Things to consider when composing your color scheme: 1) Contrasting colors make it easier to tell where one part of the model ends and another begins. Important for miniatures, because most of the time people are going to see them from a distance, rather than close up. Blocking out the colors in such a way that the borders are really clear makes it easier to tell at a glance what something is supposed to be. Sometimes, you might not even realize a model has a certain feature until you're primed and hit it with a zenithal highlight, and suddenly the black and white contrast illuminates it. 2) A color that might seem overwhelming in large amounts may be much more appropriate in smaller amounts. The balance between colors can be a factor. Accenting with one color - a "splash" of a hue - can add complexity to a piece that one or two dominant ones alone might not achieve. If you're using three color complimentary colors, consider downplaying the presence of one of them. 3) Color _saturation_ can be fiddled with. You might decide that one color should be a bit duller or muted, to make another color stand out. Whereas a whole model with muted or desaturated colors can create a solid mood unto itself (ditto with an all-vibrant color scheme). If you're looking at a set of colors on the color wheel and think you don't like one of them, consider adding black or white to the color to dull it down a bit. You might like its inclusion more if it's not standing out. 4) It's possible to tint your entire color scheme with one color, to create a unified effect. Add a tiny amount of a particular color to all your other colors. It might cause the whole scheme to trend warmer or cooler, or convey a particular kind of mood. Washes tend to do this as well. The most common washes are black and brown, but you can wash your model with all sorts of colors. 5) Take some inspiration from Real Life. Not just in terms of military history, though that's a good place to start, but in nature. Plants, animals, insects, landscapes, skylines. When doing research, save images to a folder just full of images that have really interesting color combinations. Often, you'll get fascinating pointers for how to create a color composition, even ones you'd never consider otherwise.
Also consulting model kits might be handy. Gundam models have the exact ratios for all kinds of colors in their instructions. I’m sure other model kits do this. If you have a model kit you like the color scheme of. Just steal it.
"As long as it makes you happy, do what you want" I try and emphasise this to people getting into historicals. If someone is going to have a tizzy fit because the drummer of your 44th foot is actually in the facing colours of the 46th foot, that is their issue. Your models, your paint job, your decision. Engaging someone in polite conversation about their choice of colour scheme is one thing. Telling them that its wrong, simply because its not how you would do it, is another
What you do is a single dead soldier on her base and then give her a blood splatter along her where she killed the guy like maybe cover her hand in blood cause she jammed it into his neck or something cool like thay
God damn, just found your channel recently and every video is gold. Something about the way you talk about hobbying gets me back on track with my painting. Thanks a lot man!
There is a scene in A Midsummers Night Dream Puck (Stanley Tucci) is talking to a faery She has obviously been drinking and looks more than a little bedraggled. Pity I can't find a clip.
My biggest issue is that white and black pretty much go with everything... so it's kind of easy to just go "well, I'll just do one main color, and then do the rest black". Which usually works, but it's kinda boring!
Just want to point out, historicals can be more relaxed than certain fantasy/sci-fi games, at times. Sure, a british redcoat has a red coat, but the exact shade of red rarely matters (or is dependant on more factors than I'd care to list here). Something similar for an american Sherman tank, and Olive Drab covers a whole lot of colors as is. Meanwhile, a Space Marine from one of the official chapters, must have the exact correct shade of blue/green/red, at least listening to some people. (Although I'll admit, some of those exist within historicals as well, but that just highlights the problem). And then there is historicals before the large-scale introduction of uniforms, of course... you can almost go wild with your vikings. Blacks, browns and greys are of course given. Greens, reds, blues, yellows, all are possible. Purple... would be rare, but an excellent way to denote your leader.
That reminds me of a color photo I once saw of a column of about a dozen WWII Sherman tanks. No two of them were the exact same color. They were all from the same unit, but the paint jobs were not the same. They were all "olive drab", but different batches of paint turned out different, some were probably older and more faded, etc.
I'm curious how many people had a similar experience as me with their hobby journey. I kept hearing "thin your paints" so I did and I got a good feel for how to do that but I was completely ignorant of color theory so I was struggling to make many colors work. I've found the better I get at color theory the more painting in thin layers is a joy because your not fighting the colors. Its to the point where I'm excited to paint in the more difficult colors or to try new ways to do skin tones. I'm by no means good at color theory but now I can naturally start to approach contrast and saturation because of my working knowledge of color theory.
I love your Channel!! Thanks to you I got back into the hobby of wargaming and I was almost bingewatching your older content completely overthrowing the 90/10 rule but now that I finally got started I'm fine being mediocre and just having fun, not being that guy and enjoy my new wet palette and painting my new blood bowl models.
When I make up a colourscheme I pick some theme (which really can be anything, from a specific main colour to certain themes or moods) and then collect a metric ton of reference material. I then make a collage of things that really vibe with me and pick the main colours from there.
A wordy comment regarding Color theory: I think it's really important, just not when you are starting. Following the boxart means you're passively learning color theory by feeling how colors mix and interact... That's the lesson you will ultimately need when you finally decide to make your own color scheme. In one of Atom's past videos where he interviewed the pros at Adepticon (pachaw) there is a statement from Vince Venturella that resonated a lot: if you don't know color theory, your models will look bad and you won't know why. Something along those lines.
very few people are going to passively learn colour theory by copying box art - What they will do is learn combinations that work, by wrote. The understanding of why they work is far more important when we're talking about this topic "how to pick your colour schemes".
