Full transcript
0:00Before maladdiction, I had never painted
0:02a miniature. Not I wasn't good at it. I
0:05literally had never painted a mini in my
0:09life. I didn't know the paints, the
0:12terminology, the techniques. I knew
0:16nothing. Fast forward to today and I'm
0:20producing minis that I literally am so
0:23proud of how good they look and proud to
0:26put them out on the battlefield. People
0:29have actually even come up to me at
0:31events and have asked if I put them in
0:34shows, if they can buy them, or if they
0:38can commission me to paint their own.
0:40It's literally insane to me.
0:45Somewhere between my first terrible
0:47brush stroke and now, apparently,
0:52I became a miniatures painter.
1:31Past the spheres beyond the known into
1:35the malediction.
1:37This is beyond the conclave.
1:59Hello and welcome back to Beyond the
2:02Conclave. I am your host, Toxic Mike.
2:05Happy to be here with you today. Last
2:07week, I meant to record and release an
2:11episode on last Monday, but it wasn't in
2:15the cards. I got back from Florida.
2:17That's right. I was in the happiest
2:19place in the world. Uh Disney World. Got
2:22back from uh Florida and I I'll be
2:24honest with you, I was just exhausted.
2:27So rather than record a halfass show, I
2:31decided to punt it to this week. And I'm
2:33glad that I did because I feel way more
2:35refreshed, way more here in the moment
2:40to do this show. And I'm so excited to
2:42do it. Okay.
2:45But in the time that I was off,
2:47apparently Mel Addiction saw that, you
2:49know, hey, Mike hasn't done a podcast.
2:52Let's release everything all at once.
2:55I'm sure that that's not why, but that's
2:57the way I'd like to see it. Uh, a couple
3:00of things while I was gone that have
3:02been released. The reinforcement packs
3:04are here. They have been released.
3:07People have started ordering them and
3:09some people have actually gotten their
3:11hands on some of these amazing cars that
3:14have been released now. They got
3:17released this past week, but a couple of
3:19things that have kind of hindered the
3:22release. One, um, not many local game
3:26stores have them. I believe the folks at
3:29Mail Addiction have said that, uh, they
3:31ran into some issues getting them to the
3:33game stores in time. Uh, so for any
3:37folks that have gone online and ordered
3:39them, they've said be prepared to get
3:43your shipment somewhere in midepptember
3:46as they are uh prioritizing the local
3:50game stores to get the product first cuz
3:53they were supposed to have it already. I
3:56ordered mine. So, I hope you've ordered
3:58yours. Uh, what comes inside, if you're
4:00not sure, we've talked about this
4:02before. 14 physical playing cards, three
4:05units, three spells, one item, and one
4:08redeem code for the six STL miniatures
4:11for 3D printing. All right, this is not
4:14a booster pack. I repeat, not a booster
4:16pack. You know exactly what you're
4:18getting in these packs. And no physical
4:21miniatures are included in these. They
4:25are uh a spread of each faction. So you
4:28have the Leestrom Research Pack, the
4:31Beastial Advantage, the Courtly
4:33Spectacle, and Hands of the Church. And
4:36one more thing before I move on from the
4:39fact that these got released. We finally
4:41found out what the price was for these
4:44packs. $21.90
4:46here in the United States.
4:49I particularly for what you're getting
4:51with this with the miniatures, with the
4:54cards, um everything, I think that this
4:57is well, uh deserved in terms of a
5:00pricing. Um I'm happy to pay this amount
5:05for the sheer fact that you're not
5:07breaking booster packs where you don't
5:09know if you're going to get the cards
5:10you need. I'm very appreciative that I
5:13know the packs that I'm getting, which
5:15of course is Shatter uh uh Conclave of
5:18the of the Spheres. Um I'm happy to know
5:22that when I order that pack, the cards
5:25I'm going to get, I've already started
5:27proxying my cards. I I was kind of
5:29bummed because I thought I was going to
5:31get my pack day one on release day from
5:35my store, but I wasn't able to do it
5:37because they don't have it yet. Um, so
5:39I've started proxing and I'll tell you
5:41what, I'm super excited for the cards
5:44that came into here. Uh, another thing
5:46that got released that I'm telling you,
5:49Loot Studios and Mel Addiction were just
5:51going to town. Um, oh wait, before I
5:54even mention that, I do want to put
5:56forth that uh our friends over at Mel
5:59Addiction, Nikki and Fabio, did put out
6:03a video on YouTube explaining every
6:06single card from the reinforcement pack.
6:08I suggest if you haven't seen any
6:11preview videos, seen any unboxing
6:14videos, and you're kind of wondering
6:16what's in there, if you're not in the
6:18Discord, go over and check out that
6:20video. That'll tell you everything you
6:22need to know.
6:23So, for what I was going to get into was
6:25uh the play network. So, for the longest
6:29time, Maladdiction has been using cardio
6:32uh for their deck building and uh events
6:35scheduling.
