Hate asking for lessons buuuut.....

[Nydhog]

If there is anyone near Louisville, KY who does miniature painting I would be willing to pay what little I can afford to take some lessons on miniature painting. I\'m a very see-it-learn-it hands on guy. I really want to do this craft to the best of my ability and I know practice is a must, but I also feel I could progress better with some lessons. If this is against the board policy I apologize.

I\'d be willing to drive about 45 minutes to an hour if necessary.

 

[Matt Cexwish]

I would like to show you the tricks, but unfortunately, I am located some 10.000 km to the East...^-^...

But feel free to ask whatever you want, I may have the time to answer you politely......

 

[alextheartist]

When he says \"may\", he means always. He is always putting up with me pestering him...

I would also have spent some time (most likly for free), but i live across the pond and it really isnt practical..

Alex

 

[Hinton]

If there are any gaming or hobby stores near you, maybe asking if there are any mini painters that frequent them would be a good place to start.

Also, you could check some of the other mini forums out there (Wyrd, Reaper, etc) and see if there\'s anyone near you.

 

[ScottRadom]

All these are good suggestions but I think the thing that may work great for you would be to pick up one of the painting DvD\'s. There\'s a few available, I own the JBT \"Painting Miniatures\" and I love it. Great for beginers and exp. alike. There\'s some reviews here on the site that may be for you as well.

 

[ScottRadom]

Oh yeah forgot that there\'s plenty of stuff on YouTube available as well.

 

[Sauce Devil]

Well, until you find someone at your local store to give you a demo...

Lesson One:

Clean mold-lines off mini (without accidentally chopping off any important bits - on you or the mini).

Prime it - a few quick puffs, just enough to give the paint something to key to. Should be dry in a couple of hours.


Put a drop of paint on the pallet (get some decent paint - Citadel, Coat D\'Arms, Reaper, Vallejo) and dilute it... and dilute it some more.

Note: Before you do the \"base coat\" you might need an undercoat; red often needs an undercoat of brown or it will look pale and washy.

Wipe the paint off on a piece of tissue and apply the brush to the mini. Do a couple of strokes and then blow on it to dry it faster.


You can sometimes get away with using thicker coats but you\'ll always get the smoothest finish by building up the layers, it\'ll start out looking very weak but after about 5 coats it will be turn from translucent to opaque (solid) and look much nicer than it would if you tried to paint it on undiluted.

 

[Nydhog]

Sounds like a plan to me. I\'ll start looking around for a mentor. I\'d love to get some of my miniatures looking gorgeous. I don\'t like the D&D miniatures being the standard for PC\'s in D&D runs. It\'s very impersonal to the character. Thats part of the reason I got into this. To express myself via my characters if that makes sense.

 

[Kester]

Welcome, by the way!
You tube has loads of stuff. Are you anywhere near a Games Workshop? They have staff on hand to show you all sorts of stuff, from painting to building scenery.

 

[Nydhog]

Originally posted by Kester
Welcome, by the way!
You tube has loads of stuff. Are you anywhere near a Games Workshop? They have staff on hand to show you all sorts of stuff, from painting to building scenery.

There are a ton of gaming stores near me, but no official GW stores. I wish their were though. I want to paint some warhammer figures but they dont have any at most of the places I go to and if they do, they are from 40k and are prepainted.

 

[ScottRadom]

Originally posted by Nydhog

Originally posted by Kester
Welcome, by the way!
You tube has loads of stuff. Are you anywhere near a Games Workshop? They have staff on hand to show you all sorts of stuff, from painting to building scenery.

There are a ton of gaming stores near me, but no official GW stores. I wish their were though. I want to paint some warhammer figures but they dont have any at most of the places I go to and if they do, they are from 40k and are prepainted.

40k prepainted? Are you sure?

Anyway I think that if you had to choose one of these stores to frequent, fo it. As a spending customer looking to lock in to a hobby you should be able to ask any questions you like. Where are you from? Often they\'re painting demos at these stores to trap/help out people just like you. Ask around, maybe one of those stores sticks out as a place people gather for painting and such. Also note that 98% of the people in this hobby WANT to show of the art of painting figs. Most would love to show a beginer how they do it, and spread the enthusiasm around.

Also, if you don\'t collect about 4 months salary worth of minatures you\'re doing it wrong.

 

[Nydhog]

It may have just been the box, but it showed pre-painted miniatures. I\'ll start calling some of the local game stores inquiring as to demos and the like. See if I cant get some luck as far as that goes. By the way, what is the appropriate time to ask a job to pay me in Reaper Masters Paints and Miniatures?

 

[AllTerrainMonkey]

Nydhog, for me personally I found it worked best when I was down in Denton working for Reaper; not sure how other companies would swing it though .

 

[Nydhog]

Haha yeah worker for Reaper would help..... Wonder if they need a garbage boy...... lol

 

[DIablofollower]

Personally I don\'t think you need to pay for lessons. If you can find yourself a decent hobby shop I am sure there would be many helpful painters there. As was mentioned above getting yourself one of the painting DVD\'s is a great idea and much cheaper than lessons.

Also hang around this site. There are plenty of great people on here, willing to give advice and help anyway they can. Don\'t forget about all the great articles on here and other sites.

Then be sure to take what you learn and practice, practice and practice some more.

Did I mention to be sure your practice?

 

[Nydhog]

I found a guy to mentor me on the reaper boards. I\'m probably gonna give him like 20 bucks a month or so, doing lessons weekly or so, since he is going to let me use his supplies.

 

[airhead]

Reaper has a Black Lightning program where Reaper pays them to give painting lessons. Some BL\'s play/run games - others paint. Worthwhile to see if you have any BL\'s in your area...

(Privateer Press has a similar program. GW used to have a similar program - maybe it still does?)