Open Discussion: The Army Painting Wall

Anyone who has painted, is in the process of painting, or just has painting an army on their mind knows just how hard it can be to get one finished.  It's hard to pin down just what it is that soaks up your motivation, but it always seems to happen.  The latest and hottest army release might have sparked all sorts of inspiration, research and planning, but once you're knee deep in the muck of it, your painting table starts to feel stagnant, the army in front of you in various stages of completion are no longer that super cool awesome force you saw months before on the internet.  How you get over that hump is always different from project to project and getting over it when it's your very first army is one of the most important things you'll ever accomplish in your hobby career! 

So how do you get through it?  It's not something that everyone can agree on how to go about, and it's going to haunt you every time you go forward, but 'the wall' has to be climbed if you're ever going to have a finished force to field.  Do you dig through the internet for some added pointers?  Go back through the army book a few more times to build your interest again?  Let them simmer on the back burner for a while as you paint something entirely different?  Play some games?  Get set up for a tournament? 

Your methods will vary and it's from those that everyone else can learn about a new way to slog through and get things done.  So, how do you get over the wall?

Open Discussion: How much airbrush?

As time trudges along and more and more painters around the world are finding the beauty of the airbrush, I have started seeing more and more wargaming models that put the wonderful tool to good use.  Some of the more pronounced of these examples make a serious use of the airbrush to go far beyond the simple base coating or even just a quick zenithal highlight.  They task their brush with actual highlights, added armor detailing and weapon effects.  I've seen many object source lighting examples done with an airbrush all around the web as well. 

The question at hand lies in the aesthetics inherent with airbrushing the majority of a model.  The finish feels softer in many cases.  Transitions more subtle, but at the same time noticeable as being airbrushed depending on the space.  There is a balancing act between brush and airbrush that many examples I've seen that are on the heavier end of either side.  Some use their airbrush for very simple tasks.  Others for as complex a task as they can possibly control.  There are others still that try to strike that balance between the speed of an airbrush and the look of the brush.  In the end, it's all up to the viewers, customers, or painters aesthetic choice.  How you perceive and enjoy a look of the finished model is what is most important. 

So lets have it.  How much airbrush do you like on your wargaming models?  Do you like more for something like a vehicle than say an infantry model?  Armor verses cloth?  The floor is yours. 

Open Discussion: Resin

Not to open a full out can of worms today with all of the Finecast talk, but it's hard to get around the topic right now with the internet being so abuzz with talk about the new move to resin by Games-Workshop.  Even RealGenius has posted a few of his first thoughts after picking up a model.  But this open forum won't be just about Finecast.  I want to talk about resin in general.  The things you like about it, the things you hate.  What are your best techniques for dealing with pits, warps and miscasts. 

From my own experience, I've only dealt with a handful of resin models and products.  The first of those being Forgeworld models.  The first of those being my Sons of Medusa Venerable Dreadnought Perseus.  I knew it was a different material to what I had been used to for so long when I bought the model, but I had hoped to be able to get away with many of the same methods I had been using up to that point.  In the end, that's exactly what happened.  I didn't find myself completely out of my element, the only change being that I had to give my models a short bath!  I used a sturdy super glue, cross hatched contact points, and generally went about things the exact same way as with metal models, with a touch more hold time for things to make a good connection when gluing.  The benefits of working with resin for me is the ability to cut, chop and convert an otherwise impossibly hard to work with metal model.  There won't be any more power drill head removals just waiting to glance off if it caught wrong and plunge into my wrist sending me screaming all the way to the hospital.  No slipping hobby knives punching their way through my thumb and leaving me with the odd bandage that's hard to explain to people outside of the hobby. 

This won't be the end of my work with metal models though.  I have a huge backlog.  I want to play new games that still produce metal pieces.  There is a ton of second hand stuff out there.  But I won't be going out of my way to buy the metal piece instead, especially when there is a conversion in mind.  More resin is only good for my hobby, which is why I see myself buying more Forgeworld every year! 

I want to hear your thoughts on working with resin!  Leave a comment, reply to someone with helpful links you've had stored away, or just put up your awesome links all on their own!  Share your knowledge and ask questions if you're new to the medium!  The floor is yours Corpsmen!

Open Discussion: Your Current Project

Today it's a little something different.  No crazy question or new big topic to consider.  Just an open forum for everyone to share what they are working on!  Share links, get feedback, and maybe push your work to the next level! 

