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Just Craftin' - Episode 002
40 Plays2 months ago
On this special bonus episode, Shawn, Ed, and Chris go further down the hobby craft rabbit hole. They discuss some of their current projects and what's next.
Keep your eyes out for additional content coming soon!
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Transcript
Introduction and Host Banter
00:00:00
Speaker
All right, here we are. Welcome to episode number two. Yeah. Number two of Just Craftin. My name is Ed Bossart. And like before, I am joined by two lovely lads, Mr. Sean Hoffman over in California to my left, if you will, on a map and to my right on a map, Mr. Chris Hall.
00:00:30
Speaker
Ayo, we all right? We're good. We love Crabston. Just translate that, that was me saying, hello, is everyone okay? There he is, the artist.
00:00:42
Speaker
That's right. Are we all good? Ever both okay? How we doing? Yeah.
Sean's Hacking Story and Crafting Time Management
00:00:50
Speaker
Yeah. I'm doing good. I'm doing good. Yeah. Excellent. Hanging out. Excellent. and I need more hours in the day to do some crafting stuff. I got a lot of ideas, not enough time. Really. It's a more of ah a willpower and a drive kind of thing, but I'm going to keep blaming the amount of hours in a day. um That's the hobby life, Sean. That's the hobby life. Yes. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. My work.
00:01:13
Speaker
I don't know if you guys I told you about that, but my work. Over in February, I didn't really work much for like five months because we got hacked by Russia. And a month ago, we came back online and I've been working like 10 to 12 hour days. It's. Have you have you have you reached the yeah the point mentally where you're kind of grieving and asking yourself, what did you do for those five months because you have nothing to show for it? Yeah, because i've I've been there and it's like, oh, man, I had so much time and I didn't do anything. That was happening to me halfway through. Yeah, I was like, it's it's been like a month or two and I did do shit and I didn't paint the rancor. That's right.
00:02:01
Speaker
I've been watching paint paint paint dry, but not the paint that everybody wants me to
Exploring Painting Techniques and Projects
00:02:05
Speaker
watch. Yeah, so this is a great segue. We're going to go around the horn. um I can go first because it's a good segue, but we're going to talk about what we've been working on lately. Craft, what we've been crafting, painting, whatever, what have you, gluing, all of that. um Or learning what videos you've watched, who, what influencers you've been watching, new techniques you've learned, ah that kind of stuff.
00:02:34
Speaker
ah But this week I finally got back in. it's I think it's been six months plus since I last painted something. Like I took a long break. Probably started before my company got hacked and I didn't spend any of that time crafting. I think my art brain leaned into music music and that's why. Because I play piano and violin because I'm Asian.
00:03:04
Speaker
Um, is that just part of part of the deal? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, no, but this week, like I said previously, I picked up my job of the hut from the Imperial assault, Java's realm expansion game. And it's a little miniature of job of the hut. And this is a primer for that rain core. This is like a warmup.
00:03:35
Speaker
that Rancor you guys want me to paint so much. And I was like, you know, he's a creature. He's got leathery skin, kind of like a Rancor color, a little bit more green, obviously. But I'm like, this will be a good ah segue in my crafting back into it. And it turned out pretty good. I sent you guys pictures. um I leaned into contrast paint for this one.
00:04:01
Speaker
Uh, for listeners that don't know contrast paints, the kind of like cheating paint where you, where it, it loves crevices. It like leaves a little color on the surface, but then like pushes more of the color to the crevices. Um, and with, with a.
00:04:19
Speaker
skin, natural looking model that has a lot of cracks and crevices like Job of the Hut, wrinkles, you know, his fat, a lot of folds, a lot of folds. They worked really well. And the thing with contrast point paint, if you're going to do it the way I did it, is you got to almost work in reverse from normal painting. So normal painting, you kind of start dark.
00:04:50
Speaker
ah Start with the dark and then do the lights on top or no, I guess not really Is it more like a wash?
Mixing, Thinning Paints, and Crafting Habits
00:04:58
Speaker
Yeah, it is more like a wash but I kind of So what I what i did I'll just say what I did this just made sense in my head It's hard to explain but I started with like a a bone brown color First oh, yeah. Yeah. This is after I zenithal highlighted you talk about zenithal highlighting last time but it's like the priming of a model where you have black first and then white from above, spray it on. So the black stays in the shaded areas, the darker, makes it dark. Anyway, so I started out with like a light brown slash bone, like color. And then I took a super light green, say it's saying light to start, like a super light, like a yellowy green,
00:05:49
Speaker
where his green parts are. And if you look at Jabba, his arms are green and his back is green and the top of his tail. ta oh yeah um And then but his face and stomach and going underneath are are like the lighter tan brown color. So I saw that and I was like, okay, I'll start with that tan color.
00:06:13
Speaker
and then go to the green. So then I took that lighter green, went through, went from the edges from where the green starts. And then I took the darker green and I kind of just like kind of wet blend, but with contrast paint, does that make sense? So I kind of worked swiftly because contrast paint can dry semi-quick and you got to be ready for it. So like you gotta, so I did the green and then I did the darker green and it kind of blended together and made a nice transition from the brown to the dark green.
00:06:43
Speaker
um And then i I did all the details, which isn't much on Java. Just that's a confession. This bottle took me an hour and 50 minutes to paint. So not my... I'm looking at a picture. It looks good. Yeah, it's not... not that That's not including the priming.
00:07:08
Speaker
But yeah, i ah ah I did highlights on his little warts on his tail. I did a little yellowy green highlight on his tail for the top part because you got to know if you're highlighting green, it leans towards yellow. there' that There's a whole chart online if you want to Google it. I took a a lighter Brown to highlight his front frontal areas. Um, what brand, what kind of paints did you use it? Uh, army painter. No. Yeah. I like army painter. I don't know why I lean towards it. I have Vallejo and I whenever I use it, it's kind of just, I think it's cause they're older. Lejo is that I'm not heard of that. Vallejo or Vallejo. Yeah. V a L L E J O.
00:08:03
Speaker
Sounds right. Um, this actually brings me to another thing because I hadn't painted in so long. My paints have been sitting, right? This is a whole nother topic. And I want to ask you guys how you deal with this, but, um, I kind of got, yeah, that's,
Current Projects and Painting Techniques
00:08:20
Speaker
that's, that's the layout. Um, I got, I tried to get a little innovative and went upstairs into my wife's drawer.
00:08:31
Speaker
No, I didn't do that. I did. I got her. I got her like a muscle massager. Oh, again. I'm sure you use it for like injuries and fitness. She's a runner. Yeah. Yeah. It's like a deep tissue massage, like a vibrating, like a pneumatic gun. Yeah. Yeah. And I just put the paint bottle on it while it was going to shake it. I first put a ball bearing in it. Yeah.
00:09:00
Speaker
Then I did that and it seemed to work pretty well because if you don't, I think every artist you go a while without painting, you know, Sean, right? Yes. Stuff sits on a shelf. It settles. And like any other thing, you know, get stuff gets separated. So you got to mix it back up to get it back to normal. I'm looking for my product that that I have. I was just thinking like, man, we should talk about some of our favorite, favorite, like,
00:09:27
Speaker
things sometime. And that was actually one of mine. I have like a little box that like comes like rubber bands, you could just put the pot on top. And he turned on and he just goes, but just shakes it like crazy, like a big paint mixer in a store, but it's real little. Yeah, my cat, my cats hate it.
00:09:44
Speaker
So I'll put it on the floor and but but by by but blapping it whacking it yeah i did yeah just like, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, b scaring me i i will say this is temporary and i did like thirty five bucks on amazon i ordered a paint vibrator thing it's like sits on your desk and you just turn it on and you put the bottle on top Uh, to help mix paint, but it seemed to work really well. No, nowhere. I don't know where mine is. Yeah. Um, contrast point paint definitely separates. So you got to watch for that because it's got the contrast medium in there mixed with the pigments and stuff and they can separate. There you go. Yeah. The paint shaker.
00:10:40
Speaker
What you doing with that over there? like sha Shaking my paint, shaking my paint, man. What are you doing? Yeah, no. um So that got my paints ready and they worked just like new. um You know, did some more shading with some darker brown on the bottom, went from a darker green on the back at the lower end, highlighted up to the top. i In the eyes, this is cool, I i painted over the eyes white.
00:11:13
Speaker
And then I took Yanden yellow contrast paint, which is, it's a cool yellow because it, gets a little orangy in the crevices, but leaves like a more yellowy yellow on the surfaces. So it's like, I think it's the best contrast yellow. It's great. He looks good. He looks grimy, but he doesn't look like he has jaundice. He's looking, he looks good. Yeah. Yeah.
