CHOOSING (AND USING) THE RIGHT PAINTS: PART FOUR - Consistency and Flow

Up to this point, we have discussed everything needed to get started in painting miniatures. We talked about the best brushes to use, the preferred types and brands of paints for best results, the tools you will need to assemble and prepare your models, and priming a figure that's been assembled and cleaned up.

Now, after a week of preliminary articles, we can get down to the main event - painting a miniature. But let's not be hasty - patience and knowledge are our allies in doing the best work possible. Before dunking your brush in a paint pot and spreading it over the figure, let's talk about the best ways to ensure that your paint has the proper consistency to flow correctly off your brush, and how to keep those expensive brushes lasting as long as possible.


Rule One: Do Not Paint Directly From The Pot!
This is advice you may have heard before, though you may not know the reasons why experienced painters repeat it so often. Actually, there are two important reasons, so let's talk a bit about each of them.

First of all, if you dunk your brush right into the pot, you run the risk of getting paint up into and under the ferrule. This can cause the bristles to splay, meaning you lose that nice tip and the ability to precisely apply paint to the miniature. You'll need to clean your brushes more often and probably more aggressively if you habitually do this, which can drastically reduce the lifespan of the brushes. This is inadvisable because a good brush is your most important tool and your most expensive investment. You don't want to be laying out that kind of money for new brushes every week or even every month if it can be avoided.

Get yourself a palette for your paint. If you have a brush tub like the kind featured in "Having the Right Materials", the inside of the lid is the perfect palette. You can use any flat, non-porous surface, but I prefer the kind that have dimples to keep colors from flowing into others, and a larger central area for those times you do want to blend.

If you're using paint in dropper bottles (like the AV Game Colors), just add a few drops to one of the dimples. You don't need a lot, and we'll see why in a moment. If you're using traditional paint pots, transfer the paint from the jar to the palette with a large brush or a pipette. I have an old eyedropper from a medicine bottle that works fine - but a glass one is easier to clean than a plastic one.

If you use a dropper, take care not to draw in so much paint that it enters the rubber bulb - otherwise you'll need to take it apart to clean it. Regardless of whether you use a dropper or a large brush to transfer paint, be sure to clean it thoroughly and immediately. Otherwise you run the risk of contaminating your paints with other colors.

The other reason you don't want to paint directly from the pot is that the paint in the pot is almost certainly too thick to ensure good flow from the brush and an even consistency to the coat. Experienced painters may thin the paint right in the pot to ensure it has the right consistency, but until you get the hang of the right mix, it's more advisable to thin it a little bit at a time on the palette. If you thin it too much, you've only wasted a few drops - but if you overthin it in the pot, you'll be buying a new jar. This leads us to the next rule...


Rule Two: Thin your Paints. Thin Your Paints, Thin Your Paints!
I said it three times because it bears repeating. I have never, in all my years in this hobby, found a paint that is of the right consistency straight out of the bottle. The main thing we want to achieve by thinning our paints, is to ensure that the paint is not drying on the brush before we have the opportunity to apply it properly to the model. If you don't thin your paints, they will not flow properly from the brush, which will make it difficult to apply it precisely to the model and can lead to an uneven application and brush marks.

You don't want the model to look like it's covered in paint, you want it to look like that's the color it was made of in the first place. The best way to ensure a convincing and appealing finish is to apply the paint in several thin coats, building up the color without obscuring the detail. That's a very important thing to remember:

Several thin coats of paint will give better results than one thick coat. Of the preferred brands we discussed in Part Two of this series, Formula P3 is the hands-down winner for thinning. The liquid pigment ensures that the color remains uniform, without separation or loss of brightness. This also makes them excellent as glazes or washes, which will be covered in a later intermediate article.

