Brushes

[kojibear]

Ok, well I would be interested in doing an order together, with you, Tenorikuma and I?

BTW - the other brand of brushes, Rosemary and Co.. are they less hit and miss? Though, I did have a look and the bristles really are a tad too long.

[me_in_japan]

I believe R&Co are more reliable, but I do find them over long for control. Lots of people love em, tho. As for group ordering - gomen - I couldnt contain my excitement at both good prices and cheap shipping, and went and bought 3 W&N brushes for myself already I'll let you know how they are when they arrive, but tbh that site you linked to seems like your best bet for W&N brushes. I certainly havent found better.

[Tenorikuma]

I'll probably be ordering some R&Co. brushes this week. I don't mind going in with someone, but my own credit card has limited credit and other expenses to cover so I'm not sure I could put someone else's order on it.

[kojibear]

gomen - I couldnt contain my excitement at both good prices and cheap shipping, and went and bought 3 W&N brushes for myself already I'll let you know how they are when they arrive, but tbh that site you linked to seems like your best bet for W&N brushes. I certainly havent found better.

No problem

@ TK - That's OK, we can go separate this time

Happy painting to us all guys! Look forward to seeing more great pics in the November thread. MiJ always inspires me...and scares me too at how good he has become!

[me_in_japan]

seriously - best way to get better is to start posting on CMoN*. The response there is mad. I mean, any old bum like me can post a pic and ask for feedback, and golden daemon winners pop up and say "shade the groin more"

Also, if you can stretch to it, video tutorials are super, super helpful. Miniature Mentor is very good, as long as you get a monthly subscription (70dollars, but hang about on their facebook page and suchlike and you'll get half price offers and suchlike, or so im told.) Once you have a sub, spend that month just draining their catalogue onto your HD. its a loooooot of stuff, so be prepared to leave your PC on overnight for a couple of weeks, but once you've got em all, you will have literally days worth of tutorial from the best in the business. Then cancel your sub, cos they dont update that often

The Jeremie Bonamont Teboul tutorial DVD is also ace, but a bugger to find, even to buy. If you know about torrents, its findable, but still tricky. Very, very good though.

That's what I did, and how I got better. I still suck at a lot of stuff though. My blending is rough as a badger's arse unless I take aaaaaaages over it. I cant wet blend for shit, and my NMM is highly dubious. SENMM I've never even tried, altho thats the plan for Joe. I also don't quite get OSL, but at least I've tried it. Oh, and my use of colour blows donkey balls. Once I get the hang of all of these, I'll be better able to produce what's in my head.

*actually, the best way to get better is to paint more, but reading and watching tutorials is a nice way of pretending youre getting better

Incidentally, for those of you who havent tried painting with Kolinsky Sable before, be prepared to go "ooooooh, sheeeeeyut! So that's what painting's supposed to be like!"

[Primarch]

I still suck at a lot of stuff though. My blending is rough as a badger's arse unless I take aaaaaaages over it. I cant wet blend for shit, and my NMM is highly dubious. SENMM I've never even tried, altho thats the plan for Joe. I also don't quite get OSL, but at least I've tried it. Oh, and my use of colour blows donkey balls. Once I get the hang of all of these, I'll be better able to produce what's in my head.

So what does that say about the rest of us eh? But you're right, the more you paint, the better you get. After some 20 or so years I can now stick within the lines most of the time.

I think that there is a great deal of difference between the type of painting you (M_i_J) want to do and the type of painting that most of us do. Getting stuff to look nice on the table and getting stuff to look nice in a Golden Daemon display cabinet are very different things. Heck, I dont even know what SENMM means. Super Expert Non Metalic Metals? None of those techniques is actually necessary to put a painted unit down on the tabletop and will probably prevent you from doing so for quite some time. I'm not saying that folks shouldn't try, just that they should decide 'why' they are painting and then do so in an appropriate manner. Fully wet-blending a horde army with OSL and NMM on every model will take you forever and a day. Likewise, a 3 colour base, dip and varnish wont be winning any awards.

I suck at painting and I dont care.

[me_in_japan]

they should decide 'why' they are painting and then do so in an appropriate manner

wise words, me ol' beansprout, wise words.

I absolutely agree. I found it very difficult to separate "army painting" and "display painting" for a long time. Kept trying to army paint to display level, and getting royally pissed off at it. Right now I'm in a display painty phase (well, technically a "avoid big scary Hound of Scathach and paint something else in a somewhat half-hearted fashion but at least learn something hopefully" phase). I can feel a converty phase coming on (maybe over christmas) and then itll be followed by a "get the bloody dark eldar finished" phase, I suspect.

Basically, remember that we paint for fun. If you want to get a painted army on the table, base/shade/highlight/blingbase is all you need. If you feel like a challenge and want to raise your game, study up. Learn from others' mistakes. Watch/read tutorials. buy art books. Learn what SENMM stands for (Sky-Earth Non-Metal-Metal*. There's some edumacation for ya right there ) and then pick one technique (just ONE) and attempt to emulate it on a simple mini that lends itself to the technique.

*Standard NMM is painting a surface on a mini to look like metal without using any metallic paints. Much as, say, a classical painter would do so on a canvas. Painting reflections and whatnot. SENMM is the same thing but with a horizon line in it. The end result looks like chrome if done correctly.

[Tenorikuma]

Thanks for the video suggestions, MIJ.

Way back when I used to paint LOTR miniatures, I was pretty happy with how they turned out, but they weren't as good as the "army-painted" models I saw some of you guys bring to Joshin this afternoon. However, modelling is something I enjoy a lot and I intend to get my skills up to display quality.

[me_in_japan]

Aha, found this thread again

just wanted to say that my W&N brushes arrived today, and are a joy to behold. Big thanks to Koji for recommending that Ken Bromley site. Top banana