6:37Uh and it's had its ups and downs to say
6:41the least. So, what they put together is
6:44a home uh homebrewed uh play network
6:48system. Um, you go over to Mel
6:51Addiction, the play network. It is in
6:53there. Uh, to create an event, you have
6:55to be a herald. So, I'm able to create
6:58them, but you might not be. But also,
7:00you might be interested in joining the
7:02Herald program if you're somebody who is
7:04very passionate about the game and wants
7:06to help grow your community and teach
7:07others. Uh, they also have the deck
7:10building uh, aspect of the site, which
7:14I've already started building my decks
7:16over here as well. Uh it's really
7:18fleshed out, really good. Uh it really
7:21looks great. It works amazingly. There
7:23was one downfall to this is that it does
7:28not work on mobile. Uh they did say that
7:31that is going to be a feature coming out
7:33later on. Uh the p a big positive of
7:36this is that this is where you're going
7:38now for your uh tabletop simulator uh
7:42cards in order to get the code to import
7:45the deck there which I've already tried
7:47out works phenomenally.
7:49All right, with that mobile uh friendly
7:53version planned and not released, I
7:56would like to let everybody know that as
7:59of right now, you can
8:03and should go over to deviant
8:05dicerollers.com
8:07where we also have a very cool and
8:11intuitive uh deck builder. And again,
8:15I'm not saying that this replaces that.
8:17I use both of them. I like to say that
8:19this deck builder at Deviant Dice
8:21Rollers kind of um in uh it's it's a in
8:26the ecosystem. Okay. All right. It's it
8:29works together. It gives players more
8:32options. Um over with our deck builder,
8:35you cannot export it to use in the
8:38tabletop simulator. But one thing that
8:40we do have is the ability to analyze
8:43decks and ask Grock to actually build
8:46your own. And if you don't know who
8:47Grock is, he is our cool ass mascot. I
8:49love Grock. He's amazing. Um, but that's
8:53another option as well. So, you've got
8:55plenty of options. The one option I
8:57would suggest do not do is continue
8:59going over to Cardio uh to try and get
9:03them to uh, you know, make your deck cuz
9:07it's not going to work. Uh, DDR, Deviant
9:10Dice Rollers is more of a community site
9:12whereas Mel Addiction is the official
9:15Mel Addiction site. So, uh, one other
9:18thing I almost forgot about this and I
9:20keep on forgetting because I have all of
9:22these is the simple fact that they also
9:26released, which this is great for people
9:27that uh, have only bought Let me zoom in
9:30on this as I as I uh, switch it over.
9:34people that have only bought the secret
9:35decks because you don't and and if you
9:39bought the secret decks and have bought
9:43um the standies for the longest time,
9:46they did not have the terrain pieces
9:49available.
9:51And that was a huge thing with a lot of
9:53people cuz believe it or not, as much as
9:56this is an episode about painting your
9:57minis, uh there's a lot of people out
10:00there that don't necessarily need the
10:03minis. They're perfectly fine and happy
10:05with the cardboard cutouts. Um, but it
10:08says here, "Expand your table with
10:10physical terrain inspired by the four
10:12faction environments of Mel Addiction,
10:14Astron Pathways, Noxious Flash Gardens,
10:17Starcast Halls, and Death Shroud Me. I
10:20hate Death Shroud Meer." Um, to get your
10:22terrain. So, you can go over there and
10:25get that as well, which I believe you
10:27should. And one last thing, I know. And
10:30there's more. Um, right now, uh, this
10:34is, uh, August 30th, 2026, there is a
10:3810% off deal going on on the site. I saw
10:41it, I didn't want to bypass it with you
10:42guys, like let you know, the best deal
10:44you could possibly get. And this is
10:46strictly for the two player starter box,
10:49which I tell everybody if you're going
10:52to get in the mail addiction and you're
10:54just getting started. Best deal you
10:56could possibly get to be able to play
10:58with your friends and have a great time.
11:02All right. Anything over on my notes
11:03that I missed out on? Yeah, nobody not
11:06everybody wants the hobby side. Some
11:08people just want to play and they don't
11:10care. For me, the hobby side was huge. I
11:14mean, the hobby side of this kind of
11:16took over my home,
11:19for lack of a better term, in terms of
11:22purchasing all the material and 3D
11:25printers and everything. Uh, because
11:29before male addiction, miniatures were
11:31not a part of my life. They weren't a
11:35part of my home. They weren't a part of
11:36who I was. Um,
11:40but it it took over more than you could
11:43ever imagine. So, that's where we're
11:45going to get into our main topic, the
11:47painting journey of Toxic Mike.
11:54For everybody that listens on the
11:56audible audio podcast version of this, I
11:58say audible cuz like it's the only way I
12:00listen to audio books. Um, the audio
12:03version of Beyond the Conclave,
12:06there's going to be a lot of visuals on
12:08this episode. So, I would suggest
12:11obviously listening to it, help you get
12:13through the the workday or whatever, but
12:15then going back over to YouTube, the
12:18Deviant Dice Rollers YouTube channel,
12:20and checking it out to get those visuals
12:22that you did not get on the audio
12:25version. Okay, so into the topic. I
12:29started with zero painting experience
12:32with miniatures. Not zero painting
12:35experience. Now, back in high school, I
12:38took art class. I was very much into
12:40art. I'm going to say that I am a art
12:44ccentric person in terms of drawing and
12:47painting on flat surfaces. I was never
12:50good at painting models. Now, I didn't
12:53paint minis. I painted actual models in
12:56class, but that was never my forte.
