• Can I become a better painter?
• Will it take long time?
• Will anyone be willing to help me with problems?
• Will people like my work?

After some thought I believe the answers too all the questions is YES. We all know the only way too become good is too practise, practise and practise. They say to make a good musician into a Mozart is ten thousand hours of practise (that’s 417 days if you were wondering). the plan was beginning too form, looking though the mountain of unpainted figures and flicking through old hobby magazines.

What if I just painted models for the joy of just painting them? I wouldn’t be constrained too certain paint schemes, deadlines for tournaments or batch painting a lot of models for horde armies. I could do as much or as little I wanted, practise aspects of models. So I made a quick list of areas that could improve.

• Painting cloth, capes, fur etc.
• Highlighting sharp edges and curved surfaces.
• Painting faces, all manor human, aliens and beasts.
• Metallics.
• The list goes on and on and on.

Being this enthusiastic about a project on a lazy Sunday of cups of tea and roast dinners usually isn’t me. In fact being this enthused about a project isn’t me at all. So here’s the plan

1. Pick a model.
2. Paint it.
3. Get better.

Like all good plans its nice a simple, I plan on giving myself 2-4 weeks to paint each model, slotting in a few hours on it a week. Use guides, tutorials and advice I can glean from the internet, friends and magazine. Then open the finished model around some forums and learn from the critics etc..

So I picked a model that has been sitting on my shelf now for longer than I care too think about.

The Orc Captain from Black Scorpion Minitures. As you can see this model will help me with painting cloth, faces and metallics all in one model.

My brushes are calling I think its time for some practise.

Happy painting to you all.

Stef prefers a buy what is cool and mould that into a workable force method, Cooper combines the army list method with what looks cool, Spencer picks a theme and holds on to it die hard to the end even if his vision was rose tinted.

I have chosen to this time pick a theme in this case a Nurgel mortals list with a preference for Warriors, I then looked through the catalogues and trawled the miniature pages for inspiration and only once I had my theme and some festering Nurgelish miniatures in mind I built a list.

Points costs at this integer are not important as we have just begun playing games at higher brackets (with the smallest at around 3000), the list breaks down like this:

Chaos Lord – I’m still looking for a model for this one but I normally leave the character’s to be painted last as I find it is a nice reward for the trudge through rank and file.

Chaos Champion – I’m planning to use the GW champion of Nurgel as it is a nice enough miniature and will fit well with the themed rank and file and work as a nice centre piece for the core units.

2 Chaos Sorcerers – For one of these I want to use the Avatars of War Necromancer as it has a very atmospheric feel and almost oozes a feeling of death and decay, the second will more than likely be one of the numerous Nurgel characters from the GW collectors range.

2 units of Chaos Warriors – the normal plastic kits are great, the models are detailed but still easy to paint in batches and always look nice when ranked up. I plan on using snow bases to contrast the putrid greens and browns I’ve used on the armour.

2 units of Chaos Marauders – I’ve never been a fan of the plastic marauders for reasons I’ve never been able to put my finger on until recently, a customer at the shop pointed out they all suffer from what he called ‘ Schwarzenegger syndrome’. Each of them is muscle bound in the extreme with this added to their already exaggerated ‘Heroic proportions’ make them comical.

After a brief wander through the catalogues I received a well timed e-mail from GW them selves! The new Beasts of Chaos range was soon to be released, and with them new Beastigores! The models are amazing and fit perfectly with my imagined theme, so they replace the Arnold Schwarzenegger Marauders in my army and happily so because frankly painting so much flesh would not be a fun day…

1 unit of Chaos Knight’s will for the hammer to the warriors anvil against which I will crush my enemies (Or that is the plan at least).

1 Chaos War shrine the plan for this conversion I’m afraid remains and closely guarded secret.  

This more or less forms the majority of the force, with the first unit 99% finished and the theme already to my liking it is only a matter of time before I march to war, but I wish to end this article as with my last one with a question.

When you make an army how do you go about it? Buy cool models before making an army list? Theory game list after list before you have one that is unstoppable? Or do you buy miniature to paint and before you know it have a small army ready for the table top?

How do you make war?

Making Notes

Some people like to make notes about what colour each part will be. This is handy as a reference later on as you can get carried away once you start.

Sketches

Some people make a sketch of the model to go with their notes, which makes for a much more visual representation of your plans.

Colour Theory

Traditional Colour Theory comes into play a bit here too. You want to pick a colour scheme that will work well and look good. Anyone who has done any art lessons will be familiar with Colour Theory – using a colour wheel like the one above, Colour Theory is really best left for an article on its own though.

Do I Have Everything?

There’s nothing more frustrating than sitting down to paint, getting half way through a model and the next paint you intend to use has ran out!

There is also a good online colour scheme generator that can be found here. While it’s not based around specific paints, it’s handy for getting a general idea of how things will be.

Just a short one from me today, next time we’ll be getting the paints out!

Our hobby is not one that forces you to spend hours alone in the solitude of a garden shed or some other equally bleak and soul destroying location (Not that bird watching is boring oh no! Look a Sparrow, OK we’re done it was fun yea I’ll see you again soon), it instead helps us naturally form friendship groups with other like minded gamers. I am not ashamed to say some of my best friends are friends I have made through the hobby, it is also fair to say we share other interests but we met through our love of painting and gaming.

So this in a round about rambling I wish he’d just get on with it kind of way to the point of my post.

Is it better to paint alone or with friends?

It is a double edged sword in some respects, on one hand you have like minded people to chat with discuss future projects or insane conversation ideas with but then there’s the distraction of showing your mates a funny video on YouTube or challenging them to a game of Wii bowling – all the time while you should be painting.

I am guilty of the latter, on Sunday I only had three easy task to achieve those where.

• Wash Chaos Warrior unit with Devlan Mud (Citadel ink)
• Wash Chaos Warrior unit with Griffon Sepia (Citadel ink)
• Base Chaos Warrior unit with snow theme

Now I got the two washes done but failed to base the unit as I was more inclined to sit and watch a film, this in turn impacted on my comrades as they both soon joined me on the sofa and left brushes and glue alone on the table.

Whilst there is no doubt that getting together in a group is more fun, can lead to the creation of some truly epic ideas or army themes it is less productive than working alone – but where’s the fun in that?

(If your interested the finished Chaos Warrior unit will soon be making an appearance on the site along with a how to paint guide).

So what do you think? Is it better to paint alone or with others? Would you prefer to work in the secrecy of your bed room or studio or are you a social animal? The next time you and your friends are stuck for something to do at the weekend, just think could you be painting?

So here is one of the Buggies from my Ork army. It has been made from a converted Truck kit, sprayed with a Platemail spray from Army Painter, washed with Badab Black and dry brushed with Boltgun metal. So working on the details and what not.

Dos

• Rinse in water after using a colour
• Wash in luke warm water or brush cleaner after a painting session
• Keep plastic covers on when not in use

Don’ts

• Leave upside down in water
• Clog the brush with too much paint
• Use good brushes for drybrushing!

Removing Mold Lines

Often there will be “Mold Lines” present on the parts. This is due to how the Molds are put together whilst in production. Using a file these can be easily removed. If you were to leave these Mold Lines they would still be present on the finished miniature, and you don’t want that!

Washing Metal Parts

With metal parts, it is usually best to give them a quick wash in warm water before assembly. When metal parts are removed from the mold, a lubricant is used to get them out. This can still be present when you get your hands on it, and can cause difficulties when trying to glue them together.