Starting Them Young - Emma's First Painting Lesson

Some of you may remember when I took my daughter to our FLGS to buy some supplies for her first miniature. Here's the highlights of our first time together!




If you have kids who have expressed interest in your painting hobby I can't recommend this bonding moment enough. She had a blast getting to be like Daddy, and I got to see her do something I honestly didn't think she was ready for. The full video only clocked in at about 26 minutes, and she was ready for more by the end of it! Keep an eye on my Facebook photos - when I get my painting/photo area rearranged I'll be posting her fully painted and based miniature.

See you tomorrow!

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"This is why we can't have nice things!"

Like all painters I started with a basic set of synthetic paintbrushes. They got ratty, and the hairs split and fell out, and they just didn't do the job I wanted them to do. And like most painters, I finally caved in and bought a $15 paintbrush made of natural sable hair. The thing is amazing - it holds paint in the brush rather than creating a weird globe of paint in and around the brush, and smoothly releases the paint. I put that thing to work as soon as I got it, and it was definitely worth the money I paid.

However, one day I was cleaning the brush with some Masters Brush Cleaner (if you don't have it, get it), and I noticed that a hair had come loose from my brush. I was horrified, because that's what happened to my GW brushes right before they took a nosedive and became nearly unusable. I carefully finished cleaning the brush and put it away. That was a couple months ago, and I still haven't had the courage to use it again.

It sounds silly, right? I bought a high-end brush that I'm now afraid to use. If I didn't have an airbrush it may have been used once or twice on a big surface, but I've still been trying to make my cheaper brushes work simply because it's not as heartbreaking when they start to die. My Winsor Newton is clearly the better choice unless I'm doing a job where the brush is just too big, but when I go to pick it up I think to myself well, I could just be a little more careful with a synthetic one and try to make it work.

I've been using my GW detail brush almost exclusively, and I really really want to get a Winsor Newton brush of the same size. I've been lucky that this one has been lasting me so long, but I know that if I were to get a size 1 or 0 I'd probably never touch another brush. Still, I think of that hair falling out and how more could come loose if I use the brush again, and I continue using my less-amazing synthetic brush.

What amazes me is that people talk about having their brushes for years without issue. Maybe I wasn't delicate enough, which wouldn't surprise me, but I was babying that thing. I guess a hair or two coming loose shouldn't be the end of the world, since a few hairs may not be properly glued.

It's like my conundrum with buying a single expensive model over several smaller ones. If I buy 3 brushes that do a B+ job, I can afford to lose them over time because the purchases seem smaller. But if I roll all that money in to a single purchase that does A+ work, and I somehow mess up the brush, I will probably snap the brush in frustration.

But I'm getting a colossal, and I feel really good about it. I won't use my huge model all the time, just like I probably wouldn't use a natural detail brush all the time. But when I do use the brush, I know I'll be happy. It's just getting over that fear of breaking it, and I just can't get over that hurdle.



So for those of you with an expensive brush (or any tool, really), how do you get over the fear of ruining a single item that costs three times what you'd pay for a junkier version? The results probably aren't three times better, so why put all your eggs in one basket? If you've used a natural brush before, have your results been worth that extra price? Let me know!

See you tomorrow!

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Why Do Painted Models Matter?

Telling people I'm a commission painter is always interesting. When I finally manage to explain to them what I paint, I usually get one of two reactions.

• "Ah... neat."
• "Wait... people will pay to have that stuff painted?"

With the second, my usual response is "Yeah, people like their stuff to look good," and they shrug and find it crazy that people would spend money on it. It's something that can only really be understood by people who are a part of this gaming culture. Still, it does raise a good point. Why do we like to have our models painted?

The first few times I play a painted model, I'm always watching it on the battlefield. I take time to appreciate all the detail, shadows, basing, etc. But after those first few times, especially with infantry, I usually stop noticing. I know the model is there, but the hours I put in to painting it are forgotten. The hour I spent painting Harkevich's eyes, a detail which seemed so important, seems like a waste because I can't even see them with his back to me.

But for some reason I can't be satisfied with an unpainted model. It's not just that I enjoy them being painted, it's that I feel dirty for playing something that isn't finished. I don't prefer to play with painted models, it's like I'm compelled to do it. And truth be told, I have no idea why.

