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I used to be a really bad opiate addict and I sold my 1500 points of space marines to buy drugs. Went to rehab and got help, completely new man now. It's quite the story. But watching your videos has made me really regret selling my army so the plan is to rebuild and move forward.
Congratulations mate, good to hear you're on the road to recovery! Grab some minis, grab some paints and keep that mind busy and focused on something creative!
I started painting collecting figures when I was almost 16. I'm 72 now. My advice is a little different. 1st. Figure out what you're going to do with these figures. Will you display or store.? Do you need a box or a glass case. I'm guessing you'll want to display some. Make that solution a priority. Never forget they need to go somewhere. 2. Finish what you start. No mater how bad you think it is ..finish it. You can always strip and repaint . I managed to keep some of my early figures that are bad..Now I like these figures as they are like old friends and that was my skill level then. 3. Don't buy more figures than you can paint. Never ! Along this line ,don't do deals to get lots of figures. unless you really need them .. I get gamers need lots of figures but if you're not really interested in the figures..getting the motivation to paint them will almost certainly never happen. Buy only what you like. Every collector I've met has more figures than he can paint. Save yourself the guilt, expense an trouble by buying only figures you want and paint as soon as you can to keep that motivation. 4.Never " SAVE" painting figures for when you get better. As I've said you can always strip and repaint when you're motivated to repaint.. that almost never happens. 5. You can mix colors so basic colors are best to start. Artist colors are the best ( but may be out of your budget) as they are true colors and you can predict what color you get when you mix. You need to learn how to mix anyway. I get gamers might find Game colors are useful as you need to paint so many figures in the same colors and this can save time... but plan so you know what paints you need. 6. There are trends and fashion in the styles ,display and painting of figures. Try to understand where you want to be.. you can always change when you want. 7. You need good brushes. They are a little expensive but they make painting way easier. 8. If someone insults your work... forget it.. Critics rarely finish anything but more criticism . 9. I can see 3D printing is the future of this hobby. But you don't need a printer .. yet... they will get better and when you get to that skill level then you'll know when you're ready for one. 10. If you don't like collecting, painting or assembling figures.. you're in the wrong hobby. And thats ok... find what you like.
I think a lot of that is pretty sound advice, I prefer to mic my own colors rather than using the standard 10 or so basic colors, take my time, definitely finish something (I might start a couple other things but definitely not anything big and nothing else before I finish that one), I 3D print most of my own models now and take your time and do it the way that you want to do it. Most of mine are game related, but you also can't tell the difference between something that I print and paint myself compared to most of what is purchased from a store, plus I have the benefit of looking over at it then seeing how much work I put into something and how well it looks!
Squidmar: "Glazing is over rated" Me who has never glazed correctly and barely ever paints: "that's what I been saying for years! glad someone is on my level!!"
One thing I learned is that just because you thin your paints doesn't mean you don't need to control how much paint is on your brush, thinned paint globbed on can ruin detail just as much as thick paint
I got an airbrush to do the primer and base coat for now, and I'm finding out that it goes long way to get the right consistency makes a huge difference.
Generally I don't thin my paints by adding anything to dilute them. I thin my paints by using a comfortable amount of paint on the brush and using it over broad swaths until it's gone, giving me good coverage in one swipe. At the 2:00 minute mark he covered this very thing. I had jump straight into the comments because I saw one that caught my eye. Less is more. A little goes a long way. Same goes for plastic cement. I use just a toothpick for applying the plastic cement for miniatures and I've assembled just about all of second edition Malifaux, about twice, between my crews*, my girlfriend's (at the times) crews, and my two buddies crews. *My completionism got the better of me and I had bought just about every model in first and second edition Malifaux. I hadn't bothered to buy into any other miniatures games, aside from buying Reaper miniatures for my Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, because the paywall was just too high. Malifaux, on the other hand,has a very low price of admission. It's a skirmish level game, and in first edition, at least, a crew box only cost around $30, as long as one person in the group had the rule book, whether the smaller pocket guide or the first core book, then that's all you needed to get started.
thin paint, however can be distributed way easier, so if some detail is buried under too much thin colour, you can just take your brush with less or no colour on and it will suck the remaining, overflowing, thinned down colour away from that spot. So this basically only happens, if you do not pay attention, or are not fast enough to dilute the excess.
As a former painter I want to add: There are many more ways to paint a miniature than the GW way. They use one set of techniques, you might like other. I got a friend that base painted everything in black, working his way up. The armies looked striking and heavy. Paint the way you like.
The thing is, there's a difference between the ways GW / EavyMetal painters paint and the stuff they tell you to do in WhiteDwarf. It's entirely different worlds of painting.
nearly 20yr ago a GW staff told me to base coat all my space marines in black cos my starter kit looked crap but recently they recommended wraithbone so i guess it changes
One mistake I made and now I know not to ever make it agian is: always check the cup you try to drink from or you might drink some dirty paint water... I lerned this the hard way :P
Haha so tru bro, I recently had the flu... made a cup of lemsip and got so into my painting I washed my brush in my lemsip and drank the paint water lol
@@idontknowwhattoput6011 Waaay too many, but models for 40k, AoS, Blood Bowl, Necromunda haha! I'm looking forward to painting my sisters of battle, skaven blood bowl team, and sigvald!
@@Sandaru8924 Sick! I've recently been painting my purple Orks and its been a blast. Imma just ignore the entire Seraphon army I have sitting (I'm my defense I got it for 200)
So I actually just painted my first ever mini today!! I painted the mimic chest mini and it turned out AWESOME! I owe you some thanks, you and a few other channels gave me the confidence to really sit down and start painting. A lot of what you said in the video rings true to me and to my first experience painting minis. you seriously don't need all the paints. I got two starter sets of paints, about 14 bottles of paint, and a cheap set of micro brushes. that's all you need. In almost every part of the process for me, I had to mix paints to get the color I needed. Treat a wash with respect! it can make a mini so much nicer and bring out so much detail, but it can also kill all the detail if used too much. I found myself slowly adding layers, and pulling off a lot of it. In the end, it looked amazing. I still need to learn how to really dry brush highlights and how to blend colors but I'm really proud of how my first one came out! I only have like 9 minis but I cant wait to paint them now! So thanks for giving me the push I needed to start! :)
I am a new mini painter and just learned my lesson on the wash thing. I just slapped it on and was like O.O. I was much more careful with my last mini and much happier with the results.
The thing you learn about washes is that it's not the final step, which is what I thought in the beginning. Base coat, use the wash, but then you have to go back with your original colors and re-highlight, otherwise it looks dirty.
I also bought this set first starting out a month ago, no regrets buddy! But i would recommend watching a video how to make this paints better (the first five drops are not paint so get rid of them and put 5mm steel balls in your bottles to mix them easyer while shaking)
While you don't need a million paints, i think mixing them to get different shades each time is also a bit annoying, also if you're painting a whole army you'll end up with different shades all the time.
TBH, and i know this dude is the paint boss... but if you are trying to paint 300 guardsmen or tyrranids to all look very similar, mixing paints to get the colour you want is a terrible idea. I haven't painted for quite a while and am about to start again. They might not look as good, but I'm going to make sure I use a different predetermined paint for each of the base, wash, layer and highlights. @Alpharius Omegon know's what I'm talking about. I gave up on my 15th guardsmen last time i tried to start an IG army, and get them perfect with the exact colour and shade I wanted.
