How to actually get better at painting (and a very limited offer!)
If you’ve been painting for a while, you’ve probably hit that familiar plateau: the one where you collect more tutorials, more recipes, more paints… But you still feel like something isn’t clicking.
Don't worry. It’s completely normal.
And it happens for a simple reason:
Most of us improve by collecting recipies and "how-to's" before we learn basic observational skills.
For a long time, I did the exact same thing.
I relied on certain recipies for different effects without fully understanding why the recipie worked - I just knew I wanted my figures to look like the stuff I saw on YouTube.
But the painters who really break through don’t rely on memorizing specific steps.
They learn to understand the fundamentals of light, value, and form. And I promise you that learning these fundamentals will make everything so much easier! With that knowledge comes a great deal of artistic freedom.
Skin, metal, cloth, atmosphere… once you understand the reasoning behind light, value and form, you stop guessing and start understanding why some figures work and why others don't.
This is the heart of how I teach.
Not time-saving tricks.
Not shortcuts.
Just the fundamentals that actually move people forward.
Recently someone on the community Discord asked if I could show how to paint a miniature lit by a sunset - something I’d never done before.
And that’s the perfect situation to talk about how to use reference photos.
Instead of searching for a recipe I made a video about how I use references and observational skills to help inform my choices when trying to achieve this lighting effect. The references showed me:
how the low angle of the sun changes which planes get hit by the light
how warm/orange light interacts with the cooler ambient light from the sky
how all materials shift toward the same warm hue in the highlights
how soft the transition between light and shadow becomes
Once you understand how to use reference properly, you can paint any lighting setup even if you’ve never done it before.
That’s the artistic confidence I want to help you build.
Intrigued? Patreon Memberships are now 50% off!
Because I want to make these fundamentals more accessible - and because it is Black Friday - I’ve decided to offer 50% off the first month for all new members on my two most popular tiers.
Joining gives you access to a large library of exclusive video lessons, full project breakdowns, and our Discord community where we talk painting, share progress, and support each other every day.
If you’ve been thinking about learning with me more closely, this is a good moment to give it a try.
The offer runs from today until December 1st.