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Friday, October 4, 2013

Review: Painting Buddha - Season 1.1:Target Identified | Tale of two painters

Alllriiiiight!!! So we start directly with an insider you will understand if you have watched the first three DVDs with Ben Komets :) After watching the 6 DVDs I was completely smashed and to be honest: I had some difficulties to find a way how to describe this set and writing a review about it. Not because it is bad, on the opposite, but because it has many different things to see AND you have two different painters who have a somewhat different approach to painting those two wonderful miniatures I already wrote about.

So where to start? Perhaps some general stuff first...
The set is completely in English with subtitles in English, German and Spanish. You get a DVD set from two painters with pretty different approaches how to paint exactly the same miniatures. Ben does everything "by hand" where Rafael starts with using an airbrush.

Painting Buddha - Season 1.1 | The menu
The menus are in English and describe the parts which are painted of the miniature (not the techniques though).
Both painters are setup straight in front of the camera and Zaphod does some Q&A while they are painting. These comments from the OFF are sometimes pretty funny e.d. that is where the ALRIIIIIIGHT!!! comes from :) Maybe here is some space to optimize so that the painters are watching a bit more into the camera and not to the side where Zaphod and/or the self-monitor is placed. Telepromter effect you know? And one odd thing I noticed: The aspect ratio of the filmed material seems to be a bit off on my TV. Some parts of the screen is cut off, I tried to fix it with on-board possibilities of my TV but nothing worked. On my PC everything works fine.

The DVDs

Painting Buddha - Season 1.1 | Ben Komets painting
Painting Buddha - Season 1.1 | Rafael Garcia painting
While the two paint, the setup switches between a palette view (GREAT feature as you can see how the paint is mixed and how those two use the palette to prepare their paints) and the painting view where you see the painter and/or the palette in small windows in the main frame. At first you really have to get used to this but after the first minutes this is a pretty nice feature I hadn't seen before.

The DVDs are roughly separated into chapters in which special parts of the miniature (and the base) are painted. Here I have some criticism to place (even if small): I would have preferred a hint on the techniques or even a separation into techniques in the menu. Especially since Ben has an awesome technique for his NMM and transitions. Also the techniques Rafael does with his airbrush are pretty cool. I won't go too much into detail because you really get an overdose of information if you watch these DVDs one after another and I have problems to explain everything. Unlike my other reviews this time I really am nearly speechless and my brain is shortly before critical overload.

Luckily Ichiban Painting did a video review shortly so I suggest you look at that review for some deeper insight, because he states much of the things I would have to say about the DVDs. And you have some video footage of the set to get a better picture of it.
Since I only ordered the "budget" box including the base, I can't say anything about the t-shirts and stuff :)


Conclusio

Painting Buddha - Season 1.1 | Painted Miniatures & Box
To be honest I can't say which painting style I like more both are awesome and I think you should try to get the techniques you like most from both of them (or you get pummeled by the walking stick!). This set clearly targets intermediate to advanced painters. As a beginner I sometimes had problems to catch up (but lucky me has watched enough painting tuts to get through this) and I really worry about trying to paint those two miniatures.
Another thing is that the stuff is only on DVD. I don't know if producing a Bluray is more expensive. But it would really upvalue the footage even more. Most of the stuff in the web is now High Definition and painting sets should go the road of HD content too. Again nothing bad (you could see it as a compliment: I want to see this stuff even sharper)  but as worldwide known we Germans are masters of complaining :D

Nonetheless this set is really a must have! For 42€ you not only get the DVDs but also the appropriate miniatures. Compare this to the sets of Natalya or Jennifer or even with the stuff from Miniature Mentor and you clearly see the winner here. Even if you aren't an experienced painter the stuff shown is awesome. And I would suggest you get the base too. Otherwise two complete DVDs are lost because they show how the base is painted. I really hope the guys do another season. They will have already a customer here!