Let's take a moment to talk about the various things we might use to thin our paints. The first (and most commonly used) thinner is water. It's easy to get and is basically free. But it's not the best choice in many situations. Tap water can contain impurities and may be too "hard" for painting, but water from a softener still contains sodium. If you choose to use water for thinning, I would recommend distilled water or purified bottled water. A little bit goes a long way, so the expense is still almost negligible. Some paint brands thin better with water than others - Formula P3 being the most notable winner in this case.

The other commonly-available household thinner is isopropyl alcohol. I would advise against using this to thin your paints for a couple of reasons. Alcohol is a volatile solution, and thus you will find that paints thinned with it may dry more rapidly . This may be an effect sought by advanced painters in certain situations, but the whole point of this article is about keeping paint from drying too fast. You probably will not find that flow is improved in paints thinned with alcohol. Aside from thinning paints for use in an airbrush, the only time I have used it is when trying to rehabilitate a pot of paint that has started to thicken into a gel. Also, as mentioned in the article on brushes, cleaning a brush with alcohol is not recommended. It can strip the natural preservatives from the sable hairs and may dissolve the glue binding the bristles together in the ferrule.


There are many commercial products that are excellent for thinning. Vallejo makes a liquid thinner that is excellent for this purpose. It is available in a standard 17ml dropper bottle and in a larger size as well. It is what I used to use most commonly, before I developed my own formula for thinner (which I will cover in a later article).  However, it is a white liquid - while it does not change the color of the paint when dry, it can make your paint look like a different shade on the palette. If you keep this in mind and trust that the results will be correct, it is an excellent choice. If you are thinning inks or glazes, however, you are better off using water or a transparent medium.


Another great choice is Citadel's Lahmian Medium (also sold as 'Eavy Metal Medium). This is a clear liquid that is designed for thinning paints, inks, glazes and washes. It can also be used to prepare a surface for transfers, but we won't be talking about that any time soon. It's a good choice if you want to use your opaque colors make washes or glazes. Using a medium will allow you to thin a wash to reduce the intensity of the color without affecting its flow characteristics the way that water would. We will talk more about that in an upcoming article about glazes, washes, and inks. If you can find this product, give it a try!

Other choices to investigate are those products known as "flow improvers", "extenders" or "retarders". You will find these manufactured by various companies such as Liquitex, Vallejo, Winsor & Newton, and others. Be sure you are selecting a product designed for use with acrylic paints. Flow improvers work pretty much as the name suggests - improving how the paint flows from the brush and on the surface. Extenders and retarders increase the working time available, allowing for blending and other special techniques . All of these products have one common characteristic - they mean the paint will take longer to dry. Keep this in mind when handling your model.


Are there any times I don't want to thin my paints?
Yes, in fact, there are several applications for which thinning the paint may not be recommended. First of all, you should not need to thin your primer - if you do, I'd say that you're using the wrong kind of primer! The AV Surface Primer does not need dilution to apply a thin, uniform coat.

Another application that works best with un-thinned paints is drybrushing, which we will discuss in further detail in an upcoming article. For now, it's important to note that when drybrushing, you don't want the paint to flow off the brush in the same way as you would when applying base coats, layers, or edge highlights.

Generally speaking, you will not usually want to dilute a commercially available wash or glaze. Citadel Shades already have the proper consistency to settle in the recesses of a model, and glazes lose some of their color saturation and brilliance when thinned. If you want the same effects, but less color, be sure to use a transparent medium to thin these paints, instead of something like the AV Thinner.

How much should I thin my paints?That's a question that does not have a "one size fits all" kind of answer. Generally speaking, you want to thin the paint until it has the consistency of milk. This will give it enough viscosity to stay where you apply it, without going on too thick.

Depending on the paint and the kind of thinner you are using, you should aim for a 1-to-1 ratio of paint to thinner. Until you have some experience working with thinned paints, I suggest trying this out on a miniature that you don't care too much about. Paints that are thinned too much will flow all over the model, ruining it and defeating the purpose of thinning the paint, which is to provide an even and controlled application. Sometimes, I'll touch the tip of the brush lightly to a paper towel after loading it - excess moisture will be wicked away while the paint remains in the bristles.


