You sort of talked yourself into it, but I reckon that the third really useful entry in this "series" would be a "Preparing Your Minis" video, covering removing the model from the sprue, cleaning up moldlines, gluing, filling in gaps and that sort of thing. There's not really very many videos out there that cover all that kind of thing in one place or, if they do, they're as an afterthought to other things. In any case, this kind of video is great stuff, thank you.
@@ITDP Drills holes in one of the feet about 5mm and drill a hole into the base, use paper clips as a pinning material to pin the model to your base. No more falling off dudes, this can used for arms, large weapons, dodgy vehicles and all types of things.
Can’t stress enough one of the most important tips: write down all the colors your used, the order in which you used them and the techniques you used. Ex, 1) prime with Skull White, 2) Ultramarine Blue (drybrush with soft make up brush), 3) 50/50 Thunderhawk Blue/Scar white (edge highlight) Even stuff that seems super obvious, just write it down. Maybe today you do metal by drybrushing a gun metal over black, but perhaps a year from now your standard way of doing metal will be washing down a silver with a brown ink and you’ll be terribly frustrated trying to figure out how you got the original result. Only takes a few seconds and you’ll thank yourself if you ever come back to the army later on.
I do the same to make my painting process smoother and it gives me goals to work towards. My dot points usually look like this - White on armor - Blue on weapons and shoulders - Black on weapons and bits - Gold for skulls and bits - Brown for pouches and straps - Dry brush silver on black - Black wash white, silver - Brown wash gold, brown and gold - Dry brush blue - Dry brush white
I keep an index card and splotch a bit of paint on them just in case the paints are renamed. Its nice to just have a reminder of what you did so you can add to it.
You can also buy primers that you can paint on with a brush, which work great for times when you're not in a situation where you can be using a spray paint.
Thanks. I was a bit concerned as I’ve noticed everyone always talks about spray cans for priming, while I’m about to prime my first minis with a brush.
Step 1 should be "Don't expect perfection". I get the feeling a lot of people don't paint their models because they're scared they won't look like what they see online or in magazines. The truth is when you're playing table top, you won't see the tiny intricate details of line infantry. As others have mentioned, the more you paint and practice, the more comfortable you'll get.
Not perfection but as stated must expect excellence. Most people don't live this philosophy and it's the difference in learning how to thin your paint and covering the whole model as apposed to not and having it look like you just slapped paint on.
So glad I stumbled across this video. I have dozens of figures from years ago…no, decades ago that have been sitting on the shelf. I wanted (now that I’m retired) to get back into painting miniatures and this video has absolutely motivated me. Thanks! Once a geek, always a geek!…and proud of it!!
Noob painter here. Practice with basics, and don't pay attention to the more advanced stuff until you are ready. Man gotta get back to the painting again!! THANK YOU!!!
Can confirm this is the best place to start and uncle A has explained it beautifully. Moving on abit I'll recommend some more things. Once you have gotten down how to thin your paints well, don't be afraid to use a lighter primer. You'll always have better colour tone with a lighter primer, they will pop. Once your paints are think you'll be able to fully cover the model no problems, just be consistent. Next is if you like the colour and don't need shade everywhere, practice just adding wash to recesses. Vallejo wash is pretty much used for this but the named ones here are great too. Just add the wash in deep recesses but down load the brush like you would to cover the whole model, less is more in this case. This video is really the way to make a beaut template for you models. Fill in the details and even down the track you can highlight or try another technique but for now it'll still look great 👌
Since dabbling with contrasts I exclusively use white primer now. I much rather how opaque paints settle on white too and if they're too bright... I was intending to use a wash anyway.
I have been watching your videos for about five years now. You Vince and Sam have been the guides on this hobby journey, thanks for being there every Friday. Nice blue fez.
"If you're a skeleton that you're painting, what colors the skeleton's skeleton? I guess? It's Skeleton color." LOL, these are the remarks I watch your videos for!!
People who struggle to get armies done, you'd be surprised how good u can get things to look with black primer and multiple dry brush layers. Foolproof techniques and you can do 4-5 models at a time
@@jeffreykershner440 For example, for Ultramarines you prime black, heavy drybrush macrage blue, gently drybrush altdorf guard blue on the edges, paint the metal part in the bolter, red in the eyes and you are ready to battle (which is not the same as Battle Ready as defined by GW) as you get the bolter casing and the pouches for free. The overal idea is that you prime black/dark gray, dry brush base, dry brush mid, dru brush highlight, tiddy up and pickup the small details.It is "messy" so for miniatures with a lot of details may not work that well.