Fairly new to this but what I like about this hobby is it brings so many artists into it: model sculptors, graphic artists, mini-painters, traditional print artists ... and every other hobbyist. And the art is available to appreciate more freely than it has ever been. We live in good times!
You'd be surprised how many mini painters (especially ones trying to get Instagram likes) think like that. I guess it's supposed to be some badge of honor about how skilled they are, but the way I see it it's just a pompous way for them to admit they don't care about how much time or paint they're wasting.
Having a good Light source cannot be overrated. It'll save your eyes and patience. Does not need to be expensive, just get a nice bulb that's a good non-yellow light.
Really crucial if you want to paint in the evening and night. Many LED lamps these days come with multiple levels that allow you to switch to daylight light.
I had experience with painting on like, paper before I started painting minis. When started mini paintings with friends, and I did not have a book. I didn't even know washes were a *thing*. I bought the main colors, got a plate, mixed things, etc. My friends thought I was insane and made jabs at me the whole time. But those little dudes turned out great! And yours will too. Have fun!
@@saiancantin7667 in the last few weeks I've made some progress on the hobby of painting, for a change. I mostly just batch painting similar clusters of models, such as a quartet of Heroquest skeletons, a pair of hero Quest mummies, a pair of hero Quest ghouls, five Reaper Bones zombies, and three paladins and a similar statue, all from Reaper, as Queen Wendy of Freshtovia. (Feast of Legends).
I will NEVER be afraid to paint my models knowing I can repaint them again! I thought you had to strip them which is a pain. I'm so much more motivated to start painting and making mistakes is okay. Thank you!
Same here. I've been painting minis and model kits for about the same time, I started way back when AD&D was still a thing. I cut my teeth on countless Grenadier & Ral Partha miniatures were still a thing and they were made of lead and not pewter or plastic. I learned everything largely by trial and error because the internet, much less RUclips, wasn't even a thing yet back when I first started.
The one thing that I think about when I think of new members of this hobby is how much the information is available. I started in the gaming hobby in 1993 and started table top gaming in 1996, there was no "online" information about painting. Heck I don't remember any media information on painting other then the terrible guides that some companies would include that obviously skipped steps and techniques which is why their box art looked great and yours looked terrible. Like how the picture of food on menus always looks amazing compared to what you get. Now there is so much information available. As well as so many more tools and brands that produce hobby compatible supplies. Truly so many new hobbyists don't realize how much more they have at their fingertips then I did when I started. I was at least lucky enough to have an older mentor in the hobby who taught me a lot of basics in painting.
When I started out I tried to do all the things at once. I started advancing and improving at a much faster rate when I started picking one technique I really wanted to focus on practicing per model. Also, if you have a bit of patience, taking on a larger model like a giant can help you work out lighting a little easier; particularly since you can take a desk lamp and light it using that, take a ref photo of the where the shadows and highlights fall with your phone, and then paint in shadows and whatnot. I say a large model because bigger ones cast their own shadows more easily than little ones.
Also: if you're going to use washes and mediums anyway, mixing more flow improver into a wash is going to help make washes even better at washing by flowing better into crevices! I don't do this with figures so much, but was a great tip I picked up for speedy terrain painting!
Here's something I just learned the hard way today: Citadel spraycan primers expire. Oh, they'll still spray, and they'll still dry and set up fine, but if it's been sitting in a cupboard for a while it goes wierd. Instead of a normal spray that gives you good coverage, you get a spurty splurt of droplets filled with pigment that wipes out any and all detail on a miniature. Cue several minutes of panic and trying to find out how to strip paint without ruining a mini. Turns out it's easy, and the technique is VERY useful. Soak the painted mini in methylated spirits for a few minutes and scrub with a toothbrush, then rinse under cold water to get any residue off.
using mediums can be beneficial even with a wet pallette. many paints don't thin to a glaze well with just water, and things like flow improver can fastly improve the flow of paints. I wouldn't write them off entirely, although I can imagine somebody getting by without them
I use mediums on some metallic colours (balthasar gold) and it works fine :) I do not use a wetpalette, because i do not want to contaminate it with metallic flakes.
@@DarthSid trust me that won't happen I use my wet pallet for absolutely everything and there is no worry about metal particles I don't know who started that rumor.
I'd also add that thinning Contrast paints with water just doesn't really work, so you kinda have to use the Contrast medium to get consistent results.
@@DarthSid Water barely passes through the paper and normal paints are already thinner than the metallic flakes and they don't pass through the paper either. So metal flakes ruining paints in a wetpalette is a myth. I don't use metal paints in my wetpalette much though since metallic paints starts to separate much faster than normal paints when on a wetpalette so you get the reverse problem. Paint getting to wet and runny instead of drying. But if I am just going to do some highlights for 15-30min the metallic paint will last for that long but unlike the other paints it probably won't be usable if I go away for a few hours.
First miniature I painted was in 1979. It was a halfling made from lead for DnD and the maker was Grenadier or Ral Partha. Could have definitely used RUclips tutorials back then. It was a lot of fun to do and I think the last miniature I painted was in 1997-98. Your videos have brought back the nostalgia of it all. So much so that I have been thinking of looking into the hobby once again. Good work, congratulations on the new home and your success.
I never thought about it but about thining your paint: That's actually how I was taught to do it in art class in 6th grade 17 years ago and it's just the way I always did it.
Got frustrated with my first few minis... gave it another try after watching your video. Literally went to damn near hacker level. THANK YOU SO FRIGGING MUCH
the problem with mixing colors on a pallet is, that it is hard to get the same tone multiple times. When you want to paint a bunch of minis its less stressfull to buy the correct color than try to mix the same tone over and over. Unless you want diversity on your minis
I would guess that info would be for people who batch paint, I only ever have 2 minis on the go at the same time but seen others who batch paint like 10/15 faces in one session
@@daynare666 Not just batch painting, but when you are army painting you want consistent colours across the whole army. Difficult to do this if you have to mix colours.
Making sure every detail is perfect is one of my major flaws when it comes to painting. I guess it boils down to it not mattering if other people don't notice it is perfect, I'll know that it wasn't done to the best I can do, so I tend to retry. I get why you added this in for beginners though.
You can make part 3 for "I wish somebody told me that when i started painting Miniatures" too. It s like Star Wars, never gets boring! Thanks a lot for the info output. Greetings from Greece
Start Warhammer when I was 10 but give up. Coz my paint skill was about 0 and being discouraged due to ugly gross result.. Now I’m in my 30’ ( and love WH even more after reading the books )Then I found your channel and watch for few weeks now. And you give me enough confidence to start again with the 30 bucks space marine started pack. Merci beaucoup for all your advices !
For cheap paints just go to a craft store and get the acrylic paints from Delta Ceramcoat or similar type paints. They usually cost anywhere from 80 cents to $2 at most and you get a bottle with 2 oz. of paint which lasts seemingly forever as long as you make sure they are sealed properly and stored in a safe place - I have paint bottles that are probably close to 20 years old and they STILL work great. They have ALL kinds of colors including satins, metallics and others and they go on miniatures really well. Seriously - this is the one tip I will ALWAYS give to beginning painters because Citadel and other "miniature paints" that come from specialty companies always charge way more for way less. Funny thing about some of the stuff you brought up - I've been painting minis for roughly 30 years now and I NEVER used some of the things you were talking about (glazing, washes etc.) but I wanted to watch this to make sure I didn't miss any basics because I want to up my painting skills (again I've never used washes). I did learn some stuff for when I do try to use things like washes, so thank you for that. You know you're doing something well when you can still teach a veteran in the hobby.
