Painting for Dummies -- The Introduction

Posted by Ranillon on 25. March 2009 23:24

Since this blog started I have held off composing any “how to” articles on painting or modeling for the simple reason that I didn’t think I was enough of an authority on the subject to justify doing so.  I consider myself a pretty good painter, but little of that comes from raw talent.  Rather, what skill I possess comes from 17 years (egad, I’m old) of practice, practice, and practice.  I’m not really an artist so much as a technician, a fellow who has gotten so good with the “paint-by-numbers” approach that the end result is pretty decent.  However, considering the great stuff that true artisans such as Ron over at From the Warp produce by comparison I wasn’t sure what I could contribute.

Then it hit me – not everyone out there is a good painter out there striving to make it to masterclass quality.  We all have to start someplace and improvement for most of us mere mortals is a slow, laborious process.  Accordingly, why not produce a series of articles that deal with the basics of painting, on how to get up to “pretty good” quality?  It sure beats 17 years of figuring it out for yourself.

So, this is the start of a series of posts I’m entitling “Painting for Dummies”.  If you are already a good to great painter this series won’t be all that helpful.  However, for everyone else it will represent a guide on how to get up to at least “not bad” status.  It won’t help you win the Grand Daemon, but it will aid you in meriting a “wow, that’s cool” response from your playing buddies.  And, let’s face it, that’s all most of us can hope for.

Here is the first bit I wish to contribute – the Five Foot Rule. 

Typically, when we play 40K we don’t do so with our eyes perpetually inches away from our or our competition’s models.  Instead, we are standing up at the side of the table looking down from roughly five feet away.  That is where the “Five Foot Rule” comes from – how does your army look when standing at the distance?  There are straightforward methods for producing models that appear great from that vantage point even if a closer examination might reveal (even numerous) flaws.  A lot of what I am going to talk about is aimed at satisfying this rule.  I think you’ll find that it’s easier than you think to paint up an army that will accomplish this.

More to come…