Golem Painting Studio

[Cypher441]

So I got to spend a few hours over at Golem Painting Studio last Saturday, getting some 1-1 painting tuition from Tommie (who is on this forums somewhere!), in the attempt to turn my average painting skills into something that I would actually be happier with, and I thought I’d share, and give them a thorough recommendation because I said I would!

 

If you don't know of them, their studio is in Manchester, on the 5th floor of a building (stairs, so be warned!), and they paint, game, and offer tutorials to the masses!

 

It took me a phone-call to actually find exactly where I wanted to be, but that was as bad as things ever got all day! Tommie sat me down, offered me a drink, and did some introductions. The guys there all seem like a great bunch, knowledgable gamers and painters alike, but honestly I was so focused on painting my social skills went right out the window. The studio is an active place, plenty of things going on, models to look at (of varying quality depending on the commission, from tabletop to display), painting, converting, tables being made etc. So keep your eyes and ears open for some inspiration.

 

Getting down to the job in hand, Tommie and I spent a few minutes chatting over some pieces that I had brought in, discussing the quality, where I thought improvements were needed, what I wanted to get from the tutorial time etc. My chief concern had been with getting highlights down in neat, straight, narrow, and uniform ways. He was a lot nicer about my painting skills than I was! But we got to the roots of the problem (picky, high standards for myself, frustration>impatience>boredom) and got to work with the painting, first I showed off my way.

And then after about 30 seconds he stopped me and the advice and demonstrations started to flow through. This covered everything from the basics of getting paint consistency right, what sort of palette is best for miniature painting, holding the brush right for the tasks at hand, controlling an unsteady hand, quick and effective ways to get down a basecoat.........and this was all before we’d even finished blacklining a single figure! I thought I had stuff like that in the bag for all these years, but after these few pointers the results improved substantially.

 

In fact, paint consistency and brush control seemed to be the order of the day for me. And I spent several hours painting a couple of figures just working on getting the brush-strokes right to highlight the way I wanted (brush strokes make kung-fu shwish and swoosh noises, who knew?!) Tommie was almost always sat right next to me (he says it himself, he almost enjoys the teaching more than the actual painting), always on hand to demonstrate, to explain a technique, to show how to move the paint across the miniature to get the right effects, all those little nuances you just can’t get out of an online or magazine tutorial. But most of all, he always pushes to self-examine. If something went wrong, why did it go wrong? Why did something go right (plenty of encouragement all around), and why I was/was not happy with something I had just done.

Eventually after about 4 hours non-stop (my own choice, so that was the boredom thing dealt with  ) I decided I wanted to tackle something different, and robes/cloth were always a nuisance for me and I had never been able to paint one that didn’t look like a wobbly, paint-striped mess. So after a quick bit of theory, Tommie took one half of the cloak, I took the other, and 35 minutes later I’d sorted out this.

 

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb266/Cypher441/IMG_0869.jpg?t=1352220195

 

Not bad. I can spot the flaws easily enough, but I’m happy with the results and would be confident to correct the mistakes on a second attempt.

 

So anyway, the point of this wildly meandering review is, if you think your painting needs improving, you have some models to work on, and you fancy a trip to Manchester, go talk to Golem Painting Studios because it is well worth the money.

 

Just thought I'd share. :D

[Master Chaplain Astador]

Glad to hear you liked the Golem lessons!

I'm a huge fan of Tommie's work and if it weren't for the giant pond separating me from them, I'd spend way to much time lurking there.

 

I'd definitely recommend meeting with any of the golem team or attending any of the workshops they do with Studio McKvey.

[Tommie Soule]

Wow! Thanks guys :)I'm really grateful!! :jaw: