Tabletop gaming and printing guides
Miniature painting, campaign gifts, and practical help preparing your artwork.
Start with your image
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From your file to your favourite thing. A few small checks make a big difference to your finished print. -
Where will your artwork live? Choose the object around the way you want to enjoy the image. -
Miniature photography: how to photograph miniatures Miniature photography for print: light, angle, focus, background and colour, so a phone photo of a painted figure holds up on paper or canvas. -
Does it still look like your character? What to inspect before you approve an AI miniature scene. -
Miniature photo backdrops: choose a scene for your painted figure Miniature photo backdrops do two jobs: a plain or printed backdrop behind the figure when you photograph it, and a scene placed around it afterwards. Get the first right and the second has a clean figure to work with. -
How to photograph artwork so it can be printed How to photograph artwork comes down to three problems: getting it square, getting it evenly lit, and getting the colour true. Solve those with a window and a phone and the copy will print properly. Miss any one and no amount of editing rescues it. - Light box photography: what it fixes, and what it flattens Light box photography solves one problem very well, a small object on a clean background with no harsh shadows, and creates another that guides rarely mention, which is that perfectly even light makes a three-dimensional object look flat.
- iPhone macro photography, for things the size of a thumb iPhone macro photography goes wrong in one predictable way: people move the phone closer and closer until the subject fills the frame, and somewhere on that journey the picture stops being sharp. The fix is counter-intuitive: back off.
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Turn photo into painting: your miniature, in a painted-style scene. Turn photo into painting-style art, starting with the miniature you spent hours on. It sits on a shelf, or in a foam-lined box, where it never gets seen. Photograph it and we place it in an AI-made scene worth looking at: a woodland path, a tavern, a battlefield at sunset, or a quiet stone courtyard. The studio is told to leave your paintwork alone.
Drawing lessons
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How to draw a dragon, one step at a time How to draw a dragon, in twelve steps that each add one thing. Every step below has its own drawing, and every drawing is the one before it plus whatever that step adds, so you can always see exactly what changed. -
How to draw a skull that looks like bone How to draw a skull, in twelve steps built on one idea: the braincase is a ball and the face hangs off the front of it. Get that and the rest is placement. Every step below has its own drawing. -
How to draw an elf, from the head ball up How to draw an elf, head and shoulders, in twelve steps. Each one has its own drawing showing exactly what it adds. The ear angle in step three is the single thing that decides whether the finished face reads as elven or as a costume. -
How to draw a castle that looks defensible How to draw a castle, in twelve steps, each with its own drawing. The order matters more here than in any other subject in this series: get the silhouette and the battlement spacing right early and the detail looks after itself. -
How to draw a robot, joint by joint How to draw a robot, in twelve steps with a drawing for each. The whole subject comes down to one idea: a robot is a set of separate parts with visible gaps between them, and the gaps are what make it mechanical. -
How to draw a sword, starting with one line How to draw a sword, in twelve steps with a drawing for each. Almost everything about this subject is symmetry, so the centre line in step two isn’t a formality: it’s the thing that stops the blade bending.
Gifts, gaming and creative spaces
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Gifts for artists and painters: their own work, printed Gifts for artists and painters work best made from their own work: a print of a painting, drawing or painted figure they love, on paper, canvas or a mug. -
Tabletop gaming gifts: turn a shared hobby memory into a gift Tabletop gaming gifts work when the image brings back a particular evening, character or finished project. Then choose an object that fits the person receiving it. -
Gifts for miniature painters: celebrate the work they painted Gifts for miniature painters begin with the model they are proudest of, which may not be the largest or the most recent. Find the piece they would choose themselves. -
Personalised gifts for him, printed from his own artwork Personalised gifts for him are hard for one specific reason: the man who is difficult to buy for is usually the man who buys what he wants the moment he wants it. Anything you can choose, he could have chosen. What he can't buy is something made out of his own work. - Secret Santa gifts for painters and gamers Secret Santa ideas usually fail on the same two constraints: a fixed budget, and a colleague you know socially but not well. Almost everything bought under those conditions is funny for an afternoon and in a drawer by February.