00:11:42
Speaker
But I, I free, what do you call it? Free paint, free draw, free, free hand, free hand. There it is. I free handed some more black lines in his eyes. Cause if I, I looked at images from him in the movies and stuff, like he's got like, yeah, the cat like eye in the middle, but then he's got two other black lines on each side. So I drew those in and then I use the contrast paint. And, and then I did one white dot on each eye.
00:12:13
Speaker
And final step, which is kind of cheating, but I did a gloss varnish on top with a brush. Why is that cheat in it? Explain. It makes it shiny. You know what I'm saying? Glossy, which you can technically force people to see using just paint. You know what I mean? It's like using metallic paint when you could just use normal paint to make it look like metal. And you are not talking, I am not a purist when it comes to how can I do this. A few steps as possible, I will. By any means necessary, my friend.
00:12:56
Speaker
I will use more product than it needs. and I'm just saying you'll get to if you get deep into this crafting, you'll get to a point where you're like, I want to try making this sword without using metallic paint. And you got to know the thing is, you got to lean towards white a lot because you got to have that sheen. You know what I'm saying? So you got the gray. It's it's but it's a lot of it's a lot of, you know, blending, wet, blending, all that shit. Or you can do it pretty well with an airbrush, too.
00:13:25
Speaker
But there's also a difference between taking on a challenge like like I'm going to paint a tree that looks realistic and it's not going to be brown because that's not the right color.
Understanding Paint Chemistry and Techniques
00:13:36
Speaker
but but Versus like I'm trying to be as efficient and proper as possible like that you're just going to at least for myself like I whatever the proper technique is I just do like I worry enough as it is like I have made a couple notes about like your paint mixing stuff I have questions about like Man, i I worry enough about like the little things of like, is this color right? I can't worry about, I'm cheating with gloss varnish. I'm hitting it. I i painted it in a little spittle coming down his mouth with some white. ah You might see it on the picture. Yeah, yeah, I'm zoomed in right now. But then I went over it with the gloss. So it's still kind of cheating. You know what I'm saying? like I kind of like double covered it.
00:14:24
Speaker
Like I didn't need to do that because it was white already. And, but, you know, I'd say my definition of cheating is going to the store and buying a spit, like a product that's called spit. You know, that's its only purpose. It's like, yep, this is for doing spit effects. I'm still supportive. Go for it. Your money. Do whatever you want. But that to me is where it's like, I don't know how to do it. I'm just going to go buy the product. I don't know how to do rust. So I'm just going to buy rust. I think speaking of that, we did talk about this, right? You who?
00:14:53
Speaker
like the chocolate milk it's like a glue ah it's like a viscous glue that's stringy so if you you you who glue it's they I think they usually use it on like bottoms of shoes to reinforce soles and stuff but um it's Like real glue not a modeling product. It's a right like this is for a strong adhesive That's not rigid like superglue. It'll snap so it goes on like shoes. So it's like strong like an e6000 kind of thing yeah, and crafters found you could take like a toothpick or whatever and like touch one to like a tooth bring it down to the bottom of the mouth and it looks like
00:15:38
Speaker
just like saliva, like stringy slime, which I will use on the Rancor. Nice, I'm going to write that down. One day, eventually. ah Just a word of advice, don't get the you who that's green. its they're They're a yellow tube. Don't get the one with the green writing, get the one with the black writing.
00:15:57
Speaker
What's the green writing? I want to know now. Why? Doesn't work. So this is the green writing. It's the greens like on the can't see, but it's not. It's it's just doesn't. It's not the same. I haven't used it, but I obviously don't have those effects. I love it. I love that's my favorite part of the craft is buying something that you think you're going to use, realizing it's the wrong thing. And then it sits in a drawer forever.
Motivation and Distractions in Crafting
00:16:21
Speaker
If you haven't done it, then you haven't been in it long enough.
00:16:28
Speaker
I've got lots of stuff that I'll see at the store, especially illustration materials like pens and different things that I'll be like, Oh yeah, buy that i'll use that. And by the time I actually get to use it or remember I bought it and try it like the ink dried out and it's just.
00:16:48
Speaker
useless or I just, it's like, that we talked about the desk of shame, didn't we? Like last time that things just sit there. I've got a cupboard full of materials and like canvases and wooden boards that I bought to like paint or draw on. And I go in there and I'm just like, ah, I'll get to that. Yeah. I'll use the you i use it oh yeah that. Oh Do you guys have a, do you guys have it at all? Cause I'm, this is, this is me a lot of times where like I'll buy a product and I'll have it. And I know it's there and I'll be doing,
00:17:17
Speaker
ah project and then I'll like oh I could use that but no I gotta I want to like I want to save that for something that's like or like it's really spent needs to be special it's like when when is this like magical super special project at income like I'm barely getting the projects and I have now it's like just use the stupid tools like I have so many sanding sticks and sandpaper and like fresh blades but I'm always like What if I don't want to change my blade? Like I want to, like, I got to save those for like when I really need them. yeah What am I doing? It's very self-aware, but. Those, um, you sent me some sanding sticks in that care package, didn't you? They've been fucking rad. They have shown they've been really good. Is it, yeah is it these?
00:18:01
Speaker
ah Yes. My seven hundred bags of these I got one time and it's like, man, I don't use these like as quickly as I thought I would. ah So, yeah, yeah, they're like they're like little they're like emery boards, but they're like sliced off like okay they look like they're making nail files and then they're just like the blanks off of like the ends and they just stuff them in a bag and go, here you go. Craft people go for it. Yeah, they're just so i so good for getting into little gaps and stuff.
00:18:29
Speaker
Oh, you have the, melo you have the but files. They are only little files. Oh, smooth out. Yeah. Um, mold lines and stuff like that. Are your, are your things mostly resin Ed? Like your war paint, your war dudes, your war men.
Laser Cutting and Scratch Building
00:18:45
Speaker
Well, I'm not sure what you'd call it because resin in the Warhammer world is not what the general Warhammer models are made of.
00:18:56
Speaker
There are Warhammer war models that are quote resident and they're annoying to glue. Okay. Cause the normal plastic glue doesn't work on them. So I guess what I'm saying is it's normally plastic. it's When you say plastic glue, you're talking about the glue that melts, melts the plastic. Yeah. yeah yeah So that's generally what I work with. Yeah. That's what I generally work with. I have worked with resin. It was fucking it there. It's heavier. It's an, and that makes it all the more harder to glue, but you got to use like.
00:19:29
Speaker
superglue and And a mask if you're saying it a mask and I use some spray that speeds up superglue You know what I'm talking about the accelerator. Yeah the accelerator that work that helped big time but like But it makes it all want to dry instantly. Oh, no, it's horrible for you It's what's also good here. Speaking, not to go down this crazy tangent, but speaking of superglue, if you want a little bit of texture and you also want to make your superglue dry really fast, baking soda, baking soda will do that. Oh, mate. That's one of the first things I learned from YouTube crafters. I use that all the time. It's so good. Especially if I'm like, and with the robots and stuff, I mean, it just adds extra like rushed effect or like, it looks like welding. It's fucking great. Yeah. Baking soda.
00:20:21
Speaker
It would be good to attach to a base, probably, right? Yeah, dirt, terrain, whatever. Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of which. So a product that I might want to buy and it's water effect. It's like water. Like like a resin kind of thing. yeah Yeah. And you can buy like it in a tube and you just apply it and you wait a day and it dries and it.
00:20:49
Speaker
looks like fucking water. So cool. What would you use that on? What kind of on a base? on You know, like I was thinking about doing it on this rank on the rank or when I get to it because um I was watching a guy on YouTube, Sarastro. He does he does. ah Imperial assault models all in Legion Star Wars, lots of Star Wars stuff. Yeah. And he did that. He did like a swamp.
00:21:14
Speaker
on his bass for the Rancor and added little metal bits and skulls onto the bass and shit. And I was like, God damn, I want to do that. So I'll tell you, I'll tell you what I'm hearing. I'm hearing Ed found a technique and a product that he likes. And now it's just looking for a solution to apply that to. He has no use for it yet. And this is how you end up with a shelf full of shit that you don't know what to do with. Yeah. Cause I have, I have those products. one through It's like the water and then it's also like you can get the foam where it's like, Oh, you can make it look like waves. And it's like the, the foamy crap on water. It's like, I'm going to use that one. I'm going to use that one day. It's like, Oh, I've got, I have these lofty dreams, but it's like,
00:21:52
Speaker
yeah i think I think the more common thing is you use it, but you bought like a giant thing of it. Yeah. And yeah and you use like a tiny thimble of it and then the rest just sits on your shelf for like years. Oh man. You're talking about my experience with dioramas where it's like, yes, you need to buy ah a whole bag of like fake grass and then you use it and it's like, wow, I used like a thimble size and now I still have a a gallon size ziploc bag full of fake grass that will just get everywhere. It's worse than like animal hair. um It's like this giant tube of
00:22:33
Speaker
black oil paint. Dude, that is, that is be like, I think you're not, you're doing a disservice by calling that huge. That is the biggest tube of pain I've ever seen in my life. That's like bigger than toothpaste. That is massive. Dude, it's, yeah, it's like one of the large, it's just for the listeners. It's like as large as the biggest tube of toothpaste you've seen.
