Happy Holidays, friends. Unless you're reading this well past December.
In the name of procrastinating on gift-wrapping and travel prep, I wrote up this blog entry that I actually wanted to write way earlier this year, but the Christmas spirit passed, and made way for an extremely hectic Spring and Summer.
If you’ve ever heard me yammer on about my original characters, one thing you might notice is that a lot of them began life as video game characters – With most of the rest coming from tabletop games
Honestly I think systems like these, role-playing games with predetermined stories and predesigned “types of guy” are a neat way to feel out a character concept, even if you don’t want them to forever be a part of other writers’ stories and settings.
And I’m definitely not alone in my love for this type of OC.
It’s all very accessible, in a really cozy way. If you can’t draw or write, if you’re unconfident and easily discouraged from trying, it’s nice to have a sort of visual representation of the person you’re inhabiting while you play. An embodiment of the choices you make, the relationships you pursue, the skills you invest in.
Even if you are an artist, video game visuals can be a wonderful point of reference. The way I use video game screenshots is pretty close to how I use Pinterest and other moodboards.
The Green Knight
When I played Baldur’s Gate 3, I became very attached to the character I played.
Gahault the Green is a middle-aged Dragonborn, a Paladin of the Oath of the Ancients, and my take on a customized Dark Urge character.
I distinctly remember that I installed the game on a Friday, because I remember being unable to stay up gaming. I had a social obligation the next morning.
So before bed I set things up so that I could spend the better part of Saturday totally immersed. I designed Gahault in the character creator, screenshotted his settings, and as a little RP guide, I jotted the core tenets of his Paladin Oath on sticky notes above my desk.
In fact, they’re still up even today! It never felt right to take them down.
I would never try to claim I’m not a total dork.
Anyway. The Dark Urge really caught my eye even before the internet blew up with furry fanart. I loved that there was a built-in dragonborn character, and his introductory monologue really got some gears turning in my head.
It is a little odd to play The Dark Urge on your first playthrough, but I knew what I wanted! And what I wanted was to set out on this dark, edgy version of the bg3 campaign, with an eye for healing and redemption. I wanted to give this scared, sad man a happy ending.
Gahault’s name was inspired by the Arthurian character of Galehaut. I wanted a knightly feel, and it helped that Galehaut was 1. A big ole half-giant, very fitting for a man who looks to be well over 6 feet tall, and 2. the sort of character that gay nerds like to interpret as gay.
Despite his green scales and green title, Gahault is a silver dragonborn by blood, with icy breath and sad, silver eyes. His design was inspired by the imagery of frost-tipped pines, greenery turning gray in the morning fog. A knight and a dragon. A babe in the woods and a weapon weathered with time. Maybe in a time long past, his scales shone a little brighter.
And he’s big and brave and handsome if you're into washed-up dragonborn.
So of course he's handsome to me.
So in August of 2023 I had Gahault set out on his journey, and by Christmas of that same year I had finished his playthrough with plenty time to play the whole thing over again with a different OC. Being able to compare the two epilogues, Gahault made it to the end of the story a much happier man, which was hardly surprising. I fought so hard to see that lizard smile!
Gahault became a treasured furry OC with record speed. I was so pleased with his design, so fascinated by his tragic history...
It's pretty common to play the Dark Urge campaign as an excuse to play an evil character, but I fell in love with the "Redemption Durge" playstyle, and I'm glad that's the first thing I did going into the game blind.
And yeah, the love interest I chose was Gale of Waterdeep, the Wizard companion.
I'm not immune to the visual of a big gay knight protecting a smaller, weaker man. Bonus points for being a furry/human couple, which I'm always a sucker for. I got a kick out of their love story, still do. Gale is handsome in an Obi Wan Kenobi way, and his Good End is so fluffy and sweet.
Now to get to the point...
Now, as much as I love to talk aimlessly about my OCs, that isn’t the only reason I wrote this blog entry. It’s actually not even the main one.
All that was just a lengthy and self-indulgent preamble to sharing an art project that came together late December 2023 to January 2024: My own little 3D-printed, hand-painted Gahault figure!
I can’t exactly call it a mini, even though we (That being me and my lovely partner who made the printing possible!) were working with a Hero Forge model.
If you don’t know, Hero Forge is a website that offers all sorts of premade assets and poses to create a custom miniature, a prop used in games like Dungeons and Dragons. At the end of the process there are several options to purchase your creation, including a 3D printing file.
I wasn’t looking to make a functional mini to march along a D&D dungeon map. I wanted a cute little plastic statue. One that was small enough to print over the course of an evening, and big enough that it had a shot at looking good.
Due to the way filament printers work, the end result tends to have "scan lines". I think its a neat texture, but it can swallow up details. Also I have thick fingers and clumsy hands; tabletop minis are way too small for me to paint.
Nothing but awe and respect for people who can work at such a small scale.
Luckily, painting minis is a super popular hobby among tabletop gamers. It is incredibly easy to find a solid tutorial. I’ll share the one I followed, in case you’re interested.
From here I’m going to just go down memory lane, sharing the process step-by-step as I (and my phone’s camera gallery) remember it.
Prepare ye the way
First, of course, I needed a 3D model to print, and we had to make sure the printing process was set up properly.
My partner ran a test print of an actual mini-sized mini, which helped us decide how big to make Gahault. I think we settled on 225% or 250% scale. That made him approximately palm-sized.
