The art of Painting and modelling (random thoughts)

greetings readers!!

i just wanted to throw together this short lil presentation/read abt some personal thoughts of mine regarding our hobby of modelling.

i dont really know where to begin but i guess that this is in a way just a little post regarding my thoughts and maybe some tips and tricks that can get you a long way in regards to painting.

First off, here are a couple of really important things you need to remember. YOU ARE NEVER THE BEST PAINTER. This is something that is fairly important to me. I hear and see alot of people that are incredibly arrogant because of their painting skills. this pisses me off alot. Our hobby is something that takes years to develope and some people might not have as much time to practice, or money to fund our hobby or whatever the reason is, but they may not be at your level. DO NOT BE AN A$$HOLE because of that. If somebody compliments your work. TRY to be modest. Say what you think you could improve on or explain what you might have done differently next time and also try and maybe share the techniques used to paint your model. nobody likes to get a reply like "yeah i know its nice." If you say that to me i promise you will be on my shit list for good and it doesnt matter what you say you will always remain there.

also remember, YOU CAN NEVER LEARN TO MUCH. Dont be shy, ask questions. from both experienced painters and new painters alike. This will always help you increase your knowledge base and you can learn thigns from the wierdest and most unsuspecting places. So if you are wondering something, ask. Also feel free to let that person know that you will try to replicate their techniques or make your own version of it. This is vital because at the end of the day the skillz that you have are all learnt from somewhere, and its always nice to know where you learnt it from. your painting tool box of techniques will take years to develope from many different places and some jsut out of pure luck will come from your own creativity(bear in mind that for it to be a succesful outcome, these types of ideas dont come along TOO often so make the msot of them.) Also if you have the time, look up tutorial videos on how to paint certain ways and how to do certain things. Just by watching this i can say that i feel that  have personalyl improved alot over the years simply by trying to be perceptive and practicing thigns that i know how to do. My old martial arts instructor once told me that you will never learn the beauty of a simple punch until you become a black belt, because once you reach that stage you will start from scratch and completely understanding what a punch is. This really applies to modelling.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. I think this is kinda self explanatory. But it is SOOOO VITAL. once you reach a stage where you feel that you might not know what to practice on next pick the thing you hate the most and work on that. I had this problem with Flesh earlier on in my painting career. It was the bane of my existence and i hated it. I did everything i could to avoid painting flesh. simply because i felt that when i did it i was not happy with the outcome. So one fine day i sat down in front of a model that was almost all flesh and thought "im not gonna paint anything else till i am happy with you. " and that is exactly what i did. I painted and repainted the model a ridiculous number of times till i was somewhat satisfied with the outcome. Then i started to apply what i had learnt here to other models that had flesh parts to it, and at the end of the day i this was a great learning curve for me. I now really enjoy painting flesh and i love experimenting with different tones and seeing different results and so on by trying new things. I even try to put as much flesh as i can in any models i assemble simply because i look forward to painting the flesh tones later on. Now my next goal is to learn how to paint black in a way that i am happy with.

the next important point is STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE. the comfort zone is always a comfrotable place to be in (DUUUUUHHHH) but what really makes us progress is moving out from our little shell that we live in and try something new. Through my 10 years of on and off painting warhammer and 40K i have painted almost every single race. Simply to learn and try soemthing new. What might work for one type of model, will possibly not work for another, and this is where you really learn how to adapt. After you get the hang of adapating you can look at a model and already see and figure out what you want to paint and how you want to paint it. So never try to limit yourself!!! However if you are working on personal projects, make sure it is something that you enjoy doing because if not its just gonna become a chore and the beauty of the hobby will be lost.

