#Painting

A new way to paint skeletons

A bone recipe I found by accident on an Infinity commission: blue and orange ink under an airbrushed skin tone, then stippled white. Skelly Joe, about four hours.

How to make terrain glue

Sealing scratch-built terrain with watered-down PVA: the 50/50 mix, the two drops of dish soap that make it soak instead of bead, and how to stop it gluing itself to your table.

Making stats for our teaspoon pet

Rolling up a pet in Teaspoon: a d8 down the line, the modifiers your creature type brings, and when to just pick a nature instead of rolling it.

Old school sand bases

Making basing texture out of sand, PVA and cheap paint. Why all-purpose sand and not playground sand, and why this still beats a pot of texture paste at scale.

Super fast OSL

Quick airbrush OSL pass on yesterday's model: Warlord Purple, Squid Pink, and a watered-down white blend wet-on-wet. Two minutes, first finished model of 2026.

Another easy way to paint faces

Yesterday's face was underpaint and glaze. Today's face is Sunny Skin Tone, one Army Painter Dark Tone wash, and a couple of dots for eyes — about ten minutes start to finish.

How to speed paint faces

Speed-painting an uncanny vampire face for tabletop: Sunny Skin Tone sketched over a Bad Bruise undertone, one watered-down glaze to blend it together, and dot eyes for the creepy stare.

Tips for Batch Painting Unique Models

How to batch-paint a commission where every model is different — group by paint and material, not by armor panel. Plus a teaser of the Man Alone Prima Materia stone dice.

Failed attempt at NMM tutorial

Recorded a full non-metal metallic tutorial, lost the footage, and laid in highlight passes anyway to keep the streak alive — plus calling time on a model I've got a hundred hours into.

Highlighting black

Glazing up from Tenebris Gray to pearl gray for the dark panels — plus a sink ripping off the wall, another bout of sickness, and thoughts on a new Army Painter wet palette.

My minimal solo rpg kit

The whole solo RPG kit: the Kal Arath zine, one notebook worth writing in, and dice. Why the notebook choice matters more than it sounds.

How to Highlight Red Without Getting Pink

Drybrushing a final red highlight that reads as edge highlighting. Use a warm white, use far less than you think, and mix carefully or you get pink.

Using Speed Paints as a Wash

The better red wash solution—mixing Slaughter Red speed paint with Army Painter Quick Shade medium gives deeper detail pickout without killing vibrance.

How to Wash Bright Red

Don't wash red with black. Using Army Painter mid brown quick shade to bring out details on bright red Dusk armor without killing the vibrance.

How to Paint White Robes

Painting white cloth over a purple and red base coat using buff and vanilla white glazes—fast results for infantry-level models.

How to Start Commission Painting and Why You Maybe Shouldn't

Real talk on getting into commission painting—how to find clients, how to price your work, and why turning your hobby into a business might not be what you think.

How to Paint Leather with Just Two Colors

A quick two-color leather painting method using Satchel Brown and Serpent Bite Leather—stipple highlights for worn, realistic results in minutes.

Probably Not the Worst Chainmail Tutorial Ever

Painting chainmail on Norman miniatures using speed paints, dry brushing, and Molotow Liquid Chrome—plus a nostalgia trip through my history of painting metal armor.

Painting References: Maximus (Infinity)

Reference photos, box art, and painting guides for Maximus, Optimate Hexadome Legend from Corvus Belli's Infinity.

Painting Chaosy Green Marble

Painting the pale green marble crystal on my Children of Gomb entry—using Scale Color acrylics like oils, dirty purple water for tinting, and filbert brush blending.

How to Paint Talons & Toesies

Painting talons, claws, and toes on our custom daemon sculpt with scratchy brush techniques, plus tying the brass helmet back into the skin tones.

Painting Creepy Cartoonish Skin

Working up the final skin layers on my custom sculpt with stippling and scratchy highlights for a creepy cartoonish look, plus naming him the Keeper of the Pale Stone.

How to Paint Bronze Part 2

Finishing the brass/bronze metal helmet with layered drybrushing and patina effects to create a realistic forged metal look on the monolith bearer.

How to Paint Brass / Gold

Painting a brass helmet on our monolith bearer daemon using true metallic metals—base coat, wash, drybrush, and scratch techniques for a realistic forged metal look.

20 Minute Purple Robe

Speed painting a purple robe on a Dolmenwood Breggle using Moody Mauve, chunky stippled highlights, and learning to push contrast without overthinking it.

Basing and Life Tips

Finishing up a base with traditional flock, testing cherry blossom tufts, and a reminder to take a breath when life gets hectic.

Painting an NMM Belt Buckle With Scale 75 Grays

Continuing the leather belt with NMM buckles—using the full Kimera grayscale palette and thinking like a volumetric painter.

Painting a Leather Belt

Day one of taking painting seriously—following Richard Gray's leather belt tutorial and discovering that competition-level painting isn't as impossible as it seems.

