3d ā¢ Painting
šØNew Year Painting ChallengešØ plus a Ā£10 gift voucher for participating!
š Happy New Year, you wonderful paint-splattered legends š
New year. Fresh brushes. That one miniature youāve been āsaving for when Iām betterāā¦ yeah, that one!
Rather than vague resolutions like āIāll paint more this yearā (we all know how that goes), I want to kick off a simple, focused New Year Painting Challenge that actually levels up your skills.
šÆ THE CHALLENGE!
Pick ONE core painting skill to focus on, then paint a miniature with that as your main goal. Not perfection. Not speed. Just intentional improvement.
Here are a few suggestions:
š§āšØ 1. Flesh with Depth & Life
No more flat, peachy humans that look like theyāve been stored in a drawer since 1997.
Focus on:
- Adding thin glazes of purples and reds in the shadows
- Creating depth through mixing colours into your fleshtones, not just darker or lighter flesh tones
- Making skin feel alive, not sun-burnt, flat or plastic
Bonus points if the miniature looks like it has blood in it rather than being carved from spam (tangent - if your brain just kicked into the Monty Python Spam song, you're definitely one of my people! haha!).
āļø 2. Non-Metallic Metal (NMM)
Love it or hate it, NMM forces you to understand light properly. There is no hiding here. I committed to NMM last year with Crystal Collapse and seriously have been regretting the choice, but I'm happy with the look of it and I feel like I've improved a lot over the year.
Focus on:
- Clear light placement
- Strong contrast
- Use of a variety of colours
- Selling the illusion of metal, not just blending for the sake of it
Even a single sword or shoulder pad counts. You donāt need to NMM the entire miniature and lose the will to live - trust me!!
š”ļø 3. Battle Damage & Wear
This is one of the most underrated skills in miniature painting and makes any model look more believable.
Focus on:
- Painting non-sculpted damage (a thin dark line and then highlight the bottom edge of the line.
- Scratches, scuffs, worn edges
- Subtle cracks in armour, chipped paint, tired leather
Think used, not ruined. This isnāt a scrapyard simulator.
š§āāļø Free STLs for the Challenge
To remove all excuses (youāre welcome), here's a couple of free STL files you can use specifically for this challenge.Print them, paint them, abuse them with experiments ā thatās what theyāre for.
š And yesā¦ there is a reward
This challenge now comes with a Ā£10 gift voucher for https://thelionstower.com for everyone who completes it properly.
To qualify, youāll need to post:
- A photo of the primed modelā Along with a short declaration of what youāre aiming to improve
- At least one WIP shotā Show the ugly middle. Thatās where the learning lives.
- A final finished photoā The end result, however it turns out. No perfection required.
Once youāve posted the finished pics, Iāll send you a Ā£10 store voucher as a thank-you for actually doing the work.
š Important bit: Youāll need to have an account on thelionstower.com (or create one if you havenāt already) so Iāve got somewhere to attach the voucher. Takes about 30 seconds and saves us both faffing about later.
This still isnāt about competing or flexing ā itās about committing, following through, and coming out the other side a better painter with store credit in your pocket. Think of it as a new years resolution with it's own incentive!
Paint minis. Learn stuff. Get rewarded.That feels like a solid way to start the year. š¦šØ
Happy New Year,
Dan
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šØNew Year Painting ChallengešØ plus a Ā£10 gift voucher for participating!
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