'Eavy Metal Masterclass

[Darren Richardson]

Has anyone noticed this it was linked https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/eavy-metal-masterclass-librarian/id900449692?mt=11

I saw the link on BL's site, it's priced at £14.99!

That's damned expensive for a painting guide......

[StraightSilver]

I'm a bit torn on this one.

Without sounding pretentious I don't find the paint splatter articles useful any more as I think my standard of painting is already high enough, but I don't feel I by any means that I couldn't improve.

I miss the old Masterclass articles from the old WD so this is a welcome step in the right direction for me.

To see a more detailed step by step guide of one model is a really nice idea, but I do agree that £14.99 is way too expensive. If it was a couple of different models from different ranges this would be great, but without seeing more than a simple screen shot that seems to only tell you what colours to use I would be reluctant to buy it as I have no idea if it would be useful to me or not.

My preference would be something along the lines of the Duncan Rhodes videos which are actually very good (although if I see that thing about dragging your brush along the palette to get a fine tip on your brush one more time......), but by a more high level painter for example.

I'm kind of on the fence, £14.99 is too expensive, but if it really was in depth and gave some nice new techniques or insights I would be tempted, but they need to do more of a preview than that to be honest.

EDIT: Just saw it's 97 pages, how does that compare to their other guides? Seems like a lot of pages but again could just be very spread out step by steps?

[Lucidum]

Not to sound all “anti-GW” ….but the paint splatter articles’ results are a FAR cry from the actual ‘eavy metal models. If the book is actually about like….advanced techniques that ‘eavy metal uses to make the studio armies, then sure, it’s worth the price. But if it’s just a collection of paint splatter or “how-to-paint” articles, then it’s definitely not worth it.

[Darren Richardson]

No I looked at the sample pages available.

It breaks down the model section by section, each piece of equipment, each part of the body, listing all the paints used for each part, the techniques used and it appears to be fully interactive.

I'll admit it does looks quite comprehensive, but it only covers the one model, though any good painter will be able to use this to do other models.

I don't own an iPad so I can't make use of their books through their software, so I won't waste my money on it, I might if they did a standard eBook version though.... at half the price.....

[HsojVvad]

Each release the price keeps going up and up. GW is trying to find the "sweet spot" that people will stop paying for their products.

I just wonder what is so different from this one, than one that is priced $12 cheaper.

[eldargal]

Paint Splatter is aimed at people whose painting skills are either not that good or the person is lacking confidence. I've never seen anything put out by GW or anyone that has got more young members/less confident painters in my group painting than paint splatter. It's been huge, we've had chaps who have struggled to get armies painted in just three colours of basecoat get whole armies highlighted and shaded and based thanks to Paint Splatter. With the brugh specified and the big step by step guides it has really boosted peoples confidence.

Of course, I think they should be releasing more advanced 'eavy metal guides as well which hopefully this is but if you're an advanced painter Paint Splatter isn't aimed at you and there is no point being critical of that in my opinion.

[Krefey]

I've found the videos that GW have been putting up on YouTube about painting quite interesting and occasionally helpful too. but yes, generally it's already stuff that I know how to do. I can see them being of particular use to those people whose skills they feel are lacking though.

[Darren Richardson]

yes there's no denying that the Paint Splatter articles ARE useful, it's one of the reasons I've kept hold of the Visions mag which my Grandmother buys me....

[DarianZG]

Not to sound all “anti-GW” ….but the paint splatter articles’ results are a FAR cry from the actual ‘eavy metal models. If the book is actually about like….advanced techniques that ‘eavy metal uses to make the studio armies, then sure, it’s worth the price. But if it’s just a collection of paint splatter or “how-to-paint” articles, then it’s definitely not worth it.

I had a long conversation with one of the White Dwarf editors via email recently about why they don't included 'Eavy Metal Masterclass editorials anymore.

It came down to readership. Something like 80% of the readership will never reach competition-quality painting and are more than happy with just having decently painted models on the table, thus why you see so many poorly painted minis on eBay that try to pitch "pro-painted" as a tag label.

The WD reasoning is that if you are in that hypothetical 80% then the majority of what the EM Masterclass articles had were too lofty and most people in that category would not understand the subtle nuances of color theory, why certain hues are used (ie using blue and purple on human flesh).

Only a very small percentage of painters who could paint at the 'Eavy Metal level even read White Dwarf. So the EM articles wouldn't really do them much good either.

The points they give are actually valid ones:
If you are someone who will never try to aspire to paint at the EM level and are happy with just tabletop quality then the articles are pointless

If you are someone who paints at the EM level, then chances are you won't be reading WD and will have your own sources of tutorials or a community of pro painters

So that leaves a very, very narrow niche readership (which I myself am a part of) that would find the EM Masterclass segments useful. And these are people who may be aspiring painters who want to push their painting skills but also like seeing the tutorials to expand ones' horizons in techniques while trying to adhere to the 'Eavy Metal style of painitng.


The other problem with EM articles is that in between each frame, you'll see a step like "gradually blend <color>..." or something. What that doesn't tell you is that layer may have taken 4 or 5 hours to achieve over painstakingly slow brush strokes of incredible watered down paint.

Multiple hours of layering rendered down into a before and after photo doesn't really convey the nuances of how the paint was applied. Furthermore, there are times where the before and after results are so subtle that they've been forced to alter the image just to bring out more contrast, thus not remaining true to the actual painting tutorial.

They also received a lot of complaints from readers who tried using the tutorials and found the results very very disappointing due to their own lack of skill. That kind of disheartening results actually concluded with them losing players/painters. Though those numbers are quite low.

The downside of running a publication that is purely subscription driven and not advertiser driven is that you have to cater it to your largest readership while attempting to recognize the niche readers now and then. That doesn't mean the WD folks have the right formula just yet, but at least they recognize who their readership is - though they kind of lack an understanding WHAT that readership wants.

The better alternative would be for the EM team to release their own painting guides and publications like the EM Masterclass book that was sold a couple years back. That thing is my painting bible that I refer to often. So seeing a digital book on sale for something like this, to me, is the right direction.

That way I don't need to keep hoping to see a tutorial in White Dwarf only to be disappointed due to a lack of advanced painting articles.

[Darren Richardson]

wow welcome to the site DarianZG

For a first post, that was damn philosophy in practice, I hadn't ever thought that way about the whole Paint Splatter/Evey Metal debate....

It does make sense.

[Brenlak]

I have noticed since the loss of heavy metal masterclass articles people tend to not set such lofty aspirations for thier paintjobs, and seem happy playing paint splatter quality models ( I base this on a friend of mine who , when he started he was never done painting, there was always some other detail he could add to his models but since we forgot about heavy metal has been satisfied with just fielding painted models. He's an Ork player so the change was probably for the best, no more hair loss due to OCD type expectations). I haven't kept up on my White Dwarf since the format change, but I would be interested to know if this has affected the quality of Golden Demon models.