I don't think it's because I want to be praised for it. I don't mind people appreciating my work, but if you knew how behind I was on posting pictures to my Facebook page you'd know that showing off my stuff isn't high on my priority list. Truth be told, I get more satisfaction out of someone being happy with their commission than I am with my own models being praised.

Many people enjoy the immersion of painted models, but I don't think that's for me either. I like to paint with a sense of realism, but when I'm playing a game I'm not paying attention to the aesthetics of the board because I'm lost in planning and strategy. I do enjoy the look of my army sitting lined up, but once those first dice start rolling I don't actively notice the paint job of my models.

I'll admit that I love watching a game with 2 painted armies fighting in some nice looking terrain. So maybe I'm following the golden rule... if I want to watch painted armies, I should bring a painted army to be watched. It's a theory, but I doubt that's it either.

Getting right down to it, I think I want them painted because of what each painted model represents. Some models are the victims of new techniques, some handled with the utmost casre, while others were done in a hurry because I was tired or hated the model (looking at you, Feral Warpwolf). I even get excited to see guys in my group play models I've painted because I have some memory of painting each one.

I've said it before, but painting is what centers me. It lets me relax and focus on something I'm passionate about. I think that's why I don't want to play unpainted models - it's because they mean absolutely nothing to me. And unless it was painted for me by a friend, I wouldn't play someone else painted models because, again, I have no connection to it.

Playing painted models is an extension of my painting process. I paint them and then I play them. I may never play them again, but playing that first game is my last step in painting a model.

And now I'm genuinely curious about the rest of you. If you enjoy having painted models, tell me why! Is it immersion? Do you just like the look of a painted army? Something else entirely? Comment down below!

See you tomorrow!

If you're new around here, be sure to like my page on Facebook. I post daily blog content and hold monthly giveaways!

Painting Tip - Washing Flesh

First, let me welcome all the new guys from the Wargamers Consortium group. If you are curious why I am posting every day, here's my first post of the year.

I love washes, but lately I've found that my painting abilities have matured passed the need to use them for their more basic effects. However, Privateer Press recently introduced me to a more advanced and effective way of using them.

When I was doing a recent Cygnar commission, I decided to see if/how they recommended doing flesh. As I read through their steps, my eyebrows rose in doubt. They suggested basecoating with the flesh, then doing a wash of flesh mixed with red, followed by a flesh mixed with green. My knowledge in color theory is rudimentary, but I couldn't fathom how that could end up not looking like vomit.

I bow to the knowledge of greater painters, because the resulting shading was fantastic. For cloth and armor that's not as big of a deal, but something translucent like skin needs more than just a darkening of the same color. The red and green aren't immediately apparent, but the mixing of the transparent colors on top of the skin tone is very convincing.

Today I started painting some Cryx Thralls using the Cryx faction book and decided to show you what I mean. I started off by airbrushing everyone with Thrall Flesh.

It's convincing for undead flesh, but two layers of washes will work miracles. The first wash was a drop of Beaten Purple and a drop of Matte Medium. I thinned this heavily with water; I lost count on the exact numbers, but it was around 15-20 by the time I was finally happy with it. I then put a light layer on everything, allowing the purple to just tint the skin and pushing any pigment buildups in to the deeper areas.

Finally, I made a 1:1:10 wash of Battledress Green: Matte Medium: Water and did the same thing on top of the purple. The end result made the flesh return to a more natural looking color (for as natural as undead flesh gets), removing the solid color from step 1 and replacing it with some color variations you barely notice, but do a lot to improve the overall color. In addition, the more obvious purple in the shadows provide a more convincing feeling of "yuck" than if I had just used a darkened Thrall Flesh.

I still have a long way to go before I understand why seemingly unrelated colors work so well together, but in the mean time I'll be content to love the results. So if you've been stuck in a rut regarding washes, try this out on flesh. Just make sure you get them very well thinned, otherwise you risk dyeing the model and removing the primary flesh color.

See you tomorrow! And if you haven't yet, make sure you click here to enter my giveaway for a set of Warmachine/Hordes faction dice!