I’ve been working on Adobe Flash projects for school and needed some sound effects and music loops for one of them. Not wanting to shell out much, if anything, in the way of $$$ for a silly school project I Googled download (“music loop” OR “sound clip” OR “sound effect”) free.

This search returned a fair number of sites mostly offering “Royalty Free” files vs. “Free to download and use” files.  However, one of the first in the result list, Partners In Rhyme, was exactly what I was looking for. Yes their main thing is “Royalty Free Music and Sound Effects downloads”, just like the others, but the site also offers a nice collection of “free to download and use” sound effects and music loops and I found what I needed there. And, if I had been looking for higher quality files for commercial use, the prices for their “pay to use” files seemed quite reasonable.

What’s more by mentioning them and linking to their site on your site or in a blog (like I’m doing here) you can get a free sound effects library from them that they claim is worth $50. (Note that links put on Myspace, Facebook or Bebo(?) pages aren’t eligible for the free library)

:-j(enni)

I've had this particular hippogriff figure for, oh, close to 7 or 8 years - someone gave it to me as a gift at some point, but the closest it ever came to getting painted was that I primed it. Once I finished the Jabberwok it was the next "major" figure in line.  (I've done a few character figures as well, but forgot to think about taking photos until they were already done)

You'll probably note that I use grey primer.  A lot of other miniature painters recommend white or black primer.  The main reasons for this is that black is great for figures that have a lot of metal on them (think knights) and for any figure that you want to paint in somber, brooding colors (undead/dark elves/filthy beasts). The black helps with metal because metallic paints look better painted over black and give greater coverage. In the second case the black primer will tend to darken/deepen the colors painted over it, giving you that somber feel. while white is the easiest way to go when you want to end up with bright, vivid colors and an overall vibrant feel for your figure. Most colors give the greatest coverage over white primer (meaning fewer coats of paint to achieve a smooth, even color).  I find that a medium grey primer keeps your colours relatively normal - not too bright and not too dark - which I find ideal for leather and cloth, human flesh and animal coats.  When I want the benefits of black under metal or white under something with a bright, pure colour, I paint a base coat of the appropriate colour over just the area where it is needed and go from there.

A few people who've seen the finished figure have made mention of the rainbow wings.  I know it's not exactly standard for a hippogriff, but when I first got the figure I remember this absolutely vivid picture in my mind's eye of the wings painted in rainbow hues.  That image has stayed with me through all the long years, so when it finally came time to paint the figure, rainbow wings was what it had to be.

My main hobby is playing Dungeons and Dragons, Version 3.5 Edition rules.  To get the most out of the game it really helps to use miniature figures and a mapping grid with 1" squares to help everyone see where each character, creature and feature is located in physical space.

I've been purchasing unpainted lead-based miniature figures for fantasy roleplaying games almost since I started playing them back in the RPG pliocene era (that would be the late 1970's), and eventually moved on to the pewter based ones when the fantasy miniature companies stopped producing lead ones for safety reasons.  Nowadays you can also buy pre-painted fantasy miniature figures, which can be cool for someone who is just interested in using them to play and isn't interested in the creative options unpainted figures provide.

The thing I like most about unpainted miniatures is the fact that I can use model paints to detail them myself, using any colour scheme I want and thus making each individual miniature a unique piece of art.  Even when I have two identical figures I can always paint them differently so that they could never be confused for one another.

The thing is, I've actually gone quite a long time without painting any figures, even though I had two boxes full of unpainted and event partially painted miniatures.  However, I recently decided that miniature painting was something creative I could do that connected with my main hobby and would also help me to unwind from the stress of my job, and so I picked up my paint brushes and enamel paints and started working on finishing off my unfinished figures and getting started on my never-started figures.  I even found instructions online on how to strip paint off old figures so I could remove the paint from some of my older figures that I'd done before I really knew all the best techniques.  It's been wonderfully relaxing and I wish I'd made myself get back into doing it a lot sooner.

In any case, because I'm having so much fun, and because I think I've a pretty good job on a Jabberwock - the first major piece I've painted since I started up again - I decided to post some pictures of the figure "in progress" and how it ended up.  They don't really do the figure justice, but it's the best I can do with a digital camera.  I'll probably post more photos as time goes on and I finish off more miniatures I'm particularly proud of.