00:22:55
Speaker
And I don't know what I was thinking buying it. Like I was, I guess the cost effectiveness and I bought it, but I was using it on, um, a mural. Like, what are you paying with that? not for One little miniature Mac from back battle tech, you know, like, like a robot. And I wanted it to be white and painting a white robots really hard.
00:23:21
Speaker
like just to do it, get in the shading and all that. And the recommendation was to paint it white and then use use a gloss varnish over the whole thing, let it dry, and then do the oil paint because it you can drag it around much easier. And if you mess it up, you can take it off. That's true, yes.
00:23:45
Speaker
That's a lot of pain. And so I used like a little thimble of it for that. and I still so love it. So this is how much I love the entire fucking tube. That's how you could put that in a tube, thin it down and you could like do a dramatic wash on your car and just cover your whole car with a, with a, with like a four inch brush. You'd
Innovative Techniques and Experimentation
00:24:05
Speaker
be in still have some leftover. Like that's, that's an obscene amount of oil paint. That's one of the things that the other example is this, this, uh, look at me just like grabbing shit here.
00:24:14
Speaker
I, I, I ordered the role of, of water texture plastic. It's like, it's, just like texturing clear plastic in a sheet and I have it rolled up and I used like, this put on a window to make it like a privacy window.
00:24:33
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I use like a baby like a eight by eight inch by eight inch. No, less than that. Six, five inch by five inch part of it for a shield on one of my Warhammer nights, my chaos nights to make it look like it looks like because because when I got it, the shield, it's just a frame and it's supposed to be like a ah shiny electrical shield. And you're supposed to use your imagination to picture it. And I was like, I'm going to use this fucking what water texture put it over that and people can be like, Oh, that's cool. Like a shield, shield, shield in a shield. So I use a tiny bit of that and I still have a giant roll of it, but
00:25:14
Speaker
That one project that's coming up maybe sometime. I might use it for it, right? You never know. Years and years and years and years ago, I used to do a lot of ah painting on canvas, ah like acrylics and oils on canvas.
00:25:33
Speaker
And I remember we were on holiday. I specifically remember this memory. We were on holiday ah with my wife's parents and my daughter was six months old. She turns 15 next month.
00:25:52
Speaker
And I, we were in this little gift shop on holiday in Norfolk and I saw they got a little art section and there was like these weird shaped canvases. And I got really excited because the ones I could go buy at the time, I wasn't buying stuff offline at the time. Uh, the only ones I could access were like normal square ones. And I bought these weird shaped canvases and then they had this jar of varnish to lock in the paint. And I was like, Oh, that's really cool. Cause I'd never seen it before.
00:26:22
Speaker
And I bought this jar of varnish and I still have it unopened. Sat in my materials cupboard. My daughter was six months old.
00:26:35
Speaker
It's still, every now and again, I'll shake it to make sure, to make sure it's not solid. But yeah, I was always afraid. I was like, I finished my canvas. I don't want to put this varnish on it and ruin it. It might like ruin it. So I've just never used it. And it's just sat there like varnish jar of shame. Another product that I bought that. Yeah.
00:26:57
Speaker
wait You're really waiting it for it to kind of like ferment and become a more interesting product that you can use in an interesting model. Yeah, exactly. I'll use it ah use it one day. One day I'll i paint another canvas and I'll lock it in with that 15 year old varnish. Goodness knows how long it had sat on the shelf in that gift shop as well. So it could be like 25 year old varnish. Who knows? Anyway, let's get back to crafting.
00:27:24
Speaker
Nice. And so, Ed, I had a question for you. I mean, this is kind of a general question, like kind of you were talking about painting your job with the different greens and the yellows and stuff. And it's kind of hinges on the thing that the stuff that I always end up worrying about. I never end up having a problem with it, but it's probably because I overdo it. But like, what are you guys the strategies for when you're like, are you like, say you need a green, are you hardcore? I'm just going to I have the basic colors. I'm going to mix it until I get what I need.
00:27:53
Speaker
ah You try to find the color that you Like you buy the color like oh, I need a forest green, but go get a forest green and then on second part of that is I'm always worried about Like I'm gonna mix this color and I really don't want to have to try to like match it again What if I run out or it dries? so it's like how much do I mix versus how do I and how do I store it because I It's not going to be easy, especially when you're doing custom colors to kind of come in and correct something. And cause sometimes I have done that. I'm like, well, that's not close at all. Um, yeah, I'm just curious about that. Cause that's something I always worry about when I'm painting something. It's like, Oh God, it's, so it's definitely a learning experience. I went to the same thing. I'm like, yeah, that's not what I wanted. I just fucked that up. Um, I ended up buying, like I have.
00:28:45
Speaker
three different greens. No, four. And it's just because I had an army that dealt with a lot of greens and I wanted to be faster at doing it. You know, a Warhammer army to paint. And that's, so now when I have to deal with the same with Browns, all that stuff. So now when I have to deal with those kinds of colors, I am ready. I i tackle it hard. I'm, it's easy. It's not easy, but it's now that I know what to do, it's easy.
00:29:15
Speaker
But um ah same with that tree beard. I think that was part of it. That got me more into getting those kind of colors. The tree beard I painted, Chris. um
00:29:29
Speaker
And then over time, you build up a stock paint. But the blending helps in the transition of the colors. So you've got to understand the drying times.
00:29:44
Speaker
and um being ready, and also blend. So I i do blend contrast plain paints somewhat. um Or i've I've even blended contrast with non-contrast. So I did that on this, actually. I did the yellow with the military green, or military green, whatever it is, ah to make the highlight.
00:30:10
Speaker
which is risky because highlight you want to stay on an edge, right? It's a highlight. And you're putting a little contrast medium in there. So it worked. It worked. It worked actually worked pretty well, I thought. But I leaned more towards the yellow, obviously. It was just a little bit of that green to get the pigment in there. I could have used acrylic, but I don't know. I wasn't thinking hard enough, I guess.
00:30:37
Speaker
Um, but yeah, I, I, I find having a few colors of every color. That makes sense. Few Browns. I have, I have a light Brown is like three to four of every color. You're not rocking the Crayola eight pack and mixing all of your colors by the primaries. No, cause I, uh,
00:31:05
Speaker
I don't know. I find it time consuming. As you know, I come from an army painting side. It's time consuming to make the right color. And then you run out because you only like mixed a tiny bit of everything. And then you're like, okay, I gotta make it again. And you're like, put it like, how much, how many brush fulls of this did I put in? And you're like, shit, I don't remember or whatever. And also if you do just a little bit, it can dry.
00:31:31
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? So you got to use a wet palette. Wet palettes really help if you're blending a lot. um i do I have used that in the past. But lately, I've been leaning contrast paint for bulk painting and then straight acrylic for highlights. And that's when you can blend, because you don't need much paint. You can blend and like you don't have to gra gradually Do colors from one end to the other kind of thing from one color to the next color because it's just the straight edge highlight. like What about you, Chris, what do you are you ah are you next at once and store it or are you
00:32:15
Speaker
That doesn't bother you. You'll just mix more later if you have a particular color. or um court On this current crafting journey, I have not had the testicular fortitude to mix any colors myself yet. I'm just using stuff basic stock colors at the minute. and But however, history has proven to me outside of this crafting realm. ah When I have mixed colors in the past for previous projects in different mediums, I generally tend to overcompensate and
00:32:56
Speaker
that tube that Ed showed with the black, I would probably pour half of that out and mix that just to be on the safe side, just to be on the safe side. Cause I always afraid like if I'm mixing a color and I know damn well, if I run a, I ain't mixing the same color and getting the shade right. So I would overcompensate. ah But currently, yeah, I'm just using using stock. I've found that like, if I've got a basic,
00:33:23
Speaker
Once I've put a basic, um, color down that the light, the, the washes and the shades and stuff help to get the different colors that need on top of that. And have you, have you played around with the wet blending on the model? Like from one color to the next. So like you do droids, so you don't really need to do that. But like in like Java, for instance, with the skin from the lighter Brown to the green. Yeah.
00:33:51
Speaker
You're moving. So I went from like light brown to like a yellowy green to like a darker green to then a darker green and I kind of just like sloshed it on and like kind of like ah In a quick fashion because you don't want it to dry yet and you kind of just like blend it together and it worked pretty well.
