am not saying its a conspiracy and that theres an Illuminati of painters that jealousy hold onto

the secrets of pro painting, protecting it from the world, Im just saying theres a lot of things that
to them seem like common knowledge and often dont get shared with the new guys. This infor-
mation isnt impossible to fnd if youre looking for it, but you cant look for what you dont know
exists. So, what are the few gems of knowledge Ive managed to uncover from the ancient temple
Wet Pallet
This was another little gem I discovered only recently. Up until then I had been using Pringle lids,
ceramic tiles, Tupperware boxes, anything and everything to mix and hold my paint while I painted my
minis. The problem is paint dries quickly, and when youre painting up platoons of men and tanks you can
be painting for some time.
The Wet Pallet works in such a way that your paint is fed a constant supply of moisture and can last
in your pallet for literally months. You will need to change the water after a while so it doesnt go stagnant,
but keep your water fresh and your mixed paint will last as long as you need it to.
I found this little bit of wisdom on Minutiae of War through the WWPD Network page, and its
changed my painting experience entirely. Its essentially a bit of blister foam/paper towel/sponge in the
bottom of a Tupperware box with a sealable lid, with water saturating the foam. It then has a layer of
grease-proof paper over the top of it that you use as your pallet surface. Store it with its lid on and your
paint will last a long, long time.

2B Pencil
I hate painting metallics; they behave differently to normal paint, turn to goo, and thinning them
with water tends to break them up. Although there are ways to prevent this, (you can use thinners like the
ones mentioned previously) I like to avoid metallic paints entirely when I can. When it comes to battle dam-
age on my tanks or gun barrels on my guys, I like to paint the barrel German Grey and go over it with a soft
graphite pencil. The result is something similar to GW Boltgun Metal, but much less hassle and twice as fast.
This doesnt work well for large areas, for instance armour plating on Imperial Roman Legionnaires, and
only works for silver metals like steel or iron, but its great for small areas of battled damaged tanks.

Dont Highlight with White
For most of us it seems logical that to lighten a colour you just add white right? The problem is that it
doesnt work with paint, as your nice blood red Blood Angels army just turned pink! Im sure theres some
colour theory in here but I wont go into it, - yellow highlights both red and green well, cyan works for blue.

Near Black
Another trap people fall in is highlighting black with white. Because black is quite literally the
absence of colour, it is a diffcult base colour to shade and highlight. The best solution to this is to use near
black. Near black, as its name suggests, is not quite black. This is achieved by adding in a bit of the high-
light colour to a black base coat, making it slightly tinted. This tint helps ease the transition to highlights.
For instance, when painting GW Necrons all those years ago, my base coat was black with green
highlights. Id add a little bit of dark angels green to the black to tint it in the right direction and most peo-
ple wouldnt notice that it wasnt quite black. Id then highlight with progressively brighter shades of green
through to nearly yellow.
Personally, I like to highlight black with blue, which makes German Grey a perfect substitute for a
black base-coat. Its slightly blue tint makes it easy to highlight and a dark wash can still add a little bit of
depth to the recesses. Of course, the colour that you tint the model depends on the effect you are trying to
achieve. You might want to paint a navy blue tint for a nobleman or lord but a brown tint for commoners or
an assassin.

Conclusion
So these are the few little bits of information that Ive gleamed from the various corners of the world
in search of the painting holy grail. I hope these tips and tricks help you on your painting odyssey.
What I Wish I Had Known
An Article by Arran Slee-Smith
http://rightsidecreative.co.uk
I
of the hobby Pros whilst ducking spears, out running giant boulders and dodging booby traps?

Natural Hair Paintbrushes vs. Synthetic.
I covered this more in-depth in a previous article, but a quality natural hair brush provides better
fow, a sharper tip and does not curl at the end over time. This really was a revelation for me, why was I not
told!

Base Coat Your Minis
This will seem like a no brainer to most painters, everyone picks this one up pretty quickly, but ev-
eryone started out trying to paint directly onto plastic, metal or resin at some point, and, while its possible
to produce a decent painted mini with no base coat, youre really just starting your journey with a fat tire.
Every single pro painter will start out with a base coat: it provides a surface for the paint to stick to,
so your paint fow is smooth and youre not pushing paint around your mini. Base coats can be applied by
brush, airbrush or the most common method, by spray can.
Preferred base-coat colour varies from person to person. White provides brighter more vibrant
colours but will show through if painting is not perfect. Black helps hide any mistakes and gaps in hard to
reach areas, but dulls slightly. Grey is a good balance between the two. You can also go straight for the base
colour of the mini. Personally, I use German Grey for most projects.

Thin Your Paints
You will hear this over and over again, but what does this mean? How much do you thin by? Whats
the ratio? What do you use to thin your paints?
Everyone has a different answer, but the most common one Ive found is to thin your paint to about
the consistency of milk. Most people use regular plain old tap water, some swear by only fltered water, oth-
ers swear by acrylic medium or Flow improver. Water will serve most novices well enough. The important
thing to remember is to use something to thin your paints. If you feel your method could be improved, try
some of the advanced products.
I personally just use tap water with a little drop of washing up liquid to break the surface tension of
the water and give better fow once mixed with my paints. Remember its sometimes quicker and easier to
paint multiple thin layers than it is to paint one solid block, a practice which can lead to you pushing paint
around and leaving an uneven coat.

Glazing
Not all secrets are obscured to just novices. Ive been painting for years, and the several times Ive
experimented with advanced techniques like glazing have ended disastrously and honestly left me pretty
down about my abilities as a painter. This has often left me in a place where I feel that my skills cant prog-
ress much further.
Glazing is still something I know nothing about. This is my white whale, my holy grail. I have yet to
fnd a tutorial that gives me that Eureka moment, and perhaps I never will. If anyone wants to give me the
miracle answer to this problem, Id love you forever.