Paint Water Do Not Drink

I've had an awful lot of time on my hands as of late and found myself feeling creative. Late at night after everyone has gone to sleep I've been working on various graphic designs and coming up with some hobby solutions in hopes of expanding my Etsy shop and putting together a few products for future model shows.

My first offering is a mug for washing your brushes in which I hope will help to avoid the dreaded confusion many of us have endured. 

On a long enough timeline every hobbyist has the moment that they put the dreaded dirty paint water to their lips. The lucky ones realize their error before it is too late, other's aren't so fortunate. Don't make that mistake, or if you already have, don't make it again with this stylish hazard striped dedicated dirty paint water mug. The warning "PAINT WATER DO NOT DRINK" is emblazoned around the mug in high contrast and 4 different languages, English, Spanish, German, and French.

I have many additional graphics in the works and an accessory or two geared toward the model makers out there.

We All Start Somewhere

My first figurine

We all start somewhere. I've always been artistic. Both my parents are very talented artists with different mediums. Modeling was a hobby passed down to me from my father. He's been modeling since childhood. He builds primarily autos and modern military with exceptional skill. As a child I was often brought along to IPMS club meetings, model shows, and swap-meats. I was given model car and airplane kits as a child and enjoyed building them but never really put that much effort into it. It was something to play with, building the model was a means to an end, enjoyable, but not the focus of my attention.

Then on an outing with my family I came across a little pewter dragon. I thought I'd like to bring this little dragon to life and put some paint on it. Oh did I! That little dragon led to more dragons, and soldiers, orks, daemons, barbarians, so much pewter. On outings to the mall or little boutique stores I'd always be on the lookout for another pewter figurine to spend my allowance on. I loved looking at the sprawling displays of painted tin solders in stores thinking of the endless fun I could have painting them.

There was, unfortunately, one problem... money. Those little pewter figures don't come cheap. I recall the typical figure costing me around $20 a piece. For a tween in the early 90s that was a steep price to pay for anything. As a result many of the figures I purchased during that time were of a fairly low quality. Cheap figures are, well, cheap, lacking in definition and detail.

By the time I reached high school a friend of mine, who was deep into role playing games, and has previously introduced me to Magic The Gathering, gave me a single Space Marine to build and paint. I was hooked. First, the cost per model was far better than the pewter I had been purchasing in gift shops. I could by a whole squad of space marines for what I had been paying for a single figurine.

While accompanying my father to another model show I came across a box full of random 40k models. He got it for me and that box provided countless hours of hobby time. With nothing more than craft paints and dime store brushes I set to work on painting countless Blood Angels as well as many other random models, Tyranids, Imperial Guard, even a few Eldar got in the mix.

There was very little technique to my modeling then. I applied a single thick layer of color to each model as if following a paint by numbers guide. I had a few old White Dwarf and Citadel catalogs to help me along the way but in those days there was no YouTube, no hobby blogs dedicated to teaching painting techniques. But practice makes perfect, or so they say.

So I kept right at it painting everything in that box and occasionally a few more. I received the 2nd Edition box set one year for my birthday and painted that too. I never did learn the game you see. I was just interested in the modeling and lore.

Sometime in the late 90s, when I was in high school, I got my first commission. A kid across the street had heard about my painting from my little brothers and he wanted his Eldar army painted. I accepted the challenge and for a whopping $15 I painted his army. I remember a squad of Windriders, a couple support batteries, a squad of striking scorpions, the OG Wraithlord, Avatar, and Farseer. I put a lot of pride into those models. Even did some wet blending before I knew that was a thing. He was happy, I was happy. That experience definitely encouraged me to keep pushing my skills. 

There was a brief hiatus in college and then I set back to it. By this time ebay was on the scene. I started painting whatever looked cool at the time and turned around and sold them on ebay for a profit. Sure I was making far less than minimum wage, but my hobby was paying for itself. I'd sell each model for at least double retail and that meant for each one I turned out I could buy two more.

My skills definitely developed during this time. Practice right? I painted Daemon Princes, Nightbringers, Confrontation and Warmachine, even got a commission request for Typhus. I tried my hand at different techniques, wet blending, non-metallic metals, conversions, washes. I was making quite a bit of progress. But as life so often does it got in the way and this all to time consuming hobby got put to the back burner. Packed up and boxed away in the closet or garage it was all but forgotten.

