Dreams of a Painter

Everyone loves lists! As I've been jotting down ideas, I've also noted things I'd like to accomplish that don't exactly fit in to a blog post. Random ideas have started turning themselves into lists, and I'd like to share some of them with you.



As a painter, I've spent a lot of time dreaming of where I'd like my skills to go. I never set goals for myself per se, but once I had a notebook in front of me they just started writing themselves. So here's my running list of goals (so far!):

Paint an entire army
Now technically, I achieved this one when I finished my first batch of Khador. But since then, I've added to the army and I hate fielding something that's not painted. Granted this is a bit at odds with yesterday's post, but I'm so close to having everything painted that I really want it to be done.

Of course when I finish painting the army, I imagine I'll grow restless and buy a new piece for it. At least I'll help keep food on Privateer Press's table!

Be featured in a gallery or magazine
This one is true of any artist. We love what we do, but it's hard to turn down acknowledgment for our skills. This isn't necessarily a pride thing - being featured for your skills is a great way to know where you stand in the art.

With so many miniatures painting websites out there, it's not too hard to imagine the possibility of accomplishing the goal this year. Especially if I can...

Win an online painting contest
There are so many of these things out there that I've been too cowardly to enter. They're often hosted by a miniatures company, so my excuse is always that I don't want to buy any more models, or I don't like the sculpts, etc. But as a painter who's still growing and learning, contests are an intimidating thing.

One of my favorite places to relax and munch on some eye candy is WAMP. This is a place that's by painters, for painters. You can find great pieces of art on places like DakkaDakka, but I've always felt like WAMP was a place to really see the greats. One of the best things about them is that they are always running contests. I've been waiting for Wyrd to run something so I can finally find an excuse to buy their stuff. However, I think it's about time I cowboyed up and started entering every contest I can.

And with an audience who will get to enjoy a giveaway if I win, I know you guys will be nothing but encouraging!

Get involved in a charity event
This one hit me today. I was going through my paints to see what I'd need to buy for an upcoming project, and I ran across this cute little thing.

I received this in a larger lot, and my wife still pokes fun at me about painting a pink army. But why not? Surely there's a charity painting event somewhere out there. A quick Google search didn't turn up much, but I know I've seen someone's "charity army" painted up in pink before.

I think it'd be neat to take a game like Warhammer or Warmachine and paint one model from each army. I'm picturing a diorama of some kind, but who knows. I'm a sucker for charity events that have something fun attached to them, so I'm really hoping I can get involved in something like this.

Discover a new painting technique
Zenithal seems to be the hot technique that people are excited about. When you prime your model, you spray grey and white at higher angles to simulate how light would hit your model. From there you just do a thin basecoat so that your highlighting shows through and has a more natural look. Seems obvious, right?

As I understand it, the technique is relatively new to the wargaming community, having been passed down to us from the military modelers like a divine proclamation. In hind sight, it seems like something that should have been obvious - working smarter rather than harder is a driving force for many discoveries.

Or what about Lester Bursley? He showed us a way to make our own washes at a fraction of the price that Games Workshop charges. True that this discovery probably came after hundreds of dollars in trial and error. But if you ask anyone how to make washes, there's a high probability that you'll be given this link.

Like the zenithal lighting technique, I would love to discover something that should have been obvious to everyone. Obviously this is a far-flung hope, but at least it will keep me innovative!


So there it is, five goals that I'd like to accomplish. Can I do 4 of the 5 this year? I'd like to think so. Although it would be the least time-intensive, winning a contest is actually the most intimidating goal. Working hard and giving my work to someone else to be evaluated is tough - especially going up against people who have 20+ years of painting experience on me.

But hey, it's situations like this that call for playing underdog music at full volume!

At this point, I'm sure you've thought of some painting goals of your own. Don't leave me standing here alone - share them below!

See you tomorrow!