One Monk makes all paper models FREE!

I only just found out today, but according to One Monk's web site, all paper models are now available to download and print for free.

(from One Monk's news page, April 1st 2010 ..and no, this isn't an April Fools gag)

After much thought and deliberation, I have decided to to change my hobby back into a hobby, and provide my designs for free download for all who want them.

I really want to thank those of you who have supported me over the years by purchasing my figure sets, and I hope they were of a good value to you. My decision to go free will hopefully not anger some of you who had purchased my figures in the past. Having a little boost to my income was a great help, especially as I transitioned from a high paying stress filled job, to a lower paying, but much more rewarding job in the adventure gaming industry. Now that I am a bit more established in my position at my new job, I no longer have such a great need for the extra income, and have lost my drive to design more stuff to sell.

So, what I want to do, is offer everything I have designed, and will design from here on out for free. This will allow me to design whatever I want. I can design figures based on published games, movies or TV characters, roleplaying games and more. Having this burden off my shoulders will allow me to do what's FUN! and that's designing super cool amazing miniatures that can be printed and cutout by anyone.

Some of you probably already know I have a huge collection of pewter miniatures, but I completely understand the "sitcker shock" that new gamers, especially young gamers, feel when they walk into a game store. With the average price of a single character mini being somewhere around $5 not including paint and brushes, and with that cost multiplied by at least 20 for tabletop fantasy wargaming or stocking a dungeon, and with the general state of the economy now, this could not have happened at a better time.

There are dozens of free or nearly-free fantasy roleplaying and tabletop wargaming rules available on the internet. I've mentioned several on this blog even. With those kinds of resources, and with free game-aides like One Monk's paper minis, all a kid needs is a pencil, some paper, a computer and printer..and maybe some dice. 

And if you don't have dice, you can download and print some of those too.

Tips for photographing your gaming models

Okay, I know there's a few of you out there who don't use miniatures in your games, and that's perfectly okay. These tips and suggestions can be applied to any sort of closeup or "macro" photography, or even if you just want to upload a few images of some things you want to sell on eBay.

The most common problem to overcome for most beginning photography seems to be getting the light just right. Sometimes the subject of the photo is too dark or the backdrop too bright. Other times the whole picture takes on a yellowy hue no matter what colour backdrop you use or what sort of white-balance setting you set your camera for.

There are three things that almost EVERY experienced photographer can agree on.

• Multiple light sources help prevent distracting shadows
• If natural daylight is unavailable, then "natural daylight" bulbs are the next best thing. Most yellow or red shift is caused by overexposing the subject under tungsten lamps.
  
• Avoid mixing the types of light if possible. This makes white-balancing much easier.
  
• Diffusing the light helps prevent glaring bright spots or reflections on the subject
• Do not use the flash if you can possibly avoid it

If you're not much of a DIY person, there are a good number of home studio lighting kits available online. This one by Digital Concepts is quite popular and affordable, though I'm told that getting replacements for the lamps is difficult to impossible. There's also the XPRO Light Cube and other similar products out there. Unlike the first style I linked to, the cube allows you to light from any direction including underneath. Of course the lamps are sold seperately.

If you're a bit more inclined to making your own, there are some darn good tutorials out there to help you. I've also designed one of my own, which I have posted on my photography blog. (Yeah, I have other hobbies too. LOL)

No matter what sort of camera you use (including a camera phone), there are a few basic things you can do to make better photos.

• Use a tripod or some other sturdy platform rather than "hand-held" if possible
• If your camera has a shutter timer or remote shutter control, use that instead. Shaky hands make blurry photos.
  
• Know your camera. Read the manual and learn its capabilities and limitations.You might be pleasantly surprised.
  

Being aware of your camera's focal range is important. Most cameras have the macro function (the one with the tulip) that lets you get a bit closer, but in most cases, six or eight inches is as close as you will be able to go. Fortunately, most modern cameras have high enough pixel resolution that a photo of a single elf archer from two feet away can be cropped so that the subject fills a typical web 400X300 pixel image.

For taking photos of games in progress, the real challenge is to do so without interrupting the game unnecessarily. This is when you may find you need to use the built-in flash. A simple way to avoid overexposed washed-out or red-eyed subjects in those situations is to diffuse the built-in flash. I've used everything from a folded slip of waxed paper to a potato chip can lid and got decent results.

Again, a tripod always helps. If you don't want to be bothered with using a tabletop tripod, you can use a plain old soda can to steady your camera upon. (Chances are there's an empty soda can sitting around the gametable somewhere.)

BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING to remember is that you are there first and foremost to play games. If your friends tell you to put that darn camera away, listen to them. Pictures are meant to capture a good time, not to spoil it.

Anyway, I hope this post can be of help to somebody. HOPEFULLY I will resume a more directly game-related pattern of posting after ReaperCon. There I'll be playing in several RPGs including one Swords & Wizardry advenure. I'll also be hob-nobbing with a lot of talented painters, fellow RPG enthusiasts, tournament gamers and nice folks in general.

Here's a picture made using my own light box.

orcs of ubiquity (Reaper Legendary Encounter pre-painted minis
And yeah...when I get back from ReaperCon, I'll be posting tons of photos.

A simple dicing box for $2 (US)

My husband was in serious need of paint brushes after a week or so of frantic demon-painting, and so we found ourselves at the local HobbyLobby today. While there, I decided to pick up some things and do a little craft project I've been meaning to do but keep forgetting.

Now I know there are some folks over on the HirstArts web site who have designed some amazing dice-tumbling towers with complicated chutes and funnels all to make your players green with envy...and that's all fine and good if you want to spend a little money and a LOT of time making one..but for the rest of us who just need a place to roll the dice that will keep the dice on the game table without scratching up the surface of said table, here's what I made today.

Start with a simple wooden tray. Hobby Lobby sells them in various sizes and shapes and they cost anywhere from 99 cents to $2.99 depending on size. I chose this cute little oblong octagonal one. The one in the picture above is 8" long measured from outside edges.

Next, get a sheet of FunkyFoam. This stuff comes in all sorts of colours and in my humble opinion is something that no gamer should be without. The greens, browns and blues make for excellent ground scenics on the cheap, and the soft material is kinder to your painted models than traditional flocked felt or sculpted sand tables.

Start by aligning the tray with two edges of the foam. This saves cutting. Then with a pencil trace the outside edges of the box onto the foam.

When your done doing that, set the tray aside and use a scribing tool or something similar to draw a second smaller outline in the middle of the first tracing. I just so happened to have a craft stick that was exactly as wide as the sides of the tray so I used that to trace out the interior shape.

Then, cut out the exterior tracing, being careful to only trim along the drawn lines. Repeat with the interior shape. As you can see in the picture above, the interior shape will become the bottom liner of the box, and the foam between the interior and exterior shapes will become the tabletop-protection padding on the bottom. The bottom liner, if sized right, may not even require glue. The padding underneath can be attached with any white craft glue. Superglue should not be used with FunkyFoam, as it will dissolve it.

End result..you will have a simple and lightweight dicing box that keeps the dice in one place, saves your tabletop from scratches and dings, and can even be a nifty gift to a fellow gamer.

If you want to be fancy, you can always finish out the tray with some fine sandpaper and a stain or varnish and maybe even get a woodburning tool and personalize the tray. You could also substitute felt for foam if you want, though the foam really cuts down on the bouncing and clattering when you roll the dice.

So far, my tray has not proven to help my dice roll any better, but on the bright side, they've not gotten any worse.