Knowing just a bit of color theory really did help the overall look of my first miniatures. Following a split triad color scheme has always been a solid choice in my opinion. Adding contrasting colors in shadows or washes also adds nice depth/tones, very different from just adding white or black for contrast.
I usually start with either the box art or book art or whatever but then the most important subsequent step is do the old test model to make sure I can make the colors look good or test out my own crazy changes. That becomes reference for the rest of my squad/army/team and I always have it in front of me while I paint the rest, just so I can keep everything coherent.
I will sometimes do something off the wall and pattern after historical uniforms. My Cadians have white helmets, bright red tunics, darker red armor, and dark almost navy blue trousers. I had an audio book called the Washing If The Spears on when I painted them. It's about the Zulu war.
That's a video I've been waiting for. I have a lot of problems with choosing the colour schemes and often change my mind after I already painted one or two miniatures.
Something I learned from when I painted RC Cars, is that companies spend lots of money to graphic designers to come up with the perfict color scheme that copying those can work well. Look at product packaging, like the colors of a doritos bag or any other product/store and find one that looks good to you and copy those.
Thank you for helping paint my ASOIAF miniatures!! You help me just keep it simple, paint a few at a time, paint few colors & wash & im happy with that & it's attainable. I watch other RUclips show how they paint (they are very good) but I paint now for me & to the level I'm satisfied. I wanna play the game often not spend all my time painting. Painting miniatures make the game better. Thank you sir for helping me with the part I was stalled on. Grateful
For 40k, I use the Dawn of War games to test colour schemes to test the initial "Do I like this?" reaction and load up a game to see squads and vehicles in said colour scheme.
Nice video. I remember when I first got into 40K, Batman (with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson) had just come out (1989). I used the Joker's colors (purple and green) for my Elder Guardians.
Great topic. When I decide on a colour scheme, I try to think in a " three shade mode" , ie: a base colour, the shadow , and the highlight, for each area of a miniature, and sometimes, a fourth colour to get an area to stand out, that much more. I also try to pick colours from the colour wheel, across from each other. A good way, to make things "pop" Another way to add interest to your schemes, is to pick three areas, that will have an opposite colour to your main colour, and they don't have to be large areas, but should form a triangle, to lead the viewer's eye, around the miniature. Anyway, another excellent topic that many agonize over. Thanks again!
I got an idea for my space marines from an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I don't recall the name of the episode, but the clone troops get some new recruits they refer to as "shinies" because their armor was fresh. So I painted them all the same color pallet, however some are really nice and clean, and others are not. Variety and uniformity in one.
I went to a hobby shop recently and saw other people's armies for the first time. I realized that they weren't painted perfect, in fact they were very amateur. However, I was inspired by them because even though the quality of the paint job wasn't good, the passion and love the collector had for their models shown through, and I think that kicks so much ass I immediately started painting my own minis and I love it!
Since I am at moment focusing more on Frostgrave, I am focusing use "natural colours" (like different browns for fur and leather etc), but also, because scene is very white, frost ruins, avoiding too bright colours like red, blue, etc what would draw attention and make others possibly see you before you see them. Also, too much black may be bad. But also, since people in Frost Grave are a) often mercenaries (or possibly from some village or so) they have mismatched outfits: some one bought this from travelling merchant, that other thing was a gift, and that thing was from local crafter.... And then, also have exceptions for all these rules: if some one have bright blue trousers, it is because it worked in their home town, what is completely different place than the frozen graveyard. And more expensive, knightly mercenaries may have bright colours because they may be carelessly proud of their position and achievements, etc. They may have very expensive stuff, while many other may have what ever they happen got with cheap prices. So, have rule for colours, but also exceptions for those rules. Some rogue really like use black cloths, no matter than they are not very good on daytime in snowy scene...(but they are bit more warmer, and still useful at night time).
I do three things when picking out a new color scheme. 1- Pick up the color wheel and jot down a few contrasting and complementary color ideas for a given model or models. 2- I try it the proposed color scheme on a cheap plastic army man figure that I have already primered white. (You can get a bag of like 30 of those plastic army men for $1 or so.) And I primer white because I want to see clearly how the colors chosen stand out or blend in with each other. 3- Assuming I like the chosen color scheme, I write it down in a painting journal. Painting journal helps a ton, so I don't forget what I was doing in between painting sessions and breaks.
Sometimes you have to just say "%$@&$ it!" and do the most outrageous thing possible. I have a Tau army I played back in the day that was plaid. The vehicles and crisis suits (and all the hard armor on the troops) were a red-based tartan, while the stealth suits were a "stealth" plaid based on the Black Watch. Visually distracted my opponents, but they sure remembered the army!
One of the most interesting methods I have heard was use a MTG deck. Draw two cards, one is the color the other is the style, black is death, green is nature, etc.
Recently painted 26 poxwalkers in grungy warm tones .Using baby blue on the maggots really made them stand out. For 40k I paint close to the lore. As far as opponents go I'm happy if the models are painted. People who don't paint well yet need more encouragement than criticism.