@@soronthar explained it perfectly. Let's take poxwalkers. Very detailed. Black prime. Grey drybrush. Followed by a white drybrush. The details will really start to pop. Then choose any colour wash and the model will already look fantastic. The difference with drybrush and any other technique is that the details are actually working FOR you, not creating additional work. But it does depend on the model/look you're going for.
Great advice, still use these methods after a lot of years ;-) just to hammer out quantity. And I missed an important Uncle Adam step I belief: Write down your steps (which paints etc) for future projects! Have a great weekend all!
Agreed. I kept hearing him say that and failed to listen. Six months later I'm working on models again struggling to remember what paint I used for unique parts 🤦
I've taken to doing a zenithal style prime with my space marines using metallics. Dark Brown goes on instead of black, then I zenithal spray Army Painter Gunmetal Primer. It produces a nice, darkened metal effect and ensures the metal is no longer reflective in the recesses and shadows where it shouldn't reflect.
Ive used Uncle Atom's tips for a while. He didnt mention but on the Primer Spray cans...I have about 12 cans of different colors. Some are Citadel cans (black, grey seer, white), some are Army painter (Bone, Gun Metal) and then I also have from his previous recommendation...some of the Krylon Camo primers that I bought at the local Ace Hardware which is much cheaper than the other ones I mentioned. In particular there is a tan and a kinda olive green. If your doing Ork's or.....like Im doing right now....Dark Angel Space Marines...I prime with the Krylon camo green...it primes very nice and clean. Saves me a ton of time. I use on my Dark Angels...then shade with Nuln Oil....then dry brush with Greenskin Army Painter....bam perfect Dark Angels. They are like 80% done.....I just then do metal parts, chest skull/eagle...gun...etc.
I always look forward to your videos, very well made and informative and, most importantly, total lack of horrendous background music that plagues many hobby videos!
The music is not there for your choosing, it's there to create drama and it does a great job. Just remember what you think is "cool" could be total shit to someone else lol. The music is just that, background noise, not your Spotify playlist.
Thank you uncle Adam I haven't painted for over ten years just getting back into 40k and was feeling overwhelmed especially since my old models look really good and I don't think I can replicate that level of detail that I once did
Gotta get my brother to watch this instead of just painting all his necrons for him lol. Give him that initial push or encouragement! Thanks for the upload!
@@thenightraven60 first you go to coney island and pay the man at the school to teach you to hammer a nail up your nose, and lay on the bed of pain, then you can wear a fez wherever the hell you want.
UK watchers - Halfords (car & bike shop) basic grey, white & black surface primers are great for minis. Generally around £10 for a normal size can (they do smaller cans for around £8). A good plastic primer and easier to get a hold of. Working with Army Painter spray can colour primers atm and they are amazing. Alien purple... oh I love this colour. Great for warm or cold colours. Great as a base for skin too. Dragon Red is great blood angels. Demonic Yellow for Imperial Fists. Yeah... I've been spraying a lot lately.
@Connor Pithie I wouldn't spend the extra just for the AP paint. Hands up - I can walk to a Halfords store so I'm saving on delivery costs too. The Halfords grey goes on great and gives great coverage. If you watch the Blackstone Fortress painting guide on Midwinter Minis, Guy uses it to prime with.
Thank you, this and the previous video were exactly what I needed to see. I've just started the hobby and was feeling like it all might be a bit beyond me.
I'm just starting out and I found your video very informative without "too much" information. I'm looking forward to starting and watching more of your videos. Thanks.
It is mad that no-one has made a video like this yet. I got into mini painting again for the first time in a while back in March and got back to a decent level quite quickly, but I think had I been a total noob I'd have been completely intimidated by most of the video content out there right now.
Re:- rattle cans. Check art stores for the graffiti-art/mural spray paints - squillions of colours, stick like crazy (designed to withstand the elements) and cheaper than GW, Army Painter or similar. Same sort of prices as hardware stores but much better quality paint and a far wider colour choice. They don't usually come with nozzles attached - you have to get them separately, they come in all different spray patterns, but they're only about 50p each or £3 for a mixed pack. Just rinse them thoroughly after use as if it was your brush.
Haven't had a chance to but any paint, but I have finished assembling my Deathwatch kill team. First models ever and if it were for folks like you, Uncle Atom, I'd never have had the balls to magnetize a bunch of arms and convert a harlequin mohawk onto one of em.
