ReaperCon 2019 -- Classes I Would Take

[Kuro Cleanbrush]

13 minutes ago, Pegazus said:

 

Haven taken that Exotic class of yours, I would be up for something different. Tried thinking of different transitions as well, but I can't recall any. But maybe something other than a blending technique? Thought of getting your take of reflections, refractions, OSL, but then I thought of something that's probably useful!

 

What is some new technique you've gotten excited about in the last year or two? Something that's got you excited might be a good class topic.

 

 

Thanks a ton for the feedback!  Unfortunately, within minutes of me posting, I got an email from Ron letting me know that he needed my class submission ASAP, and I wanted to default to something I considered one of my strengths, so I asked for a Faces and Eyes class instead.  That portion of the miniature just adds so much, so I'm hopeful it will be a useful and interesting class!

 

Thanks again!

[TGP]

1 minute ago, Kuro Cleanbrush said:

 

Thanks a ton for the feedback!  Unfortunately, within minutes of me posting, I got an email from Ron letting me know that he needed my class submission ASAP, and I wanted to default to something I considered one of my strengths, so I asked for a Faces and Eyes class instead.  That portion of the miniature just adds so much, so I'm hopeful it will be a useful and interesting class!

 

Thanks again!

 

I was about to post that the Difficult Extreme Color Transitions sounded interesting. I suppose that meant things like changing from orange to blue?  black to red?  things like that?

 

So Faces and Eyes. I have done Eyes that looked like Eyes exactly once. (On a panther or lion or Sabre tooth cat...a big cat of some sort.) So here is a thing to ponder, what technique for F&E would you recommend for a painter with a shaky hand paired with far-sightedness (presbyopia). That’s where I am at. 

 

I fiddle with 3x and 2x reading glasses...but:   I would be delighted to learn some simple way to do an OK face. 

[Wren]

I'm not answering for Kuro, just giving some general feedback as an experienced class instructor, and also some tips for eyes.

Eyes at gaming scale are tough to teach/practice in a convention class environment. I've taught general skin and specific face classes for years, and I don't spend a lot of class time on actual eye practice for that reason. I don't think there's a particular benefit to looking over someone's shoulder live for that - if you're having trouble seeing eyes when you paint them, you're not likely to be able to see much when someone else is painting them. ;-> (Though being farsighted, you might have an advantage on that to many of us!)

 

I instead give tips for detail painting and include a step by step for painting eyes in my handout. I guess the thing you do miss seeing is the specific body posture I demonstrate for how to hold as steady as possible, and I'm guessing other painters do similar things. But that is something that is quick and easy to demonstrate outside of a class environment and you might try hitting some people on artist row up for tips on that. I'd be happy to show you what I'm describing here at RC!

 

My general tips. Experiment with different methods. This method is the one I often use and always teach, but you can experiment with the method of painting the whole eye dark, dotting on the sclera colour, dotting in the pupil, and other methods too.  

 

I find it helpful to paint the eyes first, so I only have to worry about one side of the line at a time. So I paint the sclera. Then add a dot for the pupil/iris. If a dot is too hard, paint a stripe down the centre of the sclera. Then clean up the pupil/iris dot as necessary. If you did a stripe instead of a dot, paint the bottom edge of it clean with the sclera colour. If you can manage it, you want the pupil/iris to not quite touch where you put your bottom eye line. (If you look in the mirror, you'll see a light strip between the bottom of your pupil and where your eyelash line starts. This simulates that at our scale.) 

Now paint the lines around the eyes. You haven't painted anything else, so it doesn't matter if the one side of your line goes half way down the cheek, you're just trying to get the line where you want it where it goes around the sclera. Then you clean that up with your skin base coat colour in the same way - doesn't matter if you get skin colour on the hair, you only care if the side of the stroke that meets the lines around the eyes is clean and leaving the amount of eye liner showing that you want.

If painting eyes looking straight ahead is a problem or you have a sculpt with very small or offset eyes, paint the eyes looking to the side. It's much less difficult to make the two eyes look matched. It also often tells a better story - the character likely would be looking at their weapon hand or in the direction of an on-coming foe or whatever else so it's often more interesting for the viewer.

