Author: Joe B

Watch This: Airbrush for Beginners

Published by Joe B

Complete newbie to using an airbrush? Yeah me too, I’ve used Games Workshop’s sad attempt at making one to base coat some models but dream of doing more with a nice brush. This week’s Watch This returns to Orc Painter Nerd and his great tutorial on using an airbrush for beginners. Double bonus for this week! This week’s Watch This is a two part video with the first going over the basics of how to use an airbrush and part two on using it to paint an actual model. So make sure to watch both videos and check out the notes. Watch This: Airbrush for Beginners by OrcPainterNerd Part 1: Airbrush Basics Highlights Not enough time to watch the full video or just like text notes? I’ve broken down OrcPainterNerd’s tips below for handy reference. Connect everything up before turning the compressor on Turn on compressor and adjust pressure (he is using 20PSI) Use thinned paint, smaller needle = more thinner needed Add airbrush paint to paint holder in airbrush, only a few drops needed …

Cool Tools: Warcolours Paintbrushes

Published by Joe B

As you can image from my blog’s title (Broken Paintbrush), I’m rather hard on brushes. Even when using Brush Soap, my detail brushes seem to split almost as soon as I start the second model. This is why I’m excited to review the Warcolours Paintbrushes here. Disclaimer: Warcolours sent me a free set of paints and brushes to review for the Golden D6. The links below do include affiliateÂ links, meaning that if you buy these great brushes, I get a small bonus to help fund this blog. Even though I got these for free, I still only recommend Cool Tools that I actually use and would want you to use too. Warcolours I first heard about Warcolours when Adam from the Golden D6 asked if I wanted to review their line. Try out free paints? Of course, I said yes! So Neo from Warcolours was awesome enough to send me a set of not only their paints but brushes and a pot of powder pigment as well. I wrote up a full review of the …

Good Reads Week 30

Published by Joe B

Looking for some hobby inspiration and modeling tips? This week’s Good Reads has you covered with bad primer, Â all your bases, contempt, shiny yellow, and speedy lizards. Read on and explore something new! Good Reads is where I gather some of my favorite hobby blog posts from other writers and share them with you. Why? Because it can be so darn hard to catch all the incredible things being created and may even introduce you to someone new. So check out the articles below and leave a comment on their blog to give them some love. Fixing Grainy Primer Getting a good layer of primer on your model is an often overlooked step in painting, but provides the critical canvas for your paints to adhere to. If yourÂ primer spray ended up being a texture spray from being too cold, too far away, or the moon being in the wrong alignment, check out Thor’s great tip on fixing this annoying problem. Painting Desert Bases So I’ve got a new blog to feature here (well at least …

Painting Tutorial for Mansions of Madness Cultists

Cultists – Painting Mansions of Madness

Published by Joe B

Ready for another Mansions of Madness painting tutorial? This week I have the Cultists adorned in their fancy robes. While these guys are nearly worthless by themselves in the game, they have a habit of sacrificing each other to turn into monsters – which is awesome! Painting the Cultists When I started painting the cultists, I decided to mix them up a bit. While this messes with the game’s concept of each character having slightly different abilities, it does make them more interesting to look at. So I split the six cultistsÂ models and painted half of the robes black with red trim and half red with black. They were then also divided into three different skin tones: light, ‘yellow’ and dark. I started with painting all the base colors to block in each area. You might notice I wasn’t too concerned about getting a perfect coverage on the robes as I will later add additional layers and washes. This is an excellent example of how to speed up some of your painting. Since I am …

Guest Post on Broken Paintbrush

Published by Joe B

So I’ve got to a point I want to add guest writers on Broken Paintbrush. In part, this is because I realize that I can’t keep up with everything else going on in my life, but I want to turn this site into something special for all my readers. Why Guest Post? So why would you want to guest post here? I put some common reasons to guest post below, so if you are wondering why you wouldÂ even bother to write on somebody else’s blog (like mine), check them out and perhaps I can convince you to give it a try. 1. You don’t have a blog of your own For those who don’t have your own blog, guest posting is the easiest way to try it out. You can skip trying to build a site and audience and just write something cool. 2. Want to reach a bigger audience For new bloggers, it can be hard to get noticed, even with the great communities we have in our hobby. One way to do this …

Watch This: Painting White

Published by Joe B

If you struggle painting white on your models, check out this week’s Watch This video. Here we have Dave G. from Wargaming Tradecraft showing you his method of painting this notoriously difficultÂ color. So without further ado, check out Dave’s video but check out my notes below. Painting White Using Layers Steps for Painting White After watching the video myself I’ve put together my set of notes on his technique. I hope this cheat sheet can be useful as a handy reference to his video. First Dave gives a fantasticÂ set of tips for watering down paints: Add a blob of paint to your brush Dip only the tip of the brush (covered in the blob) into some water Mix them together on your palette This provides a nice mix without added too much water to the layers, something I often struggle with. He has some great pictures showing this as well so catch his full article. Moving into the layering white: (first few steps not shown in video) Spray white primer over the model Wash theÂ whole …