Although management had no idea what I was talking about; I was truly impressed with how many co-workers laughed or agreed when I said can we get the Pachow for that (they kept referencing a link without actually giving it.) It was at that moment I knew just how far the message of Uncle Atom had spread.
My first set of paint and minis are coming later today and I am trying to suck up as much noob knowledge as possible and this video was great! Watched the "Stuff you don't need to know yet" vid too and learned a lot.
Flat red primer is my favorite for my Farsight Enclave. Your videos got me out of my initial bad habit of being overly careful and taking hours to paint a guardsman. Much more relaxing just getting the base colors on and touching up afterwards.
Hey Atom, last week you told us not to watch advanced technique videos. I've stopped watching Sam Lenz. But, I'm worried for his income. I'm not a pro-painter, by any stretch of the imagination, and recently I've inexplicably struggled with certain things (can't do Deathwing Terminators without filling in details, or do the bone colour quickly and get that "pro look", or drybrushing Calgar Blue over Macragge Blue goes badly (helps if you don't use Citadel Air paint to do it)). It's always good to have videos showing the basics, even if it's just for a "how do I do this again" refresher.
Great comments on the basics. Although I've been painting for years it's easy to get caught up in the details and sometimes it's easiest to stick closer to this way of painting as it ensures you don't get bogged down or overwhelmed.
A good spray primer is tamiya fine spray primer. I spray Hotwheels cars and this primer highlights all the small details. I also used it on my first mini and loved the results.
I would say with regards to priming a model to the colour you want, you'll still want a layer of the colour closest to that primer on it. In case of mistakes on later parts of painting the model you won't end up with areas that are slightly off colour than the rest of the model. So say you're painting a guardsman and prime him an olive drag colour because of most of his armour, take an olive drab paint over the armour of the model. That way if you splash a little brown or skin colour on those parts you can clean it up and have a colour nearly identical to what you use.
This was really helpful to me. I've been watching all sorts of painting videos and while they're great, it's been actually TOO MANY techniques and information. This has given me a way to narrow my focus and skills to build first. Thanks.
Quick tip regarding priming with spray cans: before spraying the miniature, just spray with the can upside down (NOT AT THE MINIATURE) for a few seconds until only air comes out, that way you are cleaning the nozzle of any dry paint that might be stuck inside.
This is absolutely helpful thank you. I was looking for this exact style to get up and running. Every other newbie painting guide goes into highlights and all this complex stuff involving wet palettes and just makes me nervous.
This has been incredibly helpful for me. After 20 years, I finally have the time and money to build my.miniature collection. I have watched tons of videos, and felt... inferior for not working edge highlights. This gave me that piece of mind to ignore it, and enjoy that my minis, albeit basic, still look good.
I recently figured out that taking a pair of pliers and "bend" an old paintbrush to 15 to 30 degrees makes a very useful tool for painting difficult to reach areas like under a horse, behind a large shield or under a chair. Doesn't even need to be that precise, cause it's a hard to see area. Wish I had figured this out much earlier.
I'll also add with spray primer, try to do it in a low humidity area or day. Too much moisture in the air can make it take forever to dry and also can cause some kinds of sprays to develop texture that can be a real pain
@@UnknownJorge I had to do the same in western WA. Learned that the hard way screwing up a Tau commander. Took over a week to strip off most, but not all of that primer.
I bought some secondhand models from someone who used a coloured primer for their base coat and it was a night and day difference between the quality of that and my two layer painted base coat. Definitely worth the time IMO.
I appreciate this. Its so overwhelming with all this talk of contrast paints, zenithal, slap chop, grimdark, yada yada yada... I have my bases done and models assembled. Primer cans bought. Painting handles made in my woodshop. Just scared to buy paint and start. This helped me calm down
I wish I could have seen this video before trying to paint my first model in 1998. It would have saved a lot of frustration and built a lot of confidence.
Also remember after priming to turn your spray can upside down and spray until you just see air. This stops your can nozzle clogging up when using in the future.