Easy Mode Goblin Faces

How to make goblin faces really pop in about 8 minutes—teeth, gums, lips, and noses using just a busted up brush and basic techniques.

Goblin Skin Recipe

Quick tutorial on my goblin skin recipe—Shamrock Green speed paint over yellow and black, finished with Scale Color highlights.

How to Paint Red - Airbrush vs Drybrush

Recreating Mangler Squig box art two ways—airbrush and drybrush. Same results, different tools. Plus why volumetric painting looks goofy on armies.

How to Prepare Bases for an Entire Army Quickly and Cheaply

250 bases in two hours with homemade basing material. Palette knife technique, finger cleaning, and the coffee grounds recipe.

How to Paint the Anchorite Shrine

Finishing Trench Crusade with the Anchorite Shrine—purple preshade for silver, aged wood recipe, and streaking grime magic on the Catherine wheel.

Fixing a Bad Speed Paint Job

Day two—no plan, just making videos. Don't run from the robe you messed up. Sit back down, grab some blues, and make it look like Vivi from Final Fantasy.

Online Miniature Painting & Modeling Competitions for 2026

A comprehensive list of online painting competitions, community challenges, and in-person events for miniature painters in 2026.

June 24, 2026

Quick update on the teaspoon diorama. Didn't post last night cuz I'm just waiting on glue to dry still.

Building Teaspoon's Lava Rock Diorama, Part 1

I tore up an old prize-winning Shadespire board to build a volcanic reef. Mostly this one is about getting cork to stop looking like cork.

Planning the Hobby Room, Attempt Number Six

I've tried to turn this basement into a real studio six times and never finished once. This time I started with graph paper and paper cutouts.

The daily vlog returns

It's been a couple of days since I posted a vlog and I didn't realize that. So, I've been recording stuff.

Lobster kisses

Forgot to pull the camera and record, but I just went back in over the airbrush work with the ink and I just glazed it cuz I didn't like that transition...

Prepping for game day

Totally forgot today was a family uh event day. So, I didn't get time to paint. And I'm really only going to have time to get everything packed up tonight to…

The power of purple

What's up? I'm back. I'm still alive. I missed a couple of days of uploads. Uh I have I've got the hobby streak alive. So, the hobby streak is still going, but…

May 24, 2026

I got these guys all done today. Except for the base. Got to do the base. And more I'm going to airbrush that shield tomorrow.

Almost done

Painting blue and planning the next couple of projects.

I'm going to keep it real with you guys. I recorded today's video on how I painted the blues on these and I finished up the nonmetal metallic, too.

Coffee cup

And I definitely would not recommend the wet palette, but if you have a room painter paint brushes, which I didn't even realize I had this.

Finishing up the NMM

We got to get the final part of this nonmetal metallic finished up so I can start on the colors and everybody's got me finished.

40 minute painting tutorial

What's up? We're back. Uh yesterday's video for some reason didn't upload to YouTube. So, I'm going to uh this is where we left off. This is where yesterday's…

Coffee Cup Part 1

Pre-shading the 3D-printed coffee cup energy counter for Monster Friends. Stabbed an old X-Acto blade into the base, hit it with diorama thick mud, and worked a fast zenithal up from the bottom.

Taking a look at Inquisitor Kroyle

Quick unboxing of the Inquisitor Kroyle sprue from a kit-bashing perspective, plus action-figure prop counters for Monster Friends and a stack of Ex Obscuris appliance prints.

I can paint and ramble again.

Back from a long illness and back behind the brush. Where the Infinity commission stands, why airbrushing single models isn't worth it, and the math that makes paint commissions barely worth doing.

No making the same mistakes as I usually do

Found two Death Watch sprues and an Imperial Agents Combat Patrol in the pile — laying down ground rules for coming back to 40k for 11th edition without falling into the same FOMO traps as last time.

Mail day

Old Mage Knight metal activation tokens finally landed for $5 — opening up the box and figuring out what to do with them.

Infernal diaries two - quick channel update.

Career changes pulled all my game days, so the Pillage and Midgard projects are officially shelved — letting go of trying to play and refocusing on painting and solo games.

Painting some infinity models

Crunch week on the Infinity commission — building, priming, and base-coating the whole force in a day. Airbrush over zenithal for the alien centerpiece, then a hard pivot to contrast paints for the troopers.

GW got me again

Breaking a three-year no-new-GW streak at my old local store, plus why the daily hobby vlog is winding down so I can start building 40k my way for 11th edition.

RIP to my heat gun

Painting a glowing gemstone with fluorescent orange glazes — and losing the heat gun I inherited from my grandfather in the process.

Why are 3d sculpted models so overly detailed?

Today, I'm just building the last bit of models I need to have built for like some personal projects and the commissions.

NMM Blue Steel Scales and an Existential Crisis

Painting non-metallic blue steel scales with Scale Color Artist paints while having a late-night breakdown about the hobby, commissions, and what I'm even doing.

Ceiling Fan Wisdom

Some days picking up the paintbrush seems impossible, but even a single brushstroke is more paint than this model had at the start of the day.