Rule Three: Don't overload your brush.
Once you have your paint thinned to the proper consistency, take care in loading the brush with paint. Don't mash it straight down into the mix - draw it gently into the paint until it flows about halfway up the bristles. You want enough paint in the belly of the brush, but you never want to get paint up into or under the ferrule.

Having properly loaded your brush, apply the paint to the desired surface by holding the brush at an angle and drawing the tip gently along the area to be painted. Again, you don't want to "scrub" or mash the brush down. Let capillary action do the work for you - this will result in a more precise and even coat of paint.


SUMMARY
So now you know the essentials of preparing your paint to the proper consistency so that it will flow onto and off of the brush properly, without going on too thick and without drying on the brush too rapidly. That concludes our introductory series on choosing and using the right paints.

If you've followed along with the daily articles, you should now be ready to begin painting! Upcoming articles will examine the step-by-step process of painting an individual miniature from start to finish. This process will be broken down into in-depth examinations of basecoating, shading, layers, highlighting and glazes, and sealing the finished miniature to protect all of your careful work. Thanks for reading!

CHOOSING (AND USING) THE RIGHT PAINTS: PART THREE - Primer

                In the two previous articles of this series, we talked about what type of paint to use, what brands are recommended, and what colors to choose when getting started.  The third segment of the series will deal with the first of the auxiliary products you will want to have on hand to get the best results.

What is an "Auxiliary" product?

                This term refers to products that are not strictly "paint" in and of themselves, but are instead products which are applied prior to painting, used to shade, or used to finish a painted model.  To obtain the best results, they are equally as important as your basic paints - and used properly, they can make even the simplest paint job look even more spectacular!

Step One: Primer

Why do I need to prime a model?  Why can't I just start with the base coat?

                That's a question I've heard frequently from inexperienced painters.  Uusually the question is followed some time later by "Why does it take so many base coats to cover this bare metal?" or "Why do my figures all seem to chip and the paint rubs off?"

                Primer exists for a very specific and important purpose.  A bare metal or plastic miniature is very smooth and doesn't offer a good texture to which we will apply a base coat.  Primer is formulated to adhere to a surface and offer a good "tooth" for a basecoat to be applied.  Furthermore, standard paints do not offer the level of resistance to wear and chipping that a gaming miniature will need.  Unless you're sealing your finished model in a showcase, never to be played with, this is a very important consideration.  A good undercoat will improve the durability of your work.

                A lot of people use basic automotive primer (like Rustoleum) to prime their models.  This has the benefit of giving an extremely durable base upon which to paint, but even when done properly, it can obscure the fine details on the miniature if you want an even coat.  If you are going to use a spray primer, I would recommend one specifically designed for miniatures.  Citadel and Army Painter make spray primers for this purpose.

                What color you use depends on what you are painting.  If you're going for brighter colors, a white primer is recommended.  If you want the overall look of the finished product to be darker and more muted, a black primer is the way to go.  Later on, I'll be discussing a couple of ways to use a black primer to really bring out highlights and details on a mini.  A grey primer is a good choice for a "middle of the road" overall hue. 

                If you are painting a particular type of model, you may find that the Citadel or Army Painter line of sprays or the AV line of liquid primer (more on this shortly) have a specific color that's perfect for your models!  When painting Space Wolves (my favorite), Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Ultramarines or even Orcs, there's a color primer that's a perfect match.  This will save you a couple of layers on the base coat, preserving the detail of your model.

                If using any aerosol product (primer, basecoat or varnish), please keep the following things in mind:

Spray outdoors or in a ventilated spray booth - even in acrylic spray, the organic vapors from the solvents in the spray can cause short-term symptoms like headache and difficulty breathing.  Prolonged misuse can make these problems permanent, and can literally make you stupid.

