How do you paint?

Hi everyone!

I was just curious, how do you all paint? then i mean your "posture". I've been getting a lot of shoulder / back problems when i paint too long.. but now i use a wine bottle filled with sand, and on the cork i put some blue tack to keep the model in place. less problems now

So how do you guys paint?

I have always been sitting by the living room table so guess if my back always hurts! But when I found this forum I got so inspired of your "show your workspace" thread so I moved an old desk that we had in the hallway into the living room behind the sofa so that I can sit and watch TV while painting. (I am watching TV when I am modeling and painting while my boyfriend never gets anything done if he does that) So now I have a great office chair and a good desk so never again that I will have a sore back from painting

I have been hunching when painting, too... But this was mostly due to me not having any proper light. Now, with my great new hobby room and a lot of lamps, it is getting bettern.

I've built myself a paint-station, a wooden board with 2 stairlike rows of paint and brush-holders, i can paint at any table, so i can easily change location if the current table is makin me poor ol' body hurt
I've bought a pair of magnifying glasses with attached headlight to strap on my head while painting so i never have light issues anymore - it's really worth it! (i got it from a store selling stuff for electricians/repairguys etc)

MyLittlePwny wrote:

I've bought a pair of magnifying glasses with attached headlight to strap on my head while painting so i never have light issues anymore - it's really worth it! (i got it from a store selling stuff for electricians/repairguys etc)

THAT IS USEFUL!!

I always try to ajust my lamp and i still get light in my eye... DEEM!!! i gotta make something like that THANKS

Erm, in a chair.
MYP: heehee, I remember those, they may be useful - but they're also really silly.

I wish I had a better place for painting... but before I move (8 months... 8 months...) I have to paint a very painful way After 2 hours it hurts so much that I have to get up and go for tea or sth to eat (it's not so bad because it reminds me that I should eat and drink... I could forget it ). In this place I don't see any possibility not to hurt my back with this way of painting... I have to wait

since I spend pretty much 80 % of my day behind my desk, I took good care to make it a good one...

I made it higher than normal (about six cm) so I can rest my arms when I sit upright, to avoid hunching...

then, when I do my modelling and I want to have closer looks, I lower my chair so that my shoulders are only 10 cm above my desk surface, keeping me upright, but a lot closer to the table, making for a steadier hand, and less problems... though, I need more light, as my eyes are starting to trouble me... :S

With a paintbrush!

I'm 6 foot 9 inches in height, I sit at a high desk (an old school architects desk we got on the cheap like 10 bucks cheap!) with proper lighting - usually sunlight. The desk is higher up which helps with posture, but I still hunch and do painting and modelling in stints of 1-2 hours max before putting it down and moving. I generally just hold the mini by itself and paint as I go.

And yes, GW painting stations whenever I've even considered sitting at one (the local independent stockist at The Tin Soldier in Sydney beats the crap outta atmosphere so go there instead of the GW) is horrendously stupid and elaborate to 1, get my legs into the small space beneath their tables, and 2, stooping to paint really blows, and 3, getting back out the legs from under them sucks majorly and takes much longer then getting into the sitting position in the first place.

The vagaries of being tall hey?

Ram.

And I consider myself tall! I know what you mean man, I'm a tiny 6 foot 4 and I find it really hard to paint for long periods without it caining like a mother'ucker! I swear my posture's been shot to shit since I got back into Mordheim!

My desk is just right for me to put my elboes on, but I still get neck pain....
at least I have a cozy chair!

im even worse. not having a desk and the only table free in the house is in the kitchen where there are usually 6 other people means that painting downstairs is a problem. I perfected the art of painting whilst sitting on the floor. now that really throws your back as i am also 6'4" (not quite as tall as RRE1) A god tip for back posture is to go dancing or horse riding if you can. fixes any problems that you may have from your painting stints.

Tulcaondo wrote:

im even worse. not having a desk and the only table free in the house is in the kitchen where there are usually 6 other people means that painting downstairs is a problem. I perfected the art of painting whilst sitting on the floor. now that really throws your back as i am also 6'4" (not quite as tall as RRE1) A god tip for back posture is to go dancing or horse riding if you can. fixes any problems that you may have from your painting stints.

Intriguing concept there Tulcaondo (good to see you here Kaloth Valois ).

Quote :

jackanory Mon 15 Dec 2008 - 18:54

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And I consider myself tall! I know what you mean man, I'm a tiny 6 foot 4 and I find it really hard to paint for long periods without it caining like a mother'ucker! I swear my posture's been shot to shit since I got back into Mordheim!

Jackanory, this post made me laugh, not at your inferior smallness in comparison (haha :p), but at the fact you bleeped out the mother trucker yet kept shit in there.

A Computer chair with an adjustable height setting works really well.

Luke.

Same place where I play my PC games. I got one of those HUGE wooden heavy duty desks with the flourescent bulbs in it and a nice bright bright hanging lamp hooked up too. Plenty of light and i just chill painting while watching a movie from Netflix !

By the way: found an old picture of me wearing my beloved painting headgear

I'll paint wherever I can. Often it's at the kitchen table, while my kids are eating lunch. Hunched over and just painting away. If it's early in the morning, before work, I'm standing at the stove - using the stove light to paint. I don't have an actual place to paint. Had one of those magnifying glasses with a stand and arms - but it was useless. Now I just hunch over and go. I usually stop when my back hurts.

In an interview with sculptor Tom Meiers of RalPartha/Thunderbolt Mountain, he complained of back pains. A picture showed his solution: he was lying on his back ona day bed with a binocular microscope rig sculpting away. This MIGHT be a bit EXTREME for us of lesser abilities AND decidedly sloppy for painting.
Getting one of those posture enhancing chairs that look like prayer benches MIGHT be a better solution.

Dumb as this is going to sound, I find that if I sing while I paint, I don't get back pains. It MIGHT have something to do with relaxing my back muscles OR knowing it's upsetting my sons.

Skavenblight wrote:

I wish I had a better place for painting... but before I move (8 months... 8 months...) I have to paint a very painful way After 2 hours it hurts so much that I have to get up and go for tea or sth to eat (it's not so bad because it reminds me that I should eat and drink... I could forget it ). In this place I don't see any possibility not to hurt my back with this way of painting... I have to wait

Thats why people dont paint upside down in wardrobes

Ethlorien wrote:

I'll paint wherever I can. Often it's at the kitchen table, while my kids are eating lunch. Hunched over and just painting away. If it's early in the morning, before work, I'm standing at the stove - using the stove light to paint. I don't have an actual place to paint. Had one of those magnifying glasses with a stand and arms - but it was useless. Now I just hunch over and go. I usually stop when my back hurts.

Make the kids paint for you, they'd be the right height if you hold the models

Oh, they're getting to that age. My eldest, she already has made inquiries about painting. I like gaming, more then the painting, so I will definately press gang them into service here in another year or two. Right now, my daughter is honing her skills on my Hero Quest figures.

Maybe hanging upside down! If your head's at desk-height and it will stretch and straighten your back. Eureka!