Miniature Painting secrets with Natalya Melnik

[Serenity]

I found another review of Natalya's video with a somewhat different perspective you may enjoy reading. I found the review listed here in the wamp-forum reviews section.

 

Here is a direct link to the review: Miniature Painting Secrets with Natalya download review

[awong]

Awong, how is the Jen Haley MM dvd? I was thinking of maybe buying it, seeing as how she is one of my top 5 fav. painters.

That and the Allan Carrasco DVDs where my first with MM. She is demonstrating the Monochrome technique but I thought most of what was discussed worked just as well for full colored mini painting. She discusses her thought process, how she's distributing darks and lights, even details like the color temperature of the lighting she used. I just revisited this DVD and I believe her's is one of the longest "Interview" sections of all the other DVDs. In some of the later artist DVDs there's only a quick-ish intro, then off to the races.

 

Overall quality of the DVD (actually all the DVDs - I'm a subscriber now ) is excellent. Clear images, great sound, pertinent banter. Yes, there are times when I catch myself drifting off, but only because it's difficult to watch a pair of disjointed hands for any length of time. I find that I am fascinated by how the artists use their brushes. Jen has some very interesting, quick, almost violent strokes...you can hear an audible "click" as the brush is snapped down and across a fold. Neat.

 

I'm always inspired, and more importantly, optimistic after watching one of these DVDs. I think, for me, that's the biggest benefit I get with them. I still haven't found the time to join a paint club, so this is about as close as I can come to pulling up a chair and looking over one's shoulder as they paint. And whose shoulder would be better to look over than JenH or AllanC's?

 

Short version - money well spent

 

-AW

[Mercius]

Thanks! Good to know...Jen Haley's work is a constant inspiration to me. Might have to look into it now.

[mathewbaich]

read the other review and it was much more comprehensive than mine :) the only thing I don't really agree on is the painting like another artist thing. this is just my personal opinion but I think everyone should find their own unique style and simply modify and incorporate other techniques into their own style.

[MamaGeek]

Not to get off topic, but...well, to get off topic...what exactly do you look for on a mini painting artist's website? I'm working on a redesign of mine, so I'd appreciate any thoughts on that. Are videos something really desired? I guess I'd like to see free videos of Aaron Lovejoy or Jen Haley painting, if they were available on their website. Not so sure anyone would want to see one of me, though!

 

 

[awong]

Not to get off topic, but...well, to get off topic...what exactly do you look for on a mini painting artist's website? I'm working on a redesign of mine, so I'd appreciate any thoughts on that. Are videos something really desired? I guess I'd like to see free videos of Aaron Lovejoy or Jen Haley painting, if they were available on their website. Not so sure anyone would want to see one of me, though!

Oh, don't be too sure. When I was first starting out, I would have killed for a good repository of even the simplest techniques clearly explained and illustrated. The whole "thin paint to skim milk" thing is an example. One only needs to look at the subjects that keep cropping up in this "Painting Tips & Advice" section to get some good ideas of what you could cover. If not painting, how about pinning, priming, finishing/polishing, proper care of brushes. And, the fact that the artists you mentioned DON'T have free videos on their sites means people will have to go to other sites for that help. They may very well visit your site, right?

Anyways, I say, go for it!

Oh, and I also like in-depth tutorials with lots of nice, clear pictures.

-AW

[Mercius]

MG- As far as the miniatures themselves, I like a clear explanation of what work went into each mini and the thought process behind it.

As far as tutorials go, the more in depth and the more pictures the better. Videos are ALWAYS a plus, especially for beginners.

 

Your site is rather lovely as it is, but that is just my two copper.

[Serenity]

I agree with Mercius -- your site is well-designed to my eye and easy to use. You have a number of nice explanations, especially for your lovely troll which won a Bronze at the Golden Demons.

 

I think videos of artists demonstrating their general painting techniques, how they paint details, the paint consistencies they use, how they mix colors on their palettes, etc. would be very interesting to a lot of people. Unless you have access to the right equipment, it may not be that easy to show your techniques in video. I've seen some disappointing (blurry, grainy) video tutorials and some good ones.

