I think some videos could be grouped together and knocked off quickly. I don't foresee the heavy stormtroopers, alternate sculpt stormtroopers and Kayn the Stormtrooper commander being much, if at all, different from the first episode.

That said a balance would need to be struck for the other figures. I'm okay for speeding things up and releasing more videos at the expense of shortening some steps. However if they were overly succinct I may feel that I'd struggle to recreate your own painting. Something that might cause your Patreons to hesitate on their pledges.

None the less, I have faith in you and am sure you will reach a good solution.

Thanks for the further input guys!

I totally agree Muz; I wouldn't dream of compromising the accessibility or ease which which I would hope anyone would be able to follow the guides. It should also be remembered that even seemingly simple-looking figures can require more subtlety and care than might at first be apparent. (Case in point: The wookies might look like a five-minute dry brush and wash effort, but actually ended up needing a lot more attention to get the results that do them justice. This resulted in a 27 minute long video, compared to the 7 - 8 mins required of the simpler probe droids and E-Webb Engineer.)

That being said, a different type of storm trooper won't demand a repetition of the steps outlined in Episode 1 and might not warrant a guide at all

Right - that's enough chatter from me; I've got editing to do

(PS SO excited about the upcoming figures!)

My goodness! I go to sleep for a few hours and the fate of worlds are being considered!

That said, seems that all is well in hand. I was concerned about how we were going to keep up as well, but glad to see that some episode shortening and more grouping will be taking place.

I sound like a broken record, but keep up the good work Sorastro!

Lol Jerb!

(PS SO excited about the upcoming figures!)

It goes with out saying that as soon as the Bantha Rider is released I want a tutorial video as soon as possible!

I think it looks the most fun to paint of all the figures. I also think Diala will be interesting to do with the different coloured skin.

Finally, if you'd like to quietly leak what figure you're working on, that would be great.

Hey Sorastro, I know preparing the videos take a lot of time. Now that Twin Shadows is coming out and loads of new content is announced, I thought maybe you want to choose not to make the same length movies for all the remaining characters. With our current knowledge (that we got by following your tutorials) we can paint characters such as Fenn, Han Solo, Weiss, RGC, Saboteurs and perhaps IG88, only maybe if you posted a final photo and wrote the paints you used.

Next month you will have 8 extra different figures to paint, and with the one figure per month speed, we'll be way behind the release speed of FFG. So maybe you want to pick the hardest ones of the bunch for tutorials. For example we shall really need the tutorials for Boba Fett, C3PO or Tuskens.

Hi Gec!

Thanks for the useful suggestions; this is an issue I'm quite mindful of and was planning to address in the next release, but since you've raised it I'm happy to share my thoughts here. I'm going to use bullet points to be succinct:

- Covering one figure per month ain't gonna cut it!

- We certainly don't need half-hour epics for every figure, and I anticipate producing some pretty short guides for figures that re-use techniques and colours already covered in the series. (I do need to be careful here that I don't short-change my Patreon supporters though; it may be that I release alternate shorter videos as "free" releases say.)

- I've decided NOT to be a slave to the release order, which will allow me to hit the big new releases as soon as they're out, and chip away at the remaining base-set figures as and when.

- Now that I've refined my workflow somewhat and have some time off work over the summer (although I've got family holidays scheduled as well) I will be pushing out more content to help get caught up. (I've managed to film, narrate and half-way edit Episode 12 in just the last three days!)

I hope this sounds like a good way forward!

Sorastro.

These are probably the best ideas to cover this up, but whatever you choose to do, please, don't burn yourself out. We not only need you to paint these IA figures, we need you to learn figure painting in the most affordable way.

First off, thanks for everyone who wrote about brush maintenance, I found the comments very useful, including those on what not to do ;-)

With regards to storing paints, I went ahead and probably did something stupid and bought the Ultimate Collection from Citadel:

I got a fairly good deal (only slightly more expensive than buying the 60 or so paints from Sorastro's guides pot by pot) and each of those 6 trays come with a plastic inset that holds the paint pots nicely in place. So I'm happy with this storage solution, even if I don't end up using half the paints ;-)

No, you did good. My only gripe with Citadel paints is their price, otherwise they are great paints.

Well I messed these up when I attempted to do the eyes and the lips. Thankfully that isn't too noticeable from tabletop distance.

Hey Muzza they've come out beautifully! A little repair work on Gaark's lips and Chewie's eye wouldn't be too hard to do?