Infernal Diaries Day 1

Starting the Infernals journey—basing a fresh 3D-printed army, building a 30-point learning list with Agathon, and figuring out essence management.

Quick Hobby Update

Castle Grief mail day, Infernals printing wrapped up, and laying out plans for a busy April—live stream on Monday to finish Maximus and the Dusk test model.

More Progress on the Normans

Painting leather, chainmail highlights, gold buckles, blue fabric, and skin tones on a Norman foot soldier—getting close to a finished test model.

Keeping the hobby streak alive.

Working on the purple highlights for Maximus with layered glazes and edge highlights to push the brightness.

Hobby Vlog and Terrain Inspiration

Comparing chainmail painting steps—is the extra work worth it at tabletop distance? Plus nature shots as terrain inspiration for your next build.

Painting and Ranting about Game Design

Glazing purples on Maximus while rambling about designing a solo Mordheim-style skirmish game—thoughts on HP alternatives, attrition systems, and what makes games tick.

Hobby Hang Out Clips

Locking back in on Maximus with purple glazes, white highlighting, and working through the tedious but rewarding process of building up layers.

Relic Blade Launch Day and Glazing Maximus

Ordering the new Relic Blade plastic kits on launch day, locking in on Infinity commission painting with purple glazing and white panel work on Maximus.

I Finished the Daemon Prince

Finishing my custom Daemon Prince sculpt—basing, chain touchups, dirty down rust effects, chrome scratches on the mask, grass tufts, and photographing the final result.

More Progress on the Children of Gomb Entry

Playing Pillage for the first time, learning that cavalry is overpriced, picking up new miniatures, and painting the rusty chain on my competition entry.

Painting Purple Daemon Skin With Scale 75

Painting creepy purple flesh on a custom daemon sculpt using Scale 75 paints—wet blending, glazing, and leaning into mistakes to create a cartoonish grim dark skin effect.

Paint and Ramble Night

A late-night painting session working on purple blending for an Infinity commission model while base coating a second miniature with plans for pale green and pink Nurgle-inspired skin.

I Took Two Days to Paint a Candy Cane

Keeping the hobby streak alive post-vasectomy, plus tips on buying bulk Lego through Whatnot and progress on the Lego D&D system.

Keeping the Hobby Streak Alive

Painting through recovery - if I can hobby through RSV, bronchitis, pneumonia, and an ER trip, I can hobby through a vasectomy.

I'm Not a Competitive Wargamer Anymore

Coming to terms with the reality that with kids and limited gaming time, competitive wargaming isn't realistic—and embracing being a hobbyist instead.

Painting Illuminated Text and Magical Pipe Smoke

Finishing a Dolmenwood miniature with illuminated text on a book and magical pipe smoke effects using dry brushing techniques.

Almost Done with Dolmenwood Breggle Mini

Finishing up the skin, fur, book, and glasses on this Dolmenwood Breggle miniature using speed paints and chunky tabletop-style highlights.

How Not to Paint Yellow / Surprise Warmachine Update Thoughts

Painting yellow robes on a Breggle mini the wrong way (on purpose), plus my hot takes on the new Warmachine patch notes.

Pushing Through Maximus's White and Purple Armor

A hobby vlog about pushing through tough days, organizing the hobby room, and finishing up some Crucible Guard and Dolmenwood miniatures.

Bald Man Rants About AI

Thoughts on generative AI, the creative process, and what it means to be human when machines start making our art.

Dolmenwood Pokédex Project Ep 1

Painting a Wodewose for the Dolmenwood Pokédex project using the slap chop method and testing out speed paints.

Quick Base Work

Finishing up a base with dirt effects, weathering powders, and liquid chrome scratches on metal panels.

Almost Done with the First Mini of 2026

Day 112 hobby vlog finishing up a Crucible Guard Toro with custom washes, edge highlighting techniques, and lessons learned about not letting perfect be the enemy of good.

Painting Dirt - Hobby Vlog 99

Day 99 of hobby vlogging—painting a terrain board with craft paints and inks, plus a mail day surprise with Mage Knight boosters.

Painting the Wood on The Love Shack

Using Marco Frisone's weathered wood recipe with contrast paints and dry brushing to create a grungy, well-used Love Shack objective marker.

Started on the Loincloth

A quick glazing session on Silena's tabard using Scale Color paints while the kids are sick—working my way up through the palette.

Revisiting Trench Crusade Warband

Going back to touch up my Trench Pilgrims—fixing details and getting them table-ready for the next game.

Paint & Ramble: Hobby Pressure

Deep thoughts on hobby pressure, the pile of shame spiral, and why this hobby is more than just painting—it's a spiritual practice that keeps us sane.

I Finally Painted a Goblin

After 12 different test goblins and shades of green, finally found one I love—Alizarin Green plus Lime Green doing all the work.

I Spent an Entire Day Painting Tongues

A whole day of painting squig tongues set to music—plus cutting in details with black to protect all that hard work on the skin.