One thing I would say about people not liking a colour they have put on and repainting over it is that sometimes you have got to give it a chance. Most models go through a stage at some point in the process where they look terrible and part of your brain things "Oh god, have I messed this up?" When you then shade and highlight those parts the entire effect changes and you often end up with something great that you had despaired of. New painters quite often lose confidence part way through a model, because they don't have enough experience to know that the entire feel of the mini will change when you start to paint the lighting onto it. Sometimes it is important to push through to the end and see what the finished product looks like.
Check out the videos of Catgutt, he has some fantastic nature-inspired yet easy to paint Tyranid schemes, and then a video on the mindset on how to make even more
I use vior'la for my tau, but there is always room for uniqueness! I may paint the pathfinders' gaiters dark grey, while line infantry wears them black. Red may be applied to the whole helmet of the officers instead of just the antenna. Light grey panels may be chosen at will in the armour. In the 18th century almost each regiment had its unique colour scheme but all looked the same in the end. That's my point! Lovely vid btw!
Back during the elder times, Space Marines used to have Camouflage Paint Schemes; this was a nice licence to paint up all that power armour in any weird combination of colours and patterns.
I'd love to see camouflage Space Marines (or for Imperium players to have less stress placed on them to use precise, specified preset paint schemes). Blood Axe clan Orks' traditional color scheme is camouflage, and in the lore, they don't understand the concept of blending that camouflage with their environment. You can get away with *anything*.
One theme I like to do is when I buy a starter box on army is cool colors and the other warm colors. A good example is the ASOSIF starter of the Starks with greys, blues, and purples while the Lannesters with Reds, yellows and orange.
If you're anything like me, you have multiple armies for a given game. I pick colors so they contrast well off of each other. For instance, I have an army that's mostly browns and grays, so the other army is more blue. If your armies are going to share a lot of table time together they should look good together!
I like doing a "Colour Test" first on a canvas. I get these cheap cardboard canvases from the Dollar Store and will paint the colours I want to use with washes and all next to each other on the canvas. Helps a lot.
I did 4 years of art in High School but was unlucky in that the teacher was an idiot. He introduced us to various art types but never addressed how those types worked. So anything I know about painting figures is still self taught, is that not horrendous. Anyway, my first paint jobs were 1/72 Napoleonics. Then Ed 2 of WH40k, where I copied the box art. I then messed around with Orks who allowed a lot of freedom with their colours. But my true adventure into painting was when I took up Eldar. They have a Tin Bitz uniform for general troops and metallic colours to match the troop type they are. Green for Scorpions, brass for Drakes and so on. What sets the metals off however are the weapons, helmets, flags etc.. are bright matt colours. Tin Bits and swamp brown tie the army together with green for infantry, red for support and blue for specialist. You definitely have to see the colour in your head though.
Currently I am making some inquisition forces in case I find a group to play Dark Heresy with, and the idea I had with those is I'll print myself some classic 3rd edition stormies and paint them up with the striking red undersuits and paint up the armour with Urban T camouflage from the USMC's Urban Warrior exercise in '99. The pitch black armour panels bothered me, so I chose to do my own spin on them.
One of my main things is that I don't contemplate on what to do, I just grab a colour that might looks good and then I put brush to model and paint, I've changed up colour schemes a couple times and I've only found the ones I enjoy through trial and error, so don't be afraid to paint without a plan, enjoy it, it's a hobby for fun
A bit late to the party here. just watched the video on choosing colour schemes, which i must confess, I have problems with some times. Historical stuff is pretty much covered by the likes of Osprey and Mr Haythornthwaite, but fantasy and sci fi, pulp etc can be a challenge. However, one way i get inspiration, is from any local supermarket, shop, mall etc. The guys that produce packaging for products have probably got a degree or gold medal in product design etc and have a thorough knowledge of colour theory etc. The various packages are designed to be pleasing to the eye.....so...browse the shelves and gain inspiration from Walmart
Thanks for the great advice, as always! Some very interesting factors to consider covered in this video... and I still get confused as to when it’s okay to wear white after Labor Day.
I have really poor eyesight, so, I pick a primer color, a base color, and a drybrush /highlight color as a final coat and leave it at that. If I want more color I paint the weapons metal colors like silver or copper.
I prime plastic spoon and then test my colours out on the spoon's first to see if I like it I have let the spoon set for 24/36 hours just to make sure a couple times. The worst was looking at painting a darker red weapons casing on Dark Angels as I hate Christmas marines thank god for was it 4th or 5th Ed. with there silver bolter casings. Oh man the argument my friend and I had over the holsters on Space marines should they be leather or hard plastic so it really boiled down to black or brown. He went Brown across the board I went black for rank and file leather for officers.
I like gears of war and i like warhammer, so my tempestus scions are enforcers (they look a lot like the COG troopers from gears) and well they are painted like them.... I recommend to base and take references from here and there, other model kits, paintjobs..... videogames, films, historic things... etc
Historical wargaming colors getting fussy is funny to me as someone who's done historic model making. At least with things like WWII, colors were all over the place, even among the same army and even unit. Field applied paint and camo was pigment mixed with whatever medium they had on hand, old motor oil? Gasoline? Anti-Freeze? Sure, whatever you had and didn't need, that's what you used. So the shades would be different. I mean look at all the different shades of US Olive Drab companies make, some are more green, some are brown-ish purple. Weathering, photo references, all these things, even how far away the reference is in the atmosphere, will change how the color looks. If you spend too much time researching colors, you'll go cross-eyed, until you spend so much time researching colors you realize Close enough is good enough.