12:58Never something that I thought, "Wow,
13:02I'm good at this." All right. So, when I
13:05printed out these minis and I saw all
13:08these amazing printed uh painted
13:11miniatures online,
13:14I was I was I had to take a step back. I
13:17was like, "Oh, man." Like, "All right, I
13:19love these miniatures. I love how great
13:21they look on display models and display
13:25like the demo uh kits that that Mel
13:27addiction was putting forth and all the
13:29social media they was putting out. But
13:32in no way, shape or form did I think
13:34that I could compete with this, but I
13:36was going to try. I wasn't going to let
13:38it go by the wayside. I was going to try
13:40and I was going to jump in feet first. I
13:43didn't understand. I started watching
13:44videos and I didn't understand primer or
13:47washes. I didn't understand speed paint
13:49or dry brushing. I knew none of this.
13:53All right. None of it. Um, and a part of
13:57me was worried just like I would imagine
13:59any of you are whether you're painting
14:02your, you know, 500th mini or you're
14:05painting your first one. There's that
14:07little part of you that doesn't want to
14:09go out there and play at a at a local
14:12game store or even with your friends
14:14with a a painted miniature that looks
14:17like complete garbage. You know, you
14:20want to be proud of what you put out
14:22there. You want to be proud of what
14:23you're you're playing with. Um whether
14:26good, bad, or indifferent, you want to
14:28be proud of it. And I I was just
14:31wondering, you know, so far distance
14:34between high school and now and
14:36remembering how I wasn't good at
14:38painting this type of stuff. I was
14:40always a pencil and pen and you know it
14:43it just wasn't
14:45what I thought. All right.
14:48But you know what? I said screw it. I'm
14:52going to do it. Screw it. I'm going to
14:53do it. Anyway,
14:56I went to my local game store, which is
14:58uh Top Deck in Cherry Hill, New Jersey,
15:01which has an unbelievable display of
15:05painted minis and all the paints and
15:08equipment you could possibly need. And I
15:11stood in front of this wall of painted
15:14uh painted a wall of of paints and this
15:18wall of uh citadel paints and army
15:22painter paints and rattle cans and
15:26little little plants that you could put
15:28on your minis. And I'm looking at all
15:30this and all the different paint brushes
15:32and it was just so overwhelming. Now, I
15:35went in there knowing what I wanted to
15:38paint the the miniatures I had at home
15:41and but no idea where to start. Um,
15:45before I'd went up there, I did watch
15:47some videos, but when when you literally
15:50know nothing, videos don't really help
15:54because you're watching videos about a
15:56subject you know nothing about.
15:59So, I went up there and there was this
16:00guy standing next to me and I had no
16:03idea if he knew anything, but I decided
16:05to say, "You know what? Screw it. I'm
16:06going to ask him." Hey, man. I'm
16:08starting to paint my first miniatures.
16:10I've got this game Maladdiction at home.
16:12Um, can can you help me? Can you assist
16:15me with what I should buy? The first
16:17thing he says is, "What is your color
16:18scheme?" And I found out later on that
16:21this was like a 40k thing. Like 40k
16:23players have a color scheme for their
16:24armies and their whole thing. Whereas
16:26with Mel Addiction, there isn't a real
16:28color scheme. Um, you you kind of just
16:32you can have a color scheme, but I was
16:34trying to stay true to the cards and to
16:37the lore. So, I didn't really have a
16:39color scheme. And uh, but I started
16:42explaining, you know, I want something
16:44that's going to be easy to jump into.
16:47It's not going to take too much work.
16:49I've got a ton of minis I need to paint.
16:52And right away, he said, "Perfect. Speed
16:54paint. you want speed paint?" And I
16:58said, "Okay, what do I get?" And he he
17:02went over to the speed paint. He said,
17:03"Well, what's your budget?" And I said,
17:05"My budget isn't a lot. You I just, you
17:07know, I'm getting into this." And he
17:10goes, "Perfect. Let's go with a starter
17:12kit for uh
17:16for for what you're trying to do." And
17:18I've got an image here that I'm going to
17:20show that this was this is actually my
17:22lap. This is actually me on the drive
17:25home cuz I was actually messaging my
17:27buddies to show them. Oh Like kind
17:31of like I can't believe I'm doing this.
17:33I'm about to go home and paint some
17:36So I got the speed paint starter
17:39set. $50.
17:41Again, no clue if the colors in here
17:44were what I needed, but I figured I'll
17:46figure it out. And I got a Citadel color
17:49white scar. I I don't know why I got
17:51this. The guy told me to get I've never
17:53bought this again. I don't need it. I
17:55just get regular primer. There was no
17:57reason for for getting this again.
17:59Lessons learned. Lessons learned. But,
18:01you know, it happens.
18:04Um,
18:05so I take that home and I decide I go
18:08through all my minis and I say, "Which
18:11one do I want to paint first?" And I
18:13have no idea why I landed on this, but I
18:17decided Spirit Shaman. I think it's
18:19because when I started playing uh
18:22Maladdiction,
18:24I honestly felt much so that I wanted to
18:27play Primal Blood because I really liked
18:30Thundersteps. I just like the way he
18:31looked. I didn't I didn't realize that
18:34the play style wasn't going to be mine.
18:35So, I think that's why I went with this.
18:37But my whole thought process with this
18:40was I'm going to try to stay as true to
18:44the pitcher on the card as I possibly
18:47can.
18:49uh
18:50with the paints.
18:52So, oh, let me get back out of there.
18:56There we go. So, I went ahead and I had
18:59my mini and now I had my paints and I
19:03started painting. No, no thoughts, no uh
19:08prerequisite. I watched a couple of
19:09YouTube videos and got some paint from
19:13my local game store, speed paint, which
19:16I had no idea what I was doing.
19:19And uh I'll go do a sideby-side
19:21comparison right now.