00:34:10
Speaker
I worry too much for that. I can't, I cannot work that fast. I would do one color, then I do another, and then I would just wait for that dry slowly. But like wet blending is one of those things where I'm like, that, that takes a level of confidence or just winged attitude that I did. I struggle with where it's like, yeah yeah I'll figure out how to do it after the fact, which is just slapping it on there and being like, and going blending in between is, and ra ability i think I think you just got to do it. And I think.
00:34:41
Speaker
you use a little more water than you think. And um like in my case, I use contrast paint. So I had contrast medium and stuff, but with regular paints, you just use a little more water than you think and you stick to it and you just kind of maneuver it, move a little bit fast and you'd be surprised. It does work pretty well. When I do organic stuff, which is not very often,
00:35:09
Speaker
um I will do, I'll like, let it dry. Then I'll do like a really thin wash over the top. Like, and like, let that dry and just kind of keep, keep going very, very light and just like, and then build up like the dark. That's how I would do the dark green and just like, let it build up. Cause I just don't have the fortitude for the wet blending. I could practice, but I'm not going to. The paints are scary, man. I'm loving, I'm loving using them.
00:35:39
Speaker
But compared to my confidence with pens, it's ah it's night and day. Because I love like obviously using illustration markers and stuff for the drawing that I do. I love blending with them. And I love just like diving in. and But it was like scary, learning how to do it. But I'll get there with the paints, give it a go. You just got to trust the process, ain't you? And dive straight in. So I've just recently used some speed paints for the first time.
00:36:09
Speaker
Oh, yeah yeah. And that was, um, that's been a bit of a revelation. Cheat paints, as Ed calls them. I cheated.
00:36:20
Speaker
but was So I took your, I took your advice from the last episode and that, that little dude I was working on, um, I restarted right from the start. So I sprayed in black, did my zenithal highlight. Is that what you call it? Yeah.
00:36:39
Speaker
Yep. Yeah. Yep. I think it's also called like braing like point stores, highlight point stores, highlighting or something like that. Or something that. Sprayed in black all over, sprayed in white from a above. So there was still some black areas and shaded bits showing and then just went at him with a green speed paint and.
00:37:07
Speaker
I was quite stunned, actually. I felt like I'd created fire. I was like, shit, look at this. This looks right already. Before I'd put any washes on it or like done any highlighting or anything or any other colours, I was like, yeah. Yeah. Because so it just fell into all the all the crevices and the cracks and I'd instantly got shade in like lighter and darker areas. and It looks pretty cool without even doing any weathering on it. So I can't wait to get to town weathering it and like, do you take a lot of pictures when you do it? Like when you take a lot of pictures like in between.
00:37:43
Speaker
Not as many as I should do, or as many ah that get requested afterwards. like i Like when I show someone something, they're like, oh, sick. Have you got anything? like What did it look like before? ah Yeah, I just got ah got in the zone and didn't take any photos. I was just working away.
00:38:01
Speaker
Like I because I've started doing that a lot more because I yeah i get that same thing, too. Like I like I zenith all my my my Raphael turtle. And I'm like, oh, I love this. It looks so great. And then it's like you keep adding more and then you look back at the pictures and go, oh, it did look cool, but like it looks way better now. And like you could just see the progress and like what there's so time. There's so many times I'm like I'm an inch off of something and I'm like just meticulously doing it. I'm like, am I actually doing anything? Is it actually changing over time? But then looking at the photos and go, oh, no, like that.
00:38:30
Speaker
It was all worth it. I wasn't just like micro managing us. Like it did contribute to a larger thing. Uh, like I'm glad I didn't stop. I just kept button with it. I've got photos of it where it was before I resprayed it and I'd got further in the process then than I have now. And it looks a million times better now than it did further down the line. Then if that makes sense. That's good.
00:39:00
Speaker
So I'm excited to see the next phase of it when I actually. Yeah. Even, even if you're just time using straight acrylics over your zenithal highlight. I mean, you're just covering it all up. Yes. Yeah. But yeah, it does provide a base if you're using lighter colors. Um, but for people that don't know where Chris, I put you in the group that people that do know people that don't know how light works on objects.
00:39:30
Speaker
And how to color them and paint them and where shading is zenithal highlighting is a great way for someone to see where shading should be. And then you can paint paint throughout that figure it out. Yeah. The key is the the second, the key to that is thinning your paints, your, your layer paints after you use it at all, which.
00:39:57
Speaker
It's surprisingly common that some people don't do, like I've i've watched videos of people who are giving feedback where they're like, I zenith all didn't. I took my, my, my war painter paint squirted onto a, uh, uh, a piece of paper plate and I started painting it on. And now it's all one color. It's like, did you, did you thin it? Did you thin it enough? Like then thin it down. You can always put more on. It's hard to take it back off. like And what what would one use to thin it just add water or? Yeah. Or it depends. Asterisk. yeah like yeah i got like a war Like a war painter, like a lot of people would just say water's fine. Like if you.
00:40:39
Speaker
If you know what you're doing, like if if it's if Chris Hall is asking me, what would I thin it with? I'm like, you could probably thin it with anything and you will be fine because you understand how paint clothes and works and you'll be good. um There are other acrylic thinners that will that got like retarders or stuff in it that will like ah give you longer running like wet times and things like that. There's ones that are that will help kind of pull the the meat like the the pigment together and help flow it around like there's just different ones um or help keep you from drying on your brush too quickly like it's kind of different chemicals and stuff but most time water will be fine um yeah or an acrylic from citadel they have something called lami and medium that can turn an acrylic paint somewhat into a wash the more you add it to it which is right
00:41:33
Speaker
Which is the same as I guess. So you're, you're Citadel acrylic said like your base colors. Do you, what are those down at all? When you need to pay with them. Yeah, I always, yeah I use a, I try to use it's changed a little lately. Cause I started using these, what are these called?
00:41:56
Speaker
Pop sockets. Fidget, fidget toy things. Yeah. the pu Pop sockets. Pop sockets for paint. Um, I used to use a wet palette so that would automatically automaticallyally do it. So this I got to like, yeah. So I just like use my, uh, brush and I just put a little bit of water in it. You can't, don't ever use the paint right out of it. Unless you want the texture. There's always an exception. Unless you want like a texture or something off of it. I don't know.
00:42:27
Speaker
But I know what you're doing. and Yeah, it's always is good to do thin coats. So you want a little bit of water with it with the base acrylic. And that takes experience. Like you'll you'll do it and be like, oh, it's not even like I don't even it's not doing anything because you put too much water or whatever. You know what I mean? You'll figure it out.
00:42:50
Speaker
And you'll realize also over time how to do it so that your brush isn't as doesn't have too much paint on it. So you like dip the brush in it, and then you gotta clear off the brush enough so you can do super detailed shit.
00:43:07
Speaker
When it's, ah it's, and it's never static, like no matter what kind of thin you're using water or like an acrylic thinner, like using like a little pop socket things or a wet palette. Like it's not like you mix it and then it wants and it stays that way. Like the second you mix it, that that's, that's drying. The water's evaporating, the acrylic thinner is doing this.
00:43:28
Speaker
So it's this constant, like I tend to over thin because then I can always add a little bit more pain on the side and pull it in, mix, pull it in, mix. Okay. Now I got too much there. Like I don't want to keep adding more thinner. Cause that's just a pain too. Cause I use like an acrylic thinner that I just, I love. And so I don't want to keep getting the eyedropper, boop, boop, boop. So like I'll, I'll really get it thin and then just kind of keep pulling it in.
00:43:50
Speaker
And then it will like I'll paint with it and it'll dry a little bit and then be like, oh, like keep spinning around. yeah Yeah. Speaking of buying a lot of things just to get some pets. I bought a thing off Amazon. Yeah. And I got must have got like 300 pipettes. So here's a giant bag of pipettes. And you'll use and you'll use them. Yeah. You you use every way to get into airbrushing and then you'll buy.
00:44:15
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I use it for that. Yeah, 100 percent. But yeah, adding mediums because there's a kind something called contrast medium, which can turn. Any acrylic paint, if you add contrast medium to it to kind of like a contrast paint or you can add it to a contrast paint that doesn't.
00:44:36
Speaker
um So some it's weird. I don't know how to explain it. So some contrast paints from Citadel. their pigments hold to services more. They're like darker. I think it's because they're more, they're less blended. Does that make sense? they They're less like a finer. They have a finer pigment and they're more of a dominant pigment. They're not like a, we made this with three pigments, put them together. And then now this is like this light green.
