admit feeling a bit bad about not really liking this mini. It’s a style problem, as I can’t decide whether he’s more 18th, 19th or even 20th Century. I think it’s just that I don’t have much connection to the Pathfinder aesthetic. On the other hand, the mini is well sculpted and cast with good detail on both the front and the back. I particularly like the separate head. I’m not sure how I chose the colors, but he has a vaguely maritime feel so that is the general direction I went. Perhaps like a Spanish or Italian explorer? In any case, I like the way he turned out, especially the facial expression.”
Good idea to make him an explorer, the shoes and sword definetly have a swashbuckling touch, he could also be some kind of cartographer or early anthropologist pondering over some ancient culture!
Timothy captures the moment:
Timothy’s color scheme goes into a similar direction as some of the others, maybe he also took inspiration from official art, or it’s just the best choice, as this guy could defintely be some kind of travelling sage clad in dusty browns.
I like his angled black eyebrows which give him a super grim expression, and I think you picked the perfect angle for the photograph in terms of drama, it really looks like a book illustration!
This weeks gallery:
Coming next:
02/08/21 Angry Townsfolk Woman w. Torch (Bones IV Core Set)
Want to participate in the next post? Email the pictures of your minis until Friday 02/05/21 to
MondayMiniature@fantasymail.de (It’s a .de domain, in case emails are bouncing)
–> Attention: The submission date for photos is about three days before publishing date, to give us a bit of time to actually write about your pictures
This way you’ll have two weeks/one weekend to paint, and we have one weekend to write (which is the only time of the week where we (might, *sigh*) have some open minutes).
You can of course send in pics later, but to take out a bit of the stress (most pics arrive here rather last minute) please consider the three day deadline. Later pics will still show up in an update
Here is the link to Reaper’s graphic with all the core pieces, but it’s one and veeeery long picture so be prepared for some scrolling. On the other hand it has separate numbers for most of the pieces. I will add individual shop links as soon as they appear!
Here is the “Underdark” Expansion Darkreach.
Here is the Dreadmere Expansion
02/22/21 Owlbear (No 6) (Bones IV Core Set)
03/08/21 Townsfolk Beggar (Bones IV Core Set)
03/22/21 Adowyn, Iconic Hunter (Bones IV Core Set)
04/05/21 Griffon (No 82) (Bones IV Core Set)
04/19/21 Show me your project/Catch-Up Monday
05/03/21 Amrielle, Female Ranger (Bones IV Core Set)
05/17/21 Pig with or without cart (No 17 & 18) (Bones IV Core Set)
05/31/21 Dreadmere Fishwife (No 409) (Dreadmere Expansion)
06/14/21 Oman Ruul, Wizard (Bones IV Core Set)
06/28/21 Dreadmere Tortoise and Handler (Dreadmere Expansion)
07/12/21 Ava Justinia, Female Templar (Bones IV Core Set)
07/26/21 Erasmus, Iconic Medium (Bones IV Core Set)
08/09/21 Troglodytes(one or more) (Darkreach Expansion)
08/23/21 Dreadmere Crone (Dreadmere Expansion)
09/06/21 Two handed Fighter (No 9 in the main pic) (Bones IV Core Set)
09/20/21 Dark Watcher (Beholderkin) (Darkreach Expansion)
On the list for later (or maybe extra homework?):
Half-ogre fighter (Link to metal version)
Knights (No 58-61, no links yet)
Dire Boar/Warthog (No 56, no links yet)
More Townsfolk (No 50+ and 146+)
Small Heroes (some Halflings and/or Gnomes)
Tiny Foes (Kobolds and/or Goblins)
Brigand with heavy Axe (No 101)
Caffeineforge 
We had a lot of tan/khaki/beige this time around!
Dirk – Nice speed paint! A good color combination and I like his intense expression. Those glowing eyes!
Arjen – Staying with the Iconic scheme is good thinking, especially for a practice piece. Funny, the one thing that caught my eye most was the lower case! I’m glad you mentioned it.
Michael – Another by-the-book (sort of!) version. The red trim is subtle yet really sets off the lighter shades and the skull looks like it’s arguing with Mavaro!
Timothy – He puts me in mind of a Spanish Conquistador. Don Mavaro, perhaps? The dark hair and expression give him a very fierce demeanor.
Mine actually looks a bit like someone I know! I like the idea of an Anthropologist pondering a new find. Near and dear to my heart.