At 4:25, you show a figure in a Citadel holder to illustrate painting up into the undercuts. Here's a cheaper alternative that gets less overspray on the hand holding the model. Use poster tack (Blu-Tack) to stick the models to a paint-stirring stick (the kind you get for free at Home Depot with a gallon of paint). I stick about three models on a gallon-size paint stick, or four to five on the longer five-gallon stick, and prime them as a group. Leave several inches at either end of the stick for holding. The first few swipes of spray go across the whole set, and then I come back in to hit specific undercuts on individual models. On the single-model touch-ups, I sweep up-to-down, instead of right-to-left, to only hit one model at a time. (Some spray cans--like the Krylon Ultra-Flat Camouflage cans--have nozzles that are great for narrow spray, others not so much.) With the models stuck to the sticks with poster tack, I can hold the stick vertically or upside down to get at the armpits and underskirts; with hand-holding space at each end, I can reverse my hold on the stick to paint the backs. Poster tack does an amazing job of holding the models on the stick, and is easy to remove. You can even use it over and over again, regardless of it gets painted; just pull and knead it into a fresh ball, and you'll revitalize it's stickiness.
Yes, I used to use those. Made a video about them, too: ruclips.net/video/NV0CmJyLO3w/видео.html These days, I prefer the Citadel handles. Thanks for watching.
@@tabletopminions Your video is almost certainly where I got the idea of paint sticks originally, since you were one of my first virtual mentors on this hobby journey. I just figured that they deserved a mention here, since this was very much aimed at beginners who may not have invested in a lot of specialized tools like Citadel handles yet. And besides, you can prep dozens of minis on paint stir-sticks for a mass priming session, whereas you'd need $50 worth of Citadel handles just to prime a single unit of Intercessors.
Thanks for the beginner content videos. I know there are a lot of RUclips videos on painting miniatures. My struggle is still with quality. A part of the problem is that the mid-steps looking messy. For me, my paint jobs go from clean primed miniature to messy base coat. Then, I get stuck on fixing little bits which never really resolves the messy look. I hope that a Wash will hide the worst parts of the base coat. I am working getting to 'good enough' and getting to 'done' so I can play games with painted miniatures. I find gaps and mold lines are a problem, too. Thx for continuing to provide useful tips. Have you tried using Perfect Plastic Putty to fill miniature gaps?
also another bit about the reasons why you may want to prime 'dark': with acrylics (please please be using acrylics of some sort lol, be it the citadel good stuff or even craft paint, make sure it's acrylic and not like model paint or something), is that each layer plays off of the last like, 1-3 layers under it (depending on opacity), and it is FAR easier to build from dark to light, than it is to darken something that is too light for you, ESPECIALLY if you're just starting out or not fully at a point of grasping ways to darken stuff.
This may sound odd, but to help me choose colour schemes I actually use the various computer games to quickly bash out ideas to see if they work (mostly use Dawn of War 1&2). It's far from perfect, but it can give the immediate feedback of "this could work" or "this looks horrible" and you can see how it looks in squads by doing an easy comp-stomp with the AI set low.
I just enjoy listening Boston Massachusetts my grandfather had a fizz cap he was in this large quiet group of men that's the one I was back when I was little
One counterpoint for the dark primer argument. If you have glowing armpits from priming white, you're not going to be missing them anymore, they stick out! Training yourself to paint every part of the model.
fwiw; Rust-Oleum painter's touch 2x has been fine for priming minis for me as long as I'm not directly hosing onto a single mini which I figured out pretty quick. I just thought I'd add this, since it's a very cheap option most beginner painters can get at wal-mart or any hardware store and it has a very broad range. For a 2x paint it dries surprisingly thin once you get the application technique right, and it had a very short learning curve edit: even with multiple coats for zenithal priming, I think the most important thing with any spray primer is just knowing how much of it you need to use to get coverage and that's just about being attentive. It's probably best to prime your first couple of sets of minis with the best, lightest primer you can get (I'm a fan of Tamiya fine surface myself) but I think after that first couple of cans runs out it's a good idea to bust out some empty sprues and learn to work with cheaper stuff. I could not afford to prime with the same range of primers I do now if I was buying hobby focused products, I can buy three cans of Painter's Touch at the hardware store for the same price as one can of Army Painter.
@@j453 okay but seriously man I sit down, I try to paint and then I feel so bad for the misery I'm about to inflict on my minis and the therapy they're going to have to attend and I put down my brush and can't bring myself to commit this act of murder 😅
@@j453 you underestimate my power 😊 nah, I'm not *that* terrible... But I'm incredibly inexperienced, and I don't want to ruin any of my cool new little lads by making stupid mistakes, so I'm being wayyy too slow and careful... But I'm fixing it by just buying some random plastic stuff and practicing on things I can afford to get wrong, so I'm slowly learning the ropes
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My wife was not sold on painting our living room "Skeleton Color".
