Ok, kind of like the title says. On the "good" side, what's the one skill/bit of advice from other painters you are glad you took up? On the bad side, what's the one thing you hear EVERYONE here saying you shouldn't do, but you do it anyway?

Myself, using a palette, and discovering clearcoat, brush-on primer rank Number One on the "good" side, I think. Both made my painting much better. The clearcoat, in particular, forced me to be neater with my basecoats, as I couldn't simply rely on a black undercoat to "fill in the gaps."

As for bad habits, I admit I don't take as good care of my brushes as I should. Paint has gotten into the ferrules more than once, and yes, I continue to use said brush.

I good habit I picked up (after years of painting) is watering down my colors. It helps soooooo very much and I'm glad I started doing it.

My worst habit is that I'm impatient and sloppy when I paint. I'm always having to cover up errors. Also, I have a bad habit of not using a test mini for new color schemes, so I've ended up repainting whole squads after I put some color on every model.

Trying out a DIY wet-palette after one of the Leprechaun guys did a mini-tutorial really has made a huge difference to how I paint...
Buying my first W&N Series 7 also opened my eyes to so much. A decent brush makes painting such a pleasant experience compared to the bad old days of struggling with GW own-brand...
Things that seem obvious like watering down paint, using real-life references (yay! for google) and taking inspiration and criticism from people on here have also really helped out over the years.

Oh, and buying Kommando Kharki. It's an awesome colour. Thanks Flamebeard!

As for bad habits... Hm, well, I hope I don't have too many, but I suspect that there is something lurking in my broom cupboard. Aside from all them ghastly old models... *shudder*
Oh, I know. Motivation. I often find it impossible to pick up a brush, as I'm just too tired and I can easily find myself looking at it like a chore more than a fun thing to do, which is of course absoluetly incorrect!

-t.

My best thing that i do/did was A) Buy high quality brushes B) water down paints often, infact all the time

My worst things are A) Using my nice brushes to drybrush when im lazy...(i know i shouldnt, but sometimes i forget... B) Licking my paint brushes after i wash them...its the best way to make a point, but most people say im eventually going to die from it...

Best thing I ever did? I suppose I could say the time that I learned to water down my paints but the best thing that I've ever done was practice, practice, and not stopping practicing. I developed a steady hand through practice and I've found that this causes the majority of errors in painting (that and the fact that people couldn't be bothered to go back and correct them).

Bad habits? I guess motivation, and the fact that I haven't bothered to learn how to highlight things properly yet? It seems like a lot of difficult work, though I imagine that the results are worth it in the end.

Like people have said,

Good: Using Water, Good Brushes, LO, entering the comps to push me a little bit each time, brush soap, tidy desk=tidy mind, taking advice, experimenting, sitting next to the window for natural light (vitamin D is under-rated), 'day-light' bulb for painting in winter, et c.

Bad: Motivation, painting models for the sake of it so that my 'game' pieces never get done, getting distracted by video games & films (curse you Oblivion and Jon Voigt), using good brushes for mixing paint (I can't stop myself. It's like I enter a dream-world each time I do it. I can see myself doing it but I can't pull myself together to stop it.), not priming properly, rushing (it ends up actually taking longer than if I relaxed and had stress-free fun), messy desk=messy mind, not finishing stuff that I've started (I have stuff I started over A YEAR AGO still waiting, poor things), et c.

Hmm...well,

Good: Finally learning how to water paints down without making them practically inks. Learning from constructive criticism rather than poo-poo-ing it. Using a pallette rather than taking it straight from the bottle.

Bad: Using dodgy Vallejo reds because they're 40p cheaper. Finishing a model with a brown ink wash. Licking my brush after washing it.

good: using an old tile as a palette ;Y

bad: forgetting to wash the palette after months of painting and losing my newest mixed color to the jumble of color already on the tile :0

Good: Watering down the paints.

Bad: Using my brushes to death.

Tekore (who's about to use a beat up brush, again)

The best thing I've picked up this far (I still have loads of things to learn see:) ) is to use the Blending Medium. It's a great thing that keeps the paints wet for much longer, hence I can do things like layering and fine details... Lovely thing. An other good thing is how people push for making scenic bases, it really makes the whole difference.

Things people try to teach me and I still subconsiously refuse to do: finishing models. Stop treating my brushes with disrespect. Be nice to my brushes. Take care of my br...oh, I've said that already:/ opps.
Oh, I really need to learn to finish my models too:)

Well good habit wise ive got pretty much the standard water downed paint blah blah...bad...is a but of a longer list...dont take as good a care of my brushes as i should...motivation comes in random spurts...i sometime am too lazy to change out water i used metallics in, and my desk is quite messy.

good: watering down my paint, using a tile, learning how to dry brush properly.
bad: not cleaning my tile, using my detail brush as a dry brush and not learning how to ink wash properly

Good: washes. I heartily agree with Andusciassus - blending medium. Also smoke medium for a slightly different wash effect.