19:23I'll do a side by side for you. Uh with
19:26this being said, I figured let me try.
19:29And voila.
19:31Um here's the great part of this. I was
19:35extremely proud of that. I was so proud
19:39of that miniature with the green and the
19:43skin that looks like she was she or he
19:46whatever it is I think it's a she. Uh
19:48could be a he. Who knows? Um looks like
19:51they were in a tanning bed for way too
19:54long.
19:55Um the the the feathers that just look
20:00like cardboard on her head.
20:03The the rock at the bottom that has no
20:06depth, no shadowing whatsoever.
20:10Um,
20:11yeah. And it's just it's just basically
20:14three colors plastered on there. But I
20:17was so excited that this picture I took
20:19to send to my friend to say, "Okay, I've
20:22started. I've painted this mini."
20:25Um, but I had to start somewhere. All
20:28right. The second one I did was that
20:30exact night.
20:32That exact night. And I went ahead and
20:34said to myself, "Wait a second. I didn't
20:36mean to put that up." Uh, I've played a
20:39video with sound behind it. Why would I
20:41do that? Um, where is he at? The next
20:44one was the totem. And the totem I
20:48thought
20:50was really, really cool. And I love the
20:52way that it looked.
20:54And let me bring it up here.
20:58There we go. And this totem.
21:04Wait a second. Wait a second.
21:06I'm bring this one back up and I'm gonna
21:08pause it because I don't know why
21:10there's audio. I thought it was a
21:12picture. Anyway, it doesn't matter.
21:16So, this one came up and you could see
21:21it just looks like one color. Like the
21:26darkness in it and no shadow and no
21:29highlighting,
21:30none of that stuff is happening there.
21:33And it is just horrific looking
21:39again. Another one where I was proud of
21:41the blood, proud of how it looked
21:46again and just getting started, getting
21:49into it and learning as I uh continue
21:53with painting.
21:55Oh, and also I was using a uh a coat uh
22:00a a shine coat uh which just made
22:03everything look I mean look at this.
22:06That glossy coat is just horrible. I
22:11thought satin would bring out every
22:14ounce of color, but now I look at it and
22:17this miniature right here and wait until
22:19I show you the next one. uh Polyenor
22:23was actually showcased by Male Addiction
22:27on their Instagram page. I was so proud
22:30of that and thought, "Okay, I'm on to
22:33something." Well, what I wanted to do
22:35after that
22:37was actually start painting even more
22:40and better because I wanted to be
22:43showcased some more. So, I started
22:44looking um everywhere for more videos,
22:48more hints, more tips, more tricks of
22:51what I could do. And here is the beauty
22:56behind that,
22:59which is I was able to take
23:03on the left is my first one ever, which
23:05I still hold on to today. I love looking
23:08at that and seeing where I've come from.
23:10Looking at that left miniatures painting
23:13job that I did with speed paint
23:16compared to the right.
23:18The right has all of the shadows, all of
23:22the special touches. I did the Zenithl
23:25highlight which I had no idea what that
23:27even was. And if you don't know what it
23:29is, Google it. It changes your life in
23:32terms of painting minis.
23:35Um, but I finally had something that had
23:39depth, that had life to it, where I
23:43looked at it and I went, "Oh my god, I
23:45didn't notice those scars. I didn't
23:48notice the the uh line the feathers and
23:52how
23:54detailed they were. Um, and the one on
23:57the left you can't tell that she's
23:59they're covered in medallions because
24:01the medallions I didn't realize were
24:04medallions and I was just coloring them
24:06the same color. Um, just just
24:10again lack of knowledge, trial and error
24:14trying to figure it out made it so I
24:18just
24:20I just kept going. But again, that's you
24:23you who said it? Somebody said it
24:25recently. If you ever want to be good at
24:28something, you have to first be okay
24:31with failing.
24:33And I used the one on the left. So now
24:34we're looking at the totems, the one on
24:37the left in play at top deck out and
24:40about. And you know, people have said,
24:43"Wow, that looks really good." But it's
24:46amazing how you can say something looks
24:47good and then you look at something
24:49that's the next level up and go, "Oh,
24:51wow. I I see the difference." Um, you
24:55know, the the difference between the
24:57first totem and the second totem,
25:02the depth, the the hair, the the fabric
25:05coming down, the blood, the leather. Uh,
25:09I mean just you could see all the little
25:11details and the time period between my
25:15first painting and my second. Now get
25:18ready for this.
25:20Little under two months.
25:22A little under two months. So it was
25:25February, the beginning of February when
25:28I bought that kit, February 1st, and
25:31painted this totem on the left.
25:34By late March, I painted the one on the
25:38right.
25:40Trial and error. Just keep going for it.
25:43Just don't give up. And realizing, wow,
25:47I'm I'm actually getting good at this.
25:49This is kind of ridiculous of how good.
25:52Let me show you this. This one
25:56really made me proud. Whereas I learned
26:01uh with my resin printer that you could
26:03use clear resin to give that look, that
26:07magic mystical look
26:09of the least underneath of polyor and
26:13then getting in there with those little
26:15details
26:16and realizing that a matte finish for
26:19the coating
26:21so much better. You only use the satin
26:24coating when you want to show something
26:27liquid.