And last one for today is DONT EVER RUSH. To get into this hobby seriously you have to understand that you have time on your hands already. As a result use the time and make the most of it while you paint. Rushing will lead to unfinished details and your happiness with the outcome will not be as high as if you really put in effort into it. there are certain things you can do to make things easier like painting in a Production line manner where you paint everything at one go such as a base color for a batch of models. This helps you psychologically as you wont be so disheartened when you finish one model and realize that yippee i have another 47 models to paint exactly the same way. Taking your time however wil llet you achieve results that you are happy with. I honestly find that working with deadlines is a dangerous thing. For me for example as a commission painter i paint almost all hours of the day. During the day time when i am working on projects for clients i will do my best to make sure that my levels are maintained high. But that is only because i want to be professional when it comes to work. ALOT of people hate their job, but they do it will anyway because they have to be professional. By no means am i saying that i hate my job. i LOVE it. but i have very little time to work on my own personal projects because all my time is spent on painting for clients. bottom line is though, take your time and you will be much happier with yourself at the end of the day.

Hope this helped you guys out a bit!!! I dont know how much but maybe it was just something useful to read or whatever. But ya. I dunno. LOL

Take care and stay tuned for more!!!

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Studio update! Whats been happening recently and what is coming up??

Greetings readers!!!

so i have thought about it and seen that many of the other great studio blogs out there regularly post updates on what they are working on things that are happening. So i thought to myself why not?? i should probably do that too! Might help me get more readers that see progress of work that i do regularly rather than jsut posting tutorials every now and then and product reviews. All people arent really into this kind of thing. SO im going to get straight to it!!

Recently i have been at it with quite a few different projects. Firstly i have been working on my own personal Dark vengeance set. I love the models in this set on both the imperium and chaos sides and its just a magnificent box. However when it comes to painting my own personal thigns i put in alot of time and effort as i feel that although this is a hobby i let it take hold of my artistic self and i can express myself in ways that i cant in regular everyday mundane life. For commission work i do ofcourse put in alot of effort as this is a job that i absolutely love and i have so much. I get to paint lots of different models, experiment alot, do things differently from how i might normally do on my own models etc etc, but this is however still a job. The models i paint for others dont have the same intrinsic value that my own models do. So i hope that explains why i put more effort into my own models. my prices also vary based on requests from customers so if they want something that i paint at the standard i paint my own things prices do apply ;)


But anyway back to the point. Dark vengeance. So far i have painted up the 5 deathwing terminators, one helbrute and have started working on the cultists and also the chaos marines(still only in assembly stages though)


I will be using the chaos marines and cultists as a core starting point for my up and coming word bearers army That i will be starting at the end of this. Trust me, it will be epic. So without further ado, here are some of the models.

first we have the cultist big boss

The skin was airbrushed over a Vallejo grey primer. First i started with a layer of VMA Hemp, VMA Radome Tan, and then lastly i mixed in abit of VMA white and shot from above. Then i washed it with brown and green mixed with glaze medium. started with brown then i let that dry and then i used the green. The rest of the model was painting using colors i thought would suit the best. PRetty happy with him. As i mentioned they will be used as my WB army i made sure that there is atleast some form of red on the model somewhere to tie the models in with the rest of the upcoming army. Lastly i lightly played around with some of the Vallejo pigments to give a slight weathering effect on the cloak. 

Then come the Deathwing

I am very happy with how they turned out. I think they look pretty awesome (kissing my own a$$) and each one took me about a day to complete. I airbrushed the white bone color. Started off wit ha grey base coat (vallejo Grey Primer) and then i did my first layer of paint which was Vallejo Beasty brown. I focused this on the areas that were darkest, and shot in an upwards direction. This allowed me to add nice shadows that contrasted smoothly with the bone color. I put this specifically in areas like armpits, between legs, under shoulderpads and general dark areas. Then again i used VMA Radome Tan and shot this at a straight on angle, This let me hit most of the areas of the armour and still keep the shadows. Then i used pure VMA White and shot straight down only hitting shoulders and top of head and stuff like that. Then i washed it with Vallejo wash Brown. The otehr details where painted with relevant colors. Oh yes and also i am not pleased with the bases (at all) so i will be redoing them in the near future once i have time. I dont think they look bad, but not up to my standard and also they are not matching the bases i use for the rest of my Dark Vengeance sets. Want them to match

Currently i am also working on a FW Drop pod for a customer. I have already painted up three in this color scheme and i am pleased with them so far, with pretty heavy weathering too. Not much to say about them but here is the current WIP one and also one shot of two of the earlier completed ones!