To be clear I didn't stop art all together. I've always been an artist, drawing, painting, designing, animating, making in one fashion or another. I even had a comic series published in the local paper when I was 16. I just got burned out on modeling and had to step away for a while. I got heavily into digital art, learning the in's and out's of Illustrator and Photoshop. Made an enormous amount of graphic images and started a DeviantArt page. I started painting on canvas for the first time since high school art class. 

Along the way I learned a valuable lesson. During this same time my father was helping me with some home repairs. While changing out some outlets he inspected my work and noticed that the top and bottom screws in a wall plate did not have the screw heads aligned in the same vertical orientation. He corrected the issue and noted the importance of taking pride in one's work. This would stick with me. How was it that he could produce such detailed lifelike models? His pride in those details was the key.

After a while I felt the need to break out again, to try something different yet familiar. I wanted a hobby that I could interact with. So I decided that it was time to learn how to play 40k. So I broke out my old boxes of miniatures. A lot of them made their way to ebay. And I focused in on an old Catachan boxed army that I had in my possession for at least the last 8 years and I got to painting.

I studied the rules and found a meetup group in which to play. After my first meat up I was surprised to find out that Warhammer 40k was firmly in 6th Edition. Oh well I could learn; and so I did. That became my new motivation to paint. Getting a painted unit on the table was a satisfying feeling and admiring the work of others encouraged me further. I started practicing new techniques, watching tutorials, and reading books. I was painting again. I started this blog as a way to document my journey and share what I'd learned with others. Once again I joined my father in the hobby room and learned from him.

I picked up the Imperial Armour masterclass books and applied the techniques I learned in them to my new models. That practice was invaluable. I ditched my trusty craft paints in favor of Army Painter and Vallejo. In a short period of time I had painted countless models, tried numerous techniques, often screwing them up but not being afraid to try again until I had it mastered. All in an effort to get the best looking army I could out on the table. It was a treat each week to debut a new unit to the group. I took pride in the details. My father bought me an epic model in which to showcase as many skills as I could. A challenge for my first IPMS model contest entry. The Imperial Knight Titan.

I added countless techniques and tools to my modeling tool belt. Airbrush, weathering powders, oil paints, sculpting, scratch building, decal application. I entered that model in the next show and, much to my surprise, walked away with a 3rd place. That build, and it's subsequent success, drove my passion further. 

Looking back at where my skill started and where it is now I can honestly say that practice is important but if it weren't for all the help I had along the way I can't say I'd have progressed nearly this much. The tips and tricks I learned from my father, the techniques I've learned from fellow bloggers and YouTubers, the numerous articles I've read in hobby books and magazines, they've all contributed to the outcome of that practice. 

Malcolm Gladwell covered this in his book Outliers. It isn't just that practice makes perfect. Often sighted as 10000 hours of practice to become an expert. It is, as he noted, deliberate practice that makes perfect. That's what my father was demonstrating when he noted my crooked screw. A deliberate attention to the work at hand. A thoughtfulness in each action, in each detail. Each brush stroke is a deliberate action with a purpose. 

Now please don't interpret this to mean that I think I'm an expert. I know I have areas for improvement. I need much more experience in figure painting, and to that end, it's an area I'm working on. 

In addition to figures, I want to test my skills on different subjects. Automotive, aerospace, military, dioramas, nautical, all of the above in both modern and historical. Regardless of the subject the practice gained in each of those subjects will no doubt lead to new skills, new techniques, new tools in my hobby tool belt. And as I learn from these adventures in modeling I'll continue to share the story here. What I've gotten right, and what I've gotten wrong. Hopefully some of the things I share here will help you on your journey. 

Until next time, happy modeling!

Vallejo Paint Stands

I recently picked up three laser cut paint stands from Vallejo. Two of the corner, and one of the front modules will set you back about $60 from Amazon.com. I didn't quite realize how large the racks would be until I had them assembled and on my desk. Each of the racks connects to the other. Mounting 'hardware' is included.

I was a little disappointing that the larger diameter holes along the top edge are too small to accommodate my large Tamiya bottles. They are the perfect size for P3, Mig, GW, and small Tamiya bottles.