With class looming on my end, things will unfortunately begin to slow down as I'm swamped again with last minute project work and paperwork.  But I'm hoping to continue working on my Sons of Medusa as the past weekends gaming has rekindled my desire to build the army up! 

So what's on YOUR table?  Have big plans?  Got some links you want to share?  Show your project logs on forums, your blog posts, even just photo links!  Be productive and get motivated! 

Open Discussion: Least Favorite Color

That's right, I want to know your least favorite color...to paint that is!  We've all got them and even after a bunch of years in the hobby, it's still a painful prospect to pop open that pot of poison.


It's a bitter prospect at best for myself when I have a model that requires a significant amount of bright yellow.  Sunburst Yellow is one of my all time hatreds within the GW paint line and for good reason.  The paint is easily one of the thinnest and least pigmented I've had the displeasure of using.  The coverage is horrendously uneven and even in a highlighting situation it's near useless!  All of these compound significantly when working to create a color scheme that uses this vibrant warm yellow as the predominant hue.  There are few colors I hate even a fraction as much and I suspect that will stand the test of time as I continue my hobby career!

So what's your least favorite color to paint?  Which gives you a fit every time you consider painting with it?  Find any great work around methods over the years to make things a touch simpler and help to keep the blood pressure down?  Share your stories! 

Open Discussion: New Grey Knights

Games-Workshop has a way of polarizing their fans with new releases for the most part.  The new Grey Knights as seen here don't seem to disappoint as a lot of people have mixed feelings about the latest set.  Past the 'thumbs up/thumbs down', there seem to be a lot of folks looking to use them for various projects with some of the bits within the boxed sets being quite cool.

Now that the shock of the new releases is starting to settle, I wonder what peoples thoughts are on the latest Grey Knight models.  How do they stack up to the old metals in your eyes?  Any Grey Knight players (current or new) out there gearing up for a bunch of new units?  How about you conversion types looking at new bits fodder, I'm really interested in hearing what you guys plan to do with some of those fun new pieces.  Is the latest rendition of the army a Go/No-Go in your eyes?

You've got opinions, so lets hear it.  And if you've got a great idea for an Open Discussion topic shoot us an email at ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com, leave us a message on our Facebook fan page, or tweet us @PaintingCorps on Twitter!

Open Discussion: Favorite Modeling Tools

Over the years you pick up a lot of miscellaneous tools for your modeling needs.  I've gone so far as to pick up most of the same tools you would need for home repair and improvement!  A fact not lost on my wife.  There are a ton of little tools as well that all have special and specific uses for each and every material you could be using on a certain project. 

The question today is all about your absolute favorite tools and equipment.  What tools would you say are a MUST HAVE for those just getting into the hobby?  What tool could you not go without?  Or just what are you constantly using? 

For me, when I'm thinking of modeling, I'm thinking of terrain.  Terrain building creates new challenges and makes you look for tools to speed things up and save you headaches.  One of the best purchases I've made in that regard was a hand held mouse sander.  When you're working with MDF board, there is nothing better than a power sander to bevel off those edges. 

So let's have it?  What is your absolute favorite modeling tool?  How about old tools you've found new uses for?  Comment, Reply, Discuss! 

Open Discussion: Terrain Tables

After taking to some really great tables at Showcase Games in Media, PA last weekend, I felt the urge to create my own table begin to burn deep inside my creative mind once more.  It's always there, lingering and waiting for a moment of weakness to come full force back to the front of my consciousness and soaking up hours upon hours of my time.  The planning, the thought process, the scouring of the internet looking for new sources of inspiration and images to work from as the idea grows and will likely no longer be able to stay contained to just the mental projection worked up inside of my skull. 

There is always a main point of contention though when I find myself pondering a new gaming table though, and that's modular vs. static terrain.  The logical side of me wants a modular table full of re-arrangeable terrain pieces that will allow for maximum replay value.  The creative side of me wants nothing more than complete and utter creative possibilities afforded by a completely static terrain table that ends up being more diorama than gaming piece.  In the end I try and find some balance between the two mindsets and create something that feeds the needs of both sides of my brain.

Past tables have been as simple as a plywood section painted with textured paint and drybrushed.  The terrain done completely modular on small MDF boards of their own to move about the table and mix things up.  While others have been as complex as a full modeled cityscape with sidewalks, blown apart streets and buildings that had rooms and hallways to create some truly intense room to room combat experiences!  I've even gone a nice mix where the hills and rock faces were modeled as one with tree templates and smaller hills to add elements to change things up from time to time.  

