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The Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy

Welcome to the Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy, the place to learn how to paint your favourite miniatures with regular, in-depth and highly detailed tutorials, painting challenges, courses, give-aways and best of all, a thriving community of amazing Academy Members!

LATEST TUTORIALS

This Week's Tutorials

Space Wolves Grey Hunter

Our first tutorial of the week continues our spotlight on the Sons of Russ and the new Space Wolves release from Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000. This video looks at the Grey Hunters, the backbone of the Space Wolf forces, and those brothers that have harnessed the feral nature of the Wulfen curse and honed their fury into a primal urge to hunt the foes of the Emperor. Space Wolves often have lots of extra trinkets, so in this video, we make sure to cover those so you’re prepared no matter what Space Wolf you are painting.

In this video, we show you a great way to paint a Grey Hunter in the Champions of Fenris colour scheme by focusing on the following:  
  • A great way to paint the iconic Space Wolf blue-grey.    
  • A discussion on painting the pack markings, showing how to plan for them, no matter what pack you are painting. 
  • How to paint all the main features of a Space Marine, such as weapons, eye lenses, and other details. 
  • How to paint the Space Wolf trinkets.
  • How to add the yellow star onto the Champions of Fenris should pad. 
The techniques in this video are great for painting any Space Wolf infantry miniatures in your collection.

Oni Ayakashi

Our second tutorial of the week delves into the Yoroni of Para Bellum Games’ Conquest, focusing on the Oni Ayakashi. Towering above a mortal man, the Oni are a terrifying sight to behold, and their strength is only matched by their savagery in combat. Bound by the strict code of the Bushi, these formidable warriors are a sight to behold. When approaching this miniature, something to consider is that it is wearing samurai armour which, due to the many layers, can appear quite complicated. But in this video, we show how to make painting it a breeze.

In this video, we show you a great way to paint a Oni Ayakashi inspired by the box art colour scheme by focusing on the following:  
  • Where best to begin when painting a complex miniature like this. 
  • A step-by-step guide on how to paint the red demonic flesh on large, smooth muscles 
  • How to tackle lamellar-style samurai armour. 
  • How to pick out all the smaller details, such as fabrics and bindings. 
  • How to pick out the details on the face, including the eyes and teeth. 
Whilst there is a lot of variety in this faction, this video covers all sorts of important tips and tricks that will prove useful no matter which unit you are painting.

What is the Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy?

The Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy, or DRPA for short, is a Membership site where you can come and learn to paint your favourite miniatures. Whether you are a beginner or even an experienced miniature painter, the Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy will teach you all the techniques you need to know and give you the confidence to paint any miniature you desire.

Want to know which miniatures we’ve made tutorials for? Then just click the link below!

enjoy these sample tutorials

This is just a small taster of the video tutorials we have on the site. We will be adding new, exclusive content every week that can only be found right here for our members. We will be covering all manner of miniatures, techniques and advice, everything to help you improve your painting skills. Check out the full list of videos and a gallery of the tutorials on the site by clicking the link below.

Tutorial of the Month!

Karacnos Assault Tank

Our tutorial of the week is the brand new Karacnos Assault Tank of the Mechanicum from Games Workshop’s Warhammer: The Horus Heresy. Based upon the Triaros Armoured Conveyor Chassis and festooned with additional weaponry, this tank is a devastating long-range support platform armed with radiological warheads, perfect for clearing organic life from planets. 

We painted our model in the Xana II colour scheme which features a very high contrast between an aged bone and dark metal, so it is important that you start in the right way and look for appropriate sub-assemblies. 

In this video, we show you how to paint a Karacnos Assault tank in the Dark Mechanicum colour scheme of the Xana II  Forge World by focusing on the following:
  • The important sub-assemblies that we recommend to allow access to all the details and to help out with getting a strong start on the model. 
  • What undercoat colours to use to make the early stages a breeze. 
  • How to paint the aged bone coloured armour plating
  • How to create a time-worn dark metal trim. 
  • How to work your way through the complex machinery that features across the entire model.
  • When to start putting together sub-assemblies to help with the weathering process, but also to not make it difficult to access all areas of the model. 
  • How to weather the model to make it look like it’s seen action, including the use of enamel paints for a realistic rust effect. 
The techniques shown in this tutorial can be used to paint any Mechanicum vehicles in the colours of Xana II, including the dreaded Knights of House Malinax in your collection.

Check out the gallery below for a sample of our 400+ Tutorials

WHY BECOME A MEMBER

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FULL PAINTING TUTORIALS

Whether you want to paint a single figure, a vehicle, a monster or even a piece of scenery and not to mention new techniques, you will find an in-depth tutorial here just for you.

Lannisters Swordsmen

NEW CONTENT EVERY WEEK

Every week we will be adding brand new content for Members only. Whether it's video painting tutorials, blog posts and online painting guides, you can be sure you'll always have something to both help and inspire you.

Duncan Rhodes drpa

WE HAVE A DUNCAN

With over 10 years experience, running painting seminars all around the world and hundreds of video tutorials under his belt, there is no one better to both teach and give you the confidence to achieve the results you've always dreamed of.

£3.99 PER MONTH

That's about the same price as a really nice cup of coffee. Not too bad for expertly produced painting tutorials and tons of inspiration.

MONTHLY PAINTING CHALLENGES

Every month we host a fun painting challenge on our Forum where Academy Members can show off their amazing work and get both inspired and motivated by an amazing community of hobbyists. The winners get an exclusive DRPA Pin badge and an hour online hang out with Duncan where they can ask any questions they want or just simply hang out and paint.

COURSES

The latest addition to the Academy is Courses! Here we host full, in-depth courses that will, over time, cover various, large subjects starting with a full course for beginners - The Fundamentals of Miniature Painting.

MONTHLY GIVE AWAYS

Every month we have a give away for a lucky Academy Member. Prizes in the past have ranged from an amazing core sets like Leviathan to an Airbrush from Harder and Steenbeck.

Here's what our Members have to say

SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

Small Studio Shoutout_01

There are many fantastic, small, independent miniature and games studios out there and we believe in helping each other out wherever we can. If you feel like checking out something a bit different, then please feel free to give these guys a look-see. You may just be surprised at what you can discover…

Thanks

Dunc & Rog