Welcome to my new Painting Academy for Beginners 101!

Written By Maria Alberta Iaia

Hi Mushlings! Welcome to Musha’s Painting Academy for Beginners 101! My series of painting tutorial videos which gonna help you to improve your skills without struggling! In this intro video, we start from the very beginning and basic tools. You always have to know how your tools work to master what you’re doing! Moreover, I’m giving you some quick tip 😜

Let’s start with the basic tools!

BRUSHES

I’m using Winson&Newton Serie 7 kolinsky sable brushes. My favorite for the last 2 years it’s still the number 1 miniature which has a shorter tip and looks more like a felt pen. This helps me to have much more control of the brush stroke.

Otherwise, I use the 0 finest, with the longer tip that has a sharper tip and a longer tank, this one helps me a lot during the detailing parts.

So the most important thing you have to know about a brush is the difference between a shorter and a longer tip which consists mainly of the duration of the color due to the tank capacity. The tank capacity is how much water/color can hold the brush for a certain amount of time. A larger tank means more color lasting while painting. Very useful during details or precision works.

Give it a try to see how much water your brush can hold laying only the very tip of your brush in the water pot. At a certain point, you’ll notice your brush that starts to swell up, well that’s the max capacity of your tip.

The tip of the brush can be synthetic or kolinsky sable. I’d rather use the kolinsky ones as they last a lot more and the tip doesn’t get any wrinkles after a few uses. In my opinion, they’re way better for weathering or stuff like that as they help you create a more natural random effect on scratches, etc...

Be careful when you’re picking up the color from the palette, being sure to not go over the metal part of the brush, as if the color goes there: firstly it won’t let your tank work properly and make the color flow easily, secondly because ones it dries it will expand the base of the tip which is going to open your brush tip!


THE WET PALETTE

The one I’m using is from Redgrassgame. It’s the small version, as I’d rather change my sheets often. If you want to buy one here is the link for the Painter Starter Set which includes 15 refill sheets and the foam pad for only 20€.

💧WET PALETTE (PAINTER STARTER PACK): https://amzn.to/3qQwhuL

In the following chapter called “The Perfect Dilution,” I’m going to teach you how to prepare it and the amount of water to use.


THE WATER POT

My water pot works both as a brush cleaner and as a diluent. Its composition is made of distilled water as it won’t create any limescale residues both on the color or the brush. Dish soap to scour the color and Alcool to be sure my kolinsky fur maintains its shape and softness!


THE OPTIVISOR

This is the visor I’m using, not only to be more precise but also to relax my eyes. You can wear them with your glasses too. The magnifier I’m using is 2.5x.

🤓OPTIVISOR: https://amzn.to/3eTbwJF


QUICK TIPS

Tip number 1:

If you have the chance, then buy these 3 books!

These books are amazingly great to understand the color theory and the various colors studies! As regards the last book mentioned, it’s perfect for all the existing skin tones around the world.


Tip number 2:

From where I should start painting my mini? From the inner part of course! And which one is it? The eyes ! Or at least the face/skin tone if the miniature is a 54mm

So the rule is to start always from the inner part and progressively paint the outer sections. Usually, they are the skin, the shirt, the jacket.

For the face, eyes, skin, beard, and hair. Start from the top and then progress towards the bottom of the miniature, from the head to the feet.

This way you don’t get confused about the struggle on which parts to work and start with.

Follow this scheme and you’ll be able to focus on your painting rather than “what to do now? What should I paint next?”

And this also helps you to prepare the colors at the beginning of your work.


Tip number 3:

This one is very cool and you must give it a try! It’s a game-changer, it’s incredible and you may be reluctant to believe but I tried it on my skin and I can say I leveled up!

I’m talking about the SPEED PAINTING. Maybe don’t try it immediately as you still have to get used to your colors, brushes, the dilution, and wet palette, etc, but when you’ve created your comfort zone then give it a try!

Give you half of the time you usually spend painting a section of a mini.

For instance: it usually takes you 2 hours to paint a face, give it a try in 1 hour then! Set the timer and have no mercy with your brush!

This won’t let your mini look as perfect as you wanted at the beginning BUT it will eliminate all the useless and time-wasting brush strokes you were used to doing!

You will start focusing on the main lights, shadows, and strokes. It’s the same as making a summary of a chapter. Write down and focus only on the main ideas and topics of the chapter.

•••

So Mushlings, at this point I can say that the very first chapter and introduction of the series are complete and that we can keep studying together on the next video where I’ll discuss Primers & Varnish I mainly use. Remember that my Painting Academy is completely FREE but if you’d like to support my work, here is the link to my Patreon Page!

There are 3 tiers as I’m also available for private lessons! And of course, feel free to join my Discord Community!

Thanks for following me and warm up your brushes!


🖌BRUSHES: Finest (long tip) https://bit.ly/2UiFihB https://amzn.to/2ZHzeBX Miniature (short tip) https://amzn.to/2ZIaN7p

📚BOOKS: La Teoria dei Colori (Color Theory) https://amzn.to/36lhy1P L’arte del Colore (The Art of the Colors) https://amzn.to/3eLImMj Color Mixing Recipes for Portraits https://amzn.to/2ImgvXi

🔴PATREON: www.patreon.com/MushaMiniatures

🔵DISCORD: https://discord.gg/dD5VADW


Cheers,

Musha

Maria Alberta Iaia
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