Using a medium to thin paint allows a more vibrant colour because it dries into a 3d layer allowing light to penetrate and reflect from more angles. If you use too much water to thin paint then the medium content becomes too thin and the paint dries to pack down to become a 2d layer which, depending on the pigment opacity, will block light reaching the lower layers and darken/desaturate. Titanium white does this as it is extrement opaque and used to highlight colours but it also desaturates. In contrast if you mix a liquitex ink, eg. Red, with a healthy dash of medium and paint several layers then you will create one of the brightest reds possible.
On airbrushes: a while ago my Badger died. I had it for 30 years. I bought a cheap one, because I was broke. The cheap one was terrible! Until I disassembled it and discovered the nozzle's 3 airvent holes were not drilled out all the way. I corrected it, ánd polished the needle to a high gloss. So, cheap can be very disappointing...
A wash makes everything better. If you plan for it that is. I always use a slightly lighter colour and different shade than I want my actual final result to be when base coating taking all the washes I will use later into account. This way the washes really speed things up and helps with fixing mistakes etc. Every bit of surface on my models, that I don't use contrast or some airbrushing techniques on, gets 1-2 washes every single time. Nuln oil is by far the most used bottle in my paint station.
If you use a white base and paint with only glazes it will look hella awesome. When you apply multiple transparent coats the light will go through all layers then bounce back out and give the mini, or canvas, a depth you don't really get with other methods. Also, I'll take your mediums! Mediums are needed if you're thinning down them past a certain point. Just depends on the paint. Water will work so far but it can also seperate the pigments too much causing it to look horrible.
The best piece of advice for me was not being worried about repainting miniatures. It’s taken me ages to finish models before purely because I was worried about messing it up. The closer I used to get to finishing a model the longer it would take as I’d keep putting it off!
For some reason I have never been so stressed out to start a new hobby lol. I've ordered everything needed for a beginner painter and it will all be here by next week. I'm excited but also terrified, I don't understand why loll.
Im so glad you say it's okay to repaint models. I'm so tired of people saying "never repaint models you're destroying your progress" its up to you. If you want to repaint a model. Repaint it!
I think that, among the youtube miniature painters, there's a general consensus that people tend to fall into a trap of painting the same model over and over again. TBH, I'm not sure if that's really true or if there's a perception issues caused by their biases. For example, you ever notice that the vast majority of these guys paint a lot of 40k stuff and other big army games? They probably have a point in saying that it's not worthwhile repainting rando orc #88. If you're playing smaller scale stuff or it's an important mini, it may well be a completely different story though. Then again, my skepticism may well be a perception issue caused by my own biases.
I don't know if it's a good tip or not but... One thing I did when starting with my airbrush was to buy a larger, 6 gallon compressor (Rigid Pancake Compressor). I wasn't sure how good I was going to be at airbrushing and how much I would use it, so with the bigger compressor it can double as a multipurpose compressor for other air tools around the house. Also, being a little noise sensitive, I like that I can fill it up and the compressor has enough capacity that I can paint for hours without ever having to turn on the motor.
Pro Tip: (Ok I am not actually a "pro", but hou get the idea.) Most people dont like glossy paints/primers/varnishes. But I have found that using a gloss varnish before you start layering, it makes blending & glazing a breeze. It becomes very smooth and subtle. You dont even have to thin your paints. Just use less paint on your brush. Give it a shot! Try it out. See how it works for you. I have found great success, especially when adding highlights.
Don't paint without a wash, but make your first fatt highlight roughly the same shade as the basecoat. Consider that first highlight to be basecoat+, and you get to keep those much darker recesses which serve to define each component.
When I first started painting miniatures they were all lead based minis and there were no specialized paints. Testor's enamel based paints were pretty much the only choice you had.
I have to disagree with you on the few paints point. This may be true for a painter like you, who mostly paints different projekts every time. mixing your colors every single time you paint a new mini, fails to give you the consistency you need when painting a whole Army.
I presonally think that most of the tips here are aimed at display painting which I feel like is the center of this chanel. But when it comes to painting armies it's good to have the same stable colors. My question is, do you make an exception when it comes to centerpieces or characters?
@@jherazob in each single army perhaps. But what happens when you have 5, 10 or even more forces? Like I have 2 reds I usually use but for my Blood Angels I use another 2 that speeds up transitions and help with getting consistent colours. One of my golds there is also only used for my BA. Another gold only for my Rivendell army and 2 more golds that I use for all sorts of armies including my BA and Rivendell forces. Then I have a Wood Elf force, a few BB teams, an empire army, a Cryx army, an undead Egyptian/tombkings army andsome more LotR armies I am currently working on. Adds up. 25% of my paints are those I have tried but haven't found a regular use for but sometimes comes handy when experimenting without having to do too much mixing. 25% are almost solely used on 1 project/army, another 25% on maybe 2 overlapping armies and the last 25% used for everything. I could make do with the 25% I use for everything and if I painted like one of my friends does, only one off RPG miniatures, I probably wouldn't miss the other 75%. But since I paint armies I really like the speed and ease of using those extra 50% of my paints to help make each session the same and keep speed up. The last 25% could have been more money for something useful like GME stocks I admit.
This probably is common knowledge for everyone but Amazon will usually let you return purchases within 30 days no questions asked. I tried 2 airbrushes and 1 compressor before settling on the ones I have now...it was so easy but I never thought about it. If you package up the item you can even have UPS come and pick it up from your house.
Check out the cool D&D book and 3d printable minis by AIRSHIP CAMPAIGNS KICKSTARTER (SPONSOR) www.kickstarter.com/projects/skies-of-sordane/airship-campaigns?ref=7r4xfp
Taking pictures. Use a tripod. Do not move the camera. You take 7-10 pictures, with the focus on different parts of the mini, then stack the images. I guess in Photoshop. This will make your mini look like it's from a WD photoshoot.
The mediums are useful for restoring older paints that you still want to use. Adding 50/50 Liquitex matte medium and distilled water slowly while mixing has kept many of old GW paint pots on my shelf and out off the trash.
Thank you for this you have backed up a lot of what I do, I learned fairly quickly that washes are over-rated on minis (good on terrain), wet pallets are amazing, choose the paints that fit your style (I favour Reaper and Vallejo) and the one thing you don't mention lighting - unless you are doing OSL or competition minis a coat of silk varnish highlights your model based on the light in your room, although highlight and shadow are important. Finally from trying some urban landscape artwork I realised I only needed 5 paints to get any colour (colour theory I know) Red, Blue, Yellow, Black (for lining) and White, all the other paints you buy are for convenience. But once again thank you for validating my painting method.
I want to specifically thank you for talking about thinning to the correct consistency in your brush belly- that just helped so much click for me and my paint application is SO MUCH BETTER now.
