Which Instructional video set would you buy?

[Oni No Ken]

Let's say you're like me. You painted miniatures when you were a kid, and time's gone past, and now you're old and in need of a hobby.

You decide to paint again, but this time, instead of coming out with a the bastard child between a high elf and a molten crayon, you want to make something halfway decent.

You can buy one set of instructional videos off of cool mini or not, so you can short circuit the trial and error procedure a little bit. Which set do you buy?

Thanks for your time.

 

[Bailey03]

Good question. I'll be curious to hear what others have to say.

I found some of the videos on MiniatureMentor helpful: http://miniaturementor.com/painting_tutorials.html
Individual videos can be expensive but if you subscribe to the site you get as many as you want for a flat fee (plus much lower monthly charge until you cancel... which you can do as soon as you get all the videos you want). These videos are, in my opinion, geared more towards higher level display quality painting. That may be good or bad depending on what you are looking for.

You might want to take a look at a Kickstarter for one guys painting videos: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/891905985/discover-the-painting-pyramid-with-james-wappel
He did two examples for Rivet Wars, so you can get a general idea of his painting style and video approach.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/rivet-wars/posts/394385
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/rivet-wars/posts/396462
Those two are free. I don't know how similar or not they will be to his project. You'll have to read more about his kickstarter to find out. There's about 4 days left before the kickstarter ends... so check it soon if you think you might be interested.

 

[TrystanGST]

I'll second miniature mentor. I got some of their sculpting videos, and they were top notch. As for the DVDs here, you need to figure out where you are and where you're trying to get in terms of painting. Some DVDs make assumptions about the skill/knowledge of the watcher, which could be frustrating if you're not there yet.

 

[me_in_japan]

One more for miniature mentor. I've actually subscribed to them twice, and both times I felt I got my money's worth. Pay a monthly sub, suck the entire inventory down your Internet connection, then cancel your sub (or not, as you see fit. They don't update very often, though, so a one-off sub once every couple of years is your best bet, I reckon.)

in terms of painting level, a lot of the later vids assume some fairly expert knowledge, and the sculpting ones still leave me standing like a yokel in the dust. But, if you start at the start, and practice what you see, you should be able to follow along. Whether you can actually emulate what you see in the vids is another question entirely, but then that's what the hobby's about, no?

Oh, and it's worth mentioning that Jeremie Bonanont Teboul (Bragon on the forums) also has a very good painting DVD set available, with a second set coming very soon, if not already. Look for the thread about Figone and his travels around Africa for more info (sorry - I'd link but am at work and don't time to search around myself)

 

[Einion]

I'd avoid buying anything before you're sure you've exhausted all the free resources online. A large amount of the "unique content" on commercial vids is nothing of the sort, that's just marketing hype.

There's so much free help to be found online, and not just in terms of pre-existing stuff; it really shouldn't be undervalued just how useful it is to get real-time feedback on something you're doing, which no vid provides - as in *cough* CMON's Work In Progress forum.

Now regardless of whether they're free or you pay for them plenty of guides and videos are very helpful, but do remember one most important thing: it's your hands that have to do the work. So the #1 tip for development is this and has always been this: put the time in...

...it's hard to do something for a couple of hundred hours and not get much better at it.

Einion

 

[Dragonsreach]

I'd avoid buying anything before you're sure you've exhausted all the free resources online.

While normally I'd agree with Einion, I have to say that for some of the free stuff on Youtube, it's worth exactly what you paid for it!

Unfortunatley there are a lot of Amateur painters who think that their abilities are up to the highest level, when to be brutally honest they are not much different to GW shop standard.
Cherry Picking on You tube, may involve selecting a few "unripe" examples before you find what suits you best.
Try to look for high hitting names such as Ali McVey as the top end of the market. There are (were) a number of Videos she did on a step by step, well worth the effort of searching for.

 

[MAXXxxx]

what I'd buy (well actually I have bought most of them):

If you are a total beginner
- PP Core Vol1

If you want to improve beyond gaming:
- Hot Lead DVDs
- JBT DVD Vol. 1 and 2 (2 is out at the end of this month)
- ... well I like the Jennifer Haley ones, so them too (both CMON and Darksword DVDs) (and by extension the Mrika one from dark sword)

If you want to get to details at a high level:
- most of the MiniatureMentor DVDs (I especially like the first with Laurent and the 2 with Ben Comets)

what I'd avoid:
- 99% of youtube videos
- GW's DVD that comes with their new book. Really, really bad, not only because it's mostly a "buy-me" catalog, but because they teach you bad habits (like using 1 can of black primer to undercoat 5 miniatures, not only wasting spray and damaging the environment, but also loosing all details on the minis). The worst to see is around the middle (around layering), where you can notice, that the painter doing it can do much better, but is told not to and go back to the wasteful, inefficient and TTQ- levels, because that's what we want to provide.