Do not spray in times of high humidity - Even if your porch or garage is sheltered from rainfall, the humidity in the air can become trapped within the spray coating you are applying.  This can lead to a nasty texture that is impossible to remove, and if it's a topcoat, can become cloudy, permanently ruining all of your hard work.  Wait until it's dry out or use a brush-on topcoat indoors.

Make sure the temperature is moderate - If it's really hot outside when you spray, the paint will actually dry before it reaches the model and you'll find the undercoat has a granular texture.  If it's too cold, the undercoat will take too long to dry and may run on the model.  The closer the outdoor weather is to room temperature, the better your results will be!

Shake Well! - Shake the can until it starts to rattle, and then continue shaking for 30-60 seconds to really mix the paint with the propellant.

Sweep each spray evenly across the model - Start spraying before the model and end your pass afterwards.  Spraying directly onto the model will cause the spray coat to pool and ruin the detail.  Each pass should be slow enough to evenly apply the undercoat, but fast enough to prevent pooling.

Several light coats are better than one heavy coat - You will best preserve the detail of your model by applying a number of light undercoats from different angles, rather than saturating it in a single go.

Give it time to dry - Allow at least 4-6 hours for your undercoat to dry completely, but a full 24 hours is even better.  I know you want to get right down to painting, but if the undercoat doesn't get time to dry, your base coat can come out smudgy or you will not get the proper resistance to chipping and wear.  Remember that you are going to be handling these models frequently.

                As you can see, a spray primer can be a big pain to use.  The weather conditions have to be just right , the application has to be just right, and it takes a long time to get the undercoat done evenly.  Is it worth the one benefit - exceptional wear resistance?

                The short answer is: No.  The long answer is: Hell No, not at all!  There is a product that was recommended to me a few years ago that really changed how I prepare models for painting.  This miracle product is called Vallejo Acrylic Polyurethane Surface Primer.  It is available in the standard 17ml dropper bottle or a larger 60 ml bottle.  There are so many advantages to this product:

• It cleans up with water like any other acrylic paint.
• It is "self-levelling" which means it does not pool in recesses.
• It leaves an extremely thin coating to preserve all the fine detail of the model.
• It dries very quickly - Within 20-30 minutes instead of 4-6 hours per coat.
• It is incredibly durable and when properly applied, will make your model very wear-resistant.
• It can be brushed on or applied with an airbrush.
• It comes in 16 different colors, including black, white, and grey.

                This is the product I use on nearly all my work except for larger models like tanks.  I have a large bottle each of black, white and grey, and it only takes a few drops to prime a standard human-sized miniature.  I wouldn't use anything else and I guarantee you will be pleased with the results.  No other brush-on primer has come close, so don't waste your time and money on Citadel's "Imperial Primer" or similar brush-on primers from other lines.

Pro-Tip: Primer Highlights and Drybrush UnderCoat Highlights

                As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, there is a way to use a black undercoat to help accentuate the highlights on a model or to simulate lighting.  After the black undercoat is applied and dry, you can use a white spray primer from whatever direction the light would be striking the figure (usually above).  This spray coat should be light and does not need to cover the area completely.  Note that this is a technique you probably will not want to use until you get some experience with the more traditional painting techniques (Even I don't honestly use it, but it can produce amazing results).

                A similar technique that's easy for beginners is a drybrush undercoat highlight.  After your sprayed or brushed-on black undercoat has dried, gently drybrush the entire figure with your white basecoat or layer paint (do not use the primer for this).  Watch as all the detail pops out!  It will help you identify specific areas to basecoat in given colors, and it will naturally help to shade and highlight those colors as they are applied (assuming that you apply your paint properly, in thin layers).  Give it a try, you'll be amazed at the results.

CHOOSING (AND USING) THE RIGHT PAINTS: PART TWO

In Part One, we discussed why acrylic paint is the preferred choice for miniature painting, and what brands are best suited to the way we are doing it. Now that we know what kind of paint to get and which brands are ideal, you'll want to know what colors to get and what other products you will want to go along with it.


