Dark SwordMiniatures - Masterworks Miniature Painting
With Jen Haley and Anne Foerster
3 DVD Tutorial Set - With well over 10 Hours of Instruction!
Testimonials have started coming in - scroll down to read them.

Click here for a Youtube Video Trailer of this DVD set!

As you all know, I have been a HUGE fan of any sort of painting tutorial sites or instruction I can get my hands on. And then over the past couple years or so, a few different DVD painting tutorials came out and I was over the moon. I then kept getting asked if Dark Sword will ever do their own DVD with our own miniatures and some of the painters we work with. It was indeed something I had been thinking about and I do have the extreme privalege to collaberate with some amazing miniature painters so we decided to put our money where our mouth is and film/produce a very comprehensive DVD set on miniature painting.

Jen Haley is the winner of two Golden Demon Slayer Swords, countless Golden Demons and two Privateer Press Grand Master Painter awards. Anne Foerster is the staff painter at Reaper Miniatures and has won multiple Golden Demons and other painting competition awards. In addition, Anne has designed three (yes 3 !) miniature paint lines - so she knows what she is talking about folks! You put these old friends together across the table from each other and this makes from some very candid and interesting miniature painting stories and instruction!

Please note - this is a DVD set that will take you all the way from basic/new painter to an intermediate/advanced level.

... I recently received your new Dark Sword Painting 3 DVD set and it is fantastic. More importantly, my wife saw me watching it and took an interest...she is going to paint her first miniature this weekend. I've been painting as long as we've been married (19 years), but only after seeing your DVD did she have a desire to "jump in".

...That youtube trailer was great. The wet edge trick for base coating is something I never would have thought about. I'll definitely be adding this to my list.


...All I can say is - thank you very much.

...Disk one is for the basic material. In terms of techniques, new bits, etc…, still watching. the first disk does a very good job of covering the basics. The conversational tone between the two is good and full of witty banter that doesn't feel forced or out of place. The NMM that they go through is quite interesting and looks, I don't want to say easy, but perhaps the most simple explanation I've ever heard by Anne. The example Jen lays down for gold, doesn't have a lot to do with actual gold/yellow but works well. Anne's good at explaining things. her muddy/wet blending technique on Ghost, the winter wolf from Game of Thrones, is quick but easy to follow along with an perfect for certain types of animals and monsters. They cover a few options on shading including layering it down and washing/glazing it down. The thing I enjoyed most was the lack of 'perfection' on either painter's side. They both make mistakes but have fun with it which is a stress releivor for me at least. Looking forward to watching the rest of it.


...I thoroughly enjoyed the DVD.  So much so, that I really felt I should write a few words. I've been playing D&D for about four years now.  I'm very lucky to live about ten minutes away from The Source, and have spent lots of money on your miniatures.  The quality is unmatched.  I'm involved in two different gaming groups and no one really ever bothers to paint their minis.  For some reason, about three weeks ago on a whim I decided to try my hand at it.

I was really proud at those minis at the time, which was only a couple weeks ago, but I had no real way of knowing what I was doing since none of my friends are into painting.  So I just tried to push myself a bit more with each mini.  On Saturday I was at the source to buy a new Dark Sword wizard miniature (I was working on one but severely mucked up the paint job) and while I was there I saw the masterwork miniature painting DVD.  I purchased it and spent the rest of my weekend watching it.

I really have to thank Jen and Anne.  The amount of information they packed in there is extraordinary.  I started painting a new mini yesterday, and the difference between what I did before is like night and day.  Before I was just globbing on paint right out of the tube and had no idea how to shadow or highlight, how to do glazes and washes.   As soon as I finished the DVDs I went out and purchased some real paintbrushes.  I'm never going back to the cheap synthetic ones (well, maybe I'll still use them for dry brushing).  So for the newest miniature I'm working on, I've only got a couple articles of clothing paintedi, but the color is just so consistent and being able to do shadows and highlights and have it come out not looking like an over saturated comic book character; I can only describe it by saying it feels awesome!

