Michael R. Clark

poems

Techniques of Avalanche Survival

When the white thunder stops and you’re finally curled     in your womb of snow, wiggle your toes. If there is no pain, flex your fingers, make a fist, plow a breathing space. This smell—clean, empty— must be the scent of the upper atmosphere, dragged down miles, flake by

News

It's All Coming Together

Welcome to michaelrclark.com, a brand new site that's combining all the various blogs and sites that I've created over the years. You'll find my original poems, nonfiction, reviews, features on monsters, miniature painting, collecting, and links to speeches, presentations, and teaching ideas. Things

Art

Behold!

I took a pause from the MPC project to paint the Wizkids "Classic Beholder," based on the (I dare say) iconic Tom Wham illustration from the 1e Monster Manual. An image that has stuck with me all these years, and despite there being no suggestion of color in

D&D Monsters

First Wave of MPC Minis

I’ve gotten through most of the monsters from the Dungeon Invaders kit. Been kind of avoiding said invaders as they are some of the most awkward looking figures I’ve ever seen. To make up for it I am going to add more monsters—some OG Grenadier minis, including

Art

Crawlin’ Back to You

Here’s my latest project. I've had an MPC AD&D Action Scene kit for, what, 20 years? I bought it on eBay once upon a time and have moved it back and forth among three continents. It came with all the pieces glued, but no paint

Action Figures

Zoids: The Pre-Hysterical Monster Machines, p. 1

So 2025 is bringing about some major downsizing and housecleaning. First to go is a big chunk of my vintage Zoids / Robostrux collection, which I've been amassing since 1984 (gulp). I decided to "keep" my collection as a photo album instead of in several boxes in

Uncategorized

Do I Have A Problem...?

This weekend I decided to inventory my entire Reaper Bones collection. I've been a backer since Kickstarter I and I've just received my modest box from KS VI... I set up all the large and x-large figures on my dining room table. It's kind

Figure Painting

Cadirith, Demonic Spider

Yet another oldie but goodie. Been assembled and primed since I don’t know when. Much prefer her painted.

Figure Painting

Eldritch Demon, aka Starspawn of Cthulhu

This one ended up as a farewell gift for my gaming buddy Paul on his new adventures in Paris. Just a little cyclopean flavour for his desk. Nothing says “can I help you with your tech problems?” like a writhing tentacled thing! Again, another ancient Bones model that took me

Figure Painting

Kyphrixis, the Copper Dragon

This guy was primed white through two intercontinental moves, so I felt like he needed some closure too. Here he is, the adversary of the red dragon in the last post. This is one of my favorite dragon sculpts ever.

Figure Painting

Marthrangul, Red at Last

Another Reaper Bones figure that I’ve been working on for years. This one is finally finished. I love this sculpt so much. He has a very Smaug-like sneer and I had a lot of fun painting him. Next up: his foe, Kyphrixis the Copper Dragon!

Uncategorized

Demonic Doodles

These are some fantastic critters... https://boingboing.net/2022/05/03/fantastical-demon-drawings-from-1565.html

Uncategorized

A Field Guide to Strange Medieval Monsters

Here's a fun short video with a few great, hi-res images of various critters from the Dark Ages. https://www.openculture.com/2022/03/a-field-guide-to-strange-medieval-monsters.html

D&D Monsters

The Blue-Furred Nalfeshnee, At Last

So it's been a long, long, long while at the 'Vistas...we've moved countries, among many other changes, in the last five years. Sorry for the cyclopean absence. Here's my latest effort--made in my new man-cave-type study/office/workspace/closet in Prague.  Maybe

Figure Painting

Why Didn't I Ever Think of This?

Mike's Painted Miniatures. What a great idea. This guy has gone and done something I never even considered...he's primed and pro-painted M.U.S.C.L.Es and they look fantastic! Just a little of his work...click the link to see 'em all.

Action Figures

Loving Little Pink Weirdos

Just paid a visit to Emerald City Comics in Pinellas Park, Florida.  As always, had a great time immersing myself in this year's pop culture moment, and enjoyed browsing through their thousands of action figures, games, and comics.  My haul this year included this retro stuff of which

Uncategorized

Mythic Battles Pantheon: A Tasty Greek Myths Boardgame Now On Kickstarter!

Check this one out, if just for the wicked awesome Greek Myths minis alone...go ahead, take my money. Mythic Battles: Pantheon Kickstarter I made my pledge today.  I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Uncategorized

A Spot of Inspiration...

The Creature Spot Here's a wicked cool monster design blog.  You'll lose hours browsing these cool images!

D&D Monsters

Fantasy Toy Soldiers...who knew?

If you're an aging Gen-X geek with a few hours to kill, head on over to Fantasy Toy Soldiers right now and indulge in one man's obsessive quest to document off-brand (and often wacky) toys along the lines of plastic army men or dinosaurs.  I can&

Uncategorized

Zero Charisma: The Educational Value of D&D

20 Vocabulary Words I Learned by Playing Dungeons & Dragons 1. benign 2. brigand 3. cantrip 4. carrion 5. charisma 6. dais 7. deity 8. dexterity 9. encumbrance 10. entrails 11. ethereal 12. geas 13. gelatinous 14. lycanthrope 15. malevolent 16. ochre 17. offal 18. portcullis 19. status (as opposed

Uncategorized

Here's A Great Primer of D&D Critter Drawings by Innerabove

Inktober D&D Monster A-Z

Comic Books

Hulkin' Out

I used a plastic "Handful of Heroes" Hulk miniature for this mini-diorama. Primed and painted with Reaper paints. A lot of fun--these figs paint up really well. Too bad they got discontinued. I'll post more as I finish them.

Art

Some Cool Monster Sculptures

Some Cool Monster Sculptures By a Danish artist named Tor Fruergaard.  Too bad his tumblr page seems to be shut down.

Art

The Beast In the Maze

I've been researching how to approach teaching about mythological monsters for a few months now, and I have some good ideas about introducing them--Grendel, Polyphemus, and Count Dracula all have a place in my reading list. I'm still working out how to teach the myth of

Art

Grendel-icious

But that shadow slithered below, a jealous adversary, hellborn Grendel, whose every heartbeat sounded wet hate like a bloodsoaked wardrum.  He seethed in bogs unnamed and lorded over by black leeches and rot, having crept from the caves that housed his race, once drowned, flooded, damned by God. Big doin&