[UPDATE: Shipping costs]
A short update because I forgot something important for me: If you buy the DVD set you are faced with rather high shipping cost of ~10€ (depending where you live).  As someone who buys via internet alot, I am used to realistic costs and this was WAY over the top. Therefore I asked Michael about this and he promised me that they will look into this and adapt the shipping cost accordingly in the next season.
But even with these high shipping costs the package is worth it and you get lots for your money.


So long,
Paradox0n

P.S.: I tried to take pictures posted already on Masterminis and hope Zaphod won't sue me know :)

5 comments:

  1. Great little review there mate. Though I can attest that he is not making much if anything on the shipping costs. From some of the boxes that I have seen him ship out he has actually lost money cause the box weighted as much as 30 grams over what was needed for the cheaper shipping. Not an excuse indeed, but something to be aware of. Though I know he is looking at how to streamline this in the future and ensure a more fair ( overall ) shipping method to everyone.

    Glad you enjoyed it.. curious when you will tackle the models themselves though :) Now I guess I need to do a review of my own.. mmmm something else to put on my to-do list I guess :)

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    1. Yah I know that he couldn't do much with the actual box. But he promised to look into it for further seasons.
      And to be honest: 10€ for inland shipping IS too much. A 10kg package (!) costs around 7€ for private persons.

      But as said I don't mind, the value of the box is still excellent. I am just picky with postage because I know that many dodgy shops try to duff you with it. And it would be a shame if Painting Buddha would be categorized into this line of business because of this. That's why I emailed before ordering the set, because it is an unknown shop and had this suspicious postage. If the answer wouldn't have been THIS nice and cleared all the suspicions I wouldn't have this set now in my hands.

      Hope this clears that point a bit up. :)

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  2. Hey! Thank you for this great review!

    A couple of quick comments:

    First of all Blue-Ray vs DVD: Blue-Ray is in fact very expensive. Just to be allowed to make copies of BRs, you have to buy a licence that costs 6500€. oO

    Also: Download only is something we definitely did NOT want. We believe that owning a product, holding it in your hands, making it really cool and desirable is something you cannot achieve with a download only model. HOWEVER, we are thinking about adding HD downloads/streams for buyers of the DVD set. This will follow in 2014, though.

    Shipping: The 'high' shipping rate for Germany (all the other ones are less, e.g., shipping UK is 10€, but really costs 10,60) is a remnant from our early days where we had a Europe-flat-rate. As soon as season 2 comes out, we will streamline it more. Also, we have to save 11 grams on our budget boxes. No kidding :D

    We will also add additional shipping options for bruddhas outside the EU, possibly even without having to charge for VAT. But again, this will come later, possibly in December.

    In general, S&H is something that we don't like either. It costs a lot (e.g., if we were to use DHL for Int'l shipping, S&H would go up to 36€ for a BUDGET box! Insane!). We are thinking about models where you can SAVE the S&H completely. Yes, we are :D And no, not via downloads ^^ But give us a few weeks for finalizing our plans on this.

    We will talk about this more on www.facebook.com/masterminis.net in the next couple of weeks. And you can help :)

    If there are any other questions, let me know!

    SHARE & ENJOY :D

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    Replies
    1. Wohoooo thanks for this insanely long comment :)
      6.5k € for the Bluray license? Holymoly! Perhaps there could be the part where the Download could jump in (if you buy the set you get a special Download link, like e.g. the Kickstarter for Sedition Wars did).

      As said: I am just a bit picky with the shipping rate because lots of "bad guys" get there money in with that. And you are definitely not in that! Would be a shame if some potential customers would be deterred by stuff like this.

      I am glad that you listen to your customers (like me) and try to do things better (if that a) is possible and b) even if its some small thing to do). That's why I am eagerly waiting for the next season. The money is already on my secret hobby bank account ;) Such commitment to the hobby and us hobbyists is really cool.

      Sharing is caring and enjoying I did oh yes :)

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