i spend most days right here painting for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and
i never burn out my back doesn't start to hurt and my hands don't get tired this setup works
really really well for me so let me tell you all about it and the product that might disrupt it
hey guys jay here welcome to eons of battle i talk often about what i paint but i think it's
time to talk about how i paint there is a method to the madness and this is the first attempt at a
dedicated painting desk tailored specifically for me if you remember in our old videos i was super
low on the desk but in reality it was the desk that was super high i am a foot five and a quarter
inch tall dude and my desk is three feet off the ground and this fulfills three very important
requirements for me first this means that while i am painting the model is physically close to my
face so i don't squint lean in or slouch to try to get a better look second my arms lay flat on
the table this means i don't lean on my elbows my back stays straight and my hands can rest flat on
the table that last part is huge because only my fingers are working and my arms and hands don't
get tired even if my painting sessions go long and lastly with my table so far up my tools are
very close by my palette is about 1 inch away from my work and my paint cup is 2 inches and
that saves me tons of time you don't think about it much but every 15 to 30 seconds for the entire
painting process you're cleaning off your brush or scooping up new paint and that pause and your
flow all that hand travel adds up all this adds up to a workspace that works very well for me
i know exactly how i like to paint this video is sponsored by cobalt keep a company that
makes the best quality magnet ready miniature bases you can buy and some great display cases
and they have a kickstarter for a new product a special paint handle called the painting hilt pro
this isn't yo mama's paint handle this one is rich with features and it should be interesting
this paint handle has a nice big handle a detachable base that keeps it upright a spot
for a magnet on cap that'll hold your models and allow them to spin and two threaded slots that
can allow for the rechargeable led light this is a very interesting tool and i want to give it a
fair shake but not here at this desk this desk is set up for a very specific kind of painting
so i want to move to my presentation table which is two foot four inches off the ground a much more
standard height which i think this would help with a lot more so let's transform and roll out
well this should be a fun little experiment usually when i paint i
have two 1100 lumen light bulbs about 3 inches from my work but today i have
this so let's give it a try the model stuck firmly to place on the magnet and it was very satisfying
to spin the model i got the lamp right where i needed it and got ready to work i'm painting
a malefo arcanist showgirls ice dancer because i am super duper close to finally finishing my
malifo team i only have a couple of models left and then i can move on to a new faction and this
light you know this light is not bad usually the most important thing about light is to have
lots of it but also to have the light bulb really really close to the model and so even though it's
weird that the environment i'm in is pretty poorly lit the model's not bad because there's
a light bulb about one inch away another thing i see people doing wrong all the time with lighting
is they'll put the light directly top down and then you can't really see much of anything
but if you have the light just a tiny bit outside of your eye line then basically it's lighting
exactly what your eyeballs are seeing and that is exactly what you want painting on handle like this
was a very new experience for me it was like learning how to paint all over again luckily i
picked an incredibly challenging model for this but you know what it'll definitely show me any
feelings or annoyances in this design as the model is annoying to paint malifaux sculpts are top tier
but they are more realistic and less exaggerated than a game's workshop model and there is less
chunky detail to hide behind and you really can't get away with just a base coat and wash
you know this really is a detailed light because it is showing me i did a terrible job of cleaning
up the details i have a bunch of mold lines that i need to fix let's give this a try i left the model
on the handle while tidying it up and it was fine it was nice having the light but i think it would
have been a bit easier if i had pulled the cap off so that i could get into those hard-to-reach
nooks and crannies well i don't know how much the paint handle works for cleaning models
but i don't think i'd really use a painting handle for cleaning models but these little caps are just
as good as any little paint handle and they are quick on the draw they're getting them in and out
of the paint handle so with my models actually now properly prepped it's time to get back to
the regularly scheduled painting i continued to work and found it okay once i got the light into a
position i light i could make use of the spinning cap that let me reach 90 of the areas i wanted to
reach this mallet model is very very delicate and i think it benefited from being attached
to a big honk and paint handle like this it kept my hands off the model but i did find that i had
trouble finding good spots to brace my left hand holding the brush and this led to me trying a lot
of different techniques like bracing against my fingers and letting one finger rest on the model i
was finding it challenging to paint like this but not bad just different i have been painting one
way for a very long time this is not working and it's not because of the handle it's because of how
i'm trying to use it my face is way too far away from this model i'm trying to use this table the
same way that i use my normal painting table which is raised up super high to help me with my posture
right now i want to bring my face closer to the model but i can't paint like this like a little
like a little goblin i have to bring the model to me so i think i need to paint the classic you know
three points of contact and bring the model right up here to my face i can already tell that's a lot
more comfortable but i won't be able to paint the way i usually do usually i have both hands
flat on the table and then the little meat of my hand resting and that's how i paint but now that
i'm up in the air it's a little different i got one hand here i guess i got the other hand here
