What’s your worst painting habit?

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**Duskweaver**

I've never accidentally drunk paint water or dunked my brush in my drink, but only because I never eat or drink while painting (or assembling/converting) models.

Can't say I've never been drunk while painting, mind...

**queen_annes_revenge**

I've never used my own brew as a water pot accidentally, but as a kid in the gw I definitely accidentally dunked my brush in one of the staffs brew mug... This was back in the day when gw stores used to have tables and it was first come first on, every man for themselves, none of this booking a slot nonsense. I remember sitting on the spars between seats to paint. Good times.

**mrFickle**

CancelledApocalypse wrote:
Discovering mould lines I'd missed after priming so I have to sand or scrape the line then re-prime. I should just be a bit more thorough, but I get impatient and sloppy when I prep and prime big batches...

Sometimes they just don’t stand out until you got some paint on the model

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Arcanis161 wrote:
Misjudging what I should be painting first, for both ease and ease of clean up (I have some brush control, but still make mistakes quite often).

Using tiny brushes, which contributes to not excellent brush control.

On and off batch painting, and switching between batch painting and painting single models. Results in mistakes not caught until much later, misremembering blend ratios, and being disappointed with prior techniques when compared to new techniques.

Getting into something new before an army, or even squad, is painted.

Overall choosing to paint armies when I have a mindset of constant improvement and paint at a snail's pace. This I'm working on by trying to find new techniques that get good looking results in less time (TMM with a bright light, wash/drybrush/wash/drybrush for basic clothing/fatigues, etc.)

EDIT: almost forgot: not cleaning brushes quickly enough. I've gone through a lot of brushes, big and small, due to that one.

2 things that have improve my painting speed at an airbrush and experimenting with GSW intensity inks for quickly getting through the basing and washing stage. I recently opened a thread about contrast paints in which I mention this with an example

Automatically Appended Next Post:
I’ll also add that I get really annoyed that I am not better than I am. My painting this year vs last year is loads better but I just get annoyed that I can’t get my layers to look like the pros and end up over working a model.

**Grimtuff**

queen_annes_revenge wrote:
I've never used my own brew as a water pot accidentally, but as a kid in the gw I definitely accidentally dunked my brush in one of the staffs brew mug... This was back in the day when gw stores used to have tables and it was first come first on, every man for themselves, none of this booking a slot nonsense. I remember sitting on the spars between seats to paint. Good times.

I know exactly what kind of table you're on about there. The GW I went to when I began this hobby had one, and it was first come first served too. You got up? Well sucks to be you, guess you aren't painting any more.

To steer this back to OT, painting on there taught me one thing, thoroughly washing your brushes. The paints there were provided by the store, and they'd swing back and forth about how strict they were with this policy depending on how many people took the piss, this was one such case. Guy decided to paint his Horrors and managed to contaminate (at least) two pots of white during the session with varying shades of red and blue (admitted the "baby blue" colour he made was quite good...). Store didn't really punish him as money talks, his parents being big spenders at the store.

**ced1106**

insaniak wrote:
Having a mould line appear after the primer goes on is an immutable law of the universe.

Colored airbrush primer. I don't have an airbrush, so just apply it with a brush. If I see mold lines, fill in the gaps, scrape them off, and repaint.Since I use washes extensively, getting rid of mold lines is pretty important.

As for OP, what I kick myself over : Kickstarter.

**Pariah Press**

Brown ink. I am addicted to brown ink. I can't stop washing everything with brown ink.

**hotsauceman1**

IDK, Over-reliance on drybrushing?
But i can do some cool things with dry brushing.
Definitly not cleaning out my paint water every couple of paints.
Letting paint get into the ferrule too much aswell

Captain Brown wrote:
Duskweaver wrote:
Reshaping the brush with my tongue.

Same thing.

Much better now than I used to be.

CB

I have learned the wrinkles on the back of your thumb or finger are great for shaping a brush.

**greatbigtree**

Yeah, the wrinkles on the back of your hand are cool and all... but have you tried tongue?

How else would you know if you have the right paint taste?

