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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

Axis Stahltruppen

This week our first new painting tutorial is focused on the new Axis power armoured soldiers of Warlord Games’ Weird War II game, Konflikt ‘47 – the Stahltruppen.
 
Enclosed in their heavy armour and wielding fearsome weaponry, these elite warriors are a terror on the battlefield and make for a fun painting project. They tower over the rank-and-file and offer a great opportunity to paint camouflage!
 
In this video we show you:
  • How to pick out all the details of their heavily armoured frames.
  • A great way to paint the armour in the camouflage scheme seen on the box.
  • An explanation of how to prevent the camouflage from being too ‘noisy’.
  • How to paint the glowing green lenses.
These models are a ton of fun to put together and paint up for the tabletop, and this guide will walk you through the entire process to get them looking great, you can see the full video now!
 

Classic 5th Edition Warhammer Paint Set

What were painting guides like back in the year 2000? Was Blood Red brighter than we remember? Can a Citadel screw-lid paint survive for 25 years? In this video we find out all this and more!
 
At Adepticon earlier this year, Duncan found a rare gem in the form of a sealed Warhammer Paint Set that dates back to the year 2000. A bargain for $20! We thought it would be fun to open it up and check out what painting with this set was like – and the results were rather surprising.
 
In this video we:
  • Open up a box of classic Citadel paint that has remained sealed for at least 25 years.
  • Investigate the contents which brought about more than a few surprises!
  • Answer the burning question every hobbyist wants to know – were the screw lid paint bottles really as bad as people say?
  • Answer another burning question – is the included painting guide any good?
  • Discuss how this gateway product to the hobby has aged in light of modern support and community.

This was quite the adventure to film because when starting out we had no idea how it was going to go! How did we do? Well you can watch the video now to find out…

The DRPA Podcast

Beyond the Brush is the official DRPA podcast, hosted by Joe and featuring Dunc, Rog, and Jack. Each week we dive into all things hobby, from painting and collecting miniatures to industry news, behind-the-scenes chat, and the occasional special guest. If you love the hobby as much as we do, you’ll feel right at home.

New episodes go live every Wednesday, and DRPA Members get early accessa full week before general release — along with the chance to have their questions answered on the show. Just drop them into the DRPA Members’ Discord!

Episodes are available on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Player FM, and Deezer plus many more.

The Spotify link can be moody, just search - Beyond the Brush DRPA.

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!

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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!

Miao Ying in Dragon Form

Our tutorial of the week is the second part of the Miao Ying spotlight from Games Workshop’s Warhammer: The Old World, focusing on her terrifying true form, the Storm Dragon. 

In this video, we show you a great way to paint Miao Ying as a mighty dragon, paying particular attention to her deep purple and black scales to blend her terrifying presence with beauty and elegance.
 
In this video we show you:
  • What sub-assemblies we recommend and how these help with undercoating the model to get you off to a great start.
  • A fantastic way of achieving the deep purple and black scales, including a close look at how to get the smooth gradients from one tone to another by using easy to replicate techniques.
  • An explanation of key things to consider to get an even and consistent finish across the colours on her body.
  • How to paint her white purple-tinted hair in a straightforward and satisfying manner.
  • A guide to painting the fine details on her head such as the teeth, gums, eyes and more, including what order to approach them so as not to make any of them difficult to access.
  • How to paint the pink gems decorating her armour and crown.
Miao Ying makes for a fantastic project for anyone looking to paint a centrepiece for a Cathayan army, or for anyone looking to paint a mighty dragon! You can see the full video now.

 

Check out the gallery below for a sample of our 480+ Tutorials

WHY BECOME A MEMBER

Paint Sister of battle

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.

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.

WE HAVE A DUNCAN

With over 15 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.

The DRPA Podcast

Hear our official podcast a week before anyone else and we will answer DRPA member's questions weekly. A great way to relax whilst painting your favourite miniatures.

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