My painting station:
- Lighting. I have a floor lamp that sprays light directly down, so my hands don’t get in the way. Get multiple sources of lighting if you can, that evens out shadows, but if one source is too bright it can create shadows
- Water-pot. I literally use an old can of beans. Same can every time. Just put water in it.
- Palette. I use a wet palette made of paper towels and parchment paper, and it holds my paints and allows me to blend when necessary. Useful for thinning out paints.
- Paper Towels. Have a couple handy to wipe off mistakes, dry your hands, dry and wash your brush, wipe extra paint off your brush, etc.
- A handy-dandy table. It’s nice to have one slightly higher than usual, because your hands rest on a higher surface closer to your eyes, but it’s not necessary.
- Optionally, get a microscope. This will ease the strain on your eyes. The one I have only increases the strain on my eyes so…
- Optionally, a miniature grip. These are pretty cheap, and allow you to hold the model comfortably without touching it.
- And, seating and entertainment. Playing some music or a movie in the background is nice and gives me a sense of time (spoiler, I don’t have one!) Additionally, good seating is good. You’ll be sitting there for hours if you don’t get up. Be sure to change your posture once in a while, or you’ll be seeing the therapist often. Stretch your hands, get up, relax your eyes.
For travel, I pack my miniatures and paints in a fishing tackle box with foam, and keep my brushes in the wet-palette box along with parchment paper. It’s pretty easy to find paper towels, at least for me. And for a pot you can use whatever cups you want, but I like the can o' beans. I don’t know why, don’t ask.
But yeah, that’s my paint situation. Ciao!
