First of all, they've seen some battle damage. They've bounced around in boxes for several years, and the wizard was used as a Monopoly piece for quite some time. I had completely forgotten about these minis until I went home for the holidays in 2001 and my mom said she had found them and had set them up on a shelf in my closet. Weird and very nostalgic seeing them after all these years.

You'll notice that the paint is chipped all over ... that's because I painted right onto the metal, without using a base coat of primer. You'd think I'd talk to my dad, who has won awards for his historical minis, for advice on this sort of thing, but oh well....

Notice the very realistic green on the illusionist's base, and the classy fluorescent pink on her (?) crystal ball. I think the staff used to be a bright blue.

The wizard is just as much of a disaster. Notice how the border between the yellow robe and the blue stripe is kind of greenish? That's because I painted the stripe on while the yellow was still wet. :) You can't tell in this picture, but his crystal ball is painted with glow-in-the-dark paint, for those many times that you play D&D in the dark. :P

I've posted these minis to show my humble beginnings. I consider myself a decent painter now, with stuff I've learned from JD and others and a few things I've figured out on my own. Basically these minis are here to let y'all know I started out at the Totally Sucks level of painting and have moved up from there with practice. So if you're just starting and you feel like you're not very good, just keep at it, you'll get better. :)