Working with Color - Painting Notebook

Hi All,

As usual I'm kind of spinning around trying to keep several things at once going, and not really making progress on any of them. :(

That being said, one of the things that came to mind after the Abdul Goldberg challenge was a lack of taking notes, pictures etc about the process of putting out a finished figure. So I'm going to try, again, to use the blog as an online repository for my notebook. Since I can't seem to keep a regular physical one.

One thing I've been thinking about again since reading Blue's excellent blog is the idea of picking color schemes. I don't pretend to understand color theory, but there are a whole host of websites that will help you. Since I have taken the plunge with Adobe I found this one color.adobe.com, what's cool about it is that you can upload a source image and derive a color palette from it.

Here's a youtube video detailing how:


If you don't do Photoshop you can skip that part.

I decided to use this tool to figure out a palette for my Giant Cthulhu (who is still unassembled).

I moved the point that is displaying on the right of the color bar off of black to one of the dark blotches on the octopus body. Interestingly not too far off from the colors I used on the Eldritch Demon.

Anyway, I hope you find this resource useful. Happy painting!

Brush obsession

As I've begun to actually paint more I've become obsessed with the idea that my brushes just somehow aren't right. When I was just willy nilly buying stuff I bought a couple of packs of cheap brushes and ended op really only using the 0 which is starting to curl at the tip.

The 0, sixth from the left has become my go to brush.

Now as you can see that is a lot of brushed that I am not using. I probably should be using the ones to the right in the picture above, but the length of the bristles is something I don't really like. Also as you can see they look like gold nylon and and some kind of rodent hair.

I then remembered that Big Lee had written a review of the Winsor Newton 7 series here and thought I'd give those a go. Of course I have been unable to find them at the craft stores and hobby shops. So I bought these instead.

I have been using the Loew-Cornell, which is an improvement, but the tip is going flat and square on me. It is made from Gold Taklon and cost me $4.99 at Jo Anne. The two Royal & Langnickel (sounds like a good name for an Imagi-nation general) cost me $4.59 & $3.99 respectively at Hobby Lobby. I have no idea what the fibers are, perhaps Nutria.

Above are my brushes from the 90's. Mostly thrashed. I think the one on the extreme right was my go to brush, especially for picking out eyes and belt buckles.

In my searches I found a couple of good links for info about brushes. For most of you there is no need to look, but for people like me doing a reboot here they are.

Reaper: The Craft
D&D Lead: Paintbrushes
Storm the Castle: Paintbrushes for Miniatures
Awesome Paint Job: Brushes

So, do you have a favorite brush? What size, brand, bristle material is it? Do you have a bunch of brushes for different things. I use cheap nylon brushes with plastic handles from the model section at Hobby Lobby to prime with the glue mix. I also finally invested in some brush cleaner/conditioner.

In the next day or so I should have an actual finished figure to show you all. Only 1.75 years into blogging (god has it been that long?).

Also I'm sad to say that I have lost a follower. I can't figure out who, but I'm sorry you left whoever you are. Well have a good one my friends, off to watch my wife exercise while I am still on doctors orders to sit on my duff.