I’ve long had an interest in painting classes but up until now I’d never attended one, either as a student or teacher. Then a few weeks ago I was contacted by Paul Thompson, who runs a brilliant motivational Facebook group for painters in the Leicester area (the Leicester all scars survivor series), and asked if I’d be interested in giving a class at Barwell Bodyworks.
At first I was a little reticent as I know that there are several fantastic painters in the UK that have a great deal of teaching experience and didn’t think I’d be best placed to help the group, but Paul was quite persistent and I eventually agreed to give it a go!
I had a good think about what I could realistically cover in a single day and we settled on a demo of my approach to painting shiny armour, plus an extra session on some of the details if time allowed. Each of the seven attendees was given a short list of recommended paints for the day, and asked to show up with those, a basecoated space marine and all the other standard bits of painting paraphernalia that a hobbyist needs!
Barwell Bodyworks was very easy to find and is a great venue for teaching a painting class. The owner, Steve, runs regular airbrushing classes and sells everything that you could possibly need to paint with an airbrush. A seemingly endless supply of tea, coffee and biscuits was laid on for us, which was much appreciated! Steve was also able to help me out after I idiotically neglected to bring the desk clamp for my painting lamp to the class!
I split the day into four mini sessions, with each consisting of me giving a demo of a technique and then the attendees having a go for themselves while I wandered around and offered help where it was needed. The first three sessions saw us working on the shiny power armour, and then we had a quick vote on what to cover for the final session, with power sword blades being the clear winner!
From my point of view it was a fantastic experience, and I really enjoyed the day. More importantly, everyone that attended was very complimentary and said that they found the class really useful!
I definitely hope to teach more classes in the future now that I’ve got a taste for it, so watch this space!
Unfortunately I didn’t get good photos of the work that the attendees achieved on the day, but here’s a WIP from Jake Bale using the techniques covered in the class. Very impressive!
Gareth Nicholas Blog 