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Man cave ideas for a room that shows what you do Most man cave ideas end at buying things that announce the room is a man cave: a neon sign, a framed film poster, a metal plaque about beer. A room built that way looks like every other one, because everything in it came from the same shops. -
Gifts for board game lovers Gifts for board game lovers have an obvious answer and a bad one. The obvious answer is another game, and the reason it is bad is that they know the hobby far better than you do, own the ones they want, and have opinions about the rest. -
Miniature display case, open shelf, or something on the wall A miniature display case is the default answer to finished models, and it’s only sometimes the right one. Cases protect and they also hide: glass reflects, depth swallows the back row, and an army that fills one is seen less than a single figure on a shelf. - Hobby room ideas, starting with the bench Hobby room ideas usually begin with furniture and end with a room that looks tidy and is miserable to work in. The order that works is the opposite: get the bench and the light over it right first, because everything else is decoration around a place you sit for hours.
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Painted Warhammer miniatures: what to do once the army is finished Painted Warhammer miniatures, like most painted miniatures, almost all end the same way: months of evenings, a finished force, and a foam tray in a cupboard. The painting gets celebrated for about a week, on a table, by the three people who were there. -
Tabletop gaming room ideas, starting with the wall A tabletop gaming room for a painter starts from the same point every time: the desk is covered in pots and brushes, the shelf is full of half-painted models, and the walls are bare. The hobby has taken over the space. This guide shows how to make it look like you meant it. -
Christmas gifts for an artist, made from their own work A Christmas present for someone who paints or draws: their own finished work, printed on paper, canvas, metal or wood, or on a mug for the desk. - Christmas gifts for tabletop gamers, made from what they play Christmas gifts for tabletop gamers that won’t duplicate what they already own: their painted figure, their character or their campaign map, printed. Order by Thursday 10 December for standard delivery.
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Gifts for teenage lads: print something he made Gifts for teenage lads are easiest to get right when they start from his own drawing, painted model or game picture. Then pick a poster, print, mug or bottle for his room. -
Warhammer gifts: ideas for the painter, player, collector and beginner Warhammer gifts, like most gifts for wargamers, are easiest to choose once you know whether the fan mostly paints, plays or collects. This guide sorts ideas by type of fan and by budget, then adds a print of their own painted model. -
DnD gifts: D&D ideas for the player, dungeon master, couple, dad and beginner DnD gifts, like most gifts for roleplayers, are easiest to choose once you know who is sitting where at the table. This guide sorts ideas by player, dungeon master, couple, dad and beginner, then adds a print of their own character or painted figure. -
Personalised gifts for mums, printed from a picture that means something to her The best personalised gifts for mums are made from a picture that already means something to her: a child's drawing, a painting of her own, or a family photo, printed on something she will see every day. This guide covers choosing the picture, matching the object to where she'll see it, and getting it done without giving the surprise away. -
Personalised Valentine's gifts from a photo, a drawing or a place that matters The best personalised Valentine's gifts start with a picture you already have: a photo of the two of you, a drawing one of you made, or a place that matters, printed as a framed print, canvas or mug. This guide covers which picture suits which person, which object suits the picture, and how to leave enough time.
Printing and painting know-how
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Print your art on a mug: what actually survives the curve Print your art on a mug and you aren't printing a picture, you're printing a band 200 mm wide and 96 mm tall that bends away from the reader on both sides. Almost every disappointing photo mug is a good image put on a shape that could not hold it. -
How to hang a picture, at the right height and on the right fixing How to hang a picture comes down to two decisions and one measurement. The decisions are how high and what fixing; the measurement is the one almost everybody gets wrong, because they measure to the hook, not to the middle of the picture. - Gallery wall ideas that use sizes you can actually buy Most gallery wall ideas fall apart at the ordering stage, because the arrangement in the photograph was built from frames somebody already owned. These layouts are planned around the sizes you can buy, which is a different and more useful problem.
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How to clean a canvas print, and what never to use on one How to clean a canvas print is mostly a question of what not to do. A print has no glass over it, so the printed surface is the surface you're touching, and most household cleaning instincts are wrong for it. -
Wet palette: what it does, and how to make one for nothing A wet palette is a shallow sealed tub with a damp layer under a sheet of baking parchment. Paint sitting on the parchment draws moisture up from below, so acrylics that would skin over in ten minutes on a tile stay workable for hours, and often for days. -
Paint scheme ideas for your next army, and how they photograph Paint scheme ideas come down to three decisions: which colours sit together, which one leads, and how the finished figure will look under a lamp or in a photograph. This guide takes them in that order and says where each piece of advice comes from. - Warhammer for beginners: what tabletop wargaming is and what it costs Warhammer, like most tabletop wargaming, is three hobbies sold as one: collecting models, painting them and playing a game with them. Most beginners arrive wanting one of the three, and working out which one you’re here for is the cheapest decision you will make.