Talking about a light box, I made one from a old draw, a cheap desk lamp and frosted glass ( the only costly thing) from my local glazier. Only bit of advice is the light box will only be as big as you decide to make it, and unless you hard wire a fan into the box with a breather hole you won’t need to worry about anything getting to hot. Cheer from NZ!
Great advice, especially about repainting. I'm a novice painter and I get so worked up about using the "right color" and combo the first time. I watch a bunch of videos and waste time seeing 6 different ways to paint skeletons and armor. I need to relax and just give things a shot. Worst that happens -- re-base an area or if it's really a complete mess, just re-prime the whole thing and reset!
This is gonna sound old Emil. But I started mini painting back in 2000 before youtube tutorials.. all my tutorials came from the painting vets at my local GW.. So wonderful to see such channels like yours educating new hobbyists.
This is by far the best "I wish I knew this" video I've seen!! we're so very similar as far as the paths we took to where we landed on starting out thinking we need all the gimmicky things that just aren't needed to progress in this hobby. Just to come to "well...I got water and it works great." lol. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching your progression through the many voids of RUclips mini hobby enthusiasts, as a top notch stand out amongst the masses. Keep up the great content and keep up the stellar progression with your art. It's really become some of my favorite to look at!!!
When I first started there was no youtube channels or online tutorials in fact internet barely just started. All you had was good old white dwarf and the box art!!!! No excuses to paint like a noob these days!!!! :)
A couple of complete beginner / noob questions. A) when you say “don’t buy mediums to thin your paints, use a wet palette instead”, I’m using citadel contrast paints, I read that you can’t thin with just water for those and need the citadel contrast medium, does this still apply? B) when you say “don’t be afraid to repaint”, what is the process for this? Just do a full primer straight over the top? Or do you somehow strip the paint first? If so, how?
Great video. I painted my first mini for Gloomhaven yesterday. I quickly felt some anxiety as I started. It didn't look right, I don't have a lot of colors to choose from, etc. In the end, its "ok". Certainly better than the plain plastic color out of the box. I appreciate the advice to not be afraid to repaint. I chose too many dark colors the first time. I'm going to brighten it up tomorrow.
While mixing paint is a great skill to have, if you're painting an army and not a one off unit, it can be a lot easier to keep track of your paint scheme for the future if you are just using "named paints"... as compared trying to remember that it was a 4:3:1 ratio for the brown/yellow/white or whatever. This is less true for "organic" style minis that would naturally have some color variation, but if you're doing a tank battalion you might want consistency that's easier to achieve without mixing.
Thanks for this timely advice. My indomitus starter painting set (approx 10 pains?) is arriving today and after the kids are in bed I plan to make a start on my new necrons army. Being OK with owning less paints in total, learning to colour mix, and accepting the fact that repainting is not the worst thing that can happen in your life, is solid advice. I'll bet you've freed a lot of people of action paralysis in this realm of the hobby.
I totally agree that limiting your pallett can really teach a lot, i painted a blood angel using 5 craft paints 2 brushes and no metalics and it was really fun it taught me a lot about painting.
Great vid! My 1st bunch of minis should arrive soon. Gonna be painting to help keep me in a 'D&D state of mind' as I await the new 2024 edition rulebooks (player's handbook, DM + monster guides). I loved playing Baldur's Gate 3, & I've always been into drawing + colourfully writing by hand. So, I'm super stoked
I love the airbrush advice, I have had one for years now but only started using it recently and it has helped me through my pile of shame so much quicker!
Mine is pick an army scheme that works for your schedule, it can be all well and good to want to paint a particular army but if your schedule doesn't add up to the time required to do the scheme correctly it will either burn you out, lower the quality, or overwhelm you. I don't claim my miniature quality is the best it can be and there are some armies I would love to build and paint, but time is a factor for me so having a scheme (a custom chapter) has helped me in getting my miniatures done and onto new ones, managed to reduce the backlog way quicker than what I expected.
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We have made a brand new fantasy Universe with 10 amazing looking miniatures to paint! You can check out the campaign and support the channel - it goes live October 2022 here:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/squidmar/champions-of-sona-75mm-resin-miniatures 👑👑👑
I used to be a really bad opiate addict and I sold my 1500 points of space marines to buy drugs. Went to rehab and got help, completely new man now. It's quite the story. But watching your videos has made me really regret selling my army so the plan is to rebuild and move forward.
Congratulations mate, good to hear you're on the road to recovery! Grab some minis, grab some paints and keep that mind busy and focused on something creative!
Good luck my man!
Yes! Mini painting is an exercise in the state of mind.
Hey man, how's it been going recently? hope you're doing well
I got a feeling you might become a Warhammer addict who spends more money than the amount you spend on drugs
I started painting collecting figures when I was almost 16. I'm 72 now. My advice is a little different.
1st. Figure out what you're going to do with these figures. Will you display or store.? Do you need a box or a glass case. I'm guessing you'll want to display some. Make that solution a priority. Never forget they need to go somewhere.
2. Finish what you start. No mater how bad you think it is ..finish it. You can always strip and repaint . I managed to keep some of my early figures that are bad..Now I like these figures as they are like old friends and that was my skill level then.
3. Don't buy more figures than you can paint. Never ! Along this line ,don't do deals to get lots of figures. unless you really need them .. I get gamers need lots of figures but if you're not really interested in the figures..getting the motivation to paint them will almost certainly never happen. Buy only what you like. Every collector I've met has more figures than he can paint. Save yourself the guilt, expense an trouble by buying only figures you want and paint as soon as you can to keep that motivation.
4.Never " SAVE" painting figures for when you get better. As I've said you can always strip and repaint when you're motivated to repaint.. that almost never happens.
5. You can mix colors so basic colors are best to start. Artist colors are the best ( but may be out of your budget) as they are true colors and you can predict what color you get when you mix. You need to learn how to mix anyway. I get gamers might find Game colors are useful as you need to paint so many figures in the same colors and this can save time... but plan so you know what paints you need.
6. There are trends and fashion in the styles ,display and painting of figures. Try to understand where you want to be.. you can always change when you want.
7. You need good brushes. They are a little expensive but they make painting way easier.
8. If someone insults your work... forget it.. Critics rarely finish anything but more criticism .
9. I can see 3D printing is the future of this hobby. But you don't need a printer .. yet... they will get better and when you get to that skill level then you'll know when you're ready for one.
10. If you don't like collecting, painting or assembling figures.. you're in the wrong hobby. And thats ok... find what you like.
I think a lot of that is pretty sound advice, I prefer to mic my own colors rather than using the standard 10 or so basic colors, take my time, definitely finish something (I might start a couple other things but definitely not anything big and nothing else before I finish that one), I 3D print most of my own models now and take your time and do it the way that you want to do it.
Most of mine are game related, but you also can't tell the difference between something that I print and paint myself compared to most of what is purchased from a store, plus I have the benefit of looking over at it then seeing how much work I put into something and how well it looks!
Thanks! Nice to hear advice from somebody who's been doing the hobby for as long as you have!
Crazy how no one asked
Wow, 56 years of painting... I just got started and I'd love to see your work, especially the difference in quality from your beginnings to now!
@@flayar3207 do you just decide to go on negative Nancy brigades?
Squidmar: "Glazing is over rated"
Me who has never glazed correctly and barely ever paints: "that's what I been saying for years! glad someone is on my level!!"
You truly are a genius.
