Intro- Ryan Smith

The chart said Yell and Bawl, so I did...

Howdy. My name is Ryan Smith. Yes, I do actually say, "Howdy" in real life. I wear a Stetson too, and tend to be overly boisterous when I'm playing wargames.

About Me

I've been painting miniatures pretty much daily for the past fifteen years. I've had a lot of success paint-wise on the Texas (and Arkansas, California, Wisconsin, Masters...) Grand Tournament scene. I've won a couple of awards for stuff I've painted. For the past two years, I've been documenting my progress on models over on my blog, The Beer Waaagh. I also have a twitter handle, where I document my battle with balancing family life, consumption of alcohol, and the painting of models. I am one of the voices on The Beer Phase podcast, along with Mark Cox and co-competitor Jeff Swann. I also run the Alamo Grand Tournament, held every November in San Antonio.

How I paint

My painting style is very heavily influenced by comic books - I tend to use bold colors, and emphasize high contrast in my models. I tend to overemphasize texture on models, adding it with a brush when there's none in a sculpt, and will stress texture over smooth transitions between layers if it makes sense for what I'm painting. Typically, I use 7-9 layers for every color on a model, starting with a size 2 brush and working down to a 000.

I almost exclusively use Vallejo Game Colour and Model Colour paints, though I now do all my non-metallics with Andrea paints. I water all my paints, usually with a 3:1 ratio of paint to water; this lets me transition between colors a bit better without using a wet palette. I use Windsor & Newton Series 7 brushes, except when I use my Rosemary & Co brushes (for more linear texture effects) or my Games & Gears brushes (for wet blending and drybrushing).

I paint in a Thomas Reifer's Signature Workstation, because it keeps stuff out of the hands of my two small children. There is almost always a beer on my paint desk when I'm painting. There's a reason both my blog title and twitter handle have "beer" in them.

What I'll be doing

The model I will be painting (Mantic studio paint job)

I will be painting the soon-to-be-released Elf Dragon Kindred Lord. I was very disappointed with the color palette I used for Angrislaug two years ago, and I've been wanting an excuse to take another shot at a dragon ever since. I'll probably never run an Elf army in Kings of War, so this will be my best chance to have a reason to put paint on this model.

 I'm planning to go with warmer shades of red for this bad boy. I'm going to go with a red/brown color scheme. Red is one of my weaker shades, so I'm going to try to correct the palette issues I'd had with Angrislaug. I'll go with yellower shades of brown in the wings and chest area. I've also got some interesting ideas for what I'm going to do on his wings, because those large surfaces really look like they're a blank palette for some experimentation. I would love to sculpt some flames out of his mouth, but contest rules are quite specific about not going crazy on conversions. I can't complain too much, as I was one of the louder voices in favor of this specifically so I wouldn't go crazy on conversions! I don't have any plans for the rider yet, as I want to see the model a bit closer before I decide on a scheme for him; going with the stereotypical blue/white elven palette is always an option! His cloak also looks like it's got some space for a bit of artistic expression.

Unfortunately, this is probably the last you'll hear from me for a little bit. The model isn't out for another week or two, so I won't have anything to contribute until I get my hands on it! You should stick around, though, because there are seven other guys on here that are also awesome painters, and you really want to see what they've got in store for you. I'm excited to be a part of this!