Comma-Community - Painting Tutorials

Dear friends of the Caesura - far and near,

Today we are going to take a brief intermission from all of our Zombicide: Green Horde coverage to welcome our second ever Comma-Community post. You may recall, that our first such post venerated the illustrious, and very community minded, 2 Ps. While I will be applauding other individuals for their contributions to the hobby community in future Comma-Community posts, today I want to spread the net a bit wider and share with you some of the great people in the community whose tutorials I have used, that focus on the area of the hobby that most interests me: painting miniatures. 

I have emphasized in the past that this blog is intended to be a fun break from the worries of the world. Sometimes however, wholly distracting ourselves from global issues is not the correct course to take. Racism, whether it be casual or aggressive, is its own pandemic. While our attention has rightfully been drawn back to this issue by the recent atrocities in the States, I doubt any country is free from racism - including Canada, my home country, and Ireland, where I live now. 

Just as we are resolutely banding together (by staying apart) to overcome COVID-19, we must work together to tackle racism, sexism, ageism and the myriad other social issues plaguing our complex global society. 

Like our response to COVID-19, the best thing we can do to fight prejudice is to act. It is not enough to turn the blind eye, we must address it where we see it. When we can't act, the next best thing is to donate. If you can't donate, then help the cause by raising awareness. Regardless of which way you choose to fight prejudice, we must always listen and show empathy to others. 

Thank you for listening to and considering these words, and for making the world a better, kinder place by whatever means work for you. 

With our sense of community emboldened, let's look now to the community of people who enrich our hobby by creating painting tutorials. I will say right away that this is a very personal list. It only contains those people whose tutorials I have really delved deep into myself. This is specifically NOT just a list of awesome painters, but good educators of their art. 

Like many in our hobby, after painting model cars and fighter jets with enamels with my dad, my painting tutelage began by peering through White Dwarf magazines in the days of yore. I would stare in bewilderment as the model would transform from one picture to the next with seemingly no connection to the textual descriptions below each photo. 

Kris Belleau

So after my hobby hiatus (which many of us take through our late teens - early twenties) I saw my first video tutorials: Kris's Quick Tips on Miniwargaming.com. 

"Hi, Kris here with another quick tip for you all." whenever I hear his sultry baritone, I smile. My wife even instantly recognizes his voice and quotes some of his phrases ("a healthy helping of medium" and the like). 

I tuned in to Kris Belleau's tutorials for years (there are over 1500 of them!) and through them learned many of the fundamentals of miniature painting. 

Kris's videos were a clear precursor to the style of what Duncan's tutorials on Warhammer TV (and then on his own) would become - though Kris was churning out quick tips for many years before Warhammer TV jumped in the saddle. 

I must admit to having grown away from Kris's Quick tips a couple years ago, and I haven't had a chance to follow him into his independent endeavours over on Way of the Brush, but I have little doubt that he's still melting people's hearts with his dulcet tones and mad painting skills.  

What I Like:
- short, succinct, goal oriented (teaching a specific technique, rather than just showing how he paints a miniature) 
- very professional quality
- calm, relaxed, "Bob Ross" manner
- excellent beginner / intermediate resource

"It's as easy as that. Do not be afraid to give it a try!"

Darren Latham

This gent probably needs no introduction. He is a Games Workshop miniatures designer and former 'Eavy Metal Painter. His independent Youtube channel (which is due to be removed in July I believe - so get in there now!) is probably the best resource for painting in the clean, deliberate, technical 'Eavy Metal style. 

While his videos are a bit longer, they thoroughly demonstrate what can be accomplished with a bit of time, patience and brush control. Although his skill level is advanced, he is such a comprehensive teacher that I often came away from his videos thinking that if I dedicated the appropriate time, that perhaps I too could accomplish what Darren does. This, more than any other resource has encouraged me to want to paint a model properly to display / competition standard sometime. 

What I Like: 
- expert skill level
- emphasis on brush control and technique
- teaches useful "general" skills - like painting various colours: black, white, yellow, red.

Grim Dark Compendium

This is the exact opposite of Darren Latham's painting style, and - to be honest - much more up my alley. Why labour over clean, deliberate edge highlighting when you can daub the whole thing in enamel washes and then remove them with white spirits?!

Grim Dark Compendium has opened my eyes to the possibility of actually using the Blanchistu style of painting. While I have loved this style for many years, I had never really considered how it was achieved, or thought too seriously about doing it myself. The tutorials on Grim Dark Compendium are directed at people like me - he goes through each product he uses, aware that many miniature painters will likely not have used oil / alcohol / enamel-based products before. 

The philosophy that this "reductive" or "subtractive" method of painting (applying something - a paint or a wash etc, and then achieving the desired look by removing the layer in key areas, rather than building up layers of paint as we are more used to) is more reliant on the products themselves, than great technical ability is heartening, and inspiring to a neophyte like me who would be keen to give it a go. 

Bolstered by his tutorials, I have ordered a few enamels and White (mineral) Spirits. I'm thinking this style would look awesome on my Barak Mhornar Kharadron Overlords!

What I Like:
- it's all about that atmosphere baby!
- pitched at the right level - does not assume prior knowledge of oils / enamels / mineral spirits etc. 
- makes truly glorious, textured and interesting effects look easy to accomplish

Vince Venturella

Vince Venturella deserves a whole post to himself - and he's going to get one in a future Comma-Community article. So today, in the interests of not repeating my future self, I will just say that Vince has become my current go-to when I am contemplating a certain technique.

Like Kris, Vince has a growing library of hundreds of "Hobby Cheating" tutorials running the gamut of miniature painting. He showcases a broader range of techniques than Kris (demonstrating an extensive range of different paint brands and types (oils etc). He also regularly paints a huge range of different miniatures including busts.

While this green-aproned legend of the miniature painting community's set-up may not be as flashy as some of the other characters on this list, he will win you over with his wry wit, keen intellect and raw creative painting power. 

What I Like:
- very honest, uses products based on their merits not on their availability / popularity
- intelligent and witty
- excellent variety of tutorials encompassing many aspects of painting / hobbying. 

I want to re-emphasize that this list is not exhaustive. It more chronicles the current high points of my journey of learning how to paint miniatures. I will also say that I get a lot of inspiration from other sources too - books, blogs, magazines but I'll save those for another day!


I hope you enjoy these Comma-Communiy posts, and who knows, you might even find something else to fill the 6-day void between your fixes of The Art of Caesura!

A note on the title "Comma-Community": my undergrad was in English Literature, and the blog's title contains a reference to a puntuation mark (in literature and music) - the caesura. I have tried to keep this theme going with some of my post-types. We have a few "The Full Stop" posts, I'm re-branding my "how to" posts as "Question Point", and now the lowly comma is being enlisted into service. The comma is an inclusive piece of punctuation, when used in lists it replaces "and" which is what the subjects of these posts do: they add to the community...plus it kind of sounds like that Culture Club song.

Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next week on The Art of Caesura!


Reading: Death Masks (Dresden Files Book 5) - Jim Butcher
Watching: Mallrats - Kevin Smith


Next Week

RIIIIiiiisssse!!!!