00:45:07
Speaker
as ah as a contrast paint, but now this is like the true green pigment or something. I don't know. But ah you can turn that by just adding more contrast medium into a lighter one that goes more towards crevices and leaves more lighter color. So it makes it like a lighter, if you want the underneath color to show through more, underneath ah base that you put on it to shine through more. So like I know there's a purple I got, Leviathan Purple.
00:45:36
Speaker
that is super purple. It's a contrast paint, but does not act like a typical contrast paint. You paint it on, yes, a lot of it goes towards crevices, but it leaves a solid purple on surface. it's it's got it's it's kind of umm Almost behaving more like a glaze where it's like it's not That the pigment pieces aren't big enough to kind of flow and move and then the medium is clear It's like it is well distributed through the medium And so you've almost got like a glaze over the top of it and it's still darker in the crevices, but yes, it's not clear it's still gonna like and then you'll come across other contrast paints that will
00:46:18
Speaker
Hardly leave much on the surface. Like it's like a light, super light blue. Like I have one that's like a frost blue. So like obviously it's meant to be put on white-ish base, but they generally all are. but um But a lot of the blue will go towards the crevices. I did think I used this on when I painted Kev a snow speeder. I did it on the snow under and on his base. So it made it look like icy, but it leaves the surfaces mostly leaves them alone. So leaves them white. So you'll come across contra and paste to do that. And contrast paints that absolutely do not do that, but still are darker in the crevices. and So you got to watch for that. Test them out. Don't throw it on thinking it's going to be the best thing ever on the model. That's kind of the other reason why you don't just go straight from the bottle sometimes.
00:47:11
Speaker
unless you're unless you're familiar with the paint. like And that's why I'll always mix a little bit of some kind of thinner in it, because it also tells you like how it's going to react to certain things, um like especially as you get into like washes, filters, shades, any kind of weathering effects that have like different sizes and consistencies of pigments, like especially like grime and things like that. like You mix a little bit of water with it on ah on a palette. There's some of them that'll just, like they'll clump up.
00:47:41
Speaker
Like it's like, Oh, okay. I shouldn't mix out with anything that's still kind of wet because that'll just become a, uh, a pigment booger on the side. And it's really hard to undo. So it's still kind of, it's like a way of kind of testing. Like you have a couple of different thinners, that you know, kind of how they behave with things and you can just mix a little bit in and be like, Oh, I should not mix this. Like there are certain.
00:48:04
Speaker
of my weathering things that I cannot put with anything enamel. like um It's obvious. like I can't mix that with any kind of enamel because it would just, it just destroys the entire medium and the pigment and it becomes this this crazy spider web booger mess. And it's like, yep, don't, glad I tested that because that'll be hard to undo. So that's kind of a good little security check before you start slapping stuff on a model. So a prime example of this was with the Java because Like I said earlier, I had that bone brown. So on the top of his tail, it's green, but I wanted it to be lighter because it's the top of his tail, right? That's where light's more prominent. It's not going to be dark there. So I was like, I know this Militarum green is pretty dark and I'm going to use it.
00:48:59
Speaker
And i'm good I want more of it on the backside towards the ground than I do on the top. So I took it and I added some um contrast medium to it to make it more contrasty slash cheating. Does that make sense? of And then I use that on the top of the tail and it it let that bone brown come through more.
00:49:27
Speaker
slash light green. I forgot to mention that I put the light green over it beforehand. So it's like a light green brown coming through that darker green. It's just we a bunch of fucking nerds. aren't we I know we are. I love I love talking about it. I didn't know how much I love talking about this. But um you learn all this just fucking doing it around. And it's it's it's a fast way. Like I said, I painted in under two hours.
00:49:52
Speaker
So oh that it it it just gets worse too. Cause like, there's some people who are like, Oh, they're all about the techniques or products. And like, I've caught myself, like, especially since I got into airbrushing, I get myself more into trying to understand, like I'm not a, I have no, I have no chemistry background or anything like that, but just trying to understand like the chemistry of the different products and like the, the mediums, the thinners, the pigments and how they're going to react. So I can like take some of the guesswork out of it. And it's become like this fascination of mine, especially since I use so many lacquers and enamels.
00:50:22
Speaker
just that order of operations and like the different. Yeah, that's a realm I don't know. It's I sit in the acrylic realm. That's what I do. I think I think there's times where I was I love acrylics and I have nothing against them, but there's times where I like I think I was so resistant to thinning in like that whole prep. Like I just wanted to get into it that I think I had some bad experiences with acrylics and that I've had better experiences with like enamels.
00:50:47
Speaker
and things like that because they are so undoable like you I could put I could cover a whole thing and just enamel sludge but then I could take a little bit of enamel thinner on a like a this is like a not it for those who can't see it's like a q-tip but it's like a super q-tip like plastic with a spongy thing on the end I could put a little bit of enamel thinner on there and I can just wick it wicked all the way off until there's, it's only in the spots I want to be. It's like, yes, I can't do that with acrylic because acrylic dries differently, hardens differently enamels. It could be on there forever and i' get a little bit of enamel thinner. And it's like.
00:51:24
Speaker
And that's why I got this giant tube was to do that exact technique was to put it on and then move it around. This is the end of the day. Oil. paint I don't really care about painting. I just want to weather stuff like if somebody would just ship me finished models like I will weather a weather that all day. That's my favorite part. I love rust effects. All that shit. I love doing that. Yeah. Streaking grime. This this rust effects the grime the like water like dried water like when like on the side of boats we you see like the white kind of streaking down. Fascinates me. And it makes you it makes you a crazy person in real life to the more you get into it. Because then you'll go places and like look at stuff and try to talk to your partner. Look, look at the way the sediment just kind of comes off that and just drapes and then kind of hits us and flows down and it's Oh, it's so cool. You're like you're, you're a psycho like please you know what feels the best is
00:52:19
Speaker
doing that highlight dry brush at the end. And it's just like and it everything just pops out and you're like, oh, oh, my God. that feels so That's that's the cheater that you want to talk about cheating. the The dry brush at the end is like, oh, I should have done this ah for the beginning and just not wasted my time with everything else. The dry brushing is. I do it for everything edge highlighting all of it. It's easy peasy.
00:52:45
Speaker
But Chris, what have you been, what else have you been, uh, you have any other projects going on at the, and going on right now or any other? Yeah. So I've got, that I'm still working on the droids that I talked about last, last time. So obviously I've redid that, um, we did that guy using the, uh, the boss art technique.
00:53:07
Speaker
Cause I've still got, i I wrote down two techniques dinner. I wrote down the boss art technique and the ah Hoffman technique. So, and now I have, I have got some, um, varnish spray that I bought for another project that I can use on, on the boss art on the Hoffman technique. i saw I saw him pop up a little bit. I saw some, I saw some green for a second. I'm like, Oh.
00:53:32
Speaker
Oh, sorry. We got. Yeah, that we got got a little. So look at him. This guy's obviously nowhere near finished, but I don't know if you remember what he looked like last time. You can see that he's he's lighter up here and then he's all. Yes, he is darker down here. I've just started something about that green. that I like that green. I don't know. Yeah. So that is the army painter speed paint or skin color. Nice. Very nice.
00:54:01
Speaker
So yeah, I got an Amazon gift voucher and I was like, ooh, I can finally get those paints. And I got a set of 10 speed paints, like basic colors. So we've got blacks and browns, blues. They were like 35 quid. So that is English pound sterling. ah If not, not dollars. ah So I've got him. So I am still working around him. And then I had this dude last time, but I've just been doing like some chipping away and putting some little,
00:54:31
Speaker
like paint chips on him. So that was like the first time I've been trying to do super fine detail. So I'd got like, and just what you were talking about a minute ago, Ed, there was times when I was trying to put that detail on and I got far too much paint on my brush and I had to be like, so I've had to go back in trial and error. Yeah. Yeah. I've had to go back in with the bone, like cream color and get some of that out that I didn't want and stuff. But yeah, that was fun. That was took me.
00:55:00
Speaker
So couple of hours as well. Do you want to talk about chipping? a That might need to be a whole episode itself. Well, yeah, that's it. Yeah. Like I had to do that assault method that all the other hairspray. I have that quick ways of doing it, obviously. I know you're doing it your way, which is great. But yeah, I have quick ways to do it. It's got games to play. Then you then you can like. hi got Yeah.
00:55:27
Speaker
that guys what's interesting about this is like ed and you I feel like you're coming in from a ah perspective of, like, my end goal is to play the game, mostly. Like, and I have to get through this to play the game. And it's like, I have nowhere to be. And I'll sit there meticulously, fart with the same pipe.
00:55:44
Speaker
certain nine weeks. And so it's, it's interesting. like You have, you have quick techniques and I'm like, Oh, I got it. I'm going to put this product on like, uh, especially, uh, like the, the mask, the pink masking stuff you can paint on. So you spray over top of it and peel all the mask off. So it's like blots. So you can have an under layer of paint and stuff. Love it.