 

If you've only tried cheap reading glasses, try a quality magnifier. I recommend the OptiVisor brand specifically. They have the classic style and a newer visor only style that's lighter and cooler to wear. (Temperature wise, these things are never going to be acceptable fashion anywhere but ReaperCon. ;->) Be aware that they have different magnifications. Their highest lens plate is 7. I can see things with that I can't with lower plates, but then you have to hold the miniature much closer. I have been experimenting with using lower magnification for general painting and just doing fine details with the 7, but that experiment is very much in progress. You might also talk to your eye doctor. I was very surprised to learn you start losing the flexibility in your eye muscles and needing bifocals much, much younger than I thought. I needed them by age 40, and could have used them sooner. Also I have the opposite eye problem to you (myopia and astigmatism.) So you might try starting a thread over in the tips section to get tips from other far-sighted people, or consult an eye doctor.

 

Light is very important, you can't see without it, so you can't paint fiddly details without it. (Hence my reluctance to even bother trying in a convention class setting.)

Some people who are shaky find that if they can get both their hands shaking in tandem, they can do more detail than they thought. This position is also helpful to non-shaky people. Always put your mini on a holder. Tuck your upper arms/elbows in close to your body to lock down movement in your upper arms. Or brace your elbows against a table. Put the bump on the lower edge of your dominant hand into the little dip between the bumps at the bottom of your holding hand. That should lock down your upper arms and wrists, leaving only your fingers moving. It could also put your two hands shaking in tandem. (This is the part that is easier to show in person.) Some people don't like that hand position and do an alternate one where they make a little cup with the baby finger on their painting hand and brace it against a knuckle on the holding hand.

[TaleSpinner]

22 hours ago, Wren said:

 

If you've only tried cheap reading glasses, try a quality magnifier. I recommend the OptiVisor brand specifically. They have the classic style and a newer visor only style that's lighter and cooler to wear. (Temperature wise, these things are never going to be acceptable fashion anywhere but ReaperCon. ;->) Be aware that they have different magnifications. Their highest lens plate is 7. I can see things with that I can't with lower plates, but then you have to hold the miniature much closer. I have been experimenting with using lower magnification for general painting and just doing fine details with the 7, but that experiment is very much in progress. You might also talk to your eye doctor. I was very surprised to learn you start losing the flexibility in your eye muscles and needing bifocals much, much younger than I thought. I needed them by age 40, and could have used them sooner. Also I have the opposite eye problem to you (myopia and astigmatism.) So you might try starting a thread over in the tips section to get tips from other far-sighted people, or consult an eye doctor.

 

Light is very important, you can't see without it, so you can't paint fiddly details without it. (Hence my reluctance to even bother trying in a convention class setting.)
 

 

In addition to these statements, you can also get a 6 LED light attachment for the classic Optivisor.  The LEDs encircle the lenses so the light is actually coming from the direction of your sight.  They allow you to see more than you ever thought you could.  I stopped using the higher magnifications altogether once I added the light, as enough light is a key factor in your eye's ability to focus at close things.

[Kuro Cleanbrush]

On 5/11/2019 at 10:33 PM, TGP said:

 

I was about to post that the Difficult Extreme Color Transitions sounded interesting. I suppose that meant things like changing from orange to blue?  black to red?  things like that?

 

So Faces and Eyes. I have done Eyes that looked like Eyes exactly once. (On a panther or lion or Sabre tooth cat...a big cat of some sort.) So here is a thing to ponder, what technique for F&E would you recommend for a painter with a shaky hand paired with far-sightedness (presbyopia). That’s where I am at. 

 

I fiddle with 3x and 2x reading glasses...but:   I would be delighted to learn some simple way to do an OK face. 

 

Wren covered pretty much everything (and probably a bit more) that we would go over in the class.  The biggest tips I have are all essentially echos of Wren's advice about being unafraid to be sloppy where it does not matter in order to accomplish what you need to where it does matter.  Stuff like painting a stripe for the eye instead of a dot can be huge if you have a hard time with the brush control/vision to do a perfect dot.  Posture and bracing can be essential to calm down shakes.  I even find that I will develop shakes from time to time if I get hungry, but quickly downing a handful of chocolate chips can have me back to normal in about 5 minutes if I don't want to break for a real meal!