One thing I learned is that just because you thin your paints doesn't mean you don't need to control how much paint is on your brush, thinned paint globbed on can ruin detail just as much as thick paint
Yeah usually you only need to have like 1/4 of the brush at most for bases and large sections.
I got an airbrush to do the primer and base coat for now, and I'm finding out that it goes long way to get the right consistency makes a huge difference.
Generally I don't thin my paints by adding anything to dilute them.
I thin my paints by using a comfortable amount of paint on the brush and using it over broad swaths until it's gone, giving me good coverage in one swipe.
At the 2:00 minute mark he covered this very thing. I had jump straight into the comments because I saw one that caught my eye.
Less is more. A little goes a long way.
Same goes for plastic cement.
I use just a toothpick for applying the plastic cement for miniatures and I've assembled just about all of second edition Malifaux, about twice, between my crews*, my girlfriend's (at the times) crews, and my two buddies crews.
*My completionism got the better of me and I had bought just about every model in first and second edition Malifaux.
I hadn't bothered to buy into any other miniatures games, aside from buying Reaper miniatures for my Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, because the paywall was just too high. Malifaux, on the other hand,has a very low price of admission. It's a skirmish level game, and in first edition, at least, a crew box only cost around $30, as long as one person in the group had the rule book, whether the smaller pocket guide or the first core book, then that's all you needed to get started.
thin paint, however can be distributed way easier, so if some detail is buried under too much thin colour, you can just take your brush with less or no colour on and it will suck the remaining, overflowing, thinned down colour away from that spot.
So this basically only happens, if you do not pay attention, or are not fast enough to dilute the excess.
As a former painter I want to add: There are many more ways to paint a miniature than the GW way. They use one set of techniques, you might like other. I got a friend that base painted everything in black, working his way up. The armies looked striking and heavy. Paint the way you like.
The thing is, there's a difference between the ways GW / EavyMetal painters paint and the stuff they tell you to do in WhiteDwarf. It's entirely different worlds of painting.
nearly 20yr ago a GW staff told me to base coat all my space marines in black cos my starter kit looked crap but recently they recommended wraithbone so i guess it changes
One mistake I made and now I know not to ever make it agian is: always check the cup you try to drink from or you might drink some dirty paint water... I lerned this the hard way :P
oof
I learned that the hard way, always have a different colour cup for my tea now lol
Haha so tru bro, I recently had the flu... made a cup of lemsip and got so into my painting I washed my brush in my lemsip and drank the paint water lol
That's why I always clean my brushes in the toilet, I rarely ever drink from that
I live on the edge. I keep my coffee cup, water cup and paint cup right next to each other...... it is terrible set up
I got all my plastic assembled! Time to start priming and painting~
NIIICE! YOU GO MATE!
What models did you get
@@idontknowwhattoput6011 Waaay too many, but models for 40k, AoS, Blood Bowl, Necromunda haha! I'm looking forward to painting my sisters of battle, skaven blood bowl team, and sigvald!
@@Sandaru8924 Sick! I've recently been painting my purple Orks and its been a blast. Imma just ignore the entire Seraphon army I have sitting (I'm my defense I got it for 200)
Lies. Nobody has ever done such a thing. =]
So I actually just painted my first ever mini today!! I painted the mimic chest mini and it turned out AWESOME! I owe you some thanks, you and a few other channels gave me the confidence to really sit down and start painting.
A lot of what you said in the video rings true to me and to my first experience painting minis.
you seriously don't need all the paints. I got two starter sets of paints, about 14 bottles of paint, and a cheap set of micro brushes. that's all you need. In almost every part of the process for me, I had to mix paints to get the color I needed.
Treat a wash with respect! it can make a mini so much nicer and bring out so much detail, but it can also kill all the detail if used too much. I found myself slowly adding layers, and pulling off a lot of it. In the end, it looked amazing. I still need to learn how to really dry brush highlights and how to blend colors but I'm really proud of how my first one came out!
I only have like 9 minis but I cant wait to paint them now! So thanks for giving me the push I needed to start! :)
I am a new mini painter and just learned my lesson on the wash thing. I just slapped it on and was like O.O. I was much more careful with my last mini and much happier with the results.
The thing you learn about washes is that it's not the final step, which is what I thought in the beginning. Base coat, use the wash, but then you have to go back with your original colors and re-highlight, otherwise it looks dirty.
@@CurrentKick and/or only apply them in some spots
If it's too shiny because you forgot to shake the bottle. Brush lahmien medium on the model to take some shine off
Im using washes only in corners to pull off shadows, but you gotta work with rest of colors on your own.
@@txta786 actually it was the opposite, the wash left streaks and made the model dull
Squidmar: You don’t need to buy a 50 paints set to start
Me who literally just received my first Army Painter set of 50 paints: Surprised Pikachu face
I also bought this set first starting out a month ago, no regrets buddy! But i would recommend watching a video how to make this paints better (the first five drops are not paint so get rid of them and put 5mm steel balls in your bottles to mix them easyer while shaking)
@@Bischi888 Thanks a lot for the advices! Cant wait to get started :)
While you don't need a million paints, i think mixing them to get different shades each time is also a bit annoying, also if you're painting a whole army you'll end up with different shades all the time.
I bought the full 124 paints.. But Im not good at mixing to the color I want so....
TBH, and i know this dude is the paint boss... but if you are trying to paint 300 guardsmen or tyrranids to all look very similar, mixing paints to get the colour you want is a terrible idea. I haven't painted for quite a while and am about to start again. They might not look as good, but I'm going to make sure I use a different predetermined paint for each of the base, wash, layer and highlights. @Alpharius Omegon know's what I'm talking about. I gave up on my 15th guardsmen last time i tried to start an IG army, and get them perfect with the exact colour and shade I wanted.
Fairly new to this but what I like about this hobby is it brings so many artists into it: model sculptors, graphic artists, mini-painters, traditional print artists ... and every other hobbyist. And the art is available to appreciate more freely than it has ever been. We live in good times!
Squidmar: Try to paint without washes
Me: i will pretend i didn't hear that
Same
washes are life
You'd be surprised how many mini painters (especially ones trying to get Instagram likes) think like that.
I guess it's supposed to be some badge of honor about how skilled they are, but the way I see it it's just a pompous way for them to admit they don't care about how much time or paint they're wasting.
The “don’t be afraid to repaint” tip is a great one. I just painted a flamer of tzeentch I’m not happy with but I think I can redo it
Having a good Light source cannot be overrated. It'll save your eyes and patience. Does not need to be expensive, just get a nice bulb that's a good non-yellow light.
Really crucial if you want to paint in the evening and night. Many LED lamps these days come with multiple levels that allow you to switch to daylight light.
I had experience with painting on like, paper before I started painting minis. When started mini paintings with friends, and I did not have a book. I didn't even know washes were a *thing*. I bought the main colors, got a plate, mixed things, etc. My friends thought I was insane and made jabs at me the whole time. But those little dudes turned out great! And yours will too. Have fun!
Squidmar - got a painting tip for you. Get an angle/cutting brush to do the edge of the wall/ceiling transition. 😀
As an alternative to repainting, also just consider painting another one of your 2000 unpainted minis instead
Hey, none of that common sense here. It's forbidden to have all your minis fully painted. Lol
There are two separate, yet intertwined, hobbies: buying miniatures and painting miniatures.