Hey Muzza they've come out beautifully! A little repair work on Gaark's lips and Chewie's eye wouldn't be too hard to do?

I'll need to play about and get the right colour of paint mixed. I tried to clean up Gaarks lips with the wrong colour and made it even worse (before the photo was taken).

I'll do my best to clean them up before a protective coat of varnish.

Sure..and don't forget you can always return to a figure to touch it up even after the matte varnish has gone on.

When I painted my Chewie's eye I somehow managed to accidentally ram the brush filled with white paint into his face - I don't know how it happened but I managed to get a large brush full of water to wash it off before it had a chance to dry! One day I'll have to produce a blooper reel (with the expletives blanked out of course!)

Oh I forgot to put these up here!

@Muzz, I would definitely add red/yellow glaze mix on both figures, it'll show.

Great detail on that Blood for the Blood God...

Woohoo more gorgeous-looking wookies! Nice one Gec!

@Muzz, I would definitely add red/yellow glaze mix on both figures, it'll show.

Great detail on that Blood for the Blood God...

I've added the glaze, but taking photos in poor lighten with a mobile phone obscures the colours somewhat.

In fact I probably went too heavy with the glaze when you see where it has pooled on Chewies legs.

@Muzz, I would definitely add red/yellow glaze mix on both figures, it'll show.

Great detail on that Blood for the Blood God...

I've added the glaze, but taking photos in poor lighten with a mobile phone obscures the colours somewhat.

In fact I probably went too heavy with the glaze when you see where it has pooled on Chewies legs.

Those pools don't look bad to be honest, orange-ish tone makes it look richer.

Couldn't wait for this guy:

Needs a few touch-up's, but he was good enough to play with tonight

Needs a few touch-up's, but he was good enough to play with tonight

Looks great! The sculpt has more character than the preview article suggested.

Where are you playing up in Denver? There are three of us painting our sets in the Springs, but our schedules rarely line up to play.

Well I messed these up when I attempted to do the eyes and the lips. Thankfully that isn't too noticeable from tabletop distance.

You did a better job than i did Muz so fair play. i gave up with the eyes in the end on all the models and just made sure a dark wash provided a contrast.

Needs a few touch-up's, but he was good enough to play with tonight

Looks great! The sculpt has more character than the preview article suggested.

Where are you playing up in Denver? There are three of us painting our sets in the Springs, but our schedules rarely line up to play.

A group of us have been getting together @ the Wizard's Chest in Cherry Creek (right outside of downtown) on Wednesday evenings. We have been playing IA instead of X-Wing which is what the night calls for - I personally own all (X-Wing, Armada, Assault) and just play whatever game others want. We started a campaign a few weeks ago and so everyone has been playing that.

We could use 1-2 more regular players though...and my schedule is freeing up to the point of being able to get people together on Friday nights. Our big problem is no one really wants to play Imperials! Ha!

Well I messed these up when I attempted to do the eyes and the lips. Thankfully that isn't too noticeable from tabletop distance.

You did a better job than i did Muz so fair play. i gave up with the eyes in the end on all the models and just made sure a dark wash provided a contrast.

That's what I done with the officers. Foolishly I thought I was perhaps a better painter this time around and decided to attempt the eyes, to disastrous results as you seen. I think when I'm cleaning it up tonight I'll give it one more attempt, if I botch it then I'm just slapping on a lot of wash!

I never painted the whites of the eyes, only apply dark wash. To be honest unless you're masochistic or extremely precise, there's little point doing it, because you will most of the time end up with melted eyes or huge manga eyes (when compared to that scale). Realistically this is what an actual face looks like on that scale (taking your photo Muz):

Do you see the whites of the eyes?

I never painted the whites of the eyes, only apply dark wash. To be honest unless you're masochistic or extremely precise, there's little point doing it, because you will most of the time end up with melted eyes or huge manga eyes (when compared to that scale). Realistically this is what an actual face looks like on that scale (taking your photo Muz):

Do you see the whites of the eyes?

All my ego heard was 'you're beautiful Muz'.

Even if I look nothing like my avatar and my hair is in fact only about 9 mm long!

They look great

Sure..and don't forget you can always return to a figure to touch it up even after the matte varnish has gone on.

When I painted my Chewie's eye I somehow managed to accidentally ram the brush filled with white paint into his face - I don't know how it happened but I managed to get a large brush full of water to wash it off before it had a chance to dry! One day I'll have to produce a blooper reel (with the expletives blanked out of course!)

The expletives are like the layers of the blooper reel. They really bring it to life