Currently also working on some Alaitoc eldar for another client of mine. I as actually pleasantly surprised. I never really liked eldar coz i thought that they were too hard to paint. This was however a reallllllllly long time ago, and through the years i have managed to learn a few things that have helped me paint them with pretty decent results. So i have been working on a Fire prism for this dude and i am happy with the model so far!! I am jsut in need of adding some decals then it will be done. Also did a snow base for the fireprism as i have done all of the his other eldar with this type of basing. Sorry the pic of the Fire prism isnt the best, so ya forgive me. Oh ya and forgot to mention that the turret has been magnetized so i showed one of guns being a fireprism and the other is a deathspinned thingy. jsut for show.

Next up is my librarian from Dark vengeance!!! Pretty happy with him. He has been sitting around on my desk for a few month incomplete but finally managed to finish him up the other day so thats good :)

Very happy with how he turned out. Like how robust this model looks too. However i have always hated the librarian swords with those stupid designs on them (think they look like some weird elvish design from LOTR or something) So i shaved those lines off and painted the sword too look like crackling fire of some sort stuck in a power sword. He is after all a librarian and uses powers of the warp ;)

Last but not least one of the more important personal projects i have been doing is my helbrute. primarily its so important because i used him to figure out the color scheme for my word bearers. Personally i love the color so will definitly be going with this. 

I cant even start to explain how i painted the flesh tones because it was all jsut a mix of everything and putting things where ever they looked good so ya. But the armor hoever was important. What i did was that i started of with a bright red and then i did a brown trim around each armour panel (all done with airbrush) This gave a nice solid base color and a good. It was important to get this stage done right. Then i did around 2 layers of a red glaze jsut to make the red really pop and blend in the edge trim of brown. This was then followed by a wash of Vallejo brown mixed 1:1 with their gloss varnish. The results can be seen above. Its simple, not too time consuming, and i think it looks perfect for a WB color scheme. Then did the trims with VMA Steel and washed it with Vallejo wash Black. Also wanted to some extensive base work on this guy. His base is two layers of cork sheet coz i really wanted him to tower of the rest of the models in the set. THen i added some junk and debris and then i covered alot of the base with some textured paints. In this case i used Vallejo Red Oxide. once the base grey shades were done i did some pigment work and jsut kinda used a few different pigmetns and jsut put them a bit all over the place to add a little bit of color. Then i also did a little pool of sewage run off some sort on the back of the base just to add a bit of character. All in all i am VERY happy with how he turned out. 

well thats all for this post folks!! Will keep you guys posted on anything else up and coming! :D

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(Product Review) VALLEJO WASHES WOOOOHOOOO!!!!

Greetings people!

Wow it sure has been a few really screwed up weeks with a hell of a lot to do both in terms of school and other things happening (work, Music, etc) BUT FINALLY i have managed to find some time to do another review of the Washes!!

Firstly before i go into the details about this review i just want to let people know and highlight that almost every single person i know does their washing differently so do keep this in mind when you use washes or make your own. It is extremely important for you to understand that what might turn out your way for you might vary alot from another individual. 

NOW something else i need to say is that there are many ways to prep your models before washing, and all of these also play a huge part in the outcome of the model and how it looks so keep that in mind!!! Some people jsut wash the whole thing in one specific color like black or brown or whatever color. Some people use different color washes for different areas or only use a certain wash for certain colors. Some people varnish before washing to make sure they minimize surface tension and making sure the wash flows well (the vallejo varnishes are great if you are working with Vallejo washes). I myself have a weird way of working with washes that many people are not very used to. I have seen it happen a few times but i must admit i am one of the only people i know that regularly does this. But what i do is that i paint a base color, then i wash it, and then i paint on top of this. Reason i do this is because it gives a very nice and subtle change and blend when it comes to shading. Therefore if you ever have the time give it a try!!! 

Finally on to the actual review of the vallejo washes hahahaha.