@@AnnoyingNewslettersPage6 that is deep philosophy my friend... wise words...
So I'm the only person who goes all in to just paint one miniature? 😅 noted
@@saiancantin7667 in the last few weeks I've made some progress on the hobby of painting, for a change.
I mostly just batch painting similar clusters of models, such as a quartet of Heroquest skeletons, a pair of hero Quest mummies, a pair of hero Quest ghouls, five Reaper Bones zombies, and three paladins and a similar statue, all from Reaper, as Queen Wendy of Freshtovia. (Feast of Legends).
I will NEVER be afraid to paint my models knowing I can repaint them again! I thought you had to strip them which is a pain. I'm so much more motivated to start painting and making mistakes is okay. Thank you!
Ive been painting miniatures for 35 years, i learned most of this the hard way.
These are some solid tips good work dude.
That's awesome. You have an instagram or anywhere you show off your figures?
Same here. I've been painting minis and model kits for about the same time, I started way back when AD&D was still a thing. I cut my teeth on countless Grenadier & Ral Partha miniatures were still a thing and they were made of lead and not pewter or plastic. I learned everything largely by trial and error because the internet, much less RUclips, wasn't even a thing yet back when I first started.
The one thing that I think about when I think of new members of this hobby is how much the information is available. I started in the gaming hobby in 1993 and started table top gaming in 1996, there was no "online" information about painting. Heck I don't remember any media information on painting other then the terrible guides that some companies would include that obviously skipped steps and techniques which is why their box art looked great and yours looked terrible. Like how the picture of food on menus always looks amazing compared to what you get. Now there is so much information available. As well as so many more tools and brands that produce hobby compatible supplies. Truly so many new hobbyists don't realize how much more they have at their fingertips then I did when I started. I was at least lucky enough to have an older mentor in the hobby who taught me a lot of basics in painting.
When I started out I tried to do all the things at once. I started advancing and improving at a much faster rate when I started picking one technique I really wanted to focus on practicing per model. Also, if you have a bit of patience, taking on a larger model like a giant can help you work out lighting a little easier; particularly since you can take a desk lamp and light it using that, take a ref photo of the where the shadows and highlights fall with your phone, and then paint in shadows and whatnot. I say a large model because bigger ones cast their own shadows more easily than little ones.
Also: if you're going to use washes and mediums anyway, mixing more flow improver into a wash is going to help make washes even better at washing by flowing better into crevices! I don't do this with figures so much, but was a great tip I picked up for speedy terrain painting!
Tip 9 really blew my mind when I realized that I look at miniatures exactly like that. It‘s helpful to know what to focus on when painting a mini
Here's something I just learned the hard way today: Citadel spraycan primers expire. Oh, they'll still spray, and they'll still dry and set up fine, but if it's been sitting in a cupboard for a while it goes wierd. Instead of a normal spray that gives you good coverage, you get a spurty splurt of droplets filled with pigment that wipes out any and all detail on a miniature.
Cue several minutes of panic and trying to find out how to strip paint without ruining a mini. Turns out it's easy, and the technique is VERY useful.
Soak the painted mini in methylated spirits for a few minutes and scrub with a toothbrush, then rinse under cold water to get any residue off.
you gotta shake shake shake shake shake :)
using mediums can be beneficial even with a wet pallette. many paints don't thin to a glaze well with just water, and things like flow improver can fastly improve the flow of paints. I wouldn't write them off entirely, although I can imagine somebody getting by without them
I use mediums on some metallic colours (balthasar gold) and it works fine :)
I do not use a wetpalette, because i do not want to contaminate it with metallic flakes.
I second what squarbrain said
@@DarthSid trust me that won't happen I use my wet pallet for absolutely everything and there is no worry about metal particles I don't know who started that rumor.
I'd also add that thinning Contrast paints with water just doesn't really work, so you kinda have to use the Contrast medium to get consistent results.
@@DarthSid Water barely passes through the paper and normal paints are already thinner than the metallic flakes and they don't pass through the paper either. So metal flakes ruining paints in a wetpalette is a myth.
I don't use metal paints in my wetpalette much though since metallic paints starts to separate much faster than normal paints when on a wetpalette so you get the reverse problem. Paint getting to wet and runny instead of drying. But if I am just going to do some highlights for 15-30min the metallic paint will last for that long but unlike the other paints it probably won't be usable if I go away for a few hours.
First miniature I painted was in 1979. It was a halfling made from lead for DnD and the maker was Grenadier or Ral Partha. Could have definitely used RUclips tutorials back then. It was a lot of fun to do and I think the last miniature I painted was in 1997-98. Your videos have brought back the nostalgia of it all. So much so that I have been thinking of looking into the hobby once again. Good work, congratulations on the new home and your success.
I never thought about it but about thining your paint: That's actually how I was taught to do it in art class in 6th grade 17 years ago and it's just the way I always did it.
I wish my art classes taught technical skills more than just "make stuff"
I love how noob is a pot of nuln oil, level 15 is just some dude and pro is a beautiful mini.
No connection between them, lovely
Point 7 is quite interesting. Maybe you can show us in a future video how you clean your oldies ?
Got frustrated with my first few minis... gave it another try after watching your video. Literally went to damn near hacker level. THANK YOU SO FRIGGING MUCH
"Last videos we're recording..."
As a new subscriber you had me there, not gonna lie.
the problem with mixing colors on a pallet is, that it is hard to get the same tone multiple times. When you want to paint a bunch of minis its less stressfull to buy the correct color than try to mix the same tone over and over.
Unless you want diversity on your minis
I would guess that info would be for people who batch paint, I only ever have 2 minis on the go at the same time but seen others who batch paint like 10/15 faces in one session
@@daynare666 Not just batch painting, but when you are army painting you want consistent colours across the whole army. Difficult to do this if you have to mix colours.
@@reavsie1 ahh very true like I put I’ve only ever got 2 on the go and I only started at Christmas mixing colours is scary to me still lol
Making sure every detail is perfect is one of my major flaws when it comes to painting. I guess it boils down to it not mattering if other people don't notice it is perfect, I'll know that it wasn't done to the best I can do, so I tend to retry. I get why you added this in for beginners though.
The three foot rule. As long as the model looks good from three feet away, it's good enough. 😃
Wash is amazing, liquid magic for absolutely everthing.
I agree
Me too
I knowww washes are like liquid magic yassss
All across the mini of course
LOL 😂
You can make part 3 for "I wish somebody told me that when i started painting Miniatures" too. It s like Star Wars, never gets boring! Thanks a lot for the info output. Greetings from Greece
Clearly you havent watch the last few Star Wars Movies =D
@@followthewhiterabbit1089 Lol, there were not that bad..
@@mariototsi5987Didnt say they were bad, just boring.
Wasted potential sums them up.
Star wars has become boring though
TIL my man Squid is one of the few english speaking hobbyists I know that pronunciates Vallejo properly. Hats of to you sir!
11:40
I'm not even finished watching, but this has all the tips I wish to have learned first
Your video breaks processes down so well. Please continue to do masterclasses
Start Warhammer when I was 10 but give up. Coz my paint skill was about 0 and being discouraged due to ugly gross result.. Now I’m in my 30’ ( and love WH even more after reading the books )Then I found your channel and watch for few weeks now. And you give me enough confidence to start again with the 30 bucks space marine started pack. Merci beaucoup for all your advices !