Thanks for making me laugh man!
Nic Mcconchie you are most welcome, thanks for the note! Love this channel.
The trick is in the marketing. Eg. "No sweetie, this isn't Skeleton Horde... this is French Mushroom."
Her loss 😂
You sort of talked yourself into it, but I reckon that the third really useful entry in this "series" would be a "Preparing Your Minis" video, covering removing the model from the sprue, cleaning up moldlines, gluing, filling in gaps and that sort of thing. There's not really very many videos out there that cover all that kind of thing in one place or, if they do, they're as an afterthought to other things. In any case, this kind of video is great stuff, thank you.
Ive been doing this smidge over a year and I'm just now remembering to regularly remove moldlines
@@ITDP Drills holes in one of the feet about 5mm and drill a hole into the base, use paper clips as a pinning material to pin the model to your base. No more falling off dudes, this can used for arms, large weapons, dodgy vehicles and all types of things.
I second that. Very important steps.
Can’t stress enough one of the most important tips: write down all the colors your used, the order in which you used them and the techniques you used. Ex,
1) prime with Skull White,
2) Ultramarine Blue (drybrush with soft make up brush),
3) 50/50 Thunderhawk Blue/Scar white (edge highlight)
Even stuff that seems super obvious, just write it down. Maybe today you do metal by drybrushing a gun metal over black, but perhaps a year from now your standard way of doing metal will be washing down a silver with a brown ink and you’ll be terribly frustrated trying to figure out how you got the original result. Only takes a few seconds and you’ll thank yourself if you ever come back to the army later on.
Ooooor you could just play orks and paint every unit several different ways...
@@thefili8849 Dis Boy haz da right idea 'ere
I do the same to make my painting process smoother and it gives me goals to work towards. My dot points usually look like this
- White on armor
- Blue on weapons and shoulders
- Black on weapons and bits
- Gold for skulls and bits
- Brown for pouches and straps
- Dry brush silver on black
- Black wash white, silver
- Brown wash gold, brown and gold
- Dry brush blue
- Dry brush white
I keep an index card and splotch a bit of paint on them just in case the paints are renamed. Its nice to just have a reminder of what you did so you can add to it.
I’ve only just discovered this glorious hobby for Warhammer 40K, and I’m going to be painting my first minis soon. Thank you for this video
What minis did you get 😁
@@lifeofi7280 yes let us know 🤔 I'm back in the hobby after 20 years and am currently bankrupting myself via Necromunda 😯
Same here. Necron for the win!
@@Muchomorism just got mine today first ever tabletop game and first time painting!
Will never forget to thin my paints....
@@lifeofi7280 A small legion od necrons :) but I've would love to paint few marines as well. You know, just to remind me, that Emperor protects.
I've been painting models for 10+ years, but I still like watching these videos for the refresher and understanding other people's techniques~
You can also buy primers that you can paint on with a brush, which work great for times when you're not in a situation where you can be using a spray paint.
Thanks. I was a bit concerned as I’ve noticed everyone always talks about spray cans for priming, while I’m about to prime my first minis with a brush.
I learned that the hard way when I bought Primer last year when I started. Then I had to hand prime 200 minis ^^
There’s just something about getting advice from a guy wearing a fez...you gotta admire the conviction! Thanks Uncle Atom!
Step 1 should be "Don't expect perfection".
I get the feeling a lot of people don't paint their models because they're scared they won't look like what they see online or in magazines.
The truth is when you're playing table top, you won't see the tiny intricate details of line infantry.
As others have mentioned, the more you paint and practice, the more comfortable you'll get.
Not perfection but as stated must expect excellence. Most people don't live this philosophy and it's the difference in learning how to thin your paint and covering the whole model as apposed to not and having it look like you just slapped paint on.
So glad I stumbled across this video. I have dozens of figures from years ago…no, decades ago that have been sitting on the shelf. I wanted (now that I’m retired) to get back into painting miniatures and this video has absolutely motivated me. Thanks! Once a geek, always a geek!…and proud of it!!
beginners should use black to prime, help hide nooks and crannies that don't get hit while painting
Ah, wash....or as a friend of mine calls it: "liquid skill". Thanks Atom for a great beginner video. You've absolutely nailed it!
Noob painter here. Practice with basics, and don't pay attention to the more advanced stuff until you are ready. Man gotta get back to the painting again!! THANK YOU!!!
Can confirm this is the best place to start and uncle A has explained it beautifully. Moving on abit I'll recommend some more things.
