Painting While Traveling

Traveling: it's exciting, empowering, and exhausting all at the same time. When I travel, I routinely work extra-long days and I have a hard time sleeping without my cleansing "down time" which involves painting or some form of visual creativity and/or geekery. While painting on-the-go presents several challenges (especially if you're super-attached to your workspace), I find that proper planning can help balance the inconsistencies. I used to provide myself with excuses for why I couldn't paint while traveling:

Excuse #1: The hotel desk is too high/too low. 

  • Use the buffet of pillows provided at hotels to boost your height/back if the chair is too low and isn't adjustable. If the desk is too low, use a foam square (that comes in many miniature packages), another pillow, or towel for your arm rest. Just be sure to take breaks if you find you're hunching over too much.

Excuse #2: I can't bring my favorite tools.

  • You need less than you think! Armed with my beloved wireless lamp, a small bag of paints, my favorite brushes, and a ceramic travel palette I purchased on Etsy, I can paint anywhere. The only difficulty is transporting everything safely-- take the time to carefully pack & you won't be disappointed with cracked paint palettes or chipped minis. 

Excuse #3: I don't have the time.

  • Find a polite escape. While traveling, I have the opportunity to socialize with co-workers when they want to go out in the evenings. Just like family, I generally enjoy being around them. However, I can only take constant socializing in appropriate doses until my mood starts to rapidly decline. I need "down time" where I can recharge in order to be effective the next day. It's nothing personal, it's just me-- and there's nothing worse than a sleep-deprived me without my black coffee. Trust me. 

Even if I'm only able to fit 30 minutes of painting time in every day, at least I'm setting the groundwork for my on-the-road-routine. During my most recent trip, I still sat down to paint at midnight after a 12+ hour workday. I painted for 45 minutes and made some great progress! Despite an early morning the next day, I had my best night's rest of the entire trip. Here was my setup:

It's not easy. I won't lie. But good habits are often hard to build. I'm personally inspired by someone I saw at a convention, Lyn Stahl, an accomplished miniature painter and owner of Metalhead Minis, transporting her miniatures in a Table War case. She walked by during my one-on-one session with a guest sculptor/painter & I had to ask about her travel case. Inside the glass-front case were her display miniatures held tightly in place by magnets. Like many professional painters, Lyn works from hotels as she travels to and from conventions and paints wherever the opportunity presents itself:

As always, preparation is key and safely transporting miniatures is a must! If I paint consistently while traveling, I'd also like to purchase one of those transport cases in the near future. In the meantime, I'm determined to develop good habits, learn from the successes of painters like Lyn, and find the best ways to stay painting while traveling!

Taking Pictures

I have a lot to learn when it comes to taking decent miniature photos. I know it's one of the most important things to get right-- why spend the extra time painting display miniatures if you can't take decent pictures of them? They're difficult to photograph since the miniature scale is so small and the details are even harder to capture with an average camera phone. I've seen various set-ups of small studios with camera tripods and light boxes-- though the professional-grade equipment is a considerable financial investment. I've also seen home-made light boxes and economical solutions that seem to yield quality photos that fit the needs of most painters.

While images of the most-recently-completed Troll Axer mini are posted here, I have a long way to go before I can photograph them with perfect diffused lighting, etc. So far, I've been taking pictures with awkwardly-placed desk lamps, scrapbook paper backgrounds I found at my local Hobby Lobby, and my iPhone4. Since I've practicing new & different techniques as I build on my experience, that's been totally acceptable. However, it's time I thought about investing in a proper camera.

I gave myself a goal of painting & blogging consistently for 6 months (I started April 2014), and only then will I allow myself to start looking a decent camera. It's the next practical step and I know it will motivate me to commit the time needed for bigger projects & display-quality miniatures. In the meantime, I'm focusing on speed painting to learn how to paint faster and smarter!

Troll Axer • More photos here 

Miniature Monogamy

For the past three years, I've painted exclusively Reaper miniatures. Reaper was the first miniature company I discovered when I started painting a few years ago. I've collected their minis over that time until I amassed this hoard:

I feel like owe a lot to Reaper. ReaperCon 2014 was the first convention I attended-- a four-day convention with tabletop gaming, sculpting & painting classes, contests, and panels with some of the best artists in the industry. It was a great experience learning from kind people willing to share their knowledge. ReaperCon inspired me to paint more, paint often, and keep working to improve my skills. I'll definitely be returning next year.

Lately, I've challenged myself to become more involved in the community and research as many different companies as possible in order to expand my knowledge of the hobby. Here's what's in my mixed bag so far:

Privateer Press - Hordes

Mantic Miniatures

Infinity Miniatures

Alkemy Miniatures

I know many people only paint a certain type of miniature-- especially ones specific to their particular gaming system. Others find a miniature sculptor they like, either within a company or one who sculpts for multiple companies, and purchase their work knowing the quality of the sculpt will make a difference. This past Monday, I received a shipment of Infinity miniatures I purchased when I became obsessed with the dynamic style and detailed quality of Corvus Belli's miniatures. I admit I had a hard time paring it down and when I opened this box, I knew I'd gone overboard:

Like I mentioned in my "...and Beyond!" post, I appreciate well-proportioned 25-28mm miniatures with dynamic poses, expressive faces, and well-rendered details. I haven't painted enough different types of miniatures to have specific preferences-- that's the main reason why I'm running this experiment. So far, I only know what I don't want to paint. For example, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit I don't care to paint skeletons or zombies-- it's just not my cup of tea. I find it difficult to stare at a mini for hours at a time when all I think when I look at it is, "eww" (I often sound like a 5 year old). However, I have a great appreciation for painters who are able to use many different styles to paint a broad range of miniatures-- from beautiful ladies to ghoulish monsters, terrain, mecha robots, and everything in between. I aspire to one day be that experienced and well-rounded in my own painting. I also realize that once I'm able to paint faster, I know that painting miniatures I don't particularly care for will become less of an issue since each one won't be a serious time commitment. 

In the meantime, I'll continue to research more companies and find as many different examples of miniatures as I can to find out what I like (and dislike) about the materials they're made out of, the quality of the sculpt, style, and overall experience. I find that I'm inspired to try new painting techniques on different miniature styles-- it can't hurt to mix it up!

While I'll always have a special place in my heart for Reaper miniatures (and Lord knows I have enough in my stash and will be painting them for years to come), after three years, I'm ready to branch out and paint some other types of miniatures. I admit, I feel a little guilty ending my monogamous relationship with these Reaper minis. At the very least, I'll be able to speak from experience when I talk about the pros/cons surrounding the different types of miniatures. First up will be a Privateer Press miniature and an Infinity miniature. I'll start each of them this weekend and have some Works In Progress pictures to show next week. We'll see how it goes!