Anyone with a passing interest in 15mm Sci Fi miniatures has come across Khurasan Miniatures and more specifically seen the absolutely amazing sculpts by Tom Meier.
I’ve had a go at painting some of these super fine, super detailed character miniatures before with moderate success. See here (Lara Croft lookalike Federal Xenobiologist) and here (bottom 2 images – Teacup Tornado and Villains of the Sepulvedan Control Forces (Jellina and Lily6) ). But these two below – Hero and Resistance Leader – are touted as a couple of the finest examples to be seen. I wish I knew who painted them. I’d pay quite a lot of money for a few lessons!
Absolutely amazing. Yes, and they are 15mm. And we’re not talking oversized 18mm either.
So it is no wonder that my copies sat under-coated for quite some time before I had the gall to try and even come close to the same result.
Well I didn’t. But it was fun. Next Khurasan order will include another set so that I can have another bash. But for your enjoyment, here are my efforts. 
The Hero: I’m ‘okay’ with him. Nowhere near the painted Khurasan example but good for me.
The Resistance Leader: Happy with the clothes but I totally messed up her face. Too much tweaking and layering so that it looks like I’ve caked her in foundation. I’ve a mind to redo the face again and bring her up to a ‘pass’ level.
Now PF is a fine young (I think) sculptor from France whose style hits a chord with me. Through communications with him I think I’m right in saying he would be mortified that I hold his work up alongside the likes of Meier. He is modest, almost to a fault. While painting up the two Meier sculpts I also painted this PF sculpt (from Rebel Minis) at the same time. He, as do most of PF’s sculpts, shares a similar style, proportions and aesthetic as TM’s. They are not quite in the same league but that is where PF is heading if he keeps up the sculpting work (please do!). One I prepared earlier, from the same Superhero pack.
I always struggle with ‘black’ and at 15mm find that too much detail gets lost. I’m pretty happy that I got a decent balance in shading contrast with this guy.
General disclaimer: I apologise once again for my poor photography. I’m taking steps to improve. IMHO all of these guys look better in the flesh as the naked eye isn’t as good as modern hi resolution camera lenses!
I think you did a pretty good job, lets face it, the painter that painted the originals is a top notch artist, its good to aim high and always try and improve, but if we fall short we shouldn’t get to hard on ourselves.
Thanks Dan. I’m not being too hard on myself really. I like the challenge. Imagine my delight when rummaging through my duplicate packs at the weekend and I found I had order two sets of these guys! I get to have another go once I’ve added a couple of new techniques to the repertoire 😉
You’ve done a great job there, don’t beat yourself up over somebody else’s amazingly well painted miniatures. I’d love to know who painted them though.
I bought a few a while back and set myself the challenge of painting the teacup tornado. She’s still unfinished. One professionally painted example even has eyes painted through the mask! The mini is only about 12-13mm tall…
Cheers Ralph. Like I said to Dan, not beating up, just a prod in the right direction to get better at this painintg thing.
If you’ve been looking at the TMP thread
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=385843
VonBlucher kindly dug out the info;
Marike Reimer and Jennifer Haley
Top painters by everyone’s comments.
And Teacup – yes, did her a while back. Teeny tiny. No eyes through the mask on mine though! Sheesh!
Thanks for the info.
I know of Jen Haley’s work, but Marike Reimer is a new one to me.
Look forward to see your next efforts!