I know there are plenty of DVDs and YouTube videos out there devoted to the art of painting miniatures and most of them are great! There are a lot of amazing techniques which award winning painters use to great effect and the work they produce is stunning! Yet, what about your average gamer? Most of us don’t have the time to invest months into painting a single figure not to mention the funds to cover the cost of many of the supplies required to produce these tiny masterpieces which take home the big prizes.
When I see people playing various systems and the troops on the battlefield are unpainted I feel these folks are missing out on half the fun of gaming with miniatures. Normally the responses I get when I ask why the minis aren’t painted are along the lines of, “It’s too expensive,” or “I don’t have the time to paint these the way I’d like,” or even “I’m afraid to ruin my minis with a bad paint job.” I certainly understand where these gamers are coming from and these are valid points.
That’s why I decided to begin shooting a series of free videos entitled “An Regular Joe’s Guide to Miniature Painting” to post here on TGG. Certainly the series isn’t going to reinvent the wheel but my goal is to provide basic ideas and principals which will get a beginning painter up and producing gaming table quality, or even above average looking figures, without a lot of muss or fuss and without having to sell the cattle ranch to finance the endeavor. I’ve completed shooting the first in the series, “Tools of the Trade,” but since I’m hitting the road tomorrow I won’t have it edited for a week or two. In the future I’m hoping to post at least one video a month detailing a lot of the building blocks such as prepping your figures, color theory, washes and dry brushing, painting eyes (we all have trouble with the eyes!), interesting bases, and more!
So if you’re someone who needs a little help in your painting skills, or even someone who’d love to get into the hobby but were afraid to start, stay tuned as I’m sure you’ll find something you can use. And if you’re a veteran painter by all means I’d love to have you chime in with your thoughts and techniques!