Painting Dark Skin Tutorial

Published by Joe B

So as I’ve been painting the Mansions of Madness set lately, I’ve decided to add some diversity to the set. About a third of the humans were painted to look African American (the others were light skin and yellow-brown skin tones). In doing so, I decided to put together a painting dark skin tutorial. I also have a light skin version availible as well. When I started, I looked for some other tutorials and found an interesting one on the CoolMiniOrNot forums where Chrispy looked at different ethnic groups and created a color paletteÂ for each. The Thing to notice about the color pallet is there is noÂ black in the skin, and it even gets up to a relatively pale color for the highlights. Even the pallet for the dark skinned Africans in his example are at mostÂ Black Brown color and still highlight up to the same pink/brown color. Alternatively, I found an article on Perry Miniatures where he painted up aÂ Sudanese warrior. Instead of going the light brown routes, he highlighted with additionsÂ Fortress Grey until …

Good Reads Week 28

Published by Joe B

Welcome to another week of Good Reads where I showcase a handful of great blog posts from the last few weeks by other amazing bloggers. Check out the posts, hit up their blogs, and hopefully I can share something you may have missed. With a newborn at home, this last weekÂ has been a bit of a blurÂ so sorry if I haven’t been commenting as normal. I did manage to pull together this week’s Good Reads for your enjoyment. So if you aren’t busy trying to catch all the Pokemon, check out some of these great post. Inquisitor Lazaros As I get further into the world of Inq28 the more amazing conversions I find. J.E. from the ConvertorumÂ is building up a Black Ship crew with the Captain-Inquisitor above as the leader. It’s all the little details like the robotic leg and arm and the questionablyÂ chaos chest plate that make this guy so cool looking. Surviving a Death World Games Workshop is coming out in a big way on social media and non-standard marketing such as The …

Painting Guide for the Witches from Mansions of Madness

Painting Witches – Mansions of Madness [May be NSFW]

Published by Joe B

Not all of the enemies in Mansions of Madness are monsters or direct combat combatants. The Witches are more of a horror causing distraction (as hinted at by their, um, clothing choices). I’ve put together a guide to painting witches. As these have lots of exposed flesh, I focussed on painting the flesh tones. One witch was painted in a dark brown skin and a second in a pale skin. To keep the rest simple, both were painted with the same color robe and hair. Step 1: Base Colors As with most of my painting, the first step was to base in all the major colors. I started with the skin tones as they are the ‘lowest’ sections of the model and take up most of the area. The dark skin was based with Mahogany and the light skin with Medium Fleshtone. The purple ‘clothes’ (as much as there is) were based on Royal Purple. And finally, the hair was based in Stonewall Gray to give them a bit of eeriness. Colors Dark Skin: Model …

Watch This: Painting a Power Sword

Published by Joe B

Watch This is a regular series where I find a YouTube video that shows neat tricks or tips for our hobby. From painting, building, or photography, I will be looking for great videos for you to watch and write up a brief summary of the steps used. This week brings a video from Tabletop Minions with Sam Lenz. He gives a great step-by-step look into how his method of painting power swords. It’s a mix of Non-Metalic Metals with lightning effects and lots of brush licking*. *There is absolutelyÂ nothing wrong with licking your brush 🙂 Well ok, if I could break the habit myself, I would. Some of those paints taste nasty and leave the tip of my tongueÂ tingly Check out the video here: Basic Steps For those who want a run down in text, I’ve put together his steps here on painting power swords: Create mix of water and Acrylic Retardant Lay outÂ blue paints on wet pallet, near-white to dark blue (looked to be about 5 blues) include white and black at each end …

Cool Tools: Grammarly

Published by Joe B

This week I have a Cool Tools post that, while it doesn’t directly relate to our hobby, it is a great tool for us hobby bloggers – or any writing you may do. It’s an online extension named Grammarly, and it has significantly improved my writing. Spelling has never been my strong point, and grammar has always been a struggle. I have become to rely on Word’s spell checker and doing Google searches just to check spelling. Why does it matter? If you spend time writing online, be it a hobby blog or on the forums, using proper spelling and grammar can make a huge difference in your readability and credibility. This may not be as much of an issue with our niche of the internet, being very visual in style, but there have been many posts that I’ve glazed over due to rough writing. A misspelled word here and there can beÂ glazed over, especially if we are showcasing our latest project or tutorial. But think of bad spelling/grammar as missed mold lines on a …

Good Reads Week 26

Published by Joe B

Welcome to another week of Good Reads where I showcase a handful of great blog posts from the last few weeks by other amazing bloggers. Check out the posts, hit up their blogs, and hopefully I can share something you may have missed. Cleaning Resin I’ve personally only done small accessories in resin, but I’ve seen plenty of problems with building and painting with it. TheBigGoldFish put together a post on cleaning resin kitsÂ to make sure that all your hard work stays put. NovaOpen Grots Greg is incredible with his Orks. Between painting them with washes and extreme weather of his walkers, his Orks look incredible. He just finished painting an incredible looking unit of GrotsÂ – that’s right, Grots – for NovaOpen. Painting the Realm Gates The Realm Gates are an iconic part of the new Age of Sigmar and some great looking scenery pieces to fight over. Tyler M. of Mengel Miniatures put together a great tutorial on how he painted his up. It is fairly quick but looks great. Magnetising the Stormhawk The …