[Ludo]

Scheduling question for you all:

I try my best to make the Hobby Hijinx Events mesh with Class Schedule. Last year I found that we need at least 15 minutes between events to reset. Should I try to keep events on 1 hour intervals, 15 minutes for reset/cleanup and 45 minutes for painting or 30 minute reset/cleanup and 60 minutes painting or something else?

[Pegazus]

Honestly I was going to say the longer time to paint might be good, but maybe stick with the short and sweet.

[Ludo]

45 minutes works really well for Sophie Says but the Paint by die roll and conversion need more time. 

[Pegazus]

Then maybe put the appropriate time for each event? No real reason not to do so I feel. Put two of the 1.5 hour events back to back to get an even three hour block, then a couple of hour blocks, then another block of two 1.5 hour events.

[Chaoswolf]

That ^^^^^^ sounds like a good idea to me.

[Marineal]

Can't search on mobile to see if it's been said (might be an ID10T error, unsure), but I'd love an exotic/ advanced eyes class. Like dragons, frogs, monsters, etc. 

[Ludo]

 

4 minutes ago, Marineal said:

Can't search on mobile to see if it's been said (might be an ID10T error, unsure), but I'd love an exotic/ advanced eyes class. Like dragons, frogs, monsters, etc. 

 

Seconded

[OneBoot]

I'm considering adding a 4th class to my teaching roster, but on a different topic (the 3 I'll be teaching now are all the same class). 

 

Originally I was contemplating a "painting gigantic minis" class, but after much thought I really doubt I could make a lecture-style class like that last for 2 hours, plus transporting my class examples would be...expensive.

 

So instead, after reading back through this thread, I'm pondering a "fiddly details" class; like belts and jewelry and all the fun random bits and bobs that always seem to be hanging from a character's belt or backpack.

 

If you were to take a class like that, what would you expect to learn/topics to be covered? 

 

Huzzah! 

--OneBoot :D 

[Pegazus]

5 minutes ago, OneBoot said:

So instead, after reading back through this thread, I'm pondering a "fiddly details" class; like belts and jewelry and all the fun random bits and bobs that always seem to be hanging from a character's belt or backpack.

 

If you were to take a class like that, what would you expect to learn/topics to be covered? 

 

Huzzah! 

--OneBoot :D 

 

I would want focus on things that weren’t obvious. The one class that I took similar to that pointed out that you could paint little cracks on a leather belt on a figure. Since I’m not teaching the topic, it’s a bit hard to come up with things that i’d like to be taught as I don’t know what I don’t know. So, train of thought: labels on potions, stains on equipment, damage to equipment, repairs to equipment, how to add extra detail to simple wood, things to add to swords, wands, and bows, etc.

 

Tried to avoid things that I think other classes teach such as ratios, scars, facial features, etc.

[Ludo]

1 hour ago, OneBoot said:

I'm considering adding a 4th class to my teaching roster, but on a different topic (the 3 I'll be teaching now are all the same class). 

 

Originally I was contemplating a "painting gigantic minis" class, but after much thought I really doubt I could make a lecture-style class like that last for 2 hours, plus transporting my class examples would be...expensive.

 

So instead, after reading back through this thread, I'm pondering a "fiddly details" class; like belts and jewelry and all the fun random bits and bobs that always seem to be hanging from a character's belt or backpack.

 

If you were to take a class like that, what would you expect to learn/topics to be covered? 

 

Huzzah! 

--OneBoot :D 

 

How to paint 12 things brown without them all blending together. 

 

How to not overwhelm the rest of the mini by painting every single bag, pouch, and sheath a different color.

 

What do I do with the base? How to paint bases to compliment the mini (not getting into gluing on foliage and other stuff, just painting the base)

 

I feel like the "Painting Gigantic Things" could be turned into a 45 minute Q&A with people who survived the 0 brush challenge. Could do like a ComiCon panel and sit on the main stage and use the PA system.. Those of us that can transport minis can bring them those that can't can bring digital photos that could be put on the screens. Stream it on Twitch