 

[Bloodhowl]

You can buy one set of instructional videos off of cool mini or not, so you can short circuit the trial and error procedure a little bit. Which set do you buy?

Thanks for your time.

The Masterworks with Jen Haley and Anne Forester or the Hot lead. Very good especially for those getting back into the hobby and may not be up to date on the techniques and terms. If you have retained the knowledge and are up to date on techniques and terms, then I would go with the Jen Haley one. It's a little more technical and detailed into Jen's technique for layering, glazing, etc. I have not seen the Masterworks Marike Reimer vid so I can't say yea or nay on it.

The other posts all provide viable options, but currently CMoN does not sell any of them in their store. If you do look outside CMON, I would go with the JBT vid, and then start looking at stuff on Miniature Mentor.

 

[Einion]

While normally I'd agree with Einion, I have to say that for some of the free stuff on Youtube, it's worth exactly what you paid for it!

Oh yes absolutely! But conversely paying for something is no guarantee or assurance of quality; there are more than a couple of downloadable vids and instructional DVDs that honestly aren't worth their money.

Einion

 

[lyko]

what I'd buy (well actually I have bought most of them):

If you are a total beginner
- PP Core Vol1

I'm a total beginner. But if I look up "PP Core Vol1" I find anything but painting related topics.
Any link to it?

Thanks

 

[MAXXxxx]

I'm a total beginner. But if I look up "PP Core Vol1" I find anything but painting related topics.
Any link to it?

Thanks

http://privateerpress.com/formula-p3/hobby-series-dvds

one note though: all the info they show you is freely available on the net in a LOT of places.
But the presentation is such, that makes you go and paint a mini a soon as possible.
Also it explains and shows the basic techniques really clearly.

So even though by the time it was released there was no useful information for me I still like to watch it from time to time, especially when I'd have to paint but don't feel like it.

 

[kphenninger]

Good question. I'll be curious to hear what others have to say.

I found some of the videos on MiniatureMentor helpful: http://miniaturementor.com/painting_tutorials.html
Individual videos can be expensive but if you subscribe to the site you get as many as you want for a flat fee (plus much lower monthly charge until you cancel... which you can do as soon as you get all the videos you want). These videos are, in my opinion, geared more towards higher level display quality painting. That may be good or bad depending on what you are looking for.

You might want to take a look at a Kickstarter for one guys painting videos: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/891905985/discover-the-painting-pyramid-with-james-wappel
He did two examples for Rivet Wars, so you can get a general idea of his painting style and video approach.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/rivet-wars/posts/394385
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/rivet-wars/posts/396462
Those two are free. I don't know how similar or not they will be to his project. You'll have to read more about his kickstarter to find out. There's about 4 days left before the kickstarter ends... so check it soon if you think you might be interested.

This is a great recommendation - Thanks!!! It looks amazing, and even includes sculpting.

 

[Terrafirma]

I'm only a noob but I find getting on this site and making a contribution ,talk ,pics or questions is my biggest learning curve.
i have found ,even though my minis aren't much chop yet, that getting in and talking to all these guys they will give pointers as to what you can change or how to do a certain thing.
Watching a you tube or downloaded tute might give you pointers but may not address a core failure that you are doing.
i just wish guys would get on and say there two cents worth and understand that they are talented and noobs like me don't take what they know for granted like they might in there own work.

 

[Maenas]

I'm only a noob but I find getting on this site and making a contribution ,talk ,pics or questions is my biggest learning curve.

+1 to that!

I also have found that following some of the WIP threads is very interesting because you see how the painting develops and how people share and solve its painting problems through the process.

I would recommend having a look on these series (painting Buddha), they are free and I think they are good for many reasons, not only the explanations they give but also because you see how they mix and work with the paint/brush/palette etc... Althought I feel they are too advanced for me and what I am painting, I can get some good ideas/techniques from them and start practicing.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0_grDypO1drKAXVfvppjauSiXCuLp2gU