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ive been on a painting week since i did my ankle in climbing and am unable to even do the most simple jobs at work.

this time painting has given me a bit of experiance and some good tips id like to share.

firstly : Look After Your Brushes.
they say a bad workmen blames thier tools but painting with bad brushes will not give you the best quality work.
wash your brushes every colour change, and before the colour drys on the brush. also dont dip your brushes into the paint so it gets under the metal section of the brush, it will set here and cause the bristles to fan out..
and stand them up so you dont flatten the points a cup or mug will work

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/14-Pcs-Acrylic-Nail-Art-paint-Brushes-Set-Brush-holder_W0QQitemZ250517058424QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Health_Beauty_Nails_Manicure_Pedicure_CA?hash=item3a53faf378

tip here good brushes dont cost a bomb... shop around, i found a 12 pack of fine detail brushes for 3£ in a local craft shop.

secondly: mix your own paints.
the range of paints and lots of painting guide point towards making your own paints. this is beacuse the paints made are big jumps in hues so as a result to get natural blends you have to make the inbetween colours. the main issue i had was i mixed on a palette so once the colour had gone i had to mix more but it was never the same mix.
so once you mix a colour you like mass produce it, GW do empty pot you can use. however i perfer the dropper bottles they allow for more control.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/15ml-BOTTLES-TWIST-TOP-RESEABLE-DROPPER-NOZZLE-X-30_W0QQitemZ350290095196QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Collectables_Bottle_Pots_ET?hash=item518eeaac5c

the transfer of paint maybe tricky but worth it.

thirdly: thin the paint.
a glop of paint painted will cover the detail no matter how much you shade and highlight it. so thin you paint on a palette. it doesnt need to be the 20£ thinner from private press, saliva and water work, just not as well.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Acrylic-Paint-model-craft-kit-paint-spraying-thinner_W0QQitemZ360116533938QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_ToysGames_ModelKits_ModelKits_JN?hash=item53d89e3ab2

forthly: learn the stages of painting.
in every white dwarf for as long as i can recall there are articals on how to paint. read these practice on the spare plastic sprue you get with every plastic miniture. i use the 5 main stages, undercoat -- with a good quality spray, foundation -- to start the colour of the model off, ink/wash -- this will darken the recesses and pick out detail, base colour - the colour you want the model to be and finally highlight --- something light.
in the foundation starter pack is a layering chart i cant do with out shows a number of great combinations.



finnaly: learn the techiques.
i mentioned the white dwarf articals, the web also boost and untold number of videos and pages on how to master painting. all inculde techiques such as dry brushing, highlighting, blending, nmm and airbrushing. id learn them in that order and always start slow.

http://www.youtube.com/group/WarGamerCommunity



thanks for reading hope it helped and include and comments on your own personal expericane

My brushes soak paint all the way to the ferule. Happens every time. I dip them in, start painting....and it's up to the ferule after a very short while. I don't dip them in very much at all, it just flows upwards into it. My brushes inevitably splay out and get all ratty, and it seems like I can't avoid it.

Keep your brush pointed down when you paint?

Paint always seems to creep up into the ferrule of brushes. There seems to be an unavoidable degree of capillary action that brings in paint and regular rinsing won't get it out. That's why I use Masters brush soap every now and again to give them a good cleaning (http://www.dickblick.com/products/masters-brush-cleaner-and-preserver/?wmcp=google&wmcid=products&wmckw=05702-1004-530). Removes pigment hiding in the bristles and softens up the gunk that likes to hang around the ferrule enough that whatever doesn't flake off on its own can be carefully picked out with a fingernail. I managed to salvage one of my girlfriend's brushes that spent over a year caked solidly in a triple-thick layer of fabric paint. For my modeling brushes, it does wonders for preserving (or reviving) the point and helps combat bristle splay.

I'm curious about something: Most of the people I know prefer really hard brushes to paint their minis.

After accidently destroying one of the Citadel begginer brushes, I used one I had from art classes at school. It's really soft but I find its easier to just drag along things like belts and such.

What are your opinions, is this a bad habit and I should get back to using one of those hard ones?


Another thing: DO NOT BUY CRAPPY PAINTBRUSHES. Sure 1€ sounds cheap for 6 brushes, but you won't be able to use them for anything at all. That's one mistake I won't be doing thrice.

