passing the brush

[funnymouth]

hi all.
while i am only an intermediate painter in your eyes, i am considered somewhat experienced in my own circle.
my gaming club is set to have a minicon this weekend, and the local painting hero (menelker on cmon) is unable to attend. i was chosen to substitute (talk about a downgrade lol).
to the point - i teach, and i paint, but i have never taught painting. tips? i know ill start simple, and stick to what im good at.....

 

[hashmallum]

Oi!

Depends whom are you to teach lad

If there are people like 15-20 there\'s nor problem
The funky part is to teach painting 9-14 year olds who have too much questions and energy

The best way is that everybody would take a mini and concentrate on 1 aspect so:

Hi today we are going to paint faces.
First you tell them what paints to use and show all how you do it - how many layers and why

Then you make them paint and just give advices - help with some harder things

This is from my experience

 

[generulpoleaxe]

show them, and then slowly take them through it. explaining each step slowly and clearly.

remember, people don\'t like to be spoken down to. i have seen way to many people start speaking down to others as soon as they try and teach them something.

don\'t be afraid to explain something several different ways to get one person to understand you. different people pick things up in different ways and at different speeds.

that is the basics of teaching.

the other tips are to take no shit and leave no bruises or witnesses afterwards. lol

hope this helps

edit:- damn people and there fast typing skills

 

[beowulfthehunter]

Well you said your a teacher correct, or have you just taught something before.

Either way you know what your doing.

Put it in terms they understand, praise their achievments, under stand what they know now and what they want to know.

 

[Naukhel]

Well, for my own miniscule group of students, I started off with \'caring for your tools\'. Taught them how to store and maintain everything.
Worked in order, from there.
Proper mini preparation (filing and cutting and all that)
Proper priming.
How to set the mini in various ways to avoid handling it too much.
Then went on to colour theory, and did a few practice minis, advising on techniques when they came up.
I\'m not a stellar painter, but I\'ve a good enough grip on the basics to teach people, apparently.

 

[vincenti]

Watch OUT!!!

I would encourage you to take some of your finished work along and plenty of photos if you have got them( a lap top would be good , then you could show them your stuff on CMON).Just use your natural teaching skills and keep it humourous.One word of warning if the project your working on goes wrong dont panic !Have a laugh at your own expence and stay cool about it.Every painting demo I have done went wrong somewhere, so in the past few years I have done slide presentations,( they work really well and would fit into your natural abilities as a communicator). They are a lot more controlable and make question asking a lot less hassle- some .Finaly its best to cover one subject well than many poorly , you could always cover other topics at a latter date . Every blessing and I really hope it goes well , let us all know how it went . GOD bless ................VINCENTI: D :duh:

 

[green stuff]

I did this not long ago (teaching somebody new to the hobby how to paint).

First of all clean and prime identical minis in advance for everybody (yes, I know, cleaning minis can help identify hard to paint areas and make you think of your color scheme in advance, but since I\'m assuming they will be beginners, it\'s better not to bore them and loose time IMHO). If you know the participants try to find a mini that they will like. In any case, chose a simple mini (if they can finish painting during the session, they will feel more accomplished).

Then start explaining the technics you are going to show them that day. I\'d keep it simple : how to apply a base color in a thinned way, how to shadow it, how to highlight it. Choose one person and make them repeat what you said in their own words to see if all is clear.

Then ask them to gather arround and show them how you do one small zone.

Then it\'s their time.

IMHO, don\'t impose colors. Ask them how they see the mini and give them advice on colors to use to do what they want.

Go from one person to the other. If they are having a hard time on one a section, show them how to do it on your mini.

Here is the result of what I said above (the person\'s mini to whom I was teaching is on the left, and mine on the right) :

Also, what vincenti said about bringing your own minis can be very good to show them what later they can aim to.

Naukhel\'s comment on how to take care of their tools can also be explained while they are painting.

 

[airhead]

I\'ve been doing this for Reaper for a couple of years now. I generally start with about a 10 minute explanation of shadowing and highlighting.

Find a nice colored t-shirt (avoid black or white) and ask the student how many colors there are on an area of the shirt. Show the shadow under and in a wrinkle and the highlight on top. Then carry that over to a painted mini showing how we paint with at least 3 colors in each area.

Someone will say that painting it one color and letting the shapes on the mini do the shadowing. Explain how that to make the mini not look small, the shading and shadowing has to be exagerated.

Then, as GS has said, pass out pre-assembled and pre-primed minis (Nice eyes are a plus here). I generally try to break the class into sessions of about 2 hours:

1. faces & skin (eyes take the longest)
2. fabric
3. metal (chainmail & armor)
4. hair and basing (these take about an hour each, but basing can go way longer)

This gives you enough time to give lots of attention to the students (about 6 is the most I can handle and give time to).

Finish each session with a bit on brush care. Soap the brushes and repoint them.

Things to bring:
Paint.
Brushes. (encourage them to purchase their own. but you should have some decent loaners - GW, Reaper Reds or W&N Cirrus are not too expensive and hold a decent point)
Plastic picnic (disposable) table cloth. Unless the store does not mind a bit of paint on the tables.
Ceramic tiles to mix paints on.
Water (I take a gallon of water and put a couple of squirts of dish detergent in it.)
Water cups (I like something that does not tip easy - especially for younger painters)

 

[funnymouth]

super info guys! this will really help. ill be sure to bring some demo stuff and get the minis ready to go beforehand. ill be sure to let you know how it goes, and ill even try to get some pics. please continue to give insight -> this could be a great resource.