Greetings! My name
is Daniel 'Shamikebab' Illingworth and I'm joining the team here to
share my painting journey. If you want to read more about my past,
present and future you can check it out in the 'About Us' section at
the top of the page.
It may seem like an unusual first thing to write
about as my first post on a new blog. Should I be advertising other
blogs? Aren't they 'the competition'? Well...no. I got to where I am
by absorbing as much information as I could from a variety of great
blogs. I'm literally the painter I am today because of what I have
learned from these (and other) blogs. I hope Noobs and their Paintbrush can do that
for other people but it is always good to have a variety of
resources. Every painter has there own style and techniques. As you
improve as a painter you will likely be a combination of the things
you have learned from others and the style you have developed
yourself.
So without further
ado, in no particular order, here are my top 5 blogs for painters
that are looking to improve.
Massive Voodoo is
probably the most well known painting/sculpting blog out there,
featuring articles by Roman 'Jarhead' Lappat, Raffaele Picca and
other friends. There are several things that make Massive Voodoo
the best blog for me, it is regularly updated and has an extensive catalogue of
guides for all sort of different painting and sculpting techniques.
They also cover reviews of miniatures, paints and other tools used in
the hobby as well as event and painting workshop write-ups.
When it
comes to their painting guides I think what makes Massive Voodoo
really stand out is that they don't focus so much on the 'how' but
more on the 'why'. Their article on painting black for example
features no step-by-step recipes on painting black but instead looks
at different kinds of black objects you find in real life and makes
you think about how you would replicate that effect in a miniature.
This really helps you not just focus on trying to replicate paint
recipes but instead learn why they use paint like they do.
Let us start with
the bad news. Sadly this blog is dead. It hasn't been updated since
late 2012 and at this point it looks like it may perhaps be gone for
good. So why am I recommending it? Quite simply for me it has been
the best resource for improving from a beginner painter to an
intermediate painter. Run by Ron Saikowski, From The Warp has a very well
catalogued set of tutorials on all kind of miniatures and techniques.
The tutorials are well written and easy to follow. The site is such
an important reference to me that I've actually got a cloned version
of the site saved on my hard drive in case it ever vanishes from the
net.
This blog is run by
a single painter, James Wappel. James is a highly decorated painter
having featured in the winners of Crystal Brush, Golden Demon and
many others. He has an extensive background in teaching painting to a
range of skill levels. His personal blog Wappelious is a very
frequently updated diary of his hobby experiences covering painting,
sculpting and gaming. One of the things that makes the blog stand out
for me is the wide range of miniatures James paints, I've discovered
many different ranges and kickstarter campaigns through his blog
(granted my painting queue is not so happy about this!)
Another painting
blog run by a winner of many, many competitions, Rafael Garcia Marin
also known as 'Volomir' has been an active blogger for almost a
decade now. Volomir's Blog not only covers painting and sculpting but also
product reviews and event write-ups. I love this blog for it's
monthly feature 'Do Not Miss' where he highlights different
miniatures and articles from around the web that you might have
missed. It's not only a good way at discovering top quality work but
also other blogs.
Meg Maples has
previously worked for both Reaper Miniatures and Privateer Press and
is currently a full time freelancer. In addition to this she runs
painting workshops around the world so has considerable experience in
teaching her techniques to others. Meg's blog 'Arcane Paintworks' not
only features step by steps on a number of techniques but also
interesting articles on painting theory and other issues that affect
our hobby (as an example there is an excellent article on non
metallic metal vs true metallic metal) Her blog is written in a very
friendly conversational style and her advice is invaluable to
painters looking to improve.
Are any of these
blogs a regular visit for you? What other blogs do you like? Please
post them up in the comments, maybe you follow one that I haven't
discovered! Come back next week for some actual painted models :)