OK, so basically the vallejo washes are great. I could be an idiot and leave it at that and say nothing more but ofcourse that wouldnt be fair to you all taking the tiem to read this looooooong and tedious article. Back to the point, the washes are great. They have an extremely interesting range of colors and what i really like about them is that they have very natural colors. The natural colors gives a hell of a lot of different ways you can combine colors with washes and get different effects based on what you are looking for. So this is definitly something that people should look into. However there are not really any funky funky colours like purple or blue and stuff. But honestly, i feel that if you are washing over a color like blue you dont need blue but rather a black or grey shade.      *note* all of the washes reviewed here are done on a test model that has simply been primed white. NO VARNISHING OR ANYTHING ELSE HAS BEEN DONE. HOWEVER IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED WHEN WORKIGN WITH THESE WASHES

Which brings me to my next point. Vallejo actually has a few colors which are very unique. They have a GREY wash. This grey wash is outstanding. It is used like any other wash but instead of giving clear and deep dark lines at shading areas it gives a more subtle variation between colors and can help to eliminate the unnatural look. Because honestly, if you are spending alot of time and not to mention money on your models you want them to look as bad ass and natural as possible when you are done right????!!!! so do look into using grey as an alternative. Will give more details on the black later.

But here you see what the grey looks like. Take note at how nice and sublte it highlights all the details. 

Now for the next one we have another color which may not be common to see in washes but is honestly very highly appreciated. Dark yellow. Just look at that wonderful deep and rich color. Keep in mind that this is jsut one layer of the wash. And yo usee how deep and rich the color is. This dark yellow wash can be used for MANY things. Primarily ofcourse washing yellow. Yellow is a ridiculously tedious colour to paint where you need like 1245823948750916427 thin layers of yellow for it to actually look yellow, but this wash helps alot. To start with you can use it over a nice and flat white base color and just wash this and you will see the details beneath. if you want it darker ofcourse jsut wash it again. Its that easy. Another great use of thsi wash is if you are working with OSL lighting from a fire or open flame for example. Ofcourse you can go through the process of manually painting hte glow on flesh or wherever you need the shine but if you are painting a flesh tone that is getting hit by a flame this wash can help you a lot. as you can see it gives of a nice warm yellow which fits perfectly with OSL lighting and you can easily use this to add nice gradients of lighting. However if you are doing this i recommend you thin it down. This gives you mroe control over how strong you want the color as the closer it is to the light source the stronger the light will be ofcourse.

Other than that it can actually be used in combination with other washes(or jsut this one alone) on Vallejos lighter colored textures like their white pumice. It can give a very nice sandish type of color (if you want this shade of course) and once you have washed the pumice once its pretty much good to go. There wont be any need to paint or anything. VOILA, DARK YELLOW FTW PEOPLE!!!

By the way two different pictures under different shades of lighting to show the depth of the color

Next up is Dark Khaki Green. This color is absolutely beautiful. It flows very very well which means that most of the time the shading will fall exactly where you want it when using this color. This color is also great for a wholerange of uses. It works on many many colors and it really helps to get a gorgeous sense of depth when you use it to wash. This wash as it doesnt discolor very much is very easy to clean up as well. it works very well for khaki base colors (DUUUHHH) like pants and khaki uniforms and also great for painting camo as it has a very nice earthy color to it that also replicates the color of sand alot. The greenish tint that it has is also a very nice addition as it gives you a very big difference from a brown wash that. The green is also a very natural green as well that perfectly suits camo type of colors and also gives a very subtle and somehow at the same time strong contrast from regular brown washes. 

Again we have another brownish shade and this time its European Dust. This european dust wash gives a very rich and deep brown wash. Its not dark in anyway but its strong. Also if you compare it to the above wash, you can see that this one clearly has a colder feel to it whereby the Dark Khaki Green wash has a warmer feel where it is redder. This wash is one of the best all round washes vallejo has to offer along with the Light Grey wash that they have. You can use this brown on almost any type of base color and it will always give a wondrful color. It doesnt add too much tinting to a the base color but rather it gives a nice outline on the details (kinda like a not so harsh version of blacklining of details) It gives really nice depth to the washed area and thru this really makes alot of the details POP alot. Perfect for almost anything.