Step One: Start Simple
With all of the color choices out there, it's easy for a beginning painter to be intimidated by the wide array of paints available in the larger lines. If you include the auxiliary products, Citadel has 160 colors, AV Game Color has 128, and Formula P3 has a "mere" 72 to choose from!

If you have the means, it's tempting to buy the entire line of your chosen brand. It's what I did when AV Game Color came out, and if it makes you happy, I won't stop you. But let me share a couple of observations before you commit a few hundred dollars to buying paint:

First - You don't need all those colors!

If you buy an entire line, odds are there will be some colors you'll never even open, even after years of painting. That's money that could have been spent buying more miniatures to paint! That's something I've personally experienced, and the only reason I bought the set of AV paints is because I could not predict what colors I might need when doing commission work.

Also - don't commit to a single brand.
While you may find that a particular brand is more suitable for you, there's no law against buying colors from another brand for a particular purpose. Maybe you just love P3 paints for their ability to thin so well without losing color (and that's the best reason there is!), but since the other major lines have about twice as many colors, you may find that another range has just the perfect shade for what you are doing. That's perfectly fine, buy it too! The main thing is to have whatever colors you need to make your model look great - who cares which brand they are once they're on the finished product?

So, you know you don't need to buy them all, and you know you don't need to stick to just one brand - but which colors do you need to start out? The simple answer is: It depends on what you are painting. That's not a complete answer, but we'll go into further detail in a moment.

If you're painting a mini from Warhammer or 40K, or a mini from Warmachine or Hordes, this step becomes simpler as the manufacturers also have their own paint lines. You will usually find a key on the package letting you know what colors were used. If not, look at a picture of the finished product and see what colors seem to match.  You may discover that Citadel and Privateer name many of their colors after the intended use - for instance, Caliban Green is the obvious perfect shade for painting a Dark Angels Space Marine!  Most paint lines have a key showing which colors are used as a shade or highlight for the base colors - it's good to have those resources when making your selections. Here are a couple of examples for the P3 line:

Formula P3 Mixing Chart
Formula P3 Paint Reference Sheet

Citadel and Vallejo also have similar charts, which may be on display in the store where you're buying the paint. If not, ask someone! Most of the people in hobby and game stores know a lot about the products, because they are hobbyists themselves! If all else fails, politely ask another gamer which colors to use for your particular needs. Most will be happy to share their knowledge and welcome a new painter into the fold.


But you still haven't told me exactly which colors to buy!
Okay, fine - I apologize if we went off on a (necessary) tangent. Regardless of what you intend to paint (and especially if you haven't chosen what to paint yet), there are certain colors every painter should have in their paint box:

• Black (P3 Thamar Black is my preference, but you could use AV #51 Black or Citadel's Abaddon Black)
• White (P3 Morrow White, AV #01 Dead White or Citadel White Scar)
• A basic Red (Citadel's Mephiston Red is my favorite, but P3 Khador Red Base or AV #10 Bloody Red will do, too)
• A basic Blue (P3 Cygnar Base Blue, AV #21 Magic Blue, or Citadel Altdorf Guard Blue)
• A basic Yellow (P3 Cygnus Yellow, AV #05 Moon Yellow or Citadel Yriel Yellow)
• A basic Green (P3 Gnarls Green, AV #29 Sick Green or Citadel Warpstone Glow)
• A mid-range Brown (Citadel Mournfang Brown, P3 Bootstrap Leather, or AV #40 Leather)
• A flesh tone (P3 Midland Flesh, AV #36 Bronze Fleshtone or Citadel Kislev Flesh)
• A bare metal color (P3 Cold Steel, Citadel Runefang Steel or AV #53 Chainmail Silver)

When you are just starting out, you don't want to be worrying about mixing colors, so if you know you will need other specific colors, do not hesitate to pick them up.

