Artist Profile：Ken Ziegler

TESTIMONIAL

When I started painting Warhammer miniatures in the fall of 2024, I made a classic beginner’s mistake: I bought one of those enormous sets of 18 round brushes that were supposed to cover every base. They looked impressive, but once I began painting, I realized that 80% were unnecessary. Worse, they weren’t durable, so the ones I used died fast. Over time, I learned that you don’t need a lot of brushes—just a few excellent ones.

That’s around when I discovered Golden Maple’s kolinsky sable brushes. Their 3-pack of sizes 00, 0, and 1 round sables became my daily drivers for detail work—affordable, responsive, long-bristled, and tough enough to last through a hundred models. If you’ve used sables, you know how uncommon this is. Now, when I introduce friends to Warhammer painting, I start them with the same Golden Maple rounds that I use. Take care of them, and they’ll go far. When it’s time to replace them, because of their affordability, it’s less painful than with other sables.

But the brush that really started my relationship with Golden Maple was their size-1 dry brush, which comes in a six-pack of variously sized, excellent dry brushes. Regardless of who makes them, most dry brushes are too big for painting infantry models for Warhammer. Despite looking everywhere, I found no one except Golden Maple selling what can only be called a micro-drybrush, which is, as you’d expect, is endlessly versatile. Base coating? Easy. Washes? Just wet and apply. Stippling? Yup. Classic dry brush? All these things. Best of all, because of their size, they can be used to “cheat” at layering, often creating cooler effects than layering with round brushes and much faster. I love them so much that I contacted Golden Maple directly and bought 20 straight from their factory. I expected it to cost $200; instead, it was… $24? That says it all.

PERSONAL STATEMENT 

I’m a creative director with a writing background, but first and foremost, I’m an artist in love with several different mediums—writing, drawing, painting on canvas, painting miniatures, design, cooking—whatever holds my attention long enough to make something I’m proud of. Miniature painting has become a favorite because it offers surprising freedom and clear objectives within a tiny, variable, three-dimensional canvas. Plus, in direct contrast with so many other arts, it’s often a collaborative experience. Warhammer painting parties are a thing, and they’re great, which is why a friend and I just launched our own regularly scheduled, Golden Maple-sponsored series of remote painting events open to everyone called Girlhammer, which is primarily about bringing more women into the hobby.

You can see additional work samples at marchingflowers.com, where I share paint jobs from my ever-growing Warhammer 40,000 army. If you’d rather see writing, drawing, and other painting work, visit kenziegler.org.