Congrats on the new house! Can't wait to see the new videos in the new studio!
For cheap paints just go to a craft store and get the acrylic paints from Delta Ceramcoat or similar type paints. They usually cost anywhere from 80 cents to $2 at most and you get a bottle with 2 oz. of paint which lasts seemingly forever as long as you make sure they are sealed properly and stored in a safe place - I have paint bottles that are probably close to 20 years old and they STILL work great. They have ALL kinds of colors including satins, metallics and others and they go on miniatures really well. Seriously - this is the one tip I will ALWAYS give to beginning painters because Citadel and other "miniature paints" that come from specialty companies always charge way more for way less.
Funny thing about some of the stuff you brought up - I've been painting minis for roughly 30 years now and I NEVER used some of the things you were talking about (glazing, washes etc.) but I wanted to watch this to make sure I didn't miss any basics because I want to up my painting skills (again I've never used washes). I did learn some stuff for when I do try to use things like washes, so thank you for that. You know you're doing something well when you can still teach a veteran in the hobby.
My Warcry: Catacombs box arrives tomorrow.. can't wait!
Some beautiful models in there! I’m a bit jealous! Have fun!
@@voxkine9385 indeed. I didn‘t buy any games workshop product for many years, i think the quality is amazing and ahead of the competiton
Using a medium to thin paint allows a more vibrant colour because it dries into a 3d layer allowing light to penetrate and reflect from more angles. If you use too much water to thin paint then the medium content becomes too thin and the paint dries to pack down to become a 2d layer which, depending on the pigment opacity, will block light reaching the lower layers and darken/desaturate. Titanium white does this as it is extrement opaque and used to highlight colours but it also desaturates. In contrast if you mix a liquitex ink, eg. Red, with a healthy dash of medium and paint several layers then you will create one of the brightest reds possible.
On airbrushes: a while ago my Badger died. I had it for 30 years. I bought a cheap one, because I was broke. The cheap one was terrible! Until I disassembled it and discovered the nozzle's 3 airvent holes were not drilled out all the way.
I corrected it, ánd polished the needle to a high gloss. So, cheap can be very disappointing...
A wash makes everything better. If you plan for it that is. I always use a slightly lighter colour and different shade than I want my actual final result to be when base coating taking all the washes I will use later into account. This way the washes really speed things up and helps with fixing mistakes etc. Every bit of surface on my models, that I don't use contrast or some airbrushing techniques on, gets 1-2 washes every single time.
Nuln oil is by far the most used bottle in my paint station.
REMEMBER when people used to DIP miniatures in minwax and then spin them dry with an electric power drill?
If you use a white base and paint with only glazes it will look hella awesome. When you apply multiple transparent coats the light will go through all layers then bounce back out and give the mini, or canvas, a depth you don't really get with other methods.
Also, I'll take your mediums! Mediums are needed if you're thinning down them past a certain point. Just depends on the paint. Water will work so far but it can also seperate the pigments too much causing it to look horrible.
Can't wait to watch this on my lunchbreak!
The best piece of advice for me was not being worried about repainting miniatures. It’s taken me ages to finish models before purely because I was worried about messing it up. The closer I used to get to finishing a model the longer it would take as I’d keep putting it off!
I'm pretty sure nr3 was the best 😂
Exactly the video i needed to start getting back to painting :)
For some reason I have never been so stressed out to start a new hobby lol. I've ordered everything needed for a beginner painter and it will all be here by next week. I'm excited but also terrified, I don't understand why loll.
Have fun!
My girlfriend just started out and thinks your videos are amazing! I love em to! Keep em comming! /Love from Skåne
Im so glad you say it's okay to repaint models. I'm so tired of people saying "never repaint models you're destroying your progress" its up to you. If you want to repaint a model. Repaint it!
I think that, among the youtube miniature painters, there's a general consensus that people tend to fall into a trap of painting the same model over and over again. TBH, I'm not sure if that's really true or if there's a perception issues caused by their biases.
For example, you ever notice that the vast majority of these guys paint a lot of 40k stuff and other big army games? They probably have a point in saying that it's not worthwhile repainting rando orc #88. If you're playing smaller scale stuff or it's an important mini, it may well be a completely different story though.
Then again, my skepticism may well be a perception issue caused by my own biases.
"You don't need all the paints"
Wow how dare you!
I don't know if it's a good tip or not but... One thing I did when starting with my airbrush was to buy a larger, 6 gallon compressor (Rigid Pancake Compressor). I wasn't sure how good I was going to be at airbrushing and how much I would use it, so with the bigger compressor it can double as a multipurpose compressor for other air tools around the house. Also, being a little noise sensitive, I like that I can fill it up and the compressor has enough capacity that I can paint for hours without ever having to turn on the motor.
3:33 that's an octopus mr squidmar
Pro Tip: (Ok I am not actually a "pro", but hou get the idea.)
Most people dont like glossy paints/primers/varnishes. But I have found that using a gloss varnish before you start layering, it makes blending & glazing a breeze. It becomes very smooth and subtle. You dont even have to thin your paints. Just use less paint on your brush. Give it a shot! Try it out. See how it works for you. I have found great success, especially when adding highlights.
Any chance we get a masterclass with the orc figure? Thats the one I picked with your brushes and would love to see your take on how to paint him.
Don't paint without a wash, but make your first fatt highlight roughly the same shade as the basecoat. Consider that first highlight to be basecoat+, and you get to keep those much darker recesses which serve to define each component.
When I first started painting miniatures they were all lead based minis and there were no specialized paints. Testor's enamel based paints were pretty much the only choice you had.
I think that medium is useful with contrast Paints, water can alterate contrast piants and their recipies
Number 3 is by far the most important in this list!
I literally just repainted a space marine i did in middle school, looks so much better now.
I have to disagree with you on the few paints point. This may be true for a painter like you, who mostly paints different projekts every time. mixing your colors every single time you paint a new mini, fails to give you the consistency you need when painting a whole Army.
I presonally think that most of the tips here are aimed at display painting which I feel like is the center of this chanel. But when it comes to painting armies it's good to have the same stable colors. My question is, do you make an exception when it comes to centerpieces or characters?
In army cases, your color selection is even more limited, you're gonna use only a few, his advice applies even more
@@jherazob in each single army perhaps. But what happens when you have 5, 10 or even more forces?
Like I have 2 reds I usually use but for my Blood Angels I use another 2 that speeds up transitions and help with getting consistent colours. One of my golds there is also only used for my BA. Another gold only for my Rivendell army and 2 more golds that I use for all sorts of armies including my BA and Rivendell forces. Then I have a Wood Elf force, a few BB teams, an empire army, a Cryx army, an undead Egyptian/tombkings army andsome more LotR armies I am currently working on. Adds up.
25% of my paints are those I have tried but haven't found a regular use for but sometimes comes handy when experimenting without having to do too much mixing. 25% are almost solely used on 1 project/army, another 25% on maybe 2 overlapping armies and the last 25% used for everything.
I could make do with the 25% I use for everything and if I painted like one of my friends does, only one off RPG miniatures, I probably wouldn't miss the other 75%. But since I paint armies I really like the speed and ease of using those extra 50% of my paints to help make each session the same and keep speed up. The last 25% could have been more money for something useful like GME stocks I admit.