Although this blog entry isn’t a 3D printing tutorial, here’s a bit of advice: If you get the chance to play with a 3D printer, definitely print a sample or two to feel things out. Ideally before you purchase your 3D file.
There he is, our guardian of the tissue box.
This guy turned our pretty good for such a small print, but you can definitely see issues if you know what to look for. See the wilting shield? The scratchy sword?
Filament printers go in layer-by-layer. To make things that stand upright and have limbs and props sticking out, it needs to lay out supports as it goes, and in the end you have to trim away those supports by hand. They're built to be easy to snap off, but still, if you're not careful you can end up with something that looks like a kitten chewed it.
I should say here, there was a lot of work going into this part of the process that I don't personally know how how to describe. Technical stuff, calibrating the printer, fussing with software, all this was handled by my partner. They're way more tech-savvy, and their involvement is another of those things where I'm just a lucky duck.
Committing to a model
I don’t have the original Hero Forge screenshots on-hand, so here he is in Windows 11’s 3D Viewer.
The outfit is based on one he had in the game. Considering I had to pull from a finite library assets, I was pretty pleased with the ensemble over all! He looks more Bard than Paladin, which is actually perfect, as it gives the feeling of a guy who has finally put the violent life of a knight behind him.
Not giving him a Paladin weapon was a good call for practical reasons, too. The weapon he used most often was a morning star, which might’ve been a tricky thing to print and clean up.
Oh, and look, see those little birds at his feet?
Those are a reference to Bahamut, the god of metallic dragons, good dragons, dragon paladins and so on in D&D lore. He has an entourage of 7 golden dragons, disguised as little birds. When I found out about this lore I thought it was adorable, and so at this stage I had the idea to include a golden harp and matching golden birdies.
The printing process
Watching this print take shape is how we spent New Years Eve. I believe it wasn't yet nightfall when it started, and that it ended some time past midnight. That's something to be prepared for - 3D printing involves a whole lot of waiting
See those weird round shapes around the base? Those are the supports.
And here's what they look like on a finished print.
Freaky, right?
Enjoy the taste of freedom, little man.
I was really impressed by how clean some of these details are. Scaling up was a great call.
It's right at this stage that I was able to determine which bits needed fixing. Imperfect edges here and there, natural results of the printing process. See the rim of the base here?
Filing the rim an other rough edges also gave me a chance to file down his little beak tip. This dragon face was my best option in Hero Forge, but Gahault doesn't really have a beak.
That's better.
Prepping for paint
Next it was time to spray on a coat of black. Here I am admiring my handiwork seconds before disaster...
I don't have pictures immediately following said disaster, but here's the gist of it: I dropped him on the ground, and his feet broke off at the ankles.
At least it was a clean break. So clean in fact, and so well-placed, that when I used model glue to put him back together, the seams left behind were almost kind of an improvement.
See? It's like his pants go further down his leg, all nice and fitted to the ankle.
There was some... gloopiness because of a slight excess of glue running down his feet, but eh. It didn't hugely impact the shape of the end product.
With that minor crisis dealt with, I gave him a little spray with white base, because the tutorial said so.
It wasn't suggested for no reason. It gives a sense of lighting and texture, which is informative as you move into the painting stage.
It isn't Gahault 'til it's Green
This is the point where I truly locked in. For the rest of my trip up to my partner's family's place, I would go to the little dining room area where my unfinished figure stood, and bring him to life bit by bit.
On the same shopping trip where we grabbed black and white spraycans for the base coat, we stopped at a game shop to get model paints.
Could I have saved money buying paint at some other art supply store? Yes. Why break the bank at a game store? Um... Shut up.
I was supporting the community or whatever.
The paints I had to work with were blue, white, brown, gold, a couple greens, an an ochre yellow that we found at home. With just a bit of paint mixing, I had everything I needed to realize the vision in my head.
All I had to do was sit down with a cup of coffee, a podcast/video to listen to, and crack open an assortment of narrow little paintbrushes.
(I promise I covered the wood table whenever I actually had paint out.)
At last, after this long process, I gave him a once-over with one of those thick, gooey tinted gloss coats that people always put on their minis...
And I absolutely hated it. He looked so grimy, and the gloss made every flaw stick out like a sore thumb.
Ugh!
I was out of time to work on it at my little painting station at that house, but it wasn't the end of the world. When I flew home, I eventually resumed painting, covering up the gloss coat with a new coat of paint.
In this case, I didn't feel the need to strip the paint and start over. More layers meant a smoother appearance, and I still didn't add so much that the scan lines would disappear. I personally think he was left with juuust enough texture in the end.
This was also a good opportunity to touch up certain details,
When I finished once more, I carefully brushed on a nice clear semi-gloss.
And just like that, my work was done.
Is he the most impressive and refined painted figure ever? Well, no.
If I wanted to create something impressive, I would stick with the art forms I have more experience in.
People don't get into painting figures because its an impressive thing to do; it often isn't in the eyes of those outside the hobby. It's done because it sparks joy. It's a super fun creative outlet, and a fantastic excuse to work with your hands. I for one hadn't done anything with real physical paint in ages.
Personally, I'm super happy the result. There's a pleasant simplicity to it, and if you know of the character, you can totally tell who it's supposed to be.
I still keep Smallhault by my bed-side to this day. I think he's so adorable, just this lovely little reminder of a character I love and the time I spent bringing him to life.