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Hey people,

My name is Terry and I'm more of a WHFB player and painter, although I do have a nicely painted Vostroyan Imperial Guard army, I just don't know how to use them or how to play 40k...

I am currently studying a Masters in Technical Communication & E-Learning and for my final project I will be making an interactive painting programme to teach people how to paint Warhammer miniatures. It will have a section of real-time videos of myself painting minis, which would be a "Paint Along" type video where the video would stop after each step and give you the option of repeating the step or moving on to the next one. I won't actually be making it until next year, but I'd just like to ask some fellow nerds/hobbyists what they would like to see in such a programme?

Would you be more likely to use this programme for 40K or for Fantasy?
What sort of painting techniques would you like to have explained?
What problems, if any, do you find with online painting tutorials?
Would you prefer a series of tutorials which stuck to the contents of the beginners boxes (Dark Vengeance and Island of Blood)?

I'm leaning towards making this appropriate for beginners more than experienced painters, so are there any beginners out there that would find this interesting?

My background in painting is that I used to work for my local hobby shop and I ran painting classes for beginners and intermediates. I also painted models professionally for a short while, but as college work became more demanding I had to stop. My main army is a Chaos Nurgle army, which has everything from chariots and knights to ogres and a giant or two, and my newer army is Vampire Counts. Hopefully I can upload some photos soon so that you can see what standard of painting I am at, although I am my own worst critic, so they're probably a lot better than I think

That is a cool idea Terry.

I'm a 40k painter/player, so I would lean toward 40k figures, and since Dakka is more geared toward 40k that would be another point toward it. Since you are making this for beginners to intermediate, I would start with basics and work toward more advanced techniques. I would include using washes, inks, dry brushing, blending. If you wanted to include painting certain areas, like faces/skin or metal objects, that might be good to.

Biggest thing I see with online tutorials, is that they spend more time talking and less time showing the technique. I think a quick explain, no more then five minutes, and then show how you do the technique, possibly show on different types of figures and even include use on vehicles. The wider the range you can cover the better it will be. I would include the new ranges as well as older stuff. I would also include different material types, plastic, finecast, and metal.

I think you will get more responses if you do show some of your work with pictures, as well as maybe a quick video, so we can see you in action. Just some ideas.

Good luck with your project, and I'll keep an eye out for when you finally complete it and post it up.

I tend to agree with Dark Knights that when I'm watching a tutorial, I want to see what's happening rather than read or hear someone say it. Nothing aggrivated me more than for the first few months I was trying to paint and I kept reading things like "Add water to your paints, but not too much or too little." or "edge the areas light would hit". If I knew how much was the right amount of water, I wouldn't be reading this, and of course I want to hit the areas light would hit, what are those?

http://www.youtube.com/user/buypainted?feature=results_main

I think this guy has about the right level of explaining to showing. He briefly tells you what he's doing or how he's doing it, and then shows you. Granted, these are mostly advanced techniques, but I just wanted to sort of illustrate what I meant by an appropriate amount of explaination.

Giving tutorials on how to paint faces and skin would probably be some of the most welcome. Even poorly painted armor looks passable, but a poorly painted face looks terrifying. Giving different levels of skill would also be welcome. A basic face would probably be flesh tone, wash, highlight whereas a more advanced one may address things like eyes, teeth and scars.

I also think covering some basic hobby information would come in handy. Things like basing, varnishing and pinning would probably be very useful for a new hobbyist.

A major problem with many tutorials is assuming that the person using the tutorial knows more than they do. I think it's moch more helpful to go by the numbers and lockstep. Even if you don't verbally address things like taping down areas you don't want painted, if I see you taping them down, I know to do it now.

And I have to assume that a well made tutorial will be quite helpful. I know the internet is flooded with tutorials over the most minor things, but making a smart and well done compilation of tutorials would probably be very well recieved.

Thanks for the feedback guys. This is all very helpful and I appreciate it

I intend to go home this weekend and route out all my well painted minis, take some photos and post them up here. It'll show what my standard and style of painting is and hopefully get others interested.

If I can, I'll get my Vostroyans, Nurgle and Vampire Counts up on this thread, but I also have an assortment of minis I painted just for the fun of it. Stay tuned.