00:56:07
Speaker
Maybe that's what you i'm doing you need. some You need the guys to come round at the weekend and you're on a time scale. You're like, right, the boys are coming around. I've got my fucking campaign on Saturday night. I've got to get this army finished. That's the pressure that Ed's under when he's pulling out all these cheat codes.
00:56:27
Speaker
So that's what's funny. That's actually how I all started with all of this. It's like, I started because I came from board gaming, then I've discovered X-wing miniatures. And then I realized I hate it standing over, leaning over a top of a table for three hours. I'm like, I really just want to paint these models. And I started doing that. And then it's like, whoa, they sell models like but yeah this game to screw this game. Like I'm just going to, I could sit by myself and like meticulously do this and sit in a chair and not being in a hot board game shop all day.
00:56:58
Speaker
So yeah, I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna stick with my models that I'm not But I I am but this does motivate me to get back into it like after the last one first episode I got I so like I got a lot done on on on some things that got them all out and maybe this will be the fire to keep Mm-hmm powering through it Yeah, after last episode, went and chipped away on these two little droids. And then um this is not to derail what we're currently talking about, but it is crafting. um A friend of mine's getting married next week and she asked me to make to make these signs that she'd seen on the internet.
00:57:39
Speaker
um
00:57:41
Speaker
out of wood. She wanted me basically she wanted me to paint just married on these two sheets of wood. And she bought these fucking gnarly bits of faith fence wood in to work and was like, Oh, can you use this? And I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
00:58:00
Speaker
That is nothing like the reference photo you've sent me. If I'm doing you a job, I'm going to do it properly. and So I sourced some better wood. I shaped it all up. My dad does wood turning. So he's got a workshop. So I went to my dad's workshop and I spent a day working with wood and it was great. Really, really enjoyed but using a different medium and working Just working with my hands like shaping this would sending it down getting it all shaped up getting it primed and ready a stained it up painted just.
00:58:37
Speaker
I should have painted just crafting, shouldn't I? Just not just married. I'd be like, hey, I've done those things for you. Just crafting crafting. Yeah. Yeah. but Yeah. And then I painted on top of the wood stain and then I locked it in with the varnish spray that I got, which was. hello Did you hand. Did you hand letter those like or was it more but like did you draw it out and then fill it at that? I am.
00:59:06
Speaker
She picked a font that she really liked. I printed that out to size. Cause that's my thing. I'm like, I can draw and paint, but there's no way out. I was not confident enough to freehand that onto the wood. and was It's impressive nonetheless. i am freehanded that I was scratching my head for ages. Like how am I going to do this? So what I ended up doing is I printed it out to size. I bought some carbon copy paper, put that on top of the wood.
00:59:34
Speaker
drew over the print out and then I'd got the letters on there before I started working on it and sanding it. And after I'd stained it, you could just see a faint outline of where I was going. And then I painted on top of that and filled it all in. And they looked good. They looked in with the varnish. Um, and then we drilled holes either side at the top and I bought some like garden twine.
01:00:03
Speaker
and made them like, so they're hanging in signs. So, but yeah, that was rad. Back to modeling. So that was, that was like a kind of a crafting job that I've done. That's sidetracked me off of painting my little droids and shit, but yeah.
01:00:23
Speaker
What's going on? Everyone's laughing. No, I know that Ed, I think Ed got distracted for a second. and So I just watched him being all being all animated. Like he's like, ah, well, it's funny, though, is my like I haven't I haven't done a lot of modeling. I've been doing little bits and pieces of stuff here and there, like actually building building this B wing.
01:00:44
Speaker
But my crafting thing that I've been doing actually is pretty close to what you just talked about. And I was like, oh, should I talk about it? Should I not? Because i'm I'm still I'm in that like trying to figure it out phase. So like ah we have a friend of ours who he goes out into the middle of nowhere and he puts this like poster board in his window that he like hand wrote with a Sharpie. It's like, oh, I'm a volunteer, like blah, blah, blah, volunteer. And it's just He puts it in the back of his truck and he puts it up in the window so like people don't tow his car or whatever. And he's like, oh, I got nominated to like make him a new one. Cause I but was like, I could do that. But I don't want to like, so it needs to be something that can like, he says he sorts it flat. So it doesn't need to like fold up or anything. It's like, all right, how can I make like a nice sign that goes in the windshield? Cause this one's like destroyed. But I'm like, but I don't, I really don't want to hand letter it or like,
01:01:39
Speaker
Yeah. Do a project or anything like that. I'm like, how can I, okay, how can I put something in my laser cutter and then do a digital, like a digital print onto that? And then I can do whatever on top of that. Like, what's the best way to do that? Should I do a colored poster board and just cut all the way through it and then do like another contrasting color behind it solid. So it's like see through it and it's a little bit since like two poster boards thick. Should I, cause I don't want to cut through like, like I don't want to do like wood cause he's like sticking piece of wood up in his windshield. Cause it needs to be like, yeah like two foot by three foot or whatever, whatever poster board is. Like whatever, whatever that big size it's like. So I've been, I've been fit trying to figure out cause I know I don't, I do not want to like.
01:02:21
Speaker
get a poster board and do like a middle school kid project. I'm going to draw the letters out on this thing that I don't... Because it's not like it's a wedding where it's like, it needs to be nice. No, this is just a sign that goes in somebody's windshield. I'm not going to spend a bunch of time on it. What could I do? So that's where I've been. I've been in that realm. And I've also been, like you were saying, I'm not going to talk about my deck on here, but I've been doing a lot of the woodwinds. I thought that's where you were going. No, I thought it was like... Talk about his deck.
01:02:51
Speaker
Just dickin' and that they're oilin' it. ah But no, it does feel good. It does feel good to kind of get out there and mix up. And I think that's motivated me to want to come back in and do more of the modeling. It's like, because now I'm sick of being out there. Like, no, um if I get sought and coughing up sawdust one more time, like, all right, back in here, now it's time to get me with the chemicals and not the sawdust. So just fighting them battles. But yeah, that's where I'm that's where i'm at with my crafting. I would be into the Halloween stuff more.
01:03:19
Speaker
Like, and we could talk about this in a future when we get closer to Halloween, but like, we're not going to be in, we're not going to be in town this year. So it's like, ah, I don't, I don't have to worry about tombstones and skeletons and things like that, but yeah. So I'm just trying to nail down what I should do. Quick and easy, but still quality. Cause you know, you care, but not wasting a bunch of time with that's my game right there.
01:03:46
Speaker
Yeah.
01:03:48
Speaker
I know for a fact, I'll be really motivated when I leave this call and then obviously it's late my time. So I'll go to bed and then I'll wake up tomorrow morning and there'll be a fucking list of jobs as long as, as long as my arm, I've got a chores that I've got to do around the house. And then the next thing I know it's like three weeks time and the bottles are still just sat there and I've got illustration, like jobs and projects backed up like you wouldn't believe. So yeah.
01:04:16
Speaker
I think we're going out to a wine bar or a whiskey bar after this because we got some I got a friend in town. And so I get off there. I'm going to be motivated and be like, I'll do it tomorrow. And tomorrow I'm going to wake up with a little man with a jackhammer inside my head going, you're not doing anything today. I feel that it's like maybe I'll edit the episode and be like re reinvigorating. be like Yeah, let's do some.
01:04:40
Speaker
Let's build this model. Let's build. I mean, you can see it here. You can see my sprues all hanging up. You're just taunting me. Just do it. Build it. Build me. Slay that gray. Slay the gray. And this one, I don't know if they, I don't know if they, not to talk about sprues, but ah do the clear ones ever stress you out? Cause it's like, I don't work with clear really.
01:05:04
Speaker
What are we going to do with you? Cause you can't stand it. Cause like, cause if I, cause if I, cause if you mess up, if you mess up like panel lines or anything on anything that's gray or like normal sprues, you can paint it and do whatever, but clear is meant to be clear. So right you have to like keep it pristine, like windows or whatever, all this other stuff that engine, engine covers. Cause otherwise you know, a little scratch or whatever. It's like, well that piece is.