@@Klickor then you already only have what you need!
Squidmar was one of the first mini channels I ever subscribed and one of the painters that truly inspired me to paint on my own.
I use paint from the $2 store to paint my minis and it works just fine, instead of $15 for a small pot of paint....
This probably is common knowledge for everyone but Amazon will usually let you return purchases within 30 days no questions asked. I tried 2 airbrushes and 1 compressor before settling on the ones I have now...it was so easy but I never thought about it. If you package up the item you can even have UPS come and pick it up from your house.
Check out the cool D&D book and 3d printable minis by AIRSHIP CAMPAIGNS KICKSTARTER (SPONSOR)
www.kickstarter.com/projects/skies-of-sordane/airship-campaigns?ref=7r4xfp
Squid, would you recommend to paint most of your models assembled or preferably in parts?
@@BobWolf006 assebled
@@SquidmarMiniatures Thx :)
Taking pictures.
Use a tripod. Do not move the camera. You take 7-10 pictures, with the focus on different parts of the mini, then stack the images. I guess in Photoshop. This will make your mini look like it's from a WD photoshoot.
@@RPRsChannel honestly golden demon photos aren't always great, often washed out pale. It's 95% about lighting :)
Glad to hear I can repaint without stripping!!
The mediums are useful for restoring older paints that you still want to use. Adding 50/50 Liquitex matte medium and distilled water slowly while mixing has kept many of old GW paint pots on my shelf and out off the trash.
Thank you for this you have backed up a lot of what I do, I learned fairly quickly that washes are over-rated on minis (good on terrain), wet pallets are amazing, choose the paints that fit your style (I favour Reaper and Vallejo) and the one thing you don't mention lighting - unless you are doing OSL or competition minis a coat of silk varnish highlights your model based on the light in your room, although highlight and shadow are important. Finally from trying some urban landscape artwork I realised I only needed 5 paints to get any colour (colour theory I know) Red, Blue, Yellow, Black (for lining) and White, all the other paints you buy are for convenience. But once again thank you for validating my painting method.
#1 is something i just figured out when working on my first vehicle. Washes go a long long way when used just in the seems and creases.
I want to specifically thank you for talking about thinning to the correct consistency in your brush belly- that just helped so much click for me and my paint application is SO MUCH BETTER now.
10:13 I just bought my first miniature box and I feel like i really needed to hear this bit lol
That light effect at the end looks so cool!
Talking about a light box, I made one from a old draw, a cheap desk lamp and frosted glass ( the only costly thing) from my local glazier. Only bit of advice is the light box will only be as big as you decide to make it, and unless you hard wire a fan into the box with a breather hole you won’t need to worry about anything getting to hot. Cheer from NZ!
Great advice, especially about repainting. I'm a novice painter and I get so worked up about using the "right color" and combo the first time. I watch a bunch of videos and waste time seeing 6 different ways to paint skeletons and armor. I need to relax and just give things a shot. Worst that happens -- re-base an area or if it's really a complete mess, just re-prime the whole thing and reset!
The close up of Scott sucking his brush broke me :D
I am total beginner. Thank you for your honest advices.
This is gonna sound old Emil. But I started mini painting back in 2000 before youtube tutorials.. all my tutorials came from the painting vets at my local GW..
So wonderful to see such channels like yours educating new hobbyists.
love the last advice, much relief
This is the time of painting this is the era of fun this is the age of squidmar!
Number 3 was the best point for sure!
I like mixing colors but when doing an entire army I prefer buying a broader palette of paint so as to ensure the colors match.
This is by far the best "I wish I knew this" video I've seen!! we're so very similar as far as the paths we took to where we landed on starting out thinking we need all the gimmicky things that just aren't needed to progress in this hobby. Just to come to "well...I got water and it works great." lol. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching your progression through the many voids of RUclips mini hobby enthusiasts, as a top notch stand out amongst the masses. Keep up the great content and keep up the stellar progression with your art. It's really become some of my favorite to look at!!!
When I first started there was no youtube channels or online tutorials in fact internet barely just started. All you had was good old white dwarf and the box art!!!! No excuses to paint like a noob these days!!!! :)
I know all about it 😁
A couple of complete beginner / noob questions. A) when you say “don’t buy mediums to thin your paints, use a wet palette instead”, I’m using citadel contrast paints, I read that you can’t thin with just water for those and need the citadel contrast medium, does this still apply? B) when you say “don’t be afraid to repaint”, what is the process for this? Just do a full primer straight over the top? Or do you somehow strip the paint first? If so, how?
Two colours plus black and white is so much fun! You can even get rid of the black if you pick two colours that make chromatic black when mixed.
Cute scene repainting the walls
I love the tip about doing what’s most important. I spent way too much time on back packs etc. you are 💯 correct.
Great video. I painted my first mini for Gloomhaven yesterday. I quickly felt some anxiety as I started. It didn't look right, I don't have a lot of colors to choose from, etc. In the end, its "ok". Certainly better than the plain plastic color out of the box. I appreciate the advice to not be afraid to repaint. I chose too many dark colors the first time. I'm going to brighten it up tomorrow.
Number 4 sounds pretty reasonable, gonna try it.
While mixing paint is a great skill to have, if you're painting an army and not a one off unit, it can be a lot easier to keep track of your paint scheme for the future if you are just using "named paints"... as compared trying to remember that it was a 4:3:1 ratio for the brown/yellow/white or whatever. This is less true for "organic" style minis that would naturally have some color variation, but if you're doing a tank battalion you might want consistency that's easier to achieve without mixing.
I do agree, but you don't need 100 paints for it. Buy the 10-20 you need :)
Thanks for this timely advice. My indomitus starter painting set (approx 10 pains?) is arriving today and after the kids are in bed I plan to make a start on my new necrons army. Being OK with owning less paints in total, learning to colour mix, and accepting the fact that repainting is not the worst thing that can happen in your life, is solid advice. I'll bet you've freed a lot of people of action paralysis in this realm of the hobby.
Couldn't agree more about thinning mediums. Like yourself, I have several that I never ever use now that I use a wet palette
I totally agree that limiting your pallett can really teach a lot, i painted a blood angel using 5 craft paints 2 brushes and no metalics and it was really fun it taught me a lot about painting.
Great vid! My 1st bunch of minis should arrive soon. Gonna be painting to help keep me in a 'D&D state of mind' as I await the new 2024 edition rulebooks (player's handbook, DM + monster guides). I loved playing Baldur's Gate 3, & I've always been into drawing + colourfully writing by hand. So, I'm super stoked
I love the airbrush advice, I have had one for years now but only started using it recently and it has helped me through my pile of shame so much quicker!
Small details like that belt buckle may not matter to others, but it matters to me. And that is the only critic I should care about pleasing.
Mine is pick an army scheme that works for your schedule, it can be all well and good to want to paint a particular army but if your schedule doesn't add up to the time required to do the scheme correctly it will either burn you out, lower the quality, or overwhelm you. I don't claim my miniature quality is the best it can be and there are some armies I would love to build and paint, but time is a factor for me so having a scheme (a custom chapter) has helped me in getting my miniatures done and onto new ones, managed to reduce the backlog way quicker than what I expected.