Based Djinn and a Speed Paint

Sort of. First of all, a couple new things hit the table today. The Minotaur is one of Reaper's Bones line, which are plastic. A pretty flexible plastic - he's kinda rubbery. I haven't painted one of these before, but word is they take paint very well, even without primer. (Mine is sprayed with a thin coat of white primer anyway). It has pretty good detail, particularly for plastic. However, there are mold lines that have to be cut off, and are kinda tricky to clean up. Also, there's definitely some glue squeeze out where he was put together (they come pre-assembled). On the other hand, he cost like two bucks. So, if you want cheap guys for the gaming table, these are great. If you're painting a masterpiece for competition...I'd pick something else.

The rat's a familiar from one of the Reaper familiar packs.

Now, basing the djinn. I'm doing a sand base. Here's my sand:

Lots of people use playground sand. I don't. Playground sand is very regular. Mine there has lots of different colors and sizes of grit, which I think looks more natural. Sadly, I'm not sure where it came from. Might have been from putting in a sidewalk and/or retaining wall. Might have been a beach.

So, to put it on the base, I mix Elmer's, a couple drops of paint of the color I want to use for my darkest shade on the base, and a couple drops of water. The water thins it enough to make it easier to brush on. It doesn't take much paint to tint the glue to the color you want. I paint the mix pretty heavily on to the base; I want there to be enough that the sand will sink right down in to it, to get a nice solid covering of sand.

Then I liberally sprinkle the sand over the base, let it set a few seconds, then tap off whatever's loose.

The glue mix wicks right up through the sand (or the sand sinks down in to it), and the color comes through while still maintaining the shade differences between the different grains of sand. I'll give this at least a couple hours to dry, then dry brush on some lighter colors. Don't try to rush the highlights. If the glue isn't dry, you end up with tacky glue and sand peeling off the base and sticking to your brush. It's a big mess. 

Last, I glued a few tufts of desert-y colored static grass on, painted the edges of the base black, and he's all done!

Also finished this little guy tonight while waiting for the glue to dry. Sort of a speed paint, at least, I started and finished him tonight. These familiars are so small it's not really worth putting a ton of effort in to them.