**mrFickle**

hotsauceman1 wrote:
IDK, Over-reliance on drybrushing?
But i can do some cool things with dry brushing.
Definitly not cleaning out my paint water every couple of paints.
Letting paint get into the ferrule too much aswell

Captain Brown wrote:
Duskweaver wrote:
Reshaping the brush with my tongue.

Same thing.

Much better now than I used to be.

CB

I have learned the wrinkles on the back of your thumb or finger are great for shaping a brush.

What’s wrong with dry brushing anyway? I stopped because I got the impression it was considered a bit of a rookie quick paint method but I have also got some great results with dry brushing. 40000 layers isn’t the only way to get a good paint job ha

**queen_annes_revenge**

Dry brushing has its place. It's when its used as a catch all that it's more of an amateur thing. I painted my scenic base for sanguinius using mostly drybrushing and stippling.

**Statistx**

Sentineil wrote:
I'm terrible for experimenting with colours but not tracking what I do at all

Guilty as charged, also a little bit of that brush licking, though I only do it at a point where there should barely if at all, be any paint left.

**ced1106**

mrFickle wrote:
What’s wrong with dry brushing anyway? I stopped because I got the impression it was considered a bit of a rookie quick paint method but I have also got some great results with dry brushing. 40000 layers isn’t the only way to get a good paint job ha

I bet what's "wrong" with dry brushing is that, since it's a newbie technique, most dry brushers get it wrong since they're, well, newbies. I like to use "edge highlighting", but that's just a fancy term for drybrushing only on the edges of a miniature, so the viewer can see the edges better. Terrain, of course, is frequently drybrushed.

As for brush-licking, some painters find it useful for painting, including two-brush blending (whatever happened to it,anyway?). I'm not against it, although my rinse water has detergent and I store my brushes with a dip of conditioner, so my brushes can taste awful. https://tangibleday.com/top-3-reasons-miniature-painters-lick-their-brushes/

**Horla**

JamesY wrote:Starting painting a project and not finishing painting that project. It's a recurring problem.

Grimtuff wrote:I can go years, YEARS!!! with stuff being half painted before I decide to pick up the project again. If I had the minis in bits I'd lose them.

I have a Judge Death model that I bought in London in December 1996 - I assembled it and undercoated it and it's lived in a box ever since. My wife finds it occasionally, tells me I should throw it out and I hide it in another box for 3-4 years to repeat the process. You cannot paint what doesssss not live!

insaniak wrote:I have to say, I've never understood the tongue thing. Even ignoring potential paint toxicity, it seems like the most awkward possible way to shape a brush..

Tonguing a brush (ooh, matron!) worked really well on the old red handled Citadel brushes but I'm not loving the current range of Citadel brushes at all. I bought a couple of Humbrol ones there last week but haven't tried them out yet.

chromedog wrote:I also don't understand how people can "accidentally" drink paint water. Or wash their paintbrush in their drink - but I keep my drinks and my paint water separated. Paint water on the left, drink on the right. I'm left handed. I don't need my left hand to grab a drink, but I can't hold a paintbrush with my right.

Is it truly painting if you're not slowly changing your tea from brown to Mephiston Red? It happens to the best of us, a friend of mine is a fine art painter working since the early 70s and he keeps doing it too. He did ingest a lot of acid in his late teens though...

**Max Moray**

Mothsniper wrote:

Had a habit of impatience that I watch out for now! Painted freshly CA glued pieces thinking CA is dry, many brushes found their last hr this way.

Same.

Also, continuing though concentration is gone and consequently painting worse, less exact than I could.

**queen_annes_revenge**

Does tea thin your paint better than water though?

As for brush sucking, I don't lick the brush, but I do use pursed lips to shape them. I generally remove any paint water on a bit of old newspaper or cloth prior to this though, so the sequence is: clean brush in water, dry brush, reshape, brush into paint. This avoids ingesting much of the paint water. I have tried to break this habit, but this is about the best I've been able to manage.

**mrFickle**

queen_annes_revenge wrote:
Does tea thin your paint better than water though?