I can't help but wonder what it is that you as a gamer/modeler/painter enjoy the most when it comes to creating as amazing a gaming experience as possible?  If you were to play a one off game, what is your favorite?  If it is your only gaming table are you of a different mind?  Space not withstanding do you go with larger pieces of terrain to give the feel of a static and realistic table?  What would you make for your home? 

Open Discussion: Army Painting

With my latest project, I've decided to go all in and paint nearly the entire force at once.  It's a bold prospect that I'm sure the full ramifications won't be apparent until around 75% complete and I'm a jabbering mess curled up in a corner somewhere waiting to be carted off with a new comfy jacket that lets me hug myself.  But it's a leap I felt I had to make as all of my past projects seem to fall out of favor after just a few units are completed.

With my Grey Death space marines I didn't quite finish a single unit.  The Sons of Medusa found a much kinder fate but stalled out around 1500 points or so.  My Orks started life as an army quick paint but found no traction.  Eldar much the same fate as the orks. 

The time invested and set aside is also a major consideration this morning for me.  I'm finding I want to have the Space Wolves battle ready for the 22nd.  Dakkacon:  Philadelphia quickly approaches, and were I to have a completely new force for an event like that, it would be a major coupe against my horrendous case of modelers A.D.D. 

The question I present today is thus:  How do you approach an army paint?  Do you set a schedule?  Do you go all  in and paint it all at once?  Or are you a legacy painter, painting a unit or model at a time over the span of your hobby career?  How have you evolved over the years?

Open Discussion: Backlogs

I've been playing tabletop wargames for over a decade now.  In my hobby 'travels' I've started, stopped, reworked, continued to work on, and just completely forget about projects, armies, and one offs with casual ease.  Through that near criminal neglect, I've established quite a backlog of miniatures that likely won't see the light of my painting table for near another decade. 

There are models in boxes, in cases, on sprues, in the shrink wrap, floating loose in a plastic containers.  Some clipped from sprues and sorted into sorting bits boxes.  The various projects strewn throughout my hobby room spaces, which itself can at times be a whirlwind of random placement and boxes. 

With all of these models, I rarely have to make a purchase for my wargaming needs.  Most of my new models coming from doing friendly commissions or winning something at random which I seem to have a good amount of luck with.  When I'm in the mood for something different, I switch gears, find some inspiration and dig through those stacks of models to find something that will keep the spark of creativity alive. 

My 'hobby A.D.D' likely contributes to my backlog, but I can't help but wonder how other modelers and painters deal with their own laundry list of projects, or are you a one project type?  Have a particularly large backlog of purchases?  Share your story!

Open Discussion: DIY or Army Book?

Today's topic ties loosely to last week in that it's about forethought to creation of an army or force.  Only today it's more about your feelings on creating your own Do-it-yourself army with fluff and colors of your choosing or creating an army from the Army book of your chosen faction. 

I've been of both minds at different times in my hobby career to this point.  Early on, I was much more interested in creating something wholly unique.  It was all about the freedom that painting an army of my own offered and the ability to come up with my own back story, reasoning, and with the ability to model things as it pleased me!

As the years wore on, and I gained more knowledge of my games, I've come to enjoy taking an force from the official cannon of the game at hand, and making an army that stays true to the fluff and ideas set by the writers.  The armies still have personalized touches, but they are always done with a mind to what the intent of the texts. 

So I open the floor now to you.  What is more rewarding to you?  Do you enjoy creating your own force or creating one from schemes and fluff in the books for your army?  Is it a dead heat?  Comment, reply, converse!

Open Discussion: Planning Stages

After a full year of classes that revolve around the planning and execution of artwork, of countless thumbnail images and sketches, of small scale mock ups and redesigning even before the work has begun, I can't help but think our collective hobby doesn't do nearly enough pre-project concept work!  That's not to say I haven't seen some really long concept threads over on DakkaDakka from time to time, with well over ten pages of concept development and nary a miniature to be found!  But I feel that even half of that dedication to ideas isn't the norm.

In my own hobby adventures, I freely admit that most of my armies roll around in my head for a single 'OMG this would be cool...' session at the game shop or online with a friend or two.  The only force that really found a good amount of idea development was my Sons of Medusa army which lead to some good ideas and a few concept miniatures to help develop the ideas decided upon.

So I toss this question out to you:

How much time do you usually spend developing an idea or army before you get right to executing it?  Are you the type to get right to work with the slightest thought?  Or do you spend hours agonizing over the smallest of details?

Comment, reply, converse!  The floor is yours!

Open Discussion: Are You Airbrushing Yet?