Once you have gotten down how to thin your paints well, don't be afraid to use a lighter primer. You'll always have better colour tone with a lighter primer, they will pop. Once your paints are think you'll be able to fully cover the model no problems, just be consistent. Next is if you like the colour and don't need shade everywhere, practice just adding wash to recesses. Vallejo wash is pretty much used for this but the named ones here are great too. Just add the wash in deep recesses but down load the brush like you would to cover the whole model, less is more in this case.
This video is really the way to make a beaut template for you models. Fill in the details and even down the track you can highlight or try another technique but for now it'll still look great 👌
Since dabbling with contrasts I exclusively use white primer now. I much rather how opaque paints settle on white too and if they're too bright... I was intending to use a wash anyway.
I have been watching your videos for about five years now. You Vince and Sam have been the guides on this hobby journey, thanks for being there every Friday. Nice blue fez.
Skeleton colour is my favorite colour !
Goes great with the skeleton pants!
@Connor Pithie I'll be honest Ive never painted a model in my life LOL but if i ever do I'll be ready ;)
"If you're a skeleton that you're painting, what colors the skeleton's skeleton? I guess? It's Skeleton color." LOL, these are the remarks I watch your videos for!!
Beginning Steps for Painting
1:20 Step 1: Priming
5:36 Step 2: Base Color
7:33 Step 3: Wash
9:19 Step 4: Drybrush
10:46 Step 5: Variations on a theme
"not good when you have glowing armpits, I'm pretty sure about that." Lol. Priceless. 100%
Slaanesh disagrees
@@Sorrowdusk I would think that's more the realm of Grandfather Burgle.
People who struggle to get armies done, you'd be surprised how good u can get things to look with black primer and multiple dry brush layers. Foolproof techniques and you can do 4-5 models at a time
Only black primer and dry brush? I've got some army's (wrath of kings) that need painting. Please elaborate!
@@jeffreykershner440 For example, for Ultramarines you prime black, heavy drybrush macrage blue, gently drybrush altdorf guard blue on the edges, paint the metal part in the bolter, red in the eyes and you are ready to battle (which is not the same as Battle Ready as defined by GW) as you get the bolter casing and the pouches for free. The overal idea is that you prime black/dark gray, dry brush base, dry brush mid, dru brush highlight, tiddy up and pickup the small details.It is "messy" so for miniatures with a lot of details may not work that well.
@@soronthar explained it perfectly. Let's take poxwalkers. Very detailed. Black prime. Grey drybrush. Followed by a white drybrush. The details will really start to pop. Then choose any colour wash and the model will already look fantastic. The difference with drybrush and any other technique is that the details are actually working FOR you, not creating additional work. But it does depend on the model/look you're going for.
I did the same for my indomitous necrons. Prime with dark brown and dry brush red on top. Gives a pretty neat effect
@@KMKimo I don't understand, what about the colouring for all the little details like boots, chains, wounds etc?
the Fez is back!! How did you know my skeleton only had one boot?!
Great advice, still use these methods after a lot of years ;-) just to hammer out quantity. And I missed an important Uncle Adam step I belief: Write down your steps (which paints etc) for future projects!
Have a great weekend all!
Agreed. I kept hearing him say that and failed to listen. Six months later I'm working on models again struggling to remember what paint I used for unique parts 🤦
I've taken to doing a zenithal style prime with my space marines using metallics. Dark Brown goes on instead of black, then I zenithal spray Army Painter Gunmetal Primer. It produces a nice, darkened metal effect and ensures the metal is no longer reflective in the recesses and shadows where it shouldn't reflect.
I've been painting minis for a few years now but it's always nice to get back in touch with the basics.
Ive used Uncle Atom's tips for a while. He didnt mention but on the Primer Spray cans...I have about 12 cans of different colors. Some are Citadel cans (black, grey seer, white), some are Army painter (Bone, Gun Metal) and then I also have from his previous recommendation...some of the Krylon Camo primers that I bought at the local Ace Hardware which is much cheaper than the other ones I mentioned. In particular there is a tan and a kinda olive green. If your doing Ork's or.....like Im doing right now....Dark Angel Space Marines...I prime with the Krylon camo green...it primes very nice and clean. Saves me a ton of time. I use on my Dark Angels...then shade with Nuln Oil....then dry brush with Greenskin Army Painter....bam perfect Dark Angels. They are like 80% done.....I just then do metal parts, chest skull/eagle...gun...etc.