01:05:29
Speaker
ho The closest, the closest I got to it was like bases, you know, stands for flying models were clear, but then it always gave me the option to not use those. And I never did. I will. I did forget about something and I will i'll chat about for a second. Our buddy sitting in the corner, Andy Bell, sent us that video from Gamey Builds about the guy who built the RC truck. And I picked up a technique from that that I was pleasantly surprised by, and I'm going to like, I think Chris with you doing the scratch builds and then with this new technique, it's like, ooh, I'm kind of getting the scratch building bug where, so I have that laser cutter, but like you can't put styrene, like sheets in it because it, that's not great. That will be very bad fumes for you, just melting that stuff. So so I can't do that. What do you use it for, Sean? What material? I cut wood, I cut like chipboard,
01:06:28
Speaker
like acrylic, like acrylic plastic. nice So how big is it? but What kind of ah it's a glow forge so we can do maybe two, two and a half feet by it can technically do really, really long stuff and just keep shifting it through. Yeah, I don't I haven't done that because it's. I just make sure my projects are that can fit within the bed, so maybe two feet by three feet ish 20.
01:06:56
Speaker
maybe 20 inches by something else. I don't know, but I cut a lot of wood. Um, like a lot of veneer stuff. Like I could do wood stickers. I did, uh, all the, a lot of light, light switch covers like wood themes. Um, I, I make Christmas ornaments galore. So like every year we get, we cut our own Christmas tree down here in the area. yeah You can get, but you can do it for like five bucks. So when the tree at the end of the season, I'll cut all the branches off and I'll take like the bottom trunk and then I'll take a.
01:07:25
Speaker
Like a, like a ah saw and just chop them into little log circles. And then now I've got endless dried logs that I can make Christmas ornaments out of when people come to visit or it's like, yeah, we're coasters and you can just put them in, uh, put them in the glow forge and it, you can do cutting. It can do engraving and do scoring. Uh, can I just grab it? Um, what's, what's it called? It's called a glow, a glow forge. I've had it for a couple of years, but they have like a glow forge.
01:07:56
Speaker
Glowforge, but they have, ah they have cheaper, like, lighter weight versions now. Like, that technology has really come a long way. Oh, I made this. I put, I sit right here. This is cork. It's a cork coaster and I engraved Tatooine on it. um I made this.
01:08:15
Speaker
This is my, my arcade fight stick. This was like my test version. That's why it looks all stupid. But like, yeah, I cut these sheets of acrylic and cut the holes and cut the panels and glued it all together and like did all that. Good podcasting, Con. It's an arcade fight stick. It's like a clear acrylic box. So this bass guitar I have behind me.
01:08:35
Speaker
Um, no way. You see the, can you see the pick guard? It's like in green, like an octopus on it. That's, that's all done on the glow forge. I cut, I cut the pick guard out on it and I engraved the octopus on it. That's amazing. Just black. You should do like a chimera thing, like with bronze stardust strip. I technically could. I just need to, I just need the designs that black pick guard on that one is all laser cut too. And then I took a router and routed the edges down on it.
01:09:02
Speaker
Um, yeah, I can cut all sorts of stuff. I cannot cut styrene because acrylic. I can cut acrylic, but I cannot cut styrene because styrene is, well, one will just melt and the fumes that it puts off are not good. Oh, I can, I can, uh, engrave styrene, like foam. Is that what you're talking about? No, styrene is the, is, is the stuff that like models are made out of. Any, any of that plastic that you can melt with that glue and it stick, it melts it and sticks together. That's, that's polystyrene.
01:09:30
Speaker
Um, it's the same as, you know, styrofoam like that comes in packaging. They're the same thing, but one is like expanded. pul air rated yeah Yeah. Yeah. And this is not aerated. Um, and so it's the same, it's the same stuff. But yeah. Uh, and I can also engrave laptops like anodized aluminum. If you have a Mac book, like you can put it in there and wow engrave it.
01:09:57
Speaker
I don't know where my old laptop is, but it has like a big octopus and like my name and stuff on it and glue. That was nerve wracking. Yeah, I'm sure I'm probably looking at like 50 things that I've done, but it's really the best for making gifts for people. um Oh, like ah like, Ed, you have that that paint rack like the way you put all your little paintings in. That's all that's all like CNC. I can make those. tech I can make all the little cut the wood out, cut the sides out and then just glue it all together to be like a little Yeah, yeah, I bought I bought a little paint rack made like that off eBay and glued it together myself. And so it came like flat packed and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Sweet. I can do that. I could do that kind of stuff before I sidelined. You're asking you what you what you use that for. Why were you? Why were you telling us about it? Oh, the game, he builds RC truck thing. There was something. Yes, yes.
01:10:52
Speaker
Like, because I've always wanted to use the laser cutter for modeling stuff, but it's like, I don't know how to do it. But what he did was he took a chipboard, which is like a like a poster board. If people don't know what that is, like it's just a real thin. It's not cardboard, but it's not paper. It's whatever that crap is in between. That's like a like an action figure cardboard backing like the. Yeah. The bubble. The bubbles are on.
01:11:17
Speaker
You can, he cut out like panels on those, like cut out pieces, but then it's like, okay, now you have those, but how do you integrate those into a scratch build model? He covered them in Mod Podge and then you're able to glue it, paint it, do whatever you do. Cause it will fill those fibers. And it's like.
01:11:35
Speaker
Oh, that's genius. I can I can like make it like have a droid like say ah like a cup or just whatever. I keep looking at this like prescription bottle like it's like this orange prescription bottles i'm like I could make a droid out of that and I could just go in the glow board, cut some chipboard out.
01:11:53
Speaker
like little panels, glue, glue them on that Mod Podge them. And then boom, easy peasy. And now I can use a laser cutter because I don't want to. Sean, Sean, you're talking my language here. come on po Pill bottles and little plastic bits I've got in boxes ready to be, to be droids. Yes. I love this shit. Do it. yes Got ideas. There's I've watched stuff because like I'm into Star Wars, obviously. So like I've what I've I've watched stuff about making terrain like buildings you'd see on Tatooine or wherever and just taking random shit like. ah Toilet paper to not toilet paper to paper towel tube or any like trash that would normally be trash and you just kind of like use it to create buildings and then paint over it.
01:12:44
Speaker
And if you had the time, it could come up pretty good. You just need to talk about dire dioramas and stuff. Sorry, go ahead. Yeah, there's a guy on YouTube and I forget his name. I must have watched this build about four times because it's that impressive and it blows my mind that much. But he makes Howls Moving Castle.
01:13:09
Speaker
a model of Howl's Moving Castle out like just out of cardboard and junk and plastic bottles and the end resort is insane. um And that's one of the first videos I watched where I was like I've got to give this a go, but yeah, it's pretty impressive. And he uses a lot of mud, mud, mud pudge on that to like rough it up and get it paint ready. So now I'm motivated. I think that's the thing that like has peaked my interest. Now, like my, uh, my current like hyper focus, hyper fascination is like, all right, I think I'm going to do a scratch build.
01:13:48
Speaker
I got lots of little bits and I've got little pipes and things like that and leftover bits and bobs. Yeah, let's get some yogurt parts and some craft and foam and stick it all together. Yes. Then prime it and set it on my shelf for like three years.
01:14:07
Speaker
That's the way.
Tools and Techniques for Diorama and Models
01:14:10
Speaker
Let's say you guys need to get that vibrator vibrating thing to loosen up the paint.
01:14:19
Speaker
Yeah, that thing. i'm
01:14:23
Speaker
It's called the the robot hobby paint shaker. It is and it takes like four D size D batteries. It's like down. Holy shit. Yeah, it doesn't mess around. so Yeah. Cool. Um.
01:14:45
Speaker
Speaking of chipping, you try, it you think about using the foam because you said, uh, bungee foam, like, like, uh, where you take the, like the sponge brush and rip it and it's all messed up. And then you dip it in the paint and dry it off and dab it. yeah That's what I was doing. she and i like It is cheating. Get it together. On my, on my chaos night, I used it.
01:15:14
Speaker
Um, on the edge for edge highlight, cause they're bigger models. They're like half a foot. Yeah. and Oh yeah. Yeah. You showed us that last time. Yeah. So I use that for that shipping, but then for like bullet holes, I was using the sponge and, um, but not a lot, but I, I dip it in black. yeah We've got enough, ain't you? And that too. So.
01:15:44
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And then I, and then ah it's fun. Cause then you highlight the black, like they're like actual holes and it looks, looks pretty good. I don't have the artistic yet. I don't have the, I don't have the, just the confidence to create random bullet holes and shit. So like, yeah.
01:16:08
Speaker
Like it's like me where like people people do the the technique where you grab the brush brush bristles with your thumb and you like flick it like a yeah brush and it's like they'll just do this it'll create splatter effects its like there is not a chance that I am that I'm gonna do that like I will paint every dot individually by myself before I go Like run my fingers through the bristle bristles, like flicking pain everywhere. Like that'll just, I know I would just have like a straight line of dirt, whatever. You got to dive in with that shit. I love that. I love doing all stuff like that. Like I'm really like OCD on full display here. It's like, no, I'll ruin it. It'll be terrible. Throw it in the trash. Start over.