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DnD character ideas that survive a campaign Most DnD character ideas are a costume and a voice, and both wear out by session three. The ones that last have three things instead: something the character wants, something they're bad at, and a reason to care about somebody else at the table. -
What is giclee, and does the word mean anything? What is giclee, spelled giclée when anyone is being careful? It's a marketing word for an inkjet print, coined to make fine-art inkjet sound like something other than an inkjet. No standards body sits behind it and there is no specification it has to meet. -
How to make art prints of work you already have Learning how to make art prints comes down to three things, in order: a clean digital copy, a size the file can carry, and a paper that suits the work. Most people start at the third and are then disappointed by the first. -
DnD character art: get it made, then get it printed DnD character art can come from your own pencil, a commissioned artist or an AI tool. This guide covers each route, a brief an artist can use, the file checks that matter and how to turn the finished picture into a print, canvas or mug. -
Photograph printing and framing: choose the size, frame and surface Photograph printing and framing comes down to a few decisions: a size your file can carry, paper or canvas, a frame finish, and a crop you're happy with. This guide takes them in order, from the picture on your phone to the frame on your wall. -
Miniature painting: from bare figure to finished model Miniature painting comes down to a handful of stages done in a sensible order: clean the figure, prime it, lay down thin base coats, add shade and light, then finish the base. This guide takes them in that order, answers the questions people ask about priming, drying and mistakes, and ends with what to do once the figure is done. -
Miniature painting supplies: what a beginner needs and what can wait Miniature painting supplies come down to six things: primer, paint, two brushes, something to hold the figure, water and a lamp. This guide covers what to buy first, what can wait, and how to shop for someone else.
Size references and free tools
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A-series paper sizes, A1 to A5 A-series paper sizes: the A series in millimetres, centimetres, inches and pixels. A0 is 841 × 1189 mm and every size after it halves the longer side, so all of this is arithmetic, not a table anyone has to trust. -
A1 size in cm, inches and pixels A1 size in cm is 59.4 × 84.1, which is 594 × 841 mm and 23.39 × 33.11 inches. -
A2 size in cm, inches and pixels A2 size in cm is 42 × 59.4, which is 420 × 594 mm and 16.54 × 23.39 inches. -
A3 dimensions: the size in cm, inches and pixels A3 dimensions are 297 × 420 mm, which is 29.7 × 42 cm and 11.69 × 16.54 inches. -
A4 size in cm, inches and pixels A4 size in cm is 21 × 29.7, which is 210 × 297 mm and 8.27 × 11.69 inches. -
A5 size in cm, inches and pixels A5 measures 5.83 × 8.27 inches (148 × 210 mm). Compare its dimensions, pixel requirements and relationship to A4 before preparing artwork. -
Miniature scale converter: 28mm, 32mm, 54mm and 1:56 Wargaming miniatures are quoted as 28mm, 32mm or 54mm: a height in millimetres, not a ratio. Type a real size and a scale to get the model size, or read it backwards. Enter a figure height and the height of the person it represents to see the ratio that implies. The sums are exact, and the one guess, how tall the person is, is yours to change. - Fantasy name generator This fantasy name generator builds names instead of reciting them. Pick the kinds you want and it will build you some. Every name is assembled from syllables, not drawn from a list, so it doesn’t run out and it does not hand you somebody else’s character.
- Elf name generator This elf name generator builds elf names from syllables written for this page: high elven, wood elf, dark elf and Christmas elf, each with its own sound. Press the button for twelve at a time, untick the kinds you don’t want, or choose a first letter.
- Orc name generator This orc name generator puts orc names together the way a war-band would: a short, hard given name, then a clan, then an epithet earned the loud way. Press the button for twelve, or untick the parts you don’t need.
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Fantasy town name generator This town name generator builds fantasy town names from the same parts real English place names are made of: a word for what was there, then an ending for what people did with it. A ford, a farm, a fort, a harbour. Press the button for twelve, or narrow it to one kind of place. -
Tavern name generator This tavern name generator builds tavern names the way English pub signs have been named for centuries: an animal or an object, sometimes a pair of them, often with a colour or a number in front. Press the button for twelve, then try the best one out loud in a landlord’s voice. -
Wizard name generator This wizard name generator builds wizard names four ways: the old tower wizard with a title to live up to, the hedge witch with a name the village uses, the court mage with a family behind them, and the necromancer who doesn’t get invited twice. Each press gives you twelve.