i have to do a little something like this it's not uncomfortable it's just different
but now now i can really get in there interesting let's give this a try for a while
i found this to be better i could easily see what i was doing and it was more comfortable
but one thing i did find now was the model is right up against my face the water cup and paint
palette are really far away down on the desk you can't have everything i guess but this is how i
enjoyed using the painting hilt pro i am not very experienced with painting skin yet so not only was
this a challenge with using the paint apparatus but it is also a painting challenge i did my
best and i can't wait to paint up the second one i think that one will go much smoother usually when
i paint i get lost in my own little painting world but with this thing i was actively thinking about
what is painting and how do i do it it was a very interesting exercise so i'm finding i'm trying to
get this model closer and closer and closer to my face because i can't see what i'm doing because
this light is just about dead looks like you get an hour and a half out of the rechargeable light
on full blast so let's see my hunch is correct take that off and i actually have spare here
and boom now we're talking that is a lot more light and i can really see all of the flaws
in uh this model i've been painting so we are back in business i think an
hour and a half is probably about right for working with a painting handle like this
and imagine this sort of this sort of a machine is set up for you know a 12-hour painting session but
hour and a half you know that should get you through you know your little nephew's
little league game you know sitting you know sitting waiting at the dmv now that
this that would be a great candidate for a painting tool like this
with my refreshed light things were looking bright for this model i was getting back into
the groove of painting again i had acclimated to this new tool and i felt like i was finally
back to my old painting and i was using my fingers as a dry palette which is a technique
i often use as it lets me try out my paint consistency before putting it onto the model
i was really starting to like this handle i really felt like a pro while using it spinning the model
with the cap felt effortless now i had been trying to make this tool match my usual painting of just
sitting quietly and working but i really started to take advantage of its portability by kicking
back with my feet up and my palate resting on my knees and this was actually great it was
really fun to paint like this and it would have been hard to pull this off without this product
maybe i could have used a headlamp this is when the painting got really fun for me i found that
this product really comes into its own once you get silly with it usually painting is boring but
with this i can really do just about anything while painting having my light attached to the
model and handle means that i can be effectively painting while spinning in a chair which if
you have never been painting while spinning you have to give it a try one of these days
even my dog came to join me and with the freedoms i had with the painting health pro i could cuddle
with her while getting some more highlights in the places that mattered on the model
it definitely won't replace my usual painting setup but i am finding it really enjoyable
well i've been painting for many many hours now and i'm just about done and i can definitely say
that painting with this handle has been a very new and unique experience but before i get to
my final thoughts i think it's time to take this malefo arcanus performer minion ice dancer off
of the stand and do some final special effects it wouldn't be an eob video without tackling the base
so first i watered down some brown and glazed this over the coffee stir sticks that make up the base
i used some green and magenta to break up the colors of the wooden slats and to make sure it
looked more interesting then i did a black wash of watered down paint over top of everything to
darken and blend them once that was all dry i decided to make up some snow i took some army
painter battlefield snow and added a few drops of gloss medium i mixed this together into a snowy
paint and i spread this onto my model using an old paintbrush the ice dancers have a magical ability
to create ice so i want it to look like this huge icicle has magically formed out of the ground
and so i used my snow paste to blend it in like the magic has exploded out from under her feet
this was looking good but it could use a little more glitter so i will be finishing it off with
some secret weapon snow which is made of fresh glass i sprinkled this over the army painter
snow while it was still wet then i got some elmer's glue and spread this onto her legs
i sprinkled more snow onto the glue to blend her into her magical snow environments and i
also did this to her hands and once that was all dry a trick i like to do with snow is to
give it a faint blue tint by spraying it with some blue wash this makes the snow look cold it
is a little cartoony but hey this is a magical ice dancer who can freeze stuff with magic so
it's fine now with my super cool base complete it was time to paint the rim of the base black
well this model will make a fine addition to my malefo collection and bring me one step closer
to getting out from under my pile of shame time to put it with the others who are in this lovely
cobalt keep display case i made into the star theater stage watch this video to see how i did
that so what do i think of this paint handle is this going to replace my current painting setup
no but i still really like it this tool definitely serves a purpose
and that purpose is to help you paint in environments that are not already perfect
for painting making this video really taught me how spoiled i am with my custom desk setup
it is not that easy to paint just anywhere and i think this tool definitely makes that a lot
easier with this product i was able to comfortably paint in bed i mean what else do you need to know
the light is nice and bright on its highest setting the handle is comfortable and the
spinning cap is a game changer i found to be very intuitive and easy to use
i find myself spinning the model subconsciously to get better angles or to help with brush strokes
as of now the kickstarter for this product is live and if anything i have shown off in this
video intrigues you then head on over to that webpage to give this product a look for yourself