Quick Question

[Nightcrow]

Heh. I did take ceramics lessons as a kid, too, so that may have unconsciously helped me when I first started painting 3D stuff for fun — I knew how to treat brushes, a few different finishes (I would KILL for some of those rub-on metallics my instructor had! I’ve tried everything, and apparently they just don’t exist, because NO one seems to have heard of them/carry them/have a clue what I’m talking about!)

Something like that might be a great idea if you’ve absolutely never painted before — a few lessons with basic brush techniques to get you used to brush sizes, softnesses, shapes, etc. (I’m obsessive; I use itsybitsy to incrediblytiny size brushes for just about everything, and I like my bristles short for better control.)

If you don’t have a local place (which you might!), I know there are chain ceramic stores like Seize the Clay (whose name never fails to crack me up) that might offer basic instruction.

Bisque ceramic is pretty close to Windstone gypsum — much closer than Breyers, anyway! 🙂 The only thing I’d warn you about is that the gypsum is a LOT more absorbant — watery paint might run off a ceramic figure, but it’s going to soak into the gypsum, and I’ve heard that can cause problems, making your sealer/varnish buckle later as the moisture comes up under it.

tatt2dcowgrl wrote:

Thanks for the help! I took many art classes in high school but never really was a painter I always wanted to draw everything in pencil. That’s a good idea though about the cheap ceramic figures!

Breyers are… a pain, in a lot of ways — all that SANDING, for one! 🙂 And I’m definitely not good enough to risk something expensive (I have three blank resins that I will eventually pay someone to paint for me — at $250 a pop I am NOT going to screw up!). Makes PYOs look downright cheap, doesn’t it? 🙂

The other problem I ran into with CM Breyers is scale! I am soooo impatient, I cannot paint large models — I screw ’em up because I’m rushing to get things done. Let the primer dry for 24 hours? Ha! Not going to happen. 🙂 So I stick to Stablemates, or the occasional LB-size horse. I do keep an old large “body” horse for testing stuff out on, to get an idea for colors, etc. If I don’t like it, I can just sand it off and re-primer that patch, no need to experiment on my actual project horse. 🙂 (I really need to buy a little cheap ceramic something, to test Windstone ideas on!)

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I would LOVE to be able to CM breyers and stones and resins but I pretty much gave up on that idea being as I’d never get one looking realistic horse colored. But with the dragons and griffins and such they can be any color my imagination wants them to be! 🙂

You’re right about that — horse colors are HARD! 🙂 Some more than others. I look back upon my first — and only — attempt at buckskin with horror. 🙂 The very first Breyer I ever redid, though, at a Breyerfest workshop, actually turned out a very nice chocolatey bay. I still have her. Fortunately, when I’m not on a buckskin kick, I tend to favor dark or red bays, so I’m not likely to sit down and think “gee, what I really need to be able to paint is a realistic perlino overo paint!” 🙂 I do long to be able to do dapple greys, though…

I’ve noticed in the last few years my interest in fantasy colors has increased — most of the customs I’ve looked at buying were fantasy colors, and I’m more tempted to paint them as well. I’m not sure why, exactly, but it’s a very liberating — and challenging — change! Because hooray, I can make a blue horse! …Now, how do I make a blue horse look “realistic” or alive?

Interested in buying or trading for: GB Pebble Sitting Red Fox in dark grey, Lap Dragon Test Paints (Water Sprite, Glacial Pearl, Opulence, Pastel Rainbow, and many others - see my Classifieds ad), Blue Morpho OW, GB Pebble Loaf dragons in blue/aqua/teal, and Griffin Test Paints (Black Rainbow or Frosted Jade).

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