Best of all, each line has a beginner's paint set available. These sets contain a good array of colors to meet your basic painting needs. If you don't find them on your store shelves, ask your retailer to order them, or buy online:
 AV Introduction paint set
Citadel Base Paint Set

Formula P3's paint sets are faction-specific, but I recommend the Iron Kingdoms Colors set to get most of your basics, and then the rest separately - or get the Khador, Cygnar and Skorne sets to round out what you need (you'll have an extra Thamar Black and Solid Gold if you get all 4 - don't worry, you'll surely use them eventually. they are the two colors I needed to replace most recently.)


SUMMARY
Now you know what colors to look for when getting started, and why it's not necessary to buy an entire line - or even to stick to a single line at all! You'll have selected your basic colors and probably spent around $50 total. You have all the colors you need to get started!

In the next article, we will discuss the auxiliary paint products you will want to have on hand to get the best results from your painting. Stay tuned!

CHOOSING (AND USING) THE RIGHT PAINTS: PART ONE

As the name of this blog is The Sage Brush, it was only natural that our first technical article was about selecting and properly using the right paint brushes. But TSB is, after all, a painting blog, and what would a painting blog be without an early and in-depth discussion of paints?


We have already discussed why the right brush is the most important acquisition for painting - but a paint brush isn't very useful without the paint, is it? As with brushes, choosing the right paint is so essential for the best results possible.


ENAMELS OR ACRYLICS?
The first question is: Which type of paint should I use, enamel or acrylic? To find our answer, let us look at the benefits and drawbacks of each:

Enamels: Pros: Durable and chip-resistant, longer drying time (to enable blending)

Cons: Requires solvents to clean up, paint and solvents have strong odors and possibly harmful vapors, can be flammable, longer drying time (increases the amount of time to finish the work). May damage certain plastics, depending on the solvents used.

Acrylics: Pros: Cleans up with water, non-toxic, no vapors. Faster drying time.

Cons: Faster drying time (not as much time for blending), can rub or chip easily.
As we can see, enamels don't offer a lot of benefits, but there are a lot of reasons not to use them. And those reasons aren't reasons with easy workarounds. With acrylics, however, the drawbacks can be easily avoided with a couple of readily available products. We will go into those a little later and in future articles, but for now, suffice it to say: Acrylics are the indisputable best choice for miniature painters.
To be sure, there are some painters out there who do absolutely magnificent work with enamels, but they are very skilled and very experienced painters. They're not the sort who visit painting blogs like this, they are the sort who write their own blogs. They also have ventilated spray booths, airbrushes, and protective respiratory equipment.

So, for the purposes of this blog (and probably all future content), we will operate under the assumption that you will be brush painting with acrylics. I stopped using enamels over 25 years ago and I think my results (and my health) are better for it.


WHAT BRANDS DO YOU RECOMMEND?
There are an awful lot of brands of acrylic paints available to the hobbyist - some are far more suitable for this hobby than others. If you go to an art store or craft store, most of the types you will find are not going to give the best results. Generally speaking, you want to avoid any paint that comes in a toothpaste-like tube as these paints are far too thick for the type of painting we do. I also do not recommend the acrylic "craft paints" that come in bottles that look like trial size shampoo. These paints do not have the adhesion characteristics we need, and tend to go on far too heavily to get a thin, uniform coating like we need.

You will want to select a brand that's designed specifically for plastic/resin models and metal miniatures. The best places to look for these are game stores and hobby/train stores. There are still many brands to choose from; I would not personally recommend Polly, Humbrol or Tamiya for brush painting. I was never pleased with Humbrol or Polly acrylics when I used them many years ago, and while I did use Tamiya paints when airbrushing armor models, that's a topic for an advanced article much farther down the road.

So, what brands do I recommend for brush painting miniatures - and why? Here's my go-to list:

Vallejo Game Color - This is the line that I recommend most highly. They are of a similar formulation to the Vallejo Model Color line (AV's FAQ says that they have "a lower viscosity than Model Color and a resin more resistant to frequent handling"), but Game Colors are more brilliant than the matte Model Colors and thus, usually more suitable to our purposes.