26:28Uh
26:31just unbelievable
26:34changing of how I looked at everything,
26:36how I painted everything. Um and it was
26:39just simple techniques that I learned
26:42online from YouTube videos. Zenithol
26:46highlighting. At first I was doing it by
26:49hand. um I would uh um go ahead and
26:53prime it with a rattle can and then I'd
26:56go in there with gray and then go in
26:58there with white. Whereas at at the end
27:01of the day, because I wanted to go
27:03faster but still get the same quality, I
27:07started doing zenithl highlighting where
27:08I was spraying it with black and then
27:10spraying a little bit with white. still
27:12getting a decent re uh decent ass uh
27:16result every single time and super happy
27:20to the point where I said, "Okay, now
27:22I'm ready. Now I want to do
27:26Thundersteps." which Thunderps when you
27:29look at him is such an undertaking in
27:33terms of making him
27:36he has so much going on, so much detail.
27:41And I finally said, "Okay, I'm ready to
27:44do this. This is the poster child. This
27:46is the main guy from the game. This is
27:48what you see on every single website."
27:51They had a giant Thundersteps at PAX
27:54Unplugged. I said, "I'mma do it." And
27:57when I did it, I was floored. And I was
28:00so happy that I held off on doing him
28:03until after I had tested and proven my
28:08techniques fully.
28:10And here's the end result. A thunds that
28:14still to this day makes people pick him
28:15up and go, "You painted this?"
28:19from again from somebody who had never
28:21painted a miniature in his life to
28:24having people looking at you going,
28:28"You did this?
28:30Yes, I did. Yes, I did." Spent many,
28:33many nights
28:35um messing up. Many, many nights
28:40with with anxiety before I even started
28:42painting, going, I don't know what I'm
28:43doing. I don't know what paints I'm
28:45using. Um, I had horrible times many
28:49times where I would start painting and I
28:52would think I was screwing it up until
28:54the very end when I went, "Oh this
28:56actually came out really good."
29:00Um, and that was that was the one that
29:02clicked was the uh was the um the totem
29:07and the uh the the what is her name
29:09again? the da da da da da
29:15the spirit shaman. Sorry, forgot her
29:17name that quickly. That's what getting
29:19old does, kids. It makes your brain take
29:23a vacation every couple minutes. Just
29:26remember that. Okay.
29:29Uh but once I started noticing the
29:31improvements, it became like an
29:33addiction where I wanted to keep
29:36painting and I wanted to start testing
29:38my limits.
29:41And that's where this one came in and
29:43painting the flesh garden uh
29:48guy like kind of half in the blood with
29:52the huge spike going through his head
29:54from the terrain. And
29:57this was really me going, "Okay, I've
30:01done good with these minis. I've
30:03escalated my capabilities, my
30:06understanding, uh my skills.
30:09Let's really push the limits.
30:12And I put this out on the table.
30:15It was all gray, just resin, nothing
30:19painted on it. And I started painting.
30:23And
30:24at first, I I I literally had no idea. I
30:28had no idea the what are those little
30:30pus postules things at the bottom of the
30:33rocks. I didn't know what they were
30:34going to look like. I didn't know what
30:36color. Um I didn't know the shade of the
30:40dead guy with the beard. Um but I just
30:44started going. I just started, okay, I'm
30:45looking at the picture. I'm looking back
30:47at that. I see a little bit of this
30:48color. Can I get that color a little
30:50lighter? Okay, I think that's okay.
30:53Okay, let me do And when I first painted
30:55him, it didn't look right. It didn't
30:57look right at all. I started doing
30:59layers and layers on top of it
31:02till I was done with it. I looked and I
31:04went, "Holy crap." And I immediately
31:08called my wife down to to look it. I was
31:11I was such like a little kid excited
31:13with what he just did and want I wanted
31:15her to like put it on the fridge. Um
31:20I was so happy. But that just shows you
31:23the progression from knowing nothing,
31:26from asking a guy at a store, "What
31:28paint should I use? What what brushes
31:31should I get?" Oh, by the way, brushes.
31:33I skipped over that. I bought Amazon
31:36cheap ass brushes to start off with. Go
31:39with Amazon cheap brushes. Don't go out
31:42there spending a ton of money because
31:45some YouTube guy told you to do it. That
31:47YouTube guy has those expensive brushes
31:49and that expensive paint because he's on
31:52YouTube because he's doing like a
31:55million uh uh paints a day and he's
31:58getting paid for it. Don't Don't do
32:00that. Trust me.
32:03But I'm actually getting good at
32:06highlights. I'm actually getting good at
32:09shadows and uh uh brush uh uh dry
32:15brushing to the point where these
32:18techniques I'm using on almost every
32:20single model.
32:24There was a time when people started
32:25saying, "Well, are you going to sell
32:26these?
32:28Are you going to, you know, make money?"
32:31And here's the truth. People have
32:33offered me to buy my minis. people have
32:35offered to pay me to paint their their
32:37uh minis. No, no, I'm not going to do
32:40it. Then it becomes a job and I'm not
32:43trying to do this as a job. I want to do
32:46this for me. One of the main things that
32:48I love about male addiction.
32:51Put aside the the the game, the cards,
32:54the action, the fighting, the skirmish,
32:56the playfield, the factions,
32:59all that stuff is amazing. I love all of
33:02that and it all works together so well.
33:05But one of the things I do love is that
33:07after the game ends, the fun doesn't
33:10end. You go home and you can paint. You
33:14could use your skill set and bring these
33:16characters that you have on the
33:17playfield out at the at your local game
33:20store. When your buddies come over, you
33:22paint them and you bring them to life.
