Dark Sword Releases 3-DVD Miniature Painting Set

I picked it up at Gen Con as well as a few Dark Sword minis. For some reason, Games Plus was always out of the classic wizard (the one that looks like Gandalf) and the Conan raging Barbarian homage in addtion to a few others.

Disk one is for the basic material. The one thing that should immediately be edited out is Anee cutting toward herself, or the DVD's should be marketed towards adult. There's enough "Do as I say, not as I do" stupidity out there and to have something like that involving safety go into the actual video… not cool.

Then again that could just be because of all the safety crap that enforce on us where I work but if you say one thing and do another, people are always going to feel justified doing what the artist does.

There also needs to be some editing in terms of pacing. There are a few times Jen repeats herself word for word and I was wondering if that was an artifact of editing or her just saying it over and over again. With the benefit of a filmed video, not a live one, that should be possible.

In terms of techniques, new bits, etc…, still watching. the first disk does a very good job of covering the basics. One of the things Jen mentioned was the micro visor bit that I had no clue on. It was interesting to see that she wears glasses as on the 'Miniature Painting Secrets' from Coolminiornot, she is not on the cover with them.

The conversational tone between the two is good and full of witty banter that doesn't feel forced or out of place.

The NMM that they go through is quite interesting and looks, I don't want to say easy, but perhaps the most simple explanation I've ever heard by Anne. The example Jen lays down for gold, doesn't have a lot to do with actual gold/yellow but works well.

Anne's good at explaining things. her muddy/wet blending technique on Ghost, the winter wolf from Game of Thrones, is quick but easy to follow along with an perfect for certain types of animals and monsters.

They cover a few options on shading including layering it down and washing/glazing it down.

The thing I enjoyed most was the lack of 'perfection' on either painter's side. They both make mistakes but have fun with it which is a stress releivor for me at least.

Looking forward to watching the rest of it, but seriously, safety first and don't pop in do as I say not as I do because that's unresponsible.