A huge benefit of this product is that they come in 17ml dropper bottles, which are compact, long-lasting, and discourage you from painting right out of the pot (we will discuss why that's bad in an upcoming article). I bought a complete set of AV Game Color paints about 15 years ago, and with proper care and occasional thinning, stirring and cleaning of the removable dropper nozzles, they've lasted me quite well. I've only had to replace a few colors in that time. AV also makes many auxiliary products that I highly recommend for painting - brush-on primers, varnish, thinners, and mediums which will help you to get the best results.

Citadel Color - When I began painting with acrylics, Citadel was the only serious paint line designed for what we do. This was when I learned that Humbrol and Polly acrylics were unsuitable for miniature painting. Citadel's advantage is their "technical" approach to miniature painting. Their painting guides are second-to-none and I highly recommend the "How to Paint Miniatures" book and accompanying DVD, as well as any of their many painting guides specific to the army or faction you may be using.

The "technical" approach refers to the division of paint products into various types, depending on application. The painter will use a given Base paint to undercoat the model, applying a wash of a particular Shade to that, and then painting one or more Layer paints to establish the overall color of an area. Onto this, the hobbyist can apply a drybrush highlight using the Dry line, but I recommend edge highlighting using one of the Edge paints (or even a lighter Layer) instead. They also have a variety of Glaze colors; a Technical line for effects like rust, oxidation, corrosion or blood; and a Texture line for easy basing and similar effects (I do not recommend this unless you are painting line troops to a tabletop quality).

All in all, the Citadel line has come a long way and has helped enthusiasts to pioneer new techniques for amazing results. I remember when they released the Expert set of inks in 1990, and seeing the amazing effects we could achieve with ink washes. The paints in the old vinyl flip-top bottles have lasted incredibly well - I still have a blend for Space Wolves that's kept its consistency for 25 years! The newer hard topped pots are easier to open, but they don't close so well - it's easy for paint to accumulate along the rim or to otherwise fail to close them fully, causing the paint to dry out rapidly. I learned to my chagrin that "Liquid Green Stuff" quickly becomes "SOLID Green Stuff" when it's not fully and properly closed.

I would say that about half of my most widely-used paints are Citadel colors, because of their approach to painting and the specific applicability of their specialty paint lines.

Formula P3 - No, this is not a new format for auto racing. It is a line of paints by Privateer Press, the company that produces Warmachine and Hordes. Like the Citadel range, these colors are intuitively designed for easy shading and highlights - it's easy to tell which colors to use together.

The biggest reason for using P3 paints is that they have a liquid pigment base - this allows them to be thinned without separation or loss of brightness. This is very important, as later on we will discuss why you want to thin your paints rather than using them at the out-of-the-pot consistency. Coverage is fantastic with P3 paints - but I don't buy the "single coat" line in most cases. Don't worry about that, as in a later segment you will see why several thin coats are better than one thick one.

One note of caution: The original P3 metallics had some significant issues and are not recommended. These metallics had the white label like the rest of the line. Privateer responded to the issue by reformulating the metallic line and releasing new metallic colors with a black label. The black-labelled metallics are great, just like the rest of the P3 line.

These are the three primary brands I use - I do not have much experience with the Reaper Master Series paints or the Army Painter line, but I've heard no complaints and I leave it to the individual to decide for themselves if these products are suitable. One brief but very significant recommendation, however, goes to Army Painter Quick Shades. When Citadel reformulated a few years ago, painters lamented the loss of Devlan Mud and Badab Black, and noted how Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil were not exact substitutes. However, Army Painter's Soft Tone, Strong Tone and Dark Tone should be in every miniature painter's arsenal, regardless of what other lines you use. They are truly that versatile and that essential for best results.


SUMMARY
Herein, we have discussed why acrylics are the medium of choice for our particular applications, and what brands provide the best options and have delivered the best results. in Choosing (and Using) The Right Paints: Part Two, we will discuss which specific colors and auxiliary products every painter should have in their box, and later we will discuss the best methods of controlling consistency, flow, and properly loading a brush.

