Beginnings

I have always been a nerdy kid. With a mother who collected golden and silver age Superman comics and a father who loved Science Fiction how could I not be one? I played D&D at age 10, saw movies like The Dark Crystal and The NeverEnding Story, and fell in love with Fantasy. In college, I went to my first Gaming Convention where I entered a speed painting contest where the winner who painted the best mini in the fastest time would win….dun dun dun - another mini!

Professional

Thus began my entry into the miniature painting hobby. Later in life, I backed the Reaper Bones Kickstarter. I decided to try to earn back the money I had invested in the crowd-funding campaign by painting up some of the models and selling them. They sold very fast and that encouraged me to paint more. The first time I sold a single 28mm Pathfinder Cleric for $115 to a guy in Tasmania was when I realized I might have what it took to do this full time.

Something More

As I worked in the miniature industry I noticed how few games and miniatures were being marketed to women. I decided to use my voice in the community to try to elevate gamer girls and women as potential markets for miniature producers. The sculptors and miniature companies I talked to were definitely interested in capturing this demographic (and our money) yet there seemed to be a disconnect in what they thought we wanted and what we actually wanted. Everyone looks at the world through their own perspective and many of the men running these companies and creating this art did not have a woman’s perspective. At some point, I realized that telling people what we wanted wasn’t enough. We needed to show them.

Shoshie Bauer is an internationally acclaimed award-winning miniature painter and teacher. She received her BA in 2-D Studio Art and was a professional Fine Art Watercolorist for 7 years before she began painting Miniatures professionally in 2013. Shoshie has taught painting to a global audience and gained a large social media following.