[MamaGeek]

Ah, well, now that could be a problem. I don't actually own a video camera, just a point and shoot that can take videos. They're not terrible, but not great, either.

 

Hmm.... you know, I really want one of Sony's new Alpha-SLT cameras, the ones that have a translucent mirror, so it doesn't have to move. It can autofocus extremely fast, so you can have all the control and quality of SLR photography, AND take very fast photos AND take live videos. Well, Christmas is coming!

[Serenity]

Does anyone know if Jeremie's DVD is still available and, if so, where? I know Kraken used to carry it, but I'm having trouble locating it now.

I located a source for Jeremie's DVD: Figone. I haven't purchased from them or from France. Anyone know how long orders take to get to the US?

 

I'm still debating whether to get this one or the first Miniature Mentor DVD (or download) next. I have Laszlo's Hot Lead DVDs and found them very informative. As I recall, however, he did not spend much time on layering at a high level (I'll need to watch that again to be sure), so anything of that nature would be helpful to me.

[Mercius]

JBT's DVDs were greatly useful for me, but I paint in a smililar, although not nearly as good, fashion. Most of what he does is say, this is how I paint, this is why I chose this color, this is how I hold my brush when doing this or that. The main focus on the dvds are mainly layering through juicing or glazing, but there are a few other high level techniques that he explains as well. I love the dvds and watch them quite often.

[Lyn]

seriously dude, thanks for putting up the review. I was wondering if it was gonna be good or not lol

[vutpakdi]

Does anyone know if Jeremie's DVD is still available and, if so, where? I know Kraken used to carry it, but I'm having trouble locating it now.

I located a source for Jeremie's DVD: Figone. I haven't purchased from them or from France. Anyone know how long orders take to get to the US?

 

I'm still debating whether to get this one or the first Miniature Mentor DVD (or download) next. I have Laszlo's Hot Lead DVDs and found them very informative. As I recall, however, he did not spend much time on layering at a high level (I'll need to watch that again to be sure), so anything of that nature would be helpful to me.

I believe that Kraken is in the equivalent of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy (or possibly liquidation), so they may no longer be a good source.

 

I rather like the first Miniature Mentor DVD. Good quality even if some of the commentary is a little over eager.

 

Ron

[Mercius]

Kraken is going the way of the dodo, FIGONE will now be carrying all of the Kraken miniatures line, along with JBT dvds.

[Thaelynne]

I just wanted to put in my two cents on Natalya's DVDs, as the beginner that I am. I was watching them yesterday and I made it through the first 2 DVDs. I'm looking forward to watching the next two, but I think I can say a few things about what I've seen so far. Natalya paints, to me, like an artist on a canvas with a hand held palette does. She puts drops down straight out of her bottles of paint, dips her brush in water on occasion, and mixes constantly as she goes. She is blending starting with the base coloring and just continues to add darks and lights and blending all the way through to her highlighting. All of the color on the mini is precisely placed from her brush strokes. I say this because the impression I get from watching her paint is very different than watching Hot Leaded use dry brush techniques and blending. She spent an hour painting (not counting some video edits of time) an arm and a torso, but it was so precise the whole time. It was really amazing to watch, for me. Yes, the non-commentary and music gets old, and watching her paint the same thing over and over without seeing much color change caused me to fast forward at 2 or 4x every once in a while until she finally started doing more highlighting, but it was still a WONDERFUL thing to see someone actually painting the mini.

 

I would definitely consider this a more advanced technique, perhaps even just a very different technique overall, from my perspective, because I'm am very new to this and certainly not very in tune with my artistic side. But I'm also very intrigued by the technique, and even if I don't use it from beginning to end as she does, (she states very clearly that 'someone could probably do this faster, this is just the way she does it. she's not expecting you to walk away having learned how to paint like her'), I do still think I can use some of her techniques like highlighting or painting the hair (which was definitely worth watching). I still think I need to find more videos for uber-beginners to teach how to choose colors and other very basic 'painting terms' and techniques just to get me going.

 

The links above to the other review describes the video well, noting again that it's not very instructional overall. You're watching her paint with VERY little commentary.

 

For now, on to Disks 3 and 4! I hope that helped a little, though.

~