As for brush sucking, I don't lick the brush, but I do use pursed lips to shape them. I generally remove any paint water on a bit of old newspaper or cloth prior to this though, so the sequence is: clean brush in water, dry brush, reshape, brush into paint. This avoids ingesting much of the paint water. I have tried to break this habit, but this is about the best I've been able to manage.

Tea? Black tea? Wouldn’t that make your paint dark?

**Ouze**

Duskweaver wrote:
Reshaping the brush with my tongue. If I die of cadmium poisoning, at least I'll know why...

Yup. I know I should not,but I really can't seem to break the habit.

**Mothsniper**

Lolz, did not know we got so many brush licking junkies out here!
it is a naturally acquired habit from an early age during painting. Time to quit lads!

I broke a habit of holding brushes and pencils in the mouth after bumping them into my gums a bunch of times.
And I broke my brush reshaping habit when I moved from watercolors to oil paint Lolz! Now just don't want to lick any part of the brush.

**FrozenDwarf**

I never properly clean my brushes.

Paint dryes up at the root and eventualy reaches about 1/3 down the brush. Usualy i just bin them at that point.

**Mothsniper**

FrozenDwarf wrote:
I never properly clean my brushes.

Paint dryes up at the root and eventualy reaches about 1/3 down the brush. Usualy i just bin them at that point.

Easy solution for that!
Once you pay over $30 for a single good paint brush, you will learn wash it clean it and tuck it in for bed each night

**oni**

Somehow managing to find the hardest and most time intensive method of painting everything.

**queen_annes_revenge**

Mothsniper wrote:
Lolz, did not know we got so many brush licking junkies out here!
it is a naturally acquired habit from an early age during painting. Time to quit lads!

I broke a habit of holding brushes and pencils in the mouth after bumping them into my gums a bunch of times.
And I broke my brush reshaping habit when I moved from watercolors to oil paint Lolz! Now just don't want to lick any part of the brush.

Not that simple for me. I can switch between the 2 easily...

**Mothsniper**

queen_annes_revenge wrote:
Mothsniper wrote:
Lolz, did not know we got so many brush licking junkies out here!
it is a naturally acquired habit from an early age during painting. Time to quit lads!

I broke a habit of holding brushes and pencils in the mouth after bumping them into my gums a bunch of times.
And I broke my brush reshaping habit when I moved from watercolors to oil paint Lolz! Now just don't want to lick any part of the brush.

Not that simple for me. I can switch between the 2 easily...

I know

Mostly I kidd

**jullevi**

My worst painting habit is learning new techniques and restarting projects using said techniques and new colour schemes. I don't repaint or sell miniatures so any models with old colour scheme end up collecting dust in the storage.

**Rybrook**

Using a fine detail brush till it dries then licking the end to get that last highlight done, because the paint quick dries as soon as you take it from the pallet.

**Buttery Commissar**

Letting my wet palette become a wet petri dish between commissions.

**DalekCheese**

Priming and undercoating are for nerds.

**Slipstream**

1) Using the same brush for doing 90% of the model, even if it takes me longer to cover areas.
2) Using brushes long past their best
3) Having a large stock of new brushes that I should start using but reluctant to stop using the brush mentioned in 1.

**Tyranid Horde**

Bit of a brush licker, although with my forays into oil paints means I need to nip that in the bud or I'll get a mouthful of white spirit.

Project hopping is another bad one for me, but once I get my current minis out of the way, I'm going to try and stay on track with one project at a time.

**Shadenuat**

Reshaping the brush with my tongue. If I die of cadmium poisoning, at least I'll know why...

Current pigments used in paint production are generally made to not be dangerous. Also, if paint is named cadmium, it doesn't mean it has cadmium in it. It's the name of the color (ie cobalt blue)/imitation.

The only way to seriously harm yourself is to grind dried paint to dust and inhale it, then it could harm you, or drink about half a dozen of bottles. Even if it's natural cadmium, in paint, it is still mixed with a binder (say oil) which limits its ability to be dissolved in water and absorbed by your body.

So most of artistic scary tales about deadly artistic materials are clickbait material, especially if you just paint with modeling acrylics and never use real pigments or some heavy duty materials.