So it's been a while since we ran Airbrush week here on TPC, and every few weeks we post a video from our good friend LBursley where he goes over another great use for airbrushing with wargaming models.  Then there are the other sources of airbrushing inspiration like seeing what GMM Studios can do in such a short time with a proficient hand! 

Today I thought we could take some time out to talk to all those newbies taking their first tentative steps into the world of airbrushing, and even ask the veteran airbrush fanatics to pitch in the latest and greatest links/ideas/advice for those looking to push things just a little further. 

Are you airbrushing?  On the cusp of putting some cash down on one?  Need more evidence to make that decision?  Buy it and too afraid to try it out?  Old hand looking for some new and fresh ideas?  Comment.  Ask questions.  Talk to one another.  Learn something new.  Get into the mix!

Open Discussion: Excuse our Absence & Project Ideas

You might have noticed things have slowed back down here on TPC.  Unfortunately, the site has fallen victim to the rigors of packing and prepping for a move across town for myself.  This means my things are all in boxes and cases waiting for the commute to a new home. 

With this break comes my hopes for a new influx of content for TPC once I'm settled back in and ready to rock again with wargaming.  The big project in mind being a new terrain set and table.  Smaller projects being the finishing of my Warriors of Chaos cavalry army and possibly the completion of my AoBR orks and other assorted models.  The most intriguing of these projects being the table and WoC force for me.  There is always the chance of the random one off model finding its way to my table of course! 

So with an eye to the future, I'd love to hear what others are planning to work on in the near future.  What sort of grand projects do you have in mind?  Anyone building a new army?  Any exciting campaigns?  Got a big tournament your building up for?

Let your ideas flow, and throw some feedback to other ideas.  Discussing and evolving ideas makes for a fertile creative playground! 

Open Discussion: NMM vs TM

You might have heard of a little term 'Non-Metallic Metals' or maybe if you've been in the right circles as of late 'True Metallics'.  Every few years a new term is coined for a new style of painting metals it seems.  For me, it's a wonderful progression of techniques that mixes and melds elements together to create a new idea for modeler/painters to mull over for the aesthetic of their models. 

So which is best?  Most people tend to favor what they can get better results with from their own brush.  Others tend to love that which they can't emulate on their own.  This personal bias can come into play heavily when you're viewing models for a painting contest, especially when you're judging one! 

I present this question to the community:  What do you find more pleasing to your aesthetic sensibilities?  Have any amazing examples to link to?  Why do you enjoy one over the other?  Or if you like them both, what do you enjoy seeing each technique being used on? 

Leave your comments, have a discussion, and don't be afraid to reply to each others thoughts.  Opinions are best when fully realized through thorough thought provoking discussion after all!

Open Discussion: New Tools/Tricks

 
With my Beastman model, I've been using a lot of new ideas and tools.  Stepping out of an army paint or squad paint project, I've opened myself up to new techniques and ways of working that I wouldn't have felt comfortable doing on a larger project!

With the Beastmen Champion, I've used green stuff to help model the base on a wood block that was chopped down with a dremel, paid more attention to lighting with the paint than I ever have before on a model, used small flowers found at the craft shop to flourish the base even more, and I'm continuing my use of dry pigments that I'm still learning the ins and outs of!  I've even brought a lot of the color thought process I use during regular canvas painting to the table for this model!  The best part is that I've used all of these new techniques and I'm not even done!

I thought it might make for good conversation to hear what some of you might be trying out for the first time on your latest modeling and painting projects!  It also might help you get some additional advice on the best way to use it.

So let's hear it!  What are you using right now that is still new to you?

Open Discussion: Youtube Favorites

Image: jonsson/Flickr.

There has been a growing number of hobby information being presented in Youtube videos.  It feels rather recent for many of us who have been so dug in with typed tutorial/still images for so long, and many times I find myself feeling behind the times in terms of the latest in great video being produced by a growing community.  TPC has even taken it's first tentative steps into the world of hobby videos!  So I'm opening the floor once again this week in light of how successful the last Open Discussion was. 

What's your favorite hobby video?  Is it a painting tutorial?  A battle report?  Maybe it's just showing off some new products?  Got a favorite channel?  Let's hear em!

Open Discussion: Palettes

Today we're going to open the floor, I want to know what everyone out there uses for their palette!  What's your current favorite?  What have you used in the past?  What are you looking to use in the future?  If you've got a question feel free to leave it in the comments as well! 

Think of this as a guided discussion!  If this is a success, I'm hoping to do more in the future!  So let's hear it!  What do you use?