33:25That's what I love about this. So, I
33:27will not do commissions. I will not sell
33:30them because each one of them to me
33:34holds a memory, holds a story. Um, I
33:38remember whether I was sitting down with
33:40my wife painting while she crocheted,
33:42watching a TV show, or the frustration I
33:45felt with that miniature before I
33:47finally figured it out.
33:50All right. Each one of them tells a
33:52story. So, I'm not going to do that.
33:56Okay. I'm not.
33:59And even looking at how quote unquote
34:02awesome I am, the point is
34:07I could start from zero and improve this
34:08much. Somebody else can do it too. You
34:11can do it. Anybody can do it. I do not
34:14have a doubt in my mind that anybody
34:19skill set of being an artist,
34:22understanding of paints, you can be this
34:26good as well
34:28cuz it just takes patience, the ability
34:32to fail, and the confidence to jump into
34:38something you've never done
34:40and then showcase it. literally showcase
34:43it. Maybe not to the world at the
34:46beginning. Maybe you're just showcasing
34:47it to your friends and asking for, you
34:50know, honest review of what you did,
34:53which
34:54I'll tell you right now, friends aren't
34:56the best ones to go to for honest
34:57reviews. They're going to look at you
34:58and go, "That looks great." And then
35:01whisper to your other friend, "It looks
35:03like dookie."
35:07There are still things I suck at with
35:09painting.
35:10I still suck at faces. I see people that
35:14do faces. I am floored by how they well
35:17they do. I still suck at really
35:21enhancing fabric and and really putting
35:25in the shadows there. I've started
35:26trying to do that more. I'm still not
35:29good at it. Um I still suck at the uh uh
35:35really showcasing the the floor, the
35:38ground. I'm working on that. Um, but
35:42there's stuff that I'm still improving
35:43on, but it's always going to be
35:45improving on. And I guarantee you a year
35:47from today, I'm going to look back at
35:48the ones I just showed you and go, "Oo,
35:51those are bad." I know. I' I've been
35:53doing way better.
35:55All right. There are there are um
35:58miniatures I want to repaint that I
36:01still use to this day. a lot of the
36:03Conclave uh ones uh that I just never
36:08repainted. But one day I'm gonna get
36:10back there one day. One day
36:14cuz I've looked at and been like, "Well,
36:16I ruined that one. I can't take that
36:18out." And then I take it out. And the
36:20thing I love taking out the ones that I
36:23feel need to be repainted with the ones
36:26I've painted recently is that it it it
36:30tells the story again. It tells the
36:33story. So when I'm out and playing and
36:35somebody looks and goes, "What happened
36:36to that one? Why doesn't that look one
36:37look like the rest of them?" And I go,
36:39"Well, this is when I first started
36:41before I knew A, B, C, and D. And I
36:44didn't paint the other ones until I knew
36:46ABC, B, C, and D." And uh it it really
36:49sparks a good conversation of their
36:52trials and tribulations with painting.
36:56I I gotta say and today I'm a huge huge
37:01fan of Army Painter. Army Painter to me
37:06is amazing. Army Painter to me is what
37:09everybody
37:12everywhere should be using. And if
37:15you're a family man, if you
37:19need uh the ability to paint fast
37:24without worrying about too much
37:28shadowing, you're getting the darks in
37:30the grooves and you just want to kind of
37:33do it quickly. Oh my god. I would tell
37:36everybody in their grandmother to go for
37:39Army Painter. I've actually contacted
37:41them a few times uh to tell them how how
37:44great they are. So, and I know I'm gonna
37:47have people out there that use other
37:50other paints and know this is better. Um
37:54airbrushing is better, which I haven't
37:56tried yet either. I'm I'm totally scared
37:59to try airbrushing because that's buying
38:01a whole machine. Um, but speed paints
38:05for me, there's no better bang for your
38:08buck. And I wouldn't I almost went ahead
38:11and bought the like 506 complete set.
38:14$56. Just don't do that. Don't Don't be
38:17that person. Um, you know, the simple
38:20starter one and then you buy the
38:22individual bottles as you go, as you
38:25need certain paints. That's the way to
38:27do it.
38:29That's 100% what I would give the
38:32advice, the same advice I got. I would
38:35tweak the advice that I got from that
38:36one guy and tweak the advice I got from
38:40uh those YouTube videos I'd watched, but
38:46it would still be the same in terms of
38:48the core value of get in there, start
38:50painting speed paints.
38:53All right.
38:57Uh, where was I going to go next? Sorry,
38:58I just got lost. Let me look at my
39:00sheet. I got so into speed paints
39:02because I can't talk highly enough about
39:04them. Um, do you need to paint your
39:08maladiction army? Painting can change
39:10the experience. Okay. Two painted warb
39:13bands, painted terrain immersion. It's
39:16just the experience is enhanced.
39:21Not to say that you need your stuff
39:23painted. I've been out there with
39:26nothing but highlighted minis. I've been
39:28out there with just resin minis. Still
39:31works perfectly fine. But if you can
39:33take the jump and if you can put your
39:36own little personal spin on it,
39:39absolutely. But bring your gray minis
39:41out. All right. If you hate painting,
39:44that's fine. I'm telling you, I think
39:47everybody should at least give it a
39:49shot.
39:51And if you paint slowly, uh, people used
39:54to be like, "Holy crap, how'd you do
39:55this so fast?" That's because I'm a
39:57lunatic. That's because I have issues.
