In this age of global data and information, you only need to hop on the Internet, type some keywords into Google, and you'll quickly find plenty of web sites that share helpful tips and techniques on one of my most loved hobbies: painting miniatures (toy soldiers). This post isn't about those free tips sites, although that might make an excellent blog post in the future.
While the web is truly a fabulous resource of knowledge, there's still something stimulating about sitting down with a good book. It's a hell of a lot easier on your eyes for one thing, and it's much more relaxing to curl up on the couch or in your bed with a book than a laptop. Anyway, I'm digressing. There aren't really that many outstanding painting and modelling books aimed at miniature wargamers that are both instructional and chock full of gooberlicious toy soldier eye candy. The Foundry Miniatures Painting and Modelling Guide, however, is one such book.
How do I know this? Well, I really don't confess to being intimately familiar with the Foundry Guide. My experience with it consists of briefly paging through it at the Historicon 2007 wargame convention, oogling the delicious photos, noting some interesting instructional passages, and then finally, noting the very expensive price tag of the book. It was priced at over $50. Yikes! That's a heckuva lot for a book that I'm not really in desperate need of.
I've been painting miniatures off and on for many years, and while I'm certainly no Kevin Dallimore, Matt Verzani, or Marike Reimer, I can give a mini a decent looking paint-job. Still, I'm always eager to brush up on helpful tips from the pros, as artistic mastery is a lifelong process for most folks. So without a doubt, I really wanted the Foundry book. It has that undeniable coolness factor that draws you in. Kevin Dallimore is a brilliant painter. But in July my thought was simply, "I guess I can wait until the book goes on sale." Good news to all your painter/wargamers out there: that time has finally arrived!
Instead of a $50 book, the Foundry Painting Guide is now available for $26 from Amazon.com. You can't beat half-price. So I think I'll be taking the plunge and picking up this baby soon, or at least putting it on my Christmas List at a bare minimum. For anyone else who wants to improve their painting skills and/or learn the 3-level painting technique that superstar painter Kevin Dallimore uses to produce those lovely figures you see splashed across the web pages at the Foundry Miniatures site, then this book is for you.
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