SURE... BUT IS IT "ART"?

Today, I wanted to talk about the concept of miniature painting as a valid art form. Art, like beauty, is a purely subjective concept - but as individuals who share certain interests (painting minis and usually gaming with them), I think we have a certain common ground as to what we could objectively call "art".

For most of my painting "career", I never really thought of painting miniatures as a form of art. In fact, it wasn't until recently that my perspective began to change. Two of my friends are painters and illustrators in a more "traditional" sense, but they also happen to be gamers and I've faced each of them across the 40K table before. Coincidentally, they both play the same faction - Eldar. I'm not sure if that's indicative of anything.

David Crowell is a man of many talents - an exceptional gamemaster, humanitarian, art proprietor, naturalist and painter who lives in the Adirondacks in Northern NY. His "plein air" paintings naturally feature outdoor scenes, often those of coastlines, forests and fishing. But he's also painted gaming miniatures and written for tabletop gaming supplements.

Jason Ballard is an illustrator, gamer and beer connoisseur, whose largest paintings have been human-sized (by means of a paintball gun). He has done commercial illustrations for several card games including Shadowfist and Legend of the Five Rings. He's also been known to paint and play with gaming miniatures as a hobby.

Both of these friends made me look at this hobby differently, as an art form. It was due to their responses to my compliments on their own art work. I'm not at all talented at illustrating or drawing on a flat, blank surface - I've often said that if you handed me a sharp pencil, I'd be more likely to draw blood than anything else. Admiring their pictures, I noted that I could never imagine painting as well as either of them did. They both responded in a similar fashion, saying something along the lines of "You paint these amazing miniatures, better than I have ever done... and you tell me you have no artistic talent?"

That was some serious food for thought. Many traditional elements of art are present in this hobby - choice of colors and color schemes, shading and highlighting, simulation of scale and verisimilitude, a wide degree of artistic interpretation and portrayal, use of paints and brushes... the only real difference in this hobby is the particular medium to which these materials and techniques are applied. Instead of a canvas, we apply them to a tiny model. For those who indulge in conversions and customizations, there's even a certain element of sculpture to what we do.

So why, I begin to ponder, is the hobby of miniature painting not typically considered an art form, even by those of us who participate in it? Is it because the figures are often used for tabletop gaming, which has fought for its own validity for nearly 40 years? Is it because gaming is regarded by some as a "childish" or immature pastime? Or is it just because properly appreciating a well-painted miniature is best accomplished by someone who is familiar with the game from which it originates?

I have seen some absolutely epic miniatures and dioramas that would put to shame some of the more "traditional" art works I've seen in museums. And I've seen many miniatures that were inspired, directly or indirectly, by well-regarded works of fantasy artists such as Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo. It cannot be coincidence that Vallejo created his own line of paints and supplies for miniature and model painters.

And it makes me wonder - would some of the most popular classical artists have indulged in this hobby, had it been available to them at the time? I can imagine that DaVinci would have found tabletop gaming to be quite fascinating, and might well have designed rules for miniatures he sculpted and painted by himself. I can envision a "painterly" tabletop army by VanGogh, and I have no doubt at all that Michelangelo would have an absolutely rockin' Blood Angels army. But that's all just speculation; until someone invents a time machine we have no way to know for sure.

Ultimately, art is, at its essence, a form of creative expression. There can be no doubt that this hobby qualifies as "art" under that most basic definition. Roger Ebert may not have considered gaming an art form, in spite of it possessing all of the elements that make movies an art form - narrative, continuity, setting a scene, characters - but we, as gamers, know better.

So now that you see how easily we can regard this hobby as a valid form of artistic expression, it is my hope that this will inspire you to seek that artist within yourself. Find that creative spark of imagination that will take you beyond just slathering some paint onto a tiny toy soldier, and let these little models become true works of ART!