On a related note, are these cheap bristle brushes good for anything? Should I just throw them out?

Crushy wrote:
Another thing: DO NOT BUY CRAPPY PAINTBRUSHES. Sure 1€ sounds cheap for 6 brushes, but you won't be able to use them for anything at all. That's one mistake I won't be doing thrice.

On a related note, are these cheap bristle brushes good for anything? Should I just throw them out?

I regularly buy 12-packs of brushes for $1.50 from Michael's. They're the worst brushes you've ever seen, but when you need to apply glue carefully or mix some paint they're awesome. And when their bristles get stuck together from glue or dried paint, who cares? Just throw them out! They're worth every 12 and a half cents each.

Spellbound wrote:My brushes soak paint all the way to the ferule. Happens every time. I dip them in, start painting....and it's up to the ferule after a very short while. I don't dip them in very much at all, it just flows upwards into it. My brushes inevitably splay out and get all ratty, and it seems like I can't avoid it.

I have this problem too. Then one day I bought a PP brush (the Citadel ones were out of stock at the time). Its much better because the bristles are longer, and the paint still creeps upwards but never reaches the metal bit. I don't know if this was on purpose or what I'm a painting noob but its my fave brush now.

Crushy wrote:I'm curious about something: Most of the people I know prefer really hard brushes to paint their minis.

After accidently destroying one of the Citadel begginer brushes, I used one I had from art classes at school. It's really soft but I find its easier to just drag along things like belts and such.

What are your opinions, is this a bad habit and I should get back to using one of those hard ones?


Another thing: DO NOT BUY CRAPPY PAINTBRUSHES. Sure 1€ sounds cheap for 6 brushes, but you won't be able to use them for anything at all. That's one mistake I won't be doing thrice.

On a related note, are these cheap bristle brushes good for anything? Should I just throw them out?

Err, I'm not aware of anyone preferring hard brushes, I use soft 'uns too... (But I consider Citadel brushes to be soft...)

I have recently found that normal artists acrilic paint brushes can be a lot better. GW brushes are a lot more bristly and hard than normal brushes. For details this is great but for a wide flat area soft normal brushes are much better.

Now the real question on brushes: synthetic or natural hair for the bristles?

I use natural, the seem to hold more paint and I can usually get a smooth even tone without having to thin the paint (keyword: usually). However, synthetic bristles do seem to last a LOT longer...

Re: paint sucking up the whole brush

If you are not already doing so be sure you get your brush wet before putting it in paint. I usually dip it, blot against a napkin lightly to suck out some of the water, then get paint. The top part of the bristle is then full of water and paint will diffuse up there much more slowly than it would wick into dry bristles.

Personally I buy brushes at art stores. They are much better than the GW ones at about the same price (seems like you can get brushes similar to GW for about 1/4th the price, which are fine for some purposes). So far my favorites are "windsor and newton gold sceptre II" #1 or #0 (can't remember which just now) detail brushes. Sometimes they come with comically long handles for such a tiny brush (it appears they match the handles to the display case rather than brush size, heh), but the trusty hobby knife soon fixes that.

I can confirm that windsor and newton art equipment is good quality for reasonable prices. I use their brushes and flow improver at the moment.

Go to an art shop. A proper art shop. Buy some brush cleaner. I use this stuff after Im done painting and its magic. You can even leave this stuff on the brush's until you use them next time.

GW stuff is over priced and just bad. I don't even use their paints anymore. Your art shop is your best friend, go say hello.

For paints I buy Reaper and Vallejo. Brushs are from http://www.kolinskyartbrushes.com/home.php?cat=252.

Ok.. was useful enough I guess?

A few paints fix all your details..........washes!!!!!Gryphonne sepia rocks, as does badab black, try them!

I'll post my a pic of my deathwing terminators which I painted by spraying them white and then giving tem a wash of....gryphone sepia!

On the subject of brushes, I tend to use some cheap ones I get from inexces..... they're 50P EACH!!!Not only that theywork just as wel a GW brush!

read this:
http://www.rosemaryandco.com/tipsandadvice-i-10.html



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Oh, and her brushes are awesome.