This represents less than half of my Vallejo paints so I plan on purchasing three more of the front module paint stands which I plan on placing under and forward of these. It will require me to build a custom stand but I think once it is all done it will work quite well. I have also decided to change the mounts of my overhead lamps to the sides of my desk so that I can slide the paint stands back flush to the wall.

Imperial Knight Titan

In anticipation of the IPMS Best of the West model show I wanted to do something big so I picked up an Imperial Knight Titan. I figured that it would not only make a great contest entry, I could use it in my Imperial Army when playing 40k.

This model is a great one. It is incredibly detailed although it was lacking one major component, it didn't have a cockpit. I decided to create one from scratch and I detailed my process in an earlier post which can be found here.

I completed the cockpit in its entirety before beginning any of the paint work on the remainder of the model. The endoskeleton came first. I primed it black and dry brushed it in metallics working from dark to light. Brass details were painted accordingly and the exhausts received a heat treatment. Light metallics were added to the pistons, a few additional details were painted and the entire skeleton received a gloss coat, followed by a burnt umber oil wash followed by dullcote. After that I detailed the joints and pistons with some AK Interactive fuel stain to give that greasy look.

The heat effect was achieved by airbrushing progressive layers of Tamiya clear colors in blue, yellow, and red.

I debated for quite a while on the color pattern and house of the knight. I chose a deep yellow and blue with red accents. The yellow was achieved with army painter yellow and red. The blue was a mix of Games Workshop regal blue and white. Both colors were airbrushed over grey primer in progressively lighter coats. I learned that in the future it is best to mix far more of a color than you need. Trying to mix a color again after the fact is hard as hell. I had to strip and repaint a couple of pieces twice as I got the color right.

After all the painting was finished a gloss coat was applied and decals laid down. Micro Set and Micro Sol make a world of difference in the appearance of decals. After the decals I used the sponge technique to apply chipping effects to the painted areas. Another gloss coat was laid down and everything received a wash of burnt umber followed by black wash on the rivets and other details.

I added rings and chains to all the loops.

For the base I chose to make a small drainage culvert along with some battle debri. The corrugated pipe is cable wrap, the wheel is a resin cast of one from my Venator kit, the debri is a piece of a Leman Russ sponson and the Chaos Space Marine is from some bits I had and the Space Wolf Lord kit. To create the ditch I dremeled out the path and added some contours using white glue. I painted the rest of the base with a white glue and sand mixture, drybrushed it all in several tones of browns and greys, and added some various grasses and flocking. I made the guts from the marine out of green stuff. I painted the details and added a blue wash to the marine and debri. Rust weathering powders were then applied and the base was covered in dullcote.

Once all of that was completed three layers of Secret Weapon Miniatures 'Real Water' was added to the drainage ditch. After it had dried I trimmed the base in black and added two pins to post the knight in place.

Tutorial - Using Silly Putty as a Masking Tool

When masking off oddly shaped objects masking tape can be a bit ungainly to manage.  And using masking tape to create smooth curves is nearly impossible. These are great opportunities to use Silly Putty. Not only will it allow you to easily mask of odd shapes and smooth curves, it doesn't leave any kind of sticky residue. I'm not sure if it is available across the pond but it is widely available in the states and is often no more than a dollar.

One of the best uses for Silly Putty is for making organic shapes for camouflage. 

Start by base coating your model in whatever color you want your camo patterns to be in.  Remember that when masking the base color will be covered up in any areas you do not mask off. This is opposite of what you would do if you were painting on the camo pattern. 

Once you have base coated your model apply the Silly Putty to the areas you want to remain the base color. Silly Putty is infinitely forgiving and can be applied, removed, and shaped as many times as you want. Once you have everything exactly where you want it, apply your paint. 

I prefer to remove the Silly Putty while the paint is still tacky. This helps to prevent any paint from peeling, but limits the risk of smearing the paint. When you remove the Silly Putty go ahead and mix it up really well and you can use it again, and again, and again, etc. Eventually, if your Silly Putty ever wears out just toss it in the trash and get some more.

After you've removed the putty you'll have a beautiful camo pattern!

Don't stop with camo patterns, you can use Silly Putty to mask of odd areas when painting, use it to temporarily tack bits in place, as a bouncy ball, to make copies of newspaper articles and then stretch them out in wacky ways. If you have any tips on other ways for modelers to put this great tool to use please leave a comment below.