San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Artist makes it big painting tabletop game miniatures
Painting miniature fantasy figures is kind of a big deal for Lyn Stahl.
For more than a decade, the San Antonio artist has made a career out of transforming inchhigh models made of gray resin into colorful, larger-than-life little warriors from the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer 40,000 and other tabletop gaming franchises.
It’s the kind of artistry Stahl shares through Metalhead Minis, her home business where she does commissions, consignments and online classes for fans and collectors around the globe.
Because if there’s one thing Stahl has learned from painting miniatures, it’s that bringing fanciful characters to life has a knack for making even the darkest days seem brighter.
“It can be very rewarding teaching people and showing people an art form that has saved my life during the course of having times of depression and trauma,” said Stahl, 40, who also works in logistics to supplement her income.
She first found that magic in 1997 in New York City, where she grew up in foster care and opened her own guitar shop when she was just 18.
One stormy day on Staten Island, Stahl was stuck inside the house of her then-boyfriend because the cold, rainy weather played havoc with a respiratory condition. Her beau knew she loved “The Lord of the Rings” and other fantasy works, so he raced to his attic and brought down a box packed with Dungeons & Dragons books and miniature game pieces and paints.
Stahl’s boyfriend thought she’d get a kick out of the fantasy roleplaying game he loved in high school. Instead, she gravitated to the unpainted elves and other palm-sized pieces.
“I just knew then I was hooked because I was painting one after the other,” she said. “And I did it all day long.”
Painting miniatures did more than just take her mind off the gloomy weather. Each brush stroke also seemed to brighten her mood, a welcome feeling for a young woman who wrestled with depression.
“It took away my worries from that,” Stahl said.
Painting miniatures also would soothe her nerves a decade later, when she closed her guitar shop to take care of an ailing relative. And when the Great Recession hit just months later, an unemployed Stahl, who had relocated to Dallas, focused even more on painting miniatures.
With time on her hands, Stahl started hanging out at hobby stores to hone her painting skills and made connections with Reaper Miniatures, which is based in Denton.
“The next thing I know it turned into, ‘How much would it be to paint this for me?’ ” Stahl said. “Faster than I can even catch up with it, it turned into a full-time gig.”
Stahl soon took her painting skills to tabletop gaming conventions such as Gen Con, the largest in North America, and other sites such as the Las Vegas Open and Texicon. She went on to direct minis painting at Gen Con and even co-launched a convention calledWarfaireWeekend, which she runs with business partner Eric Gonsolus.
Today, Stahl has sponsorship from Reaper and more than a dozen miniatures companies, with clients who hire her to paint single characters, large and small armies and sprawling dioramas.
“I have clients in the UK. I have clients in Siberia, Brazil, all over the United States. Australia. Italy, Spain. They come to me,” she said.
Tom Mason, a sculptor who runs Effigy Miniatures in Clarksville, Ind., has known Stahl for several years. He praised her for bringing his latest Goblin Menace creations to life with bold colors he feels reflect her personality.
“She has this real fun sense of style,” Mason said. “And when I did these, I knew these goblins were going to resonate with a lot of people. But I knew they needed to stand out. I’m not surprised that she came out with something so fun and colorful and really makes them pop.”
Every miniature that crosses
Stahl’s brush leaves with vibrant color and hyper detail. Muscles ripple with taut flesh in realistic human and even alien skin tones. Armor glistens in exquisite detail, down to the angled rivets and fiery golden accents. And dragon scales look like they would flex with every fiery breath.
Even the small bases the figures stand on look like they were plucked from the magical forest or war-torn battleground the characters call home in their respective fictional realms.
Stahl takes anywhere from a couple of hours to more than a month to complete a commission, which can start at $30 and get into the thousands of dollars depending on the job’s level of detail and craftsmanship.
Then there’s Stahl’s work teaching others how to paint miniatures.
Those who want to learn all the ins and outs can tune in to her online classes at twitch.tv/metalheadminis and youtube.com/metalheadminis. She also offers private video lessons via Skype and Zoom.
Stahl’s classes cover everything from beginner base-coating and brush care to advanced hair colors and skin tones for human characters as well as zombies and other otherworldly beasties.
As much as Stahl prides herself on her painstaking attention to detail, she doesn’t take herself nearly as seriously.
“You’re painting toys,” she said. “It’s supposed to be fun.”
Painting toys isn’t her only means of self-expression. Stahl also strikes the occasional pose for Modified Models, an alternative modeling agency out of Fort Worth. And she’s a makeup artist who turns heads by turning faces into Day of the Dead sugar skulls and other goth looks.
One thing Stahl does take seriously is family. In addition to two children from an earlier relationship, she also has a niece and two nephews she raised as her own, as well as a foster child with her husband, MattWeid, an accomplished miniatures painter in his own right.
And just like Stahl discovered the joy of painting miniatures while stuck indoors more than 20 years ago, she’s found a deeper appreciation for how it’s helped herself and so many others focus more on their nearest and dearest during the ongoing pandemic.
“It’s a great way to pass the time and for friends and family to spend time together,” she said. “One of the things that helps people with depression is having things to do where you get a sense of accomplishment.”
One small colorful character at a time.