40:00That's because, um, I have a problem
40:02with playing with with unpainted minis
40:05and everything has to be painted. It's
40:08caused problems at home.
40:12So, if you want it, that's fine. Do it.
40:16Okay? And if you don't, that's fine,
40:18too. That's why we have the standies and
40:21the flat uh uh terrain, you know, that's
40:24there's options for everyone.
40:29And if you choose to get into it,
40:32there's a whole community for you.
40:35Whether it's the official male addiction
40:37website uh not website the official male
40:39addiction discord where they have paint
40:42painted uh channel over there with
40:44people ready to help you and guide you
40:46and assist you or the deviant dice
40:48rollers uh discord where we have the
40:52same kind of section where you'll get a
40:54little bit more personalized help from
40:56our community. It's a smaller community
40:58so we're going to be able to personalize
40:59our help for you. If you're local in the
41:02area, I will come out and I will
41:04literally sit with you at Top Deck and
41:06we will go over painting. I have no
41:08problem with doing that. I love helping
41:10others
41:12hone their skills or even learn that
41:14they have skills. When somebody learns,
41:17holy that worked. It's a huge
41:20moment. That's such an awesome moment to
41:23see that happen. All right. Sharing
41:25techniques, telling somebody, "Oh, you
41:28did this. Oh, you should try this. They
41:31go home and try it.
41:33Amazing. Such a cool experience.
41:38Uh, I still to this day go on the Mel
41:40Addiction Discord to check out other
41:43painted minis and I see stuff on there
41:46that just floores me. I see stuff on
41:49there that has floored me for one,
41:51whether it is the miniature being
41:55painted with such insane detail
42:00that I'm like, "Holy that guy has
42:01to be professional." Or it's somebody
42:04that took the terrain for Conclave or
42:08took the minis for Primal Blood and they
42:11spun it. They they said, "Get the card
42:14out of here. Get your lure out of here.
42:15I don't care what the character is
42:17supposed to look like. I'm going to do
42:20this. All right.
42:23That impresses me so much. And I
42:25actually want to give a huge shout out
42:27to somebody who impressed the hell out
42:30of me recently. If I can find
42:33uh where there we go. Painted Legions on
42:37Deviant Dice Rollers.
42:39And this guy right here uh Glove Lube. I
42:43don't know why his name is that, but
42:45Glove Lube took some of the miniatures,
42:49took Karmamach, took some of the uh uh
42:52monkeys, I forget their names, and some
42:55other miniatures from the Conclave and
42:58really put his own spin on it. My
43:01favorite right here. Let me see if he
43:03has No, he Oh, yeah, he does have. There
43:05we go. Karma
43:08with the oozing green coming out of the
43:10mouth. oozing green on the floor. And
43:14then he literally took another
43:16miniature,
43:19printed it, and put it in Karmamach's
43:22hand as if Karmamach was crushing him to
43:27death in battle.
43:29Unbelievable. Like, this floored me. And
43:33this is something I would never think
43:34of. So, just getting into that community
43:38and learning not only what you could do
43:40better, but learning what other people
43:42are doing as well.
43:44Huge. I love it. All right. So,
43:50another thing I want to cover real fast,
43:52well, not really, real fast.
43:56For the person who's never painted, I
43:58already said this a few times, do not
44:00compare yourself to everybody online.
44:03Your first miniature does not need to be
44:06amazing. All right, you saw mine. Not
44:09amazing.
44:11Do not
44:13I cannot emphasize this enough. I think
44:15I said it three times in this show. Do
44:17not buy everything.
44:20It's tempting. You're like, if I buy
44:22everything, I got it all. Don't.
44:25Remember, mixing paints is a wonderful
44:27thing. Don't buy everything.
44:31Tutorials are great. tutorials are
44:33awesome. There's so many great ones out
44:36there. All you got to do, whatever paint
44:38you choose, whether it's Citadel,
44:40whether it's Army paint or whether it's
44:41speed paint, whether it's their war
44:43paint, whatever paint you choose, you
44:46just do a quick YouTube search starting
44:49out with this kind of paint, learning
44:52how to paint with blah blah blah,
44:54and you will find some amazing
44:57individuals out there that have done a
44:59fantastic job of not only describing,
45:03teaching, coaching, but showing how to
45:06do this. All right?
45:08Keep asking questions, experiment, screw
45:12things up,
45:14trust me. Do all this
45:17and don't be afraid to show it off and
45:19be like, "I couldn't figure this out.
45:21Can you help me?" All right, but also
45:25finish it.
45:27I when I painted the flesh uh flesh
45:30gardens mini thought to myself very
45:33quickly, I'm I'm done. I can't finish
45:36this. This is horrible. And a little bit
45:41into it, and this is a picture I posted
45:43on Deviant Dice Rollers. A little bit
45:46into it, I legit wanted to stop. I
45:50wanted to put my paintbrush down, throw
45:53out the the terrain, and go print a new
45:56one.
45:57drastic, I know, but I was so frustrated
45:59that it wasn't turning out the way I
46:01thought it should. Not the vision in my
46:03head, but I kept going with it till it
46:07turned out something that I felt proud
46:09of. And I'm still proud of it to this
46:11day. All right?
46:14So, just paint it, put it on the table,
46:16be proud of it, and be comfortable with
46:193 months, 6 months, a year from now. You
46:22might look at and be like, "That is
46:23horrible."
46:25But guess what? It's male addiction.
46:27Print another one. Paint another one.