The Brown wash has many similar characteristics as te European Dust Wash. This is one of those wonderful washes that you can use on almost anything and it will do nothing but make them look better. It has a beautiful tone to it and gives you alot of room to play around espcially with the other brown shades from the Vallejo washes range. 

Now here comes a vey important wash for everybody. BLACK. Black wash is honestly one of the best washes they have. I love using it on metallic areas especially if they are machine related coz it gives of a really nice and gritty dirty metal type of texture that has gone through a fair amount of oil and soot and what not when it comes to all this type of stuff. The black wash is also perfect do doing panel lining as it flows perfectly on a proper base and also it gives a wonderful finished effect. It is also perfect to drybrush over especially if you are woking with metallics as it gives a very nice and natural change in the colors when combined with drybrushing. The black wash is also perfect dark base colors like coats or maybe a dark armor color. It really gives cery nice natural shading and it really helps to give a really strong POP around details, so this helps you and makes your life much easier as you dont have to worry about spending so much time on making details not look so flat. Also bear in mind that when painting with the black color it looks much darker when its still wet. So be careful when you paint with this color. Once the color dries it will stil lbe dark, but nowhere near as dark as when its wet. So be patient when painting with this color and work in a smart way. Dont overload or underwash or whatever. Just learn the feel of the wash before you start fully working with it. EXPERIMENT!!! Its always fun and it always gives you great inspiration!!

This Beautiful color is Vallejos Light rust wash. It is magnificent. Personally i have used this for ALOT of different thigns ranging from flames, to red armour and also rust (which i presume it is for). This color functions very much like the Dark Yellow wash earlier shown, as it really helps to amplify the desired color and it gives an intense and deep final product that will bring you close to a visual orgasm. this wash also works great if you mix it with some of the earlier washes such as the brown wash if you are not looking for such a strong orange tint to the wash. It is very very friendly to work with and it gives wonderful results. It works Much better as rust than i thought it would but for this specific color make sure you paint in many thin layers if you want a deeper color. Partially because this stops pooling from happening and it also lets you determine what stage of rusting the model is in. Also it gives you a much greater control of the finished piece. This wash really gives you a chance to let the creative juices flow. You can use it for so many things and it only helps you (all you need to do is let it help you hahahaha) I am sure that the uses i have used it for is not even half of what its potential is. Not only can you use it on models but same like the earlier examples it works wodnerfully with the Vallejo textures if you are going for a dark red/ martian type of terrain themed base. If i could explain this wash in one word all i can say is WONDERFUL

Last but absolutly not least is the Oiled Earth Wash. This wash works alot like the European except this one has a slightly blackish tint to it. Fortunatly this cane only really be seen alot in the deepest recesses. Therefore this will be a small paragraph as most of the things that can be said about this wash apply similarly to their Brown wash and also their European earth. Kind of like a cross over between the two with a little bit of grey wash as well. It is a great color, but use it carefully and find out where you like it and how you choose to work with it.

As a little conclusion to this article i jsut want to say that i realyl applaud Vallejo for their washes. They are truly amazing. They work with everything and they have such a huge variety of washes (some of which i didnt even include) that are perfect for pretty much anything!!! Just the different shades of brown alone are fantastic and it lets you get more out of your painting! This allows you to use all your knowledge and improve your skills as a painter by constantly figuring out new nice color combinations and also washing in different ways to achieve different outcomes. Their washes are Truly great. I HIGHLY recommend these as i have pretty much changed all my previous washes and am almost solely using these at the moment and i am not complaining at all. However i did mention this in one of the earlier reviews, that make sure you shake them really well before you use them!!! sometimes the pigment collects at the bottom if you dont use them for a while ;)

Take care folks!!! If you need any tips or advice do feel free to message me on our FB page and also there are plenty more examples over there of the Vallejo washes used!!!

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