I've been getting a lot of e-mails from people recently asking about how I do a particular technique, or how one can improve their painting in some way. The answer is the same as the answer to the question "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" Practice! Practice!

Over the past year I've put in more time painting than any other time in my life. Doing commission work has kept my skills sharp and taught me that the most important thing that you can do to improve is to paint more. I know, you've heard this all of your life. If you want to get better at something then you need to practice. It also seems like it's the kind of thing you don't need to tell somebody because it's obvious. The thing is, I don't think that I'd ever really thought about it much until recently.

I've been painting miniatures since the late 1970's. I painted on and off for a few years before I learned anything like painting technique. My minis before that point were essentially 3D coloring books. I would jut apply colors to the areas of the model where they made sense and call it done. Every now and then one of the guys in my group would discover something like a new technique and we would share it and incorporate it into our work. We were improving... slowly, but we were getting better through trial and error and sharing our discoveries.

When I started working at my first hobby store I met people who were actually good at the hobby (and had gone to art school!) and they showed me how to do some of the basic techniques that we all take for granted and my work changed overnight. That's when I first started selling my work. I was very productive and my work improved dramatically in a short time because I was doing it a lot.

When I started doing movie models and architectural models I learned a lot of new skills - quickly. Again, because I was doing it every day which meant that the cycle of learning from my mistakes and applying my new knowledge to another project was a very short one.

For a number of years I didn't paint much at all. So not only did I not improve my skills in that time, but I actually got worse at it. I forgot things, started cutting corners because I just wanted to get things done and didn't care as much about the quality of the final product.

This past year has been something if a revelation. Not only am I painting a lot but because I photograph all of my work and do videos of the process I can easily see the difference in the miniatures I painted a year ago and can tell how much I've improved. I can tell you, without a doubt, that I'm a better painter than I was a year ago and that if you want to get better you need to paint more. The more you do it, the better you'll get. Always keep an open mind to new techniques. Watch videos of painters that you admire and see if you can glean any new information from them. Talk to people in your area who also paint and share techniques. This will all help you improve your painting. I know it seems like a given, but I don't know that I ever fully appreciated the difference practice makes until this year.