@corrinavatan Well, yes, there are generic color wheels everywhere but each manufacturer has different pigment compositions so, knowing what's inside the paint will skew the wheel towards a sort of "proprietary" one if you know what I mean. For example, did you know that GW Flash Fitz Yellow is actually really close to green? You could make your own CW using your paints, mixing them and trying to see where they end up. But I can clearly see what the OP is saying: the manufacturer has the colorspace coordinates for each paint they could easily make one...🤔
I've made up a legion for 40k an kff shoot of the gray knights it just makes it funner for me ive come up with a name for them a colour scheme. To me I like a unique style but im not painting to play the table top im doing it for a fun pass time and to look at my new pretty army
I like to use anime characters that have the feel I'm going for and look at their color scheme. Right now I'm looking at seraphons and I'm looking at darkness from konosuba. As an idea for their colors.
You don't have to paint something bone color for it to look like bone color. If you desaturate pink and green you can make it look like bone. Why pink/green? Because they are colors. It takes a lot more knowledge in order to do that. [Pink for "fresh" bones. Green for old moldy bones.]
It's because it's not a colour. Browns are highly desaturated versions of other colours, so when looking at colourwheels you can categorize them under their base tones (which if you have a pre-mixed colour are sometimes a bit harder to pick up, but most of them are somewhere around orange).
Honestly as someone who was never really into art beyond the compulsory lessons at school before getting into the hobby, I think a lot of colour theory really boils down to common sense. I think a lot of people tend to have a natural understanding of what colours tend to look best with each other just from our own view of what colours and combinations we naturally enjoy. A thing I've learned that I think helps when coming up with colour schemes is to avoid using pure black and pure white, this helps cut down on areas that look unfinished on a miniature. Instead, only use black for your deepest shadows, and white for your brightest highlights, and instead use off whites and dark greys for areas you want to be white and black. Another thing you can do is mix a small amount of a dominant colour on the model into the white or black, this helps to really unify the colour scheme.
Okay Uncle Adam, I'm trying to paint my new Warcaster Neo-Mechanica, from Privateer Press. Its a small group of mins maybe 15 total, I want them to be super militaristic in appearance and a few of my friends say to match them to my 40K tau.. I'm not sure I want to do that but these need to be done by Oct with a 40 hour work well, combined with a full time dad. What is your opinion?
Saying colour theory demands a balance of hot and cold tones is as wrong as saying you must always present the light from directly above. Colour temperature is a mechanism to add emotion, and an axis you can use to boost contrast. Nothing is mandated.
"I like green, in gonna paint my dudes green" - me for every project
Same here friend. Every single army. Green.
And at least eight different shades of green.
Me, painting cadians...
Me, but with turquoise.
Same but with blue
I do two black and red and flip a coin everytime.
Things to consider when composing your color scheme:
1) Contrasting colors make it easier to tell where one part of the model ends and another begins. Important for miniatures, because most of the time people are going to see them from a distance, rather than close up. Blocking out the colors in such a way that the borders are really clear makes it easier to tell at a glance what something is supposed to be. Sometimes, you might not even realize a model has a certain feature until you're primed and hit it with a zenithal highlight, and suddenly the black and white contrast illuminates it.
2) A color that might seem overwhelming in large amounts may be much more appropriate in smaller amounts. The balance between colors can be a factor. Accenting with one color - a "splash" of a hue - can add complexity to a piece that one or two dominant ones alone might not achieve. If you're using three color complimentary colors, consider downplaying the presence of one of them.
3) Color _saturation_ can be fiddled with. You might decide that one color should be a bit duller or muted, to make another color stand out. Whereas a whole model with muted or desaturated colors can create a solid mood unto itself (ditto with an all-vibrant color scheme). If you're looking at a set of colors on the color wheel and think you don't like one of them, consider adding black or white to the color to dull it down a bit. You might like its inclusion more if it's not standing out.
4) It's possible to tint your entire color scheme with one color, to create a unified effect. Add a tiny amount of a particular color to all your other colors. It might cause the whole scheme to trend warmer or cooler, or convey a particular kind of mood. Washes tend to do this as well. The most common washes are black and brown, but you can wash your model with all sorts of colors.
5) Take some inspiration from Real Life. Not just in terms of military history, though that's a good place to start, but in nature. Plants, animals, insects, landscapes, skylines. When doing research, save images to a folder just full of images that have really interesting color combinations. Often, you'll get fascinating pointers for how to create a color composition, even ones you'd never consider otherwise.
Also consulting model kits might be handy. Gundam models have the exact ratios for all kinds of colors in their instructions. I’m sure other model kits do this. If you have a model kit you like the color scheme of. Just steal it.
"As long as it makes you happy, do what you want" I try and emphasise this to people getting into historicals. If someone is going to have a tizzy fit because the drummer of your 44th foot is actually in the facing colours of the 46th foot, that is their issue. Your models, your paint job, your decision. Engaging someone in polite conversation about their choice of colour scheme is one thing. Telling them that its wrong, simply because its not how you would do it, is another
Funny you mention the 46th foot. I just painted them in 15mm hah!
And telling them that they're wrong when they're wrong is third.
A perfectly paint elven princess floating around with a singular blood splatter could look pretty sinister.
Yeah maybe shes just been karate chopping seagulls out the sky
@@depalapili-pala4859 Seagulls poked you in the coconut?