So yeah, I wanted to say thank you to Jen and Anne - I don't have the time at the moment to figure out their emails, but I hope you can pass the word along to them on just how much I appreciated all their advice.


And finally I pulled this very comprehensive review off of the Reaper Forums
(Dark Sword and Reaper have tons of mutual love for each other):

Recently I saw the trailer to Dark Sword Miniatures "Masterworks Miniature Painting With Jen Haley and Anne Foerster" and it caught my interest. I ordered the DVD set directly from Dark Sword and it arrived just a couple of days later. Now I have been a fan of Jen Haley's work for a few years now but I wasn't as familiar with Anne(shame on me!). To be straight to the point, it's an EXCELLENT DVD set for painters of any level and I can't recommend it strongly enough.

I will break down my review to a quick areas of interest/concern:

Cost: The DVD set retails for $50. It is a very fair price given that you are getting 3 DVD's that are fairly comprehensive and include many hours of advice and on-screen painting tutorials. There are many painting tutorial DVD's I have eyed over the internet but have been reluctant to purchase, knowing that the $30-$100 cost could easily buy me a bunch of minis instead! However, having taken the plunge on this, I am so happy that I did...it definitely delivers everything that it promises.

Presentation: The DVD menus are easy to navigate and broken into various topics that you can select to see a tutorial one particular aspect of the hobby. The actual video consists of panoramic shots of Jen and Anne discussing theory and technique, and high resolution close-ups of minis that they are working on. The lighting, audio and editing are all high quality. Problematic quirks of miniature painting DVD's like painter's hair in the shot and focus problems are nearly non-existent. Every technique was clearly presented on the video so that what the artists are trying to convey are clear and crisp.

Contents: The wide array of topics covered in the DVD's is impressive. Many times painting DVD's will be too ambitious and try to cover too many techniques with limited time commitment...this 3 DVD set allows the painters to be comprehensive and giving reasonable time and explanation to the myriad of methods they employ. You have the whole gambit of pertinent topics here including(to name just a few): Brush & Paint Selection, Shading, Highlighting, Washes & Glazes, NMM(Non-Metallic Metals), Cloth Texture, Color Theory, Problem Colors(White, Yellow, Black, Red), Prepping, Finishing and MANY, MANY MORE! There is definitely much to chew on here for both novice and veteran painters.

Style: I love the approach of this DVD. Instead of just one artist talking you through their approach, there is a great "give and take" between Anne and Jen; this really sets these painting DVD's apart from the rest of the crowd. The painters convey many times that there is "more than one way" to get nice results...and often they show their different approaches to certain methods. If you are relative beginner I highly recommend popping in the third DVD and going right to the "Conclusion" chapter where Jen and Anne offer solid advice on one's mindset and approach to the hobby in general. 

Closing Thoughts: This DVD will be a great resource to me for years to come I am sure. I am someone who has been painting minis for many years, but often feels like he's stalled in his progress and techniques...not quite being able to take things to the next level. Well, as they say in the video there is no "magic pill" to make one a better painter, or any real shortcuts, but with this tool at my disposal I definitely have no excuses not to improve. I look forward to re-thinking many methods I use in painting and trying both the conventional, and unconventional, techniques that Anne and Jen teach in the DVD's. On a side note, my wife and I have been married for 19 years(this Sunday) and we both have hobbies...none of which are in common. Though she's always been very supportive of my mini painting(which I appreciate!), it was her sitting next to me as I watched these DVD's that made her decide to give the hobby a try...if that's not an endorsement for the Dark Sword DVD set I don't know what is. 

Maybe you are looking for me to rate this DVD...well, the text above make it clear how I feel so the usual cliches all apply: Five Stars, 10/10, "Perfect", etc.

Thanks for reading/viewing...if you have any questions about the DVD set feel free to post them.

Happy Wargaming Everybody,

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