46:30Put them side by side like I did. It's a
46:32great thing about this game. They give
46:33you the STL files. You don't have to go
46:36out and pay money for another miniature.
46:38All right.
46:41Number two,
46:43the second miniature you paint
46:47will probably be better than number one.
46:50And number five will probably better be
46:52better than that one. It's progression.
46:55Get comfortable with it. Be comfortable
46:58with failing. That's with everything in
47:01life. Literally everything in life.
47:06So, like I said in the cold open, I had
47:09never painted a miniature in my life.
47:14Never.
47:16I kept painting. I kept screwing things
47:19up. I kept learning.
47:23Okay. Eventually, I started producing
47:26things that I felt proud of. Miniatures
47:29that I would put on the table and say,
47:31"That's what I painted. Please come look
47:33at what I did."
47:36Somehow, some way, I reached a point
47:39that I never thought I would ever reach
47:42where people at conventions were saying,
47:45"Can I buy these from you? Can you can I
47:49pay you to paint these?" All right.
47:54You don't become a miniatures painting.
47:58You don't become a miniatures painter
47:59and then start painting miniatures. You
48:02start painting miniatures and somewhere
48:04along the way you become a miniatures
48:07painter.
48:09That simple.
48:12That simple.
48:14I look forward to hearing stories of you
48:16guys painting. Please let me know.
48:18Please in the Deviant Dice Rollers
48:20Discord. uh come in there and share what
48:23you've started. Share your first step.
48:26Share the fact that you want to get into
48:28it, but you don't know where to go. Even
48:30though you listen this whole time, I
48:31will still help you.
48:33Share in the comments stories of
48:36something you painted that was
48:38horrendous. Something you saw that was
48:41horrendous and you decided I'm gonna do
48:43better.
48:45Or let me know how much you don't care
48:47about painting. Literally, just tell me.
48:50like screw that. I'm gonna I'm gonna use
48:53my my standies or I'm gonna use flat
48:55pieces. All right. Let me know. I really
48:59I really would like to hear more about
49:01everybody's experiences because
49:03everybody's experiences are different.
49:06Everybody's um journey is different.
49:10Everybody's speed is different and I get
49:12it and I appreciate it. So, please
49:16share. That's what this is all about,
49:18sharing.
49:20Um, before we go though, the tournament,
49:23the first Agnar is coming up. So, today
49:27is the 30th of August. So, September
49:295th, 2026 is when it is going down. If
49:32you go over to deviant dicerollers.com,
49:35uh, right now, there is a link at the
49:37top. Let me get back to that link. There
49:40is a link at the top that will take you
49:43directly to register online on Long
49:45Shanks. Uh we've got a lot of excitement
49:49going on for this first Agnar coming up,
49:51this first tournament. Tons of prizes,
49:54tons of fun to be had, giveaways. Uh we
49:59have right now booked uh Jason Clo uh
50:02Cloer, hope I said his last name
50:04correctly. He's gonna he's going to
50:06curse me out if I didn't. Uh from Loot
50:09Studios, he is the um
50:13I'm just I'm now picturing him just
50:15being like, "What the hell?" with my
50:16last name. He is the community manager
50:19over there. Great guy. Uh he should be
50:21coming out to root everybody on. Um what
50:25else I have? Deck building episode is
50:27still coming. I know I said that this
50:30was going to be the deck building
50:31episode. It's still coming. Johnny G is
50:33still joining the show. Uh we had to
50:36move it around, but it will be worth the
50:39wait. Trust me, Johnny is he's a freak
50:42of nature when it comes to deck building
50:45with his uh insight, his his strategies,
50:49and what he knows. He's been a long long
50:52long-term
50:53uh TCG player who's played a lot of
50:56different games, and he's bringing his
50:57knowledge and expertise to Mel Addiction
51:00and to Beyond the Conclave. So, please
51:03look forward to that. Um, I'm going to
51:05be picking his brain about everything,
51:07stealing some of his secrets, and
51:10hopefully sharing those with you guys. I
51:13really am excited for this episode. Um,
51:17it's going to be amazing. We're gonna
51:19have him in studio to record this. And
51:24I can't wait to learn things from him
51:27that I still don't even comprehend to
51:31this day about uh deck building. So
51:35again, in the comments or in uh the
51:38Discord, please share with us uh what
51:42was the first miniature you ever
51:43painted. Do you still have it like me?
51:46Do you keep that kind of stuff? If I
51:47keep that kind of stuff, I love looking
51:50back and being like, "God damn, uh, I
51:54was bad."
51:58Um, also, if you could give someone
52:01who's never painted a miniature one
52:02piece of advice, what would it be?
52:04What's your number one piece of advice?
52:06Maybe it's something I didn't even bring
52:08up. Okay, please. The D uh Deviant Dice
52:12Rollers Discord in the comments here.
52:16Please go like, subscribe.
52:20It helps out tremendously when you give
52:22those little actions to us. If you've
52:24enjoyed this show, share the fact that
52:27you've enjoyed it with so many other
52:29people so that they can come in here and
52:31be a part of it. All right, for those
52:34out there
52:36that haven't learned about malad
52:38addiction, that have learned about bell
52:41addiction, or just want to paint their
52:43own m uh minis for their games, they
52:46should come in here and check us out.
52:49With that being said, I will see you all
52:51next week. Thank you for joining me and
52:53I'll catch you later. Peace.
53:04Every role tells a story
53:07just like this one.