WONDERFEST 2022
DINO 201 painting class
Took the airbrush painting class put on by Tag Team Hobbies and Shane Foulkes.
We would be painting this kit, produced by Shane.
|
|
|
|
| Here we are at the painting class. If I remember correctly, there were 14 of us in all. Will us spread out around the perimeter of the room, and the instructors in the middle (some helpers went around the outside as well) |
||
|
|
|
|
| Finally, some airbrushing! The first part of the class was all about glazing and drybrushing to really bring out the details on the kit before we started laying in the colors. At this point, we were putting in a gradient on the body and head before adding the details. |
||
|
|
|
|
| After
the basecoaiting, then we detailed with the airbrush. I really like the
Comart paints for airbrushing, but I don't like the bottles they come
in. Too messy, as they drip down the sides after you close them. But they airbrush great, no thinning. |
||
|
|
On the left is a pic of the instructors, and winner of the (spoiler - I didn't win) |
|
Here are my thoughts and observations on the class.
First, it was really fun
Sitting in a room full of geeks, all with varying skill levels,
learning cool things from people who know what they are talking about.
Especially since I already knew most of the crew and instructors.
It wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be, and that is ok.
Going in, I thought this was going to be some kind of advanced airbrushing class. Learning more tricks and advanced techniques.
But less than half the class was actually using the airbrush.
But I have never actually had a hands-on chance to learn how to glaze.
So, while somewhat tedious, it was also a great tool to add
to my arsenal. Especially in regards to dinosaurs, which are a large
part of my hobby (especially if you lump kaiju in that category)
We got a lot of insight into Shane's thought process when approaching a
dino paint. This also led to pushing my color mixing further than I
normally go.
He doesn't just mix a couple colors together. Some of the shades we
used were like 4 different colors in different ratios to achieve.
So that is going to lead to some more experimentation on my part.
The class wasn't just paint this, just like this either.
If you look at all the kits from the class, they do share similar
ideas, but the execution is completely different in many cases.
As far as the airbrushing, it was all pretty standard stuff, just a few wrinkles on how to do basic techniques..
But when you get right down to it, that is all there is to airbrushing. You are pushing paint out of a gun with air.
There are only so many ways to do that. And there were some limits on what could be achieved due to the class.
For example, all the airbrushes were ran off a tank. So there was one regulator for the whole class.
That led to some problems for me when trying to do fine work with
transparents. They are super thin, and when working really fine, you
need much less
pressure or you are going to get spider-webbing. Which was an issue I
had. So I decided I would wait to do what I wanted once I got home
where I could dial my compressor down to about 10 psi instead of the 20-25 the class was running on.
Of course, we ran out of time. There is no way to do everything that needed done in that short an amount of time
After I bailed on trying to detail with the airbrush, I moved on to finishing a few things with the paint brush.
Shane talked about them, but we never really tackled it as part of the
class. So, I jumped ahead and did the eyes, claws and mouth.
That way it would at least look more complete when it sat on the table.
Overall, I was very happy with the class, and think it was money well spent.
I had a great time, I learned several new things, I got some new paints and a great kit that is probably about 60% complete.
And most importantly, I already have ideas on how I want to finish it.
That is always a struggle for me, seeing the finished kit and how to
get there.