@@jherazob she should have told them to stop it now.
What you do is a single dead soldier on her base and then give her a blood splatter along her where she killed the guy like maybe cover her hand in blood cause she jammed it into his neck or something cool like thay
C4D, i like the way you think. 😈
God damn, just found your channel recently and every video is gold. Something about the way you talk about hobbying gets me back on track with my painting. Thanks a lot man!
I love how frequently you reference your love for “fish-people”
Sudden urge to do an Elven Princess splattered in blood and dirt...
And name her Killadriel
@@AndrewMcColl Name her Harley Highon.
Well I hope you take a shower afterwards. Seems a tad messy hah.
sounds like a fun Saturday night
There is a scene in A Midsummers Night Dream
Puck (Stanley Tucci) is talking to a faery
She has obviously been drinking and looks more than a little bedraggled.
Pity I can't find a clip.
My biggest issue is that white and black pretty much go with everything... so it's kind of easy to just go "well, I'll just do one main color, and then do the rest black". Which usually works, but it's kinda boring!
Just want to point out, historicals can be more relaxed than certain fantasy/sci-fi games, at times. Sure, a british redcoat has a red coat, but the exact shade of red rarely matters (or is dependant on more factors than I'd care to list here). Something similar for an american Sherman tank, and Olive Drab covers a whole lot of colors as is. Meanwhile, a Space Marine from one of the official chapters, must have the exact correct shade of blue/green/red, at least listening to some people. (Although I'll admit, some of those exist within historicals as well, but that just highlights the problem).
And then there is historicals before the large-scale introduction of uniforms, of course... you can almost go wild with your vikings. Blacks, browns and greys are of course given. Greens, reds, blues, yellows, all are possible. Purple... would be rare, but an excellent way to denote your leader.
That reminds me of a color photo I once saw of a column of about a dozen WWII Sherman tanks. No two of them were the exact same color. They were all from the same unit, but the paint jobs were not the same. They were all "olive drab", but different batches of paint turned out different, some were probably older and more faded, etc.
Rule of Cool always to go by, they are YOUR minis, not anyone elses.
Right on man.
Yes. Yes, yes, yes. I wish more people saw painting this way.
i painted my necromunda enforcers like romans. silver armour, red tunics for troops. purple for officers, bronze shoulders for subjucators etc
I'm curious how many people had a similar experience as me with their hobby journey. I kept hearing "thin your paints" so I did and I got a good feel for how to do that but I was completely ignorant of color theory so I was struggling to make many colors work. I've found the better I get at color theory the more painting in thin layers is a joy because your not fighting the colors. Its to the point where I'm excited to paint in the more difficult colors or to try new ways to do skin tones.
I'm by no means good at color theory but now I can naturally start to approach contrast and saturation because of my working knowledge of color theory.
I love your Channel!!
Thanks to you I got back into the hobby of wargaming and I was almost bingewatching your older content completely overthrowing the 90/10 rule but now that I finally got started I'm fine being mediocre and just having fun, not being that guy and enjoy my new wet palette and painting my new blood bowl models.
When I make up a colourscheme I pick some theme (which really can be anything, from a specific main colour to certain themes or moods) and then collect a metric ton of reference material. I then make a collage of things that really vibe with me and pick the main colours from there.
I have a pile of old 2nd Edition Space Marines in a parade rest pose so I intend to paint them in a fairly pristine scheme.
Totally agree with the “your minis your call” when it comes to the hobby. Great vid.
A wordy comment regarding Color theory: I think it's really important, just not when you are starting. Following the boxart means you're passively learning color theory by feeling how colors mix and interact... That's the lesson you will ultimately need when you finally decide to make your own color scheme. In one of Atom's past videos where he interviewed the pros at Adepticon (pachaw) there is a statement from Vince Venturella that resonated a lot: if you don't know color theory, your models will look bad and you won't know why. Something along those lines.
very few people are going to passively learn colour theory by copying box art - What they will do is learn combinations that work, by wrote. The understanding of why they work is far more important when we're talking about this topic "how to pick your colour schemes".
Knowing just a bit of color theory really did help the overall look of my first miniatures. Following a split triad color scheme has always been a solid choice in my opinion. Adding contrasting colors in shadows or washes also adds nice depth/tones, very different from just adding white or black for contrast.
I usually start with either the box art or book art or whatever but then the most important subsequent step is do the old test model to make sure I can make the colors look good or test out my own crazy changes. That becomes reference for the rest of my squad/army/team and I always have it in front of me while I paint the rest, just so I can keep everything coherent.
I will sometimes do something off the wall and pattern after historical uniforms. My Cadians have white helmets, bright red tunics, darker red armor, and dark almost navy blue trousers. I had an audio book called the Washing If The Spears on when I painted them. It's about the Zulu war.
That's a video I've been waiting for. I have a lot of problems with choosing the colour schemes and often change my mind after I already painted one or two miniatures.
Something I learned from when I painted RC Cars, is that companies spend lots of money to graphic designers to come up with the perfict color scheme that copying those can work well. Look at product packaging, like the colors of a doritos bag or any other product/store and find one that looks good to you and copy those.
One of the best videos in a while, really knocked it out of the park on this one. Thank you for sharing and please stay safe.