Bad: painting straight from the pot if there's only a tiny area of that colour on the fig. Licking paintbrushes - we might need a thread on which paint tastes worst (I think Bleached Bone - rancid milk).

Things people try to teach me and I still subconsiously refuse to do: finishing models. Stop treating my brushes with disrespect. Be nice to my brushes. Take care of my br...oh, I've said that already:/ opps.
Oh, I really need to learn to finish my models too:)

Thou shalt love thine brushes. Repeat until you understand. =p


Hm, I have mant bad habits and few good. haha. Things I use for good, is the stay wet pallet. Very good at keeping paint wet for long periods. Also, trying new things to improve, rather than sticking with the basics/comfortable ways. Bad things would be, not changing water that often and not looking after my brushes well enough (But still better than Andi =P )

KU

Good- watering paints, continually getting better, actually finish models now
Bad- refuse to buy new brushes (I need new ones, beleive me) not buying a stay-wet palette/figuring out how to make one, convincing myself there are little munchkins who paint my models for me when I don't feel like painting

-J

Edit-- Where do you guy's get your nice brushes? I'm looking online, but I cannot find any small enough. U.S. stores preferably, as I don't want to fly to England/Europe for brushes...

good habits: using a wet palette (keeps paints fresh WAY longer), figuring out a cheap effective way to make dullcoat (Future floor wax + Tamiya X-21) Forcing myself to use at least 4 layers when highlighting armor.

Bad Habits: going from one squad to the next, and forgetting which colours were in the scheme in the mean time (damnit! what red did i use on those firedragons??) when assembly line painting, not mixing enough paint for a particular layer, so i end up with inconsistent results, and lastly not letting the previous coat dry enough before going to the next.

Good: Picking Necrons as my first army. Those metallics are SO forgiving that I could screw up constantly and not lose the models. I almost went with Space Wolves and shudder to think what they would have looked like. Now I think I could do a passable job.

Bad: Cheap brushes. Nothing like saving a couple of bucks on a tool I'll use constantly and want to burn almost immediately. Not watering down paints to avoid having to use more coats. Watering down paints too much (my Monolith took about eight coats to cover the black primer). Impatience. I have to learn to quit when the urge to rush becomes overwhelming.

Items i always keep in mind are:

Always store your brushes right side up in a cup.
Always take your brushes out of the water pot (otherwise they will be doomed forever as dry brushes)

Always wash your brushes with brush soap after words (in case you pick up that extra paint)


Have some sort of mixing pallet, (i get mine from art stores - which is a lot better than tiles)

I always take extra care in getting just the right amount for a dry brush, to much can have a devastating
effect.

Mix your colors accordingly and try to use shading as much as possible.

Have your colors organized! This will save time cause if you already mixed a color, by the time you find
what your looking for it will already be dry.

Use inks! water them down to touch up on dry brushed spots.

Prime accordingly. Light colors - white paint, Dark colors - Black paint.

Water your colors down, people have already said this before.

When you blend colors, always start from the darkest color and work your way up while the paint is still
wet.


My bad habits can run from anything from sloppiness, to an unplanned model. once in a while I will end up
cutting myself due to a dull razor blade. - Keep your blades sharp!


Anywho thats my 2 cents.
Dj AK

Always wash your brushes with brush soap after words



"You bad bad brush. It's soap time for you!"

;)

"You bad bad brush. It's soap time for you!"

;)

Well brushes do need to be cleaned, face it. If you have a five dollar or eight dollar brush
are you going to let it go like your gramma's beamer?

Brush soap is a life saver. It can also recondition your brush as well. Just let the soap dry
into the brush to retain that fine point. Afterwards just flick the bristles. It should pop back
into proper condition.

Dj Ak.

Well brushes do need to be cleaned, face it. If you have a five dollar or eight dollar brush
are you going to let it go like your gramma's beamer?

Brush soap is a life saver. It can also recondition your brush as well. Just let the soap dry
into the brush to retain that fine point. Afterwards just flick the bristles. It should pop back
into proper condition.

Dj Ak.

I use brush soap, but I was poking fun at "after words" rather than afterwards.

No offence meant, and since I started using brush soap, my brushes are much better. Good advice.;Y

Deffinitly, glad you agree. I was just making a schpeal for those who dont know what brush soap is. Heh.

What did the brush do to offend to get soap? LoL