I'd still always base paint it the green, it'll look much better and adding a coat is not hard. Better yet get an airbrush
I always look forward to your videos, very well made and informative and, most importantly, total lack of horrendous background music that plagues many hobby videos!
Lol ok
I think midwinter minis has pretty good background music if your interested
The music is not there for your choosing, it's there to create drama and it does a great job.
Just remember what you think is "cool" could be total shit to someone else lol. The music is just that, background noise, not your Spotify playlist.
Thank you uncle Adam I haven't painted for over ten years just getting back into 40k and was feeling overwhelmed especially since my old models look really good and I don't think I can replicate that level of detail that I once did
Gotta get my brother to watch this instead of just painting all his necrons for him lol. Give him that initial push or encouragement! Thanks for the upload!
Could start with him just spraying and nulning them up? Maybe instead of edge highlighting get him dry brushing so much more beginner friendly.
The fez is definitely not a beginner technique
indeed if you want to wear a fez start small maybe a red one not something flashy like that
Is a bucket hat/boonie hat better for beginners then, or should we go for a recruit style crap hat?
@@thenightraven60 first you go to coney island and pay the man at the school to teach you to hammer a nail up your nose, and lay on the bed of pain, then you can wear a fez wherever the hell you want.
UK watchers - Halfords (car & bike shop) basic grey, white & black surface primers are great for minis. Generally around £10 for a normal size can (they do smaller cans for around £8). A good plastic primer and easier to get a hold of. Working with Army Painter spray can colour primers atm and they are amazing. Alien purple... oh I love this colour. Great for warm or cold colours. Great as a base for skin too. Dragon Red is great blood angels. Demonic Yellow for Imperial Fists. Yeah... I've been spraying a lot lately.
@Connor Pithie I wouldn't spend the extra just for the AP paint. Hands up - I can walk to a Halfords store so I'm saving on delivery costs too. The Halfords grey goes on great and gives great coverage. If you watch the Blackstone Fortress painting guide on Midwinter Minis, Guy uses it to prime with.
“Get stuff good” is a good motto. Thanks, really helpful video.
Thank you, this and the previous video were exactly what I needed to see. I've just started the hobby and was feeling like it all might be a bit beyond me.
My wife and I are brand new to Age of Sigmar, Well, wargaming as a whole. This is a huge help. Thanks!!!
I'm just starting out and I found your video very informative without "too much" information. I'm looking forward to starting and watching more of your videos. Thanks.
It is mad that no-one has made a video like this yet. I got into mini painting again for the first time in a while back in March and got back to a decent level quite quickly, but I think had I been a total noob I'd have been completely intimidated by most of the video content out there right now.
This series is awesome... should be a whole segment of this channel almost!
Point away when you start. You don't want globs on your model. Splatter is bad. - Uncle Atom
Oh really? - Every Nurgle player
If you're from the UK, you can use car body primer from Halfords, it does exactly the same job as the GW primer and its half the price
Re:- rattle cans. Check art stores for the graffiti-art/mural spray paints - squillions of colours, stick like crazy (designed to withstand the elements) and cheaper than GW, Army Painter or similar. Same sort of prices as hardware stores but much better quality paint and a far wider colour choice. They don't usually come with nozzles attached - you have to get them separately, they come in all different spray patterns, but they're only about 50p each or £3 for a mixed pack. Just rinse them thoroughly after use as if it was your brush.
Haven't had a chance to but any paint, but I have finished assembling my Deathwatch kill team. First models ever and if it were for folks like you, Uncle Atom, I'd never have had the balls to magnetize a bunch of arms and convert a harlequin mohawk onto one of em.
Although management had no idea what I was talking about; I was truly impressed with how many co-workers laughed or agreed when I said can we get the Pachow for that (they kept referencing a link without actually giving it.) It was at that moment I knew just how far the message of Uncle Atom had spread.
Watching this again and I wish I could give more likes on how good it explains basic stuff. Thanks!
This fellers voice makes my subwoofer go nuts
My first set of paint and minis are coming later today and I am trying to suck up as much noob knowledge as possible and this video was great! Watched the "Stuff you don't need to know yet" vid too and learned a lot.
Flat red primer is my favorite for my Farsight Enclave. Your videos got me out of my initial bad habit of being overly careful and taking hours to paint a guardsman. Much more relaxing just getting the base colors on and touching up afterwards.
Hey Atom, last week you told us not to watch advanced technique videos. I've stopped watching Sam Lenz. But, I'm worried for his income.