Thank you for helping paint my ASOIAF miniatures!! You help me just keep it simple, paint a few at a time, paint few colors & wash & im happy with that & it's attainable. I watch other RUclips show how they paint (they are very good) but I paint now for me & to the level I'm satisfied. I wanna play the game often not spend all my time painting. Painting miniatures make the game better. Thank you sir for helping me with the part I was stalled on. Grateful
Thank you for helping me
For 40k, I use the Dawn of War games to test colour schemes to test the initial "Do I like this?" reaction and load up a game to see squads and vehicles in said colour scheme.
The only problem with that is how saturated and odd it is
True, but it's good for a quick nasty bashing out the broad strokes that are easily fixed when you get to painting the models yourself.
Nice video.
I remember when I first got into 40K, Batman (with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson) had just come out (1989). I used the Joker's colors (purple and green) for my Elder Guardians.
Great topic. When I decide on a colour scheme, I try to think in a " three shade mode" , ie: a base colour, the shadow , and the highlight, for each area of a miniature, and sometimes, a fourth colour to get an area to stand out, that much more.
I also try to pick colours from the colour wheel, across from each other. A good way, to make things "pop"
Another way to add interest to your schemes, is to pick three areas, that will have an opposite colour to your main colour, and they don't have to be large areas, but should form a triangle, to lead the viewer's eye, around the miniature.
Anyway, another excellent topic that many agonize over.
Thanks again!
I got an idea for my space marines from an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I don't recall the name of the episode, but the clone troops get some new recruits they refer to as "shinies" because their armor was fresh.
So I painted them all the same color pallet, however some are really nice and clean, and others are not.
Variety and uniformity in one.
I went to a hobby shop recently and saw other people's armies for the first time. I realized that they weren't painted perfect, in fact they were very amateur. However, I was inspired by them because even though the quality of the paint job wasn't good, the passion and love the collector had for their models shown through, and I think that kicks so much ass I immediately started painting my own minis and I love it!
Since I am at moment focusing more on Frostgrave, I am focusing use "natural colours" (like different browns for fur and leather etc), but also, because scene is very white, frost ruins, avoiding too bright colours like red, blue, etc what would draw attention and make others possibly see you before you see them. Also, too much black may be bad. But also, since people in Frost Grave are a) often mercenaries (or possibly from some village or so) they have mismatched outfits: some one bought this from travelling merchant, that other thing was a gift, and that thing was from local crafter.... And then, also have exceptions for all these rules: if some one have bright blue trousers, it is because it worked in their home town, what is completely different place than the frozen graveyard. And more expensive, knightly mercenaries may have bright colours because they may be carelessly proud of their position and achievements, etc. They may have very expensive stuff, while many other may have what ever they happen got with cheap prices.
So, have rule for colours, but also exceptions for those rules. Some rogue really like use black cloths, no matter than they are not very good on daytime in snowy scene...(but they are bit more warmer, and still useful at night time).
I do three things when picking out a new color scheme. 1- Pick up the color wheel and jot down a few contrasting and complementary color ideas for a given model or models. 2- I try it the proposed color scheme on a cheap plastic army man figure that I have already primered white. (You can get a bag of like 30 of those plastic army men for $1 or so.) And I primer white because I want to see clearly how the colors chosen stand out or blend in with each other. 3- Assuming I like the chosen color scheme, I write it down in a painting journal. Painting journal helps a ton, so I don't forget what I was doing in between painting sessions and breaks.
Blue and yellow, works every time *waves the Swedish flag*
Sometimes you have to just say "%$@&$ it!" and do the most outrageous thing possible. I have a Tau army I played back in the day that was plaid. The vehicles and crisis suits (and all the hard armor on the troops) were a red-based tartan, while the stealth suits were a "stealth" plaid based on the Black Watch. Visually distracted my opponents, but they sure remembered the army!
Bro this is super creative. Bout to make a sister of battle in tweed, wish me luck
I would *love* to see that. What a great idea.
I love that Mothra shirt, where'd you get it?
One of the most interesting methods I have heard was use a MTG deck. Draw two cards, one is the color the other is the style, black is death, green is nature, etc.
Recently painted 26 poxwalkers in grungy warm tones .Using baby blue on the maggots really made them stand out. For 40k I paint close to the lore.
As far as opponents go I'm happy if the models are painted. People who don't paint well yet need more encouragement than criticism.
One thing I would say about people not liking a colour they have put on and repainting over it is that sometimes you have got to give it a chance. Most models go through a stage at some point in the process where they look terrible and part of your brain things "Oh god, have I messed this up?" When you then shade and highlight those parts the entire effect changes and you often end up with something great that you had despaired of.
New painters quite often lose confidence part way through a model, because they don't have enough experience to know that the entire feel of the mini will change when you start to paint the lighting onto it. Sometimes it is important to push through to the end and see what the finished product looks like.
I'm glad you mentioned the all too common fashion faux pas regarding white footwear and the season. ;-) Cheers!
I'm in dire need of a Nids colour scheme, this is perfect!
Check out the videos of Catgutt, he has some fantastic nature-inspired yet easy to paint Tyranid schemes, and then a video on the mindset on how to make even more
Catgut has some really awesome schemes. Also, midwinter minis did a stealer group of schemes awhile back.
I use vior'la for my tau, but there is always room for uniqueness! I may paint the pathfinders' gaiters dark grey, while line infantry wears them black. Red may be applied to the whole helmet of the officers instead of just the antenna. Light grey panels may be chosen at will in the armour. In the 18th century almost each regiment had its unique colour scheme but all looked the same in the end. That's my point! Lovely vid btw!
