Hi, and welcome to MamaGeekMinis.com, the miniature figure painting website of artist Joy Schoenberger.  Feel free to browse around, look at some of my work, and maybe learn a thing or two about this great hobby.

News

02/06/2010
My latest painted mini is another Reaper figure, Lorelei, Dryad, now in my gallery.  I entered her in the Reaper contest also.  They allow multiple entries, but will only select one qualifying finalist entry from each artist.

01/27/2010
Here's another mini, Reaper's Tristan Loremistress.  I actually finished her before Piotr, but I wasn't going to post her on here at all.  I took some new photos, and changed my mind.  She's not my top-skill work, because I started her well into last year when I wasn't as good of a painter.  She's ok, though, so have a look-see at this new addition to my gallery.

01/23/2010
I've completed Piotr Irongale, and you can see him in my gallery.   

I've entered him into Reaper's Online Winter Painting Contest.  Most winners usually follow some kind of theme, and this one doesn't, so he'll have to compete solely on the merits of the paint job.  I also posted him on CoolMiniOrNot.com.  I don't put all of my figures there, but I've posted a few to see how I might be rated by the mini-painting community.  The best I've ever gotten there is 7.4 out of 10 for my Red Lizardman.  Here are all of my CMON entries.

In other news, images of several of my painted Reaper figures have been accepted into Reaper's new Inspiration Gallery.  You can see all of them by selecting my name, Joy Schoenberger, from the drop-down list of painters on the right-hand side of the page.

01/18/10
If you like, you can follow my progress on my current work, Reaper's Piotr Irongale, on my WIP page.

01/03/09
I'm starting a personal project: a Saint series, starting with Reaper's Lady Jehanne, painted as Saint Joan of Arc, now added to my gallery.

"This piece let me practice a few areas that I need work on: metallics, detailing, scenic basing. I'm not totally pleased with the way any of those three worked out, but practice makes perfect. I used this CMON tutorial for the metallics. I trimmed the long ponytail off the figure, since St. Joan had short hair, but I didn't feel confident enough to give her more of a haircut than she has here.

All the lettering on the base is in French, St. Joan's native language. The inscription "De par le Roy du Ciel" means "By command of the King of Heaven," and was embroidered on the ribbon the dove is holding on her standard. I couldn't fit it on something that small, so I painted it on the base.

I used some historic license with the shield, which I filed flat so I could paint it that way. Although what you see is the actual Coat of Arms granted to St. Joan by the King of France, she never actually bore it during her lifetime.

12/05/09
It's snowing today, and the kids are off with their grandparents, so I took some time to revamp my gallery, giving it a more consistent look, spiffying up the mouseovers, and simplifying some of the code to make it easier for me to maintain and add new images later.

12/01/09
I've finally settled on a web design that I really like.  I put a lot of time and thought into it, and tried not to immitate any other site out there, but come up with something truly original.  I used some web design best practices for layout and navigation, and I hope the result is something you can all enjoy.

Secondly, while doing all that image work, I finally got around to putting the Imperial Enchantress into my gallery.

11/17/09
I've completed the Imperial Enchantress mini.  I posted final shots of her on the WIP page, but I haven't added her to my gallery yet.  In the meantime, take a sneak peak at the finished mini!  Next I'll be painting Reaper's Jehanne the Maid as St. Joan of Arc.  Painting her historical banner will be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to it!

11/14/09
I keep changing up my website design, but I think I'm getting closer to a final look that I feel comfortable with.  I did manage to find time to do some work on the base of my Imperial Enchantress, though.

11/09/2009
Big news today!  Two of my minis have been featured on the manufacturer's website!  Dark Sword Miniatures has added images of my Pirate Lass and my Classic Ranger to their online gallery! Thanks, Dark Sword!  I've also posted new photos of work on my Imperial Enchantress.  She's getting close to finished now.

11/04/2009
My Imperial Enchantress is coming along!

10/28/2009
I've made further progress on the Imperial Enchantress.

10/24/09
I've been very sick with a terrible sinus infection, so I've been trying to rest at home.  That has given me time work some more on the Imperial Enchantress, and to redesign this site.

10/20/09
I'm now working on Werner Klocke's Imperial Enchantress, from Freebooter Miniatures.   As you can see from the picture, she came in several pieces.  I'm not going to use the base that came with her.  I bought a set of Micro Art Studio bases called Dark Temple, and I'll be using one of those for this figure.  I'm also not including the monkey.  I have to say I was very impressed with the quality of Freebooter's casting.  There was hardly any sprue, and the few moldlines were faint and mostly hidden.  The casting was clean and smooth, and did not require too much work to prepare her for priming.

10/12/09

I finished my Pirate Lass, see her in the Gallery

09/19/09
A new addition has joined my Gallery, a classic ranger.

08/31/09
Mutants are done.  Check them out in my gallery.

08/16/09
  Finished my Holy Family Nativity Set, now featured in my gallery, made some progress on my Mutants, although one of them lost an arm.

08/11/09
Started a WIP of my current project, a set of three mutants from Fenryl Miniatures, fixed the email form on the contact page

08/08/09
I've moved to my own domain: MamaGeekMinis.com! I've also added a Guestbook on my Contact page.

07/16/09
  Troll Beach Vignette added to gallery

06/28/09
Added Works in Progress

06/09/09
  Added a new Red Lizardman to my gallery!

06/02/09
Added a tutorial on photographing miniature figures with a digital SLR and Photoshop post-processing

06/02/09
Added a photo to the Hobby page, showing my workspace setup

06/02/09
Redesigned the top navigation to use the paint palette