01:16:54
Speaker
I love it. So what's, so so youre it you you're thinking of doing a scratch build. Yeah. or at Or I was thinking about doing it to customize this B wing. I'm like, I'm trying to be realistic and be like, I shouldn't take on, like I do want to do know ah another project.
01:17:11
Speaker
Yeah. It's like, i I, I really want to get this B wing done, but it's like, Oh, that'd be cool. Like maybe I can do some like panel accents or something, something neat, or like make it in a, do it in a hanger, like do it like almost like a little diorama, like have it like ah land in its landing mode, then maybe make some like little boxes or like little cargo containers, like a little ladder. Like that'd be cool.
01:17:34
Speaker
I've seen it where people make, uh, like diorama bases and like put electronics in it. So it's got lights, lights and shit. and So I don't know if the post captured it. Cause I don't think I was supposed to ship it with a battery when I shipped that stuff over to you, but there should be like those, like little noodle. That's like a little noodle in a bag. Yeah. That's if you, if you put either end of that on either side of that little coin battery, that'll light up like a little.
01:18:00
Speaker
Like a little beam. That's what those are. Um, but yeah, that I watched those videos where it's like blazers shooting across and I'm like, I gotta get them. I got them. I got them off like Ali express for like a quarter and they sent me a billion of them. But yeah, that's, that's cool. Like i've I've done one diorama in like.
01:18:18
Speaker
I'm excited to do it again, but that's like a whole different, like, that's another level of like commitment where it's like, Oh, you get it. You get into some crazy, like, cause most of the, like the leaves and stuff on there are actual leaves from outside. Then you like spray the stuff on them that kind of like preserves them and you they make them a little and.
01:18:37
Speaker
You paint us. I love dioramas. it's That's a whole different rabbit hole though. ah Sometimes I find like you spend so much time on a model and like the bases are mini dioramas kind of. Yeah. like And you show it to like a person that doesn't know anything about painting minutes. How'd you do that? Like grass and the rock. I'm like.
01:19:03
Speaker
How about the model? Like I spent way more time on the model. Frigging dirt and grass. That was nothing. Yeah. I used the static machine and went shaky, shaky, shaky on top of some Elmer's white glue, some PVA glue. Yep. And that's great little tufts of grass. Yep.
01:19:22
Speaker
But do you see the edge highlighting? I dry brush notice that. I don't know. I noticed I noticed the rocks and the but yeah. Yeah. So I want to get that like liquid water stuff. I want to I want to try that. Have you had the people who are like, I like your model, but it could you should get some like it'd be cool if I had the blood splattered all over it. It's like, man, really? Like, you don't see this paint job. You don't mean the splatter blood you blood all over it? Dip it in blood.
01:19:52
Speaker
man i show somebody else. So the job is done, Ed. Yeah. Yeah. So what's next? Is it time for rank or are you going to do this stormtrooper? Do you back do I knew you were going to say that you're going to go back you gonna go off in levels in size?
Challenges and Techniques in Miniature Painting
01:20:14
Speaker
See, that stormtrooper on the do back is going to be so much harder, though, because you have to do they come apart or they are they stuck together? They come apart. Damn it. Although I think I was trying to help, but.
01:20:25
Speaker
I think I glued it now. Now that I. I may. Because I will say the hardest thing I've ever had to come on was a was a miniature stormtrooper. It was a scout trooper that's like all the black and white separated. and It's just like paint the black, paint the white. Nope, the whites in the black now paint the black again, paint the white. Then you just keep going back and forth until you finally have like the lines. Yeah, I have a method for stormtroopers, but. It's kind of a speedway of doing it because I got a lot of stormtroopers to paint, man.
01:20:56
Speaker
You act like it's not your fault for buying them. Like, you you say that with this attitude of like, I've got all this stuff I gotta just get through. It's like, dude, you bought him. ah You got yourself into this. Yeah, I know.
01:21:13
Speaker
ah Yeah, I got jet-packed stormtroopers. do-back stormtrooper. Then I got good morning guards and stuff to paint, so. Wequayzed.
01:21:27
Speaker
Then the rain core. Yeah. Before it turns into like a meme that like you can never finish it because then we'd have nothing to talk about. Like. Yeah, just get it done it. Come on. And bring it, bring it over here in October. Look at that. five and You had five months of no work and you didn't get that done.
01:21:48
Speaker
It's true. Just just cheat and do like a speed paint. The dips get like a can like a little little pint can and just I've done there. Yeah, I did that for that. Now that's the cheating stuff. Have you seen those, Chris, where it's like the no speed speed shaders? It's meant for like war painter people who are like, I really don't want to mess with it. It's a pint like a pint can you pop the ten top off and you just take your whole primed model and just dunk it in there. Just dunk it. Shake it off.
01:22:14
Speaker
They ended up take the next one, dunk it and like you dunk all of them and they all just like, they all kind of have like a glaze and it all settles in there. Then you just come in and just paint the couple things. a wow silly technique I learned after I did that, I did that with my like 72 of the same thing over there. 72. Yeah. There's a thing you can do. You dip it in. through that And yeah, you can wait for a lot of it to drip off.
01:22:41
Speaker
Um, but you can get a paper, a small paper bag with paper towel inside it. You throw it in there and you just shake the shit out of it. You get an airbrush and you spray it and blow it all up onto the wall behind you. Boom. Yeah. Uh, no, but that, that was a technique I learned after the fact, which I knew before because I had a lot of drips still dried on there.
01:23:10
Speaker
How many minis do you have if you had to guess? I can't. Total. Not, not, not just finished. but like You just said 72. So it's got to be greater than that. Yeah.
01:23:26
Speaker
right Problem is I, is I play Tyranids. A lot of Tyranids. I don't know what that means. It's the bug army. They're the bugs. Is it like more than a hundred, more than 200, more than 300?
01:23:41
Speaker
The 300. Sure. Oh, my. Oh, I understand why you bought that. Preparation age sized black oil paint now.
01:23:58
Speaker
Yeah, and that was for one thing, so I didn't use it. I don't think I even used it. I'm thinking about it. No, I said on a green one.
01:24:10
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't like it, but I stopped. They put it in a drawer. Yeah. Yeah, I think like three hundred. and I don't know. Wow. The Terry needs to make up most of it.
01:24:26
Speaker
All right. That it was episode two. I think that might be it. I think we stick stick a pin in it. We've exhausted our ideas and I think we're all motivated, but exhausted. Maybe a little bit Friday or late Friday. I'm ready to party.
01:24:48
Speaker
730. I'm ready to stop painting, but I got to go to bed. Yeah, you do pass midnight over there. Thanks for listening, everybody.
Community and Listener Engagement
01:25:01
Speaker
Sean, give you all the deets on the... I don't even know. but We don't have any deets. We don't have anything set up. But you know how you know who we are, you know how to reach us. If you like it, if you like hearing this, like let let any of us know. Ask us questions, show interest, and it goes a long way. i mean crafting i got We're going to probably keep doing it anyways, but it does make it...
01:25:26
Speaker
I don't know, it's cool to know that people are listening to it and getting getting a kick out of it. like Are there things that you like more than others? Do you like the ideas? Do you like the techniques? Do you like to just hear what we're working on? um Or do you just like the banter back and forth? um it's just It's just cool to know that kind of stuff. But yeah, you know who we are, you know where to find us. all I'll send this episode to Ed again and see if he posted it on their feed. But you know you can find it on ours, for sure.
01:25:54
Speaker
I don't even remember you sending me the last one. Yeah, okay. Throw in shade there, Sean. I love it. Definitely throwing shade. I like it.
01:26:05
Speaker
With that, I'm leaving. Sorry, toodles. Chris, anything you want you want to add there at the end?
01:26:14
Speaker
No, you you got it covered, Sean. Yeah, no, this is fun. I like it. and Regardless of people listening or not, it's cool to hang out with you guys and talk about nerdy things that we're into. it's ah It's a good outlet and it's nice to know that I'm not the only person that dreams about rust effects and looks at giant bolts on the side of ships and thinks, ah, look at that corrosion on there. So it's good. It's good.
01:26:46
Speaker
One of us, one of us, one of us. Yeah. Uh, you did make me look forward to visiting you whenever I get out to California again there. We got a lot of lichen and stuff on the ground. So bring, bring a container. You can take that lichen home with you. Use it on a diorama. That's good. That's good stuff. See how that deck is going. The deck is, the deck is done. I'm done with that deck.
01:27:15
Speaker
I work out there now. I just sit, I'm so, I'm so mad at it. Like I'm dead. I'm done with it. I just sit out there with my laptop. I'm like, I'm going to use it. I'm using this. But anyways, that's it. That's all I have to say. Toodles. Thanks for listening, everybody. Cheers. Bye. Bye.