AMAZING SHIRT!!! My daughter would love it.
Paint schemes are like paint chips.
Delicious
Back during the elder times, Space Marines used to have Camouflage Paint Schemes; this was a nice licence to paint up all that power armour in any weird combination of colours and patterns.
Some of the modern primaris chapters still use for example an urban grey as their main colour
I'd love to see camouflage Space Marines (or for Imperium players to have less stress placed on them to use precise, specified preset paint schemes).
Blood Axe clan Orks' traditional color scheme is camouflage,
and in the lore, they don't understand the concept of blending that camouflage with their environment.
You can get away with *anything*.
One theme I like to do is when I buy a starter box on army is cool colors and the other warm colors. A good example is the ASOSIF starter of the Starks with greys, blues, and purples while the Lannesters with Reds, yellows and orange.
If you're anything like me, you have multiple armies for a given game. I pick colors so they contrast well off of each other. For instance, I have an army that's mostly browns and grays, so the other army is more blue. If your armies are going to share a lot of table time together they should look good together!
I like doing a "Colour Test" first on a canvas. I get these cheap cardboard canvases from the Dollar Store and will paint the colours I want to use with washes and all next to each other on the canvas. Helps a lot.
I did 4 years of art in High School but was unlucky in that the teacher was an idiot. He introduced us to various art types but never addressed how those types worked. So anything I know about painting figures is still self taught, is that not horrendous. Anyway, my first paint jobs were 1/72 Napoleonics. Then Ed 2 of WH40k, where I copied the box art. I then messed around with Orks who allowed a lot of freedom with their colours. But my true adventure into painting was when I took up Eldar. They have a Tin Bitz uniform for general troops and metallic colours to match the troop type they are. Green for Scorpions, brass for Drakes and so on. What sets the metals off however are the weapons, helmets, flags etc.. are bright matt colours. Tin Bits and swamp brown tie the army together with green for infantry, red for support and blue for specialist. You definitely have to see the colour in your head though.
What I like to do is to use an artwork with the same mood i'm looking for and use the same colors, but not necessarily in the same places
Currently I am making some inquisition forces in case I find a group to play Dark Heresy with, and the idea I had with those is I'll print myself some classic 3rd edition stormies and paint them up with the striking red undersuits and paint up the armour with Urban T camouflage from the USMC's Urban Warrior exercise in '99. The pitch black armour panels bothered me, so I chose to do my own spin on them.
my painting is on hold since the new necron release, i have some ideas but nothing for certain.. i like to many schemes!
There needs to be a 'Clown Warriors' Space Marine chapter. Well, you know. Aside from the Emperor's Children ;)
Killer Klowns from Outer Space!!!
(with the Ice Cream truck as a transport )
That's it give away my secret project.
Perfect timing for this topic, dealing with a new scheme atm
One of my main things is that I don't contemplate on what to do, I just grab a colour that might looks good and then I put brush to model and paint, I've changed up colour schemes a couple times and I've only found the ones I enjoy through trial and error, so don't be afraid to paint without a plan, enjoy it, it's a hobby for fun
Don’t forget that you can always strip your models and repaint them
A bit late to the party here. just watched the video on choosing colour schemes, which i must confess, I have problems with some times.
Historical stuff is pretty much covered by the likes of Osprey and Mr Haythornthwaite, but fantasy and sci fi, pulp etc can be a challenge. However, one way i get inspiration, is from any local supermarket, shop, mall etc.
The guys that produce packaging for products have probably got a degree or gold medal in product design etc and have a thorough knowledge of colour theory etc. The various packages are designed to be pleasing to the eye.....so...browse the shelves and gain inspiration from Walmart
Thanks for the great advice, as always! Some very interesting factors to consider covered in this video... and I still get confused as to when it’s okay to wear white after Labor Day.
Thank you for this helpful guide!
I have really poor eyesight, so, I pick a primer color, a base color, and a drybrush /highlight color as a final coat and leave it at that. If I want more color I paint the weapons metal colors like silver or copper.
Never clicked so fast, cool shirt btw.
Damn you Uncle A! I needed this a week ago! :D
I like to try new schemes on a extra mini to see if it looks good.
i have extra wyches from the venoms so im gonna use them as test models
Learning color theory is a great way to find out if you have any color blindnesses.
I am making silver Necrons with various colored shoulder pads.
I want to paint a bloody elven princess and a clean berserker :)
Love the T-shirt... MOTHRA! 🦟😱
I prime plastic spoon and then test my colours out on the spoon's first to see if I like it I have let the spoon set for 24/36 hours just to make sure a couple times. The worst was looking at painting a darker red weapons casing on Dark Angels as I hate Christmas marines thank god for was it 4th or 5th Ed. with there silver bolter casings.
Oh man the argument my friend and I had over the holsters on Space marines should they be leather or hard plastic so it really boiled down to black or brown.
He went Brown across the board I went black for rank and file leather for officers.
I like gears of war and i like warhammer, so my tempestus scions are enforcers (they look a lot like the COG troopers from gears) and well they are painted like them....
