http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/8150
Schiraga has painted a pretty nice mini here, and had some fun on the base for an interesting setting. How well do you think this mini is painted?
How about this one? Yes, this is the pic from the games workshop website. How well do you think this mini is painted?
I bet your immediate reaction was that schiraga painted their mini better. Scroll back and forth and look at both. I think they are both rather well painted, comparable even, and personally I think the color scheme and base on the GW fig are much more aesthetically appealing.But it's boring, Isn't it? It's the same old red and bronze and black that all GW Khorne minis are painted in. The same old dull sand and skull basing that every minis seems to get.
There are all kinds of decisions that have been made while painting this mini that my mind immediately rebels against. I don't want my mini to look like everyone else's mini. I want my basing to pop more. I don't want my bone to look the same as the way they've painted it. I have never painted a mini in the GW approved color scheme or my army.
However, in a very real and important sense, I am 100% wrong. Every impulse that I have go change the color scheme, and personalize my decisions goes against thousands of years of education and artwork. Don't believe me? Let me explain.
This is the GW paint range. I bet your first thought was how expensive it was :) Mine was a little different. I honestly believe that this box above is the most incredible tool for a beginning painter that has ever been created. (overpriced, yes, but let's focus on other things ;) ) I can see you rolling your eyes.. Seriously? The most incredible tool? Someone has been drinking the GW Kool-Aid. Actually I haven't.
I had an epiphany while talking to a Professor about painting 1/8 scale sculptures. He was immensely hesitant to teach his students about painting (or give any advice on it.) So much so, that he refused to include painting in the syllabus, even though he told everyone they should paint their sculptures. Why? He was so frustrated with his attempts to get paint to do what he wanted. This man drew artwork for Dungeons and Dragons, comics, and is a regular VIP guest at Comic-Cons. He is afraid of teaching painting for miniatures.
His first complaint was coverage. He could never get the paint to cover the figure in a way that he was satisfied with while using a brush. GW paints give excellent coverage. His second complaint was knowing how to highlight. GW literally spells it out with washes, layers, and glazes. When I took me first class with him, he thought the pinnacle of brush painting was a base coat and a drybrush. His third complaint was consistency. He never could get the same color twice. He always mixed his paints because the range he used didn't have a large selection of colors, (again GW in spades.) Lastly, he could never get his airbrush paints to match his brush paints, (with the new air range this is a given.)
I see many of you being annoyed at such a simplistic explanation of how to paint. But indeed, this is the point of the GW paint range. Literally anyone can pick up a brush and match the color scheme of their figures. Gw has removed almost every problem with paint application with this paint range. Each White Dwarf even includes a step by step how to for the new release every week.
So why, I hear you ask, are you telling this to me? For a very simple reason. If you have all the tools to do exactly what is in the GW pages, why have you never done it? It's boring, I hear you say.. uninspiring, not worth the effort. Oh, but it is!
You've heard the expression that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery yes? Why is that? It's because you only imitate those that are masters. You only imitate those worthy of imitation. This is the exact process that has spawned artists for literally thousands of years. I hear you say now, but I can paint better than that, (quite a lot of voices in my head today.)
It's great that you can paint better than that. The point actually is that you can learn things from copying that you can't from original artwork. You can learn how the brush was held to get exactly the right line only by painting that same line. You can learn how much medium was added to the paint only by mixing the paint yourself. You can learn how the size of the brush changes the application of the paint only by changing brushes yourself. You can be taught by the simple process of imitation. Making your own scheme is fantastic, I do it all the time, but you can learn how to tweak your colors or your technique in a way that makes your scheme better. Artists never made a name for themselves by doing everything different. They made a name for themselves by doing something old in a new way. But you need a knowledge of what has come before to figure out what you are good at.
Picasso didn't learn how to paint by following his vision. He learned how to paint by imitating the masters. Then he understood how what the masters did could be used to follow his vision. That is why Picasso was a genius. It wasn't because of his vision. It was because of his ability to use his technique to create his vision. Picasso learned what he was good at by imitating what others were good at. It takes discipline to Imitate someone else.
Let's return to that GW Khorgorath.
This mini is painted by a master painter. Believe it. The person who painted this miniature could paint an exact copy of it in no time, (I can't do that.) This miniature was painted to exactly match every other GW Khorne mini in the range, which were painted by other painters, (I can't match my own minis to each other.) That is an incredible feat. That takes incredible discipline. Why again can you not learn from this painter?
GW has even gone so far as to include free painting videos to show you things not able to be communicated in books or pictures.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0cfXs_YVHE
Duncan Rhodes literally shows you from beginning to end the process of painting a Khorgorath. That takes discipline. Talking while painting, teaching and thinking about the process as it happens? That takes immense discipline.
So let's finish up with that word there. Discipline. Discipline is a better way to paint. Discipline breeds consistency. Discipline breeds efficiency. Discipline breeds results. And you know what? Imitation breeds Discipline. GW has given you every tool to remove every complication to Imitation except one. GW can't remove every complication with you. That takes discipline.