Oil, Synthetic Exercises, and Click Bait

Picture taken from Roman's post on Massive Voodoo regarding the use of oil paints for miniatures.
http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.com/2011/07/tutorial-miniature-painting-with-oil.html

This is only kind of a click bait. If you want to guarantee that I try oil paints, then this is how they should be presented: in a nice, lovely row with lots of pretty colors. ;)

This post is really a ramble about my plan to use oil in the future, both on canvas and on miniatures. Following the talk on oil paints is a nice little WIP segment about a little exercise I am giving myself.

So, let's talk oil paints. I realize how cliché it must sound to speak about how much Bob Ross influenced my creativity as a child. Growing up in the 90s, I had access to three channels. PBS, soap operas, and fuzzy soft-core pornography. Contrary to what some may think, I spent all of my time watching.............fuzzy....PBS. It wasn't really fuzzy. Totally clear. Anywho. I recently started watching his videos again on YouTube (there are several for free on the Bob Ross channel) and I was reminded of just how much he influenced me into the artist I am today. I really appreciate his approach to painting and how he handles "mistakes." If you gals and guys get some time, definitely check him out.

Art from gckatz on DeviantArt.
http://gckatz.deviantart.com/art/Model-Painting-with-Bob-Ross-402862480
 

Now, on to my WIP. I recently picked up some Raphael Kaerell synthetic brushes (sizes 2 and 3) to play around with in hopes of finding a basecoat and metallic brush. I really, really don't like using my Games and Gears brushes for a lot of the heavy stuff.

Long story short, they are working out very well. If they manage to keep their tip for a decent length of time, I think I may end up using them regularly. I decided to give myself an exercise that proved interesting, to say the least. It was definitely a struggle.

 I am currently working on the Avatar of Sokar (sculpted by Tim Prow, if I recall correctly. I'll have to go look at the blister pack later.) using only a Raphael Kaerell size 3 synthetic brush and a really, really junked up size 4 (used to apply Vallejo Liquid Gold paints). I'm really impressed with how the brush is holding up. It's been interesting trying to figure out how to manipulate the paint with a synthetic brush in hopes of achieving what I can do with a sable-hair brush. I totally failed. The synthetic is doing awesome work, but I just cannot get the same transitions and blends that I can with my sable. It's coming along though.

The following pictures are a WIP, taken over the course of a few hours of work. These aren't in any special order. Just chronological. Just click to enlarge.

Happy Painting!

-Matte

Firestorm Update

Hey All!

Just a quick update on my firestorm projects.  I've officially finished painting my Terran Fleet that I have here with me. I will post pictures tomorrow of the completed fleet, but its looking nice.  Then again anything looks better than an undaunted army or Fleet.  Next part of the project is to wash up my RSN and prime them up for painting.  I'll have one last Terran ship to take care of this week - a MkII Carrier for some added support to the fleet.  

The first RSN ships that are getting painted up will probably be my Destroyer squadron, then the Frigates.  Mostly because neither of them fit on their flight stands properly without glue, and I'd like to paint them up first before gluing then on.  Anywho, until then...