I recommend to base and take references from here and there, other model kits, paintjobs..... videogames, films, historic things... etc
Historical wargaming colors getting fussy is funny to me as someone who's done historic model making. At least with things like WWII, colors were all over the place, even among the same army and even unit. Field applied paint and camo was pigment mixed with whatever medium they had on hand, old motor oil? Gasoline? Anti-Freeze? Sure, whatever you had and didn't need, that's what you used. So the shades would be different. I mean look at all the different shades of US Olive Drab companies make, some are more green, some are brown-ish purple. Weathering, photo references, all these things, even how far away the reference is in the atmosphere, will change how the color looks. If you spend too much time researching colors, you'll go cross-eyed, until you spend so much time researching colors you realize Close enough is good enough.
How did you know I was going to be starting a Nighthaunt AoS collection and been debating what colors to use that isn't the typical gw paint scheme?!
Go to reddit, find a color scheme you like, spam the hell out of the poster, "how do?! How you do that!? Recipe plz," try it yourself, fail, cry. /s
Can you imagine though? That elven princess painted in blood splatter?
Oh look, someone already beat me to that idea lol!
Uncle Atom is getting very comfortable with the word "POP".
why do painting manufacturers never provide a color wheel ? GW have a chart put it's limited.
@corrinavatan Well, yes, there are generic color wheels everywhere but each manufacturer has different pigment compositions so, knowing what's inside the paint will skew the wheel towards a sort of "proprietary" one if you know what I mean. For example, did you know that GW Flash Fitz Yellow is actually really close to green? You could make your own CW using your paints, mixing them and trying to see where they end up. But I can clearly see what the OP is saying: the manufacturer has the colorspace coordinates for each paint they could easily make one...🤔
I've made up a legion for 40k an kff shoot of the gray knights it just makes it funner for me ive come up with a name for them a colour scheme. To me I like a unique style but im not painting to play the table top im doing it for a fun pass time and to look at my new pretty army
is that your new Necromunda gang pictured?
No, they were originally kitbashed for Star Breach, but I’ll also be using them for Planet 28 and for the upcoming Stargrave. Thanks for watching!
Like before I seen the vid as I already know it's good
I like to use anime characters that have the feel I'm going for and look at their color scheme. Right now I'm looking at seraphons and I'm looking at darkness from konosuba. As an idea for their colors.
Lalatina!
@@Nosmo90 she can't hit anything just like my army probably lol
@@Pasta__Lover xD
Will make a striking army in her colour scheme. Not going to lie. All those blonde crests/spines.
You don't have to paint something bone color for it to look like bone color.
If you desaturate pink and green you can make it look like bone.
Why pink/green? Because they are colors. It takes a lot more knowledge in order to do that.
[Pink for "fresh" bones. Green for old moldy bones.]
I am SO happy that i chose to paint necrons first. xD
Is that more pouch, does he have a goiter? That cracked me up.
for color theory : know the base ( like know that blue and yelow gives green) but you are not forced to have the Juan Hidalgo's knowledge
Morning. Thanks for the video
you crack me up.....great job!!!
I once made a damned guard it turned out pretty good
Love the t-shirt!
I do what I want and let color theory inform me when I get stuck
Any thoughts on doing some Warcaster minis sometime?
Here's a question: why is brown never on the colour wheel?
It's because it's not a colour. Browns are highly desaturated versions of other colours, so when looking at colourwheels you can categorize them under their base tones (which if you have a pre-mixed colour are sometimes a bit harder to pick up, but most of them are somewhere around orange).
@@tobiasboh3370 Interesting, thanks!
Honestly as someone who was never really into art beyond the compulsory lessons at school before getting into the hobby, I think a lot of colour theory really boils down to common sense. I think a lot of people tend to have a natural understanding of what colours tend to look best with each other just from our own view of what colours and combinations we naturally enjoy. A thing I've learned that I think helps when coming up with colour schemes is to avoid using pure black and pure white, this helps cut down on areas that look unfinished on a miniature. Instead, only use black for your deepest shadows, and white for your brightest highlights, and instead use off whites and dark greys for areas you want to be white and black. Another thing you can do is mix a small amount of a dominant colour on the model into the white or black, this helps to really unify the colour scheme.
Miniac has a great video about how to use color theory without making your zombies look like an NBA team
Dirty Elven Princess is my punk band
This is timely! I love painting, but I've been hitting a roadblock on color schemes.
"She must be an elven princess"
"how can you tell?"
"she hasn't got sh*t all over her..."
Okay Uncle Adam, I'm trying to paint my new Warcaster Neo-Mechanica, from Privateer Press. Its a small group of mins maybe 15 total, I want them to be super militaristic in appearance and a few of my friends say to match them to my 40K tau.. I'm not sure I want to do that but these need to be done by Oct with a 40 hour work well, combined with a full time dad. What is your opinion?
Angry in Ohio, or worried in Wisconsin are a couple of interesting paint schemes. Melancholic in Michigan can work in a pinch.
I look at sport shoes, cars and motorcycles to find color schemes
Got an image of a tough army guy posing and saying "What do you think of my [very French accent] _ensemble_?"
Great stuff friend 👏 👍
Saying colour theory demands a balance of hot and cold tones is as wrong as saying you must always present the light from directly above.
Colour temperature is a mechanism to add emotion, and an axis you can use to boost contrast. Nothing is mandated.
So much PACHOW!
I use dust instead of paint for my Rubrics
Could you mix silver metallic with the purple ?