I'm not a pro-painter, by any stretch of the imagination, and recently I've inexplicably struggled with certain things (can't do Deathwing Terminators without filling in details, or do the bone colour quickly and get that "pro look", or drybrushing Calgar Blue over Macragge Blue goes badly (helps if you don't use Citadel Air paint to do it)). It's always good to have videos showing the basics, even if it's just for a "how do I do this again" refresher.
Great comments on the basics. Although I've been painting for years it's easy to get caught up in the details and sometimes it's easiest to stick closer to this way of painting as it ensures you don't get bogged down or overwhelmed.
Love this channel. Everytime I have a query there's always a vid addressing it. Top man!!
I love you you made this mini painting thing seem completely achievable. My wife is going to hate you. Thanks ;)
I find the krylon spray cans have one of the best mist spray and coverage of any I've tried.
Krylon primer is the best I ever used. It has really good coverage without clogging the fine details
A good spray primer is tamiya fine spray primer. I spray Hotwheels cars and this primer highlights all the small details. I also used it on my first mini and loved the results.
I would say with regards to priming a model to the colour you want, you'll still want a layer of the colour closest to that primer on it. In case of mistakes on later parts of painting the model you won't end up with areas that are slightly off colour than the rest of the model. So say you're painting a guardsman and prime him an olive drag colour because of most of his armour, take an olive drab paint over the armour of the model. That way if you splash a little brown or skin colour on those parts you can clean it up and have a colour nearly identical to what you use.
This was really helpful to me. I've been watching all sorts of painting videos and while they're great, it's been actually TOO MANY techniques and information. This has given me a way to narrow my focus and skills to build first. Thanks.
Thank you for this.
I’m a newbie and these things aren’t discussed enough in the videos I watched.
Purple robe? Fez? Uncle Atom is evil wizard confirmed
Not gonna lie you talking with your hands speaks to me and holds my attention a lot better
Quick tip regarding priming with spray cans: before spraying the miniature, just spray with the can upside down (NOT AT THE MINIATURE) for a few seconds until only air comes out, that way you are cleaning the nozzle of any dry paint that might be stuck inside.
Nice video and do not forget that painted models roll higher (or lower depending on the game)....
This is absolutely helpful thank you. I was looking for this exact style to get up and running. Every other newbie painting guide goes into highlights and all this complex stuff involving wet palettes and just makes me nervous.
This has been incredibly helpful for me. After 20 years, I finally have the time and money to build my.miniature collection. I have watched tons of videos, and felt... inferior for not working edge highlights. This gave me that piece of mind to ignore it, and enjoy that my minis, albeit basic, still look good.
I recently figured out that taking a pair of pliers and "bend" an old paintbrush to 15 to 30 degrees makes a very useful tool for painting difficult to reach areas like under a horse, behind a large shield or under a chair. Doesn't even need to be that precise, cause it's a hard to see area. Wish I had figured this out much earlier.
Thanks for this Uncle Atom! While Ive been attempting to get better Im having trouble grasping techniques, I really needed this!
I'll also add with spray primer, try to do it in a low humidity area or day. Too much moisture in the air can make it take forever to dry and also can cause some kinds of sprays to develop texture that can be a real pain
That's great to know! We have high humidity most of the year as well. How do you warm the can?
@@UnknownJorge I had to do the same in western WA. Learned that the hard way screwing up a Tau commander. Took over a week to strip off most, but not all of that primer.
It’s the worst when that happens.
Ready for the 4 AM uncle Atom's video with my 3rd bladeguard done
I bought some secondhand models from someone who used a coloured primer for their base coat and it was a night and day difference between the quality of that and my two layer painted base coat. Definitely worth the time IMO.
I prime with black and stand about half a meter away. I agree with the whole shadow area. It also helps with the areas I miss.
This is definitely useful for beginners. I'll share it.
Another great video Adam thanks!
I've been painting minis for a long time, and I was sitting here taking notes during this. GREAT VIDEO!
This helps get my head around the process a lot! Thanks!
The fez is back, fantastic!
Very clear and easy to follow instructions, thanks! As a beginner I sometimes find myself getting stuck in the fiddly areas and overthinking.
I appreciate this. Its so overwhelming with all this talk of contrast paints, zenithal, slap chop, grimdark, yada yada yada... I have my bases done and models assembled. Primer cans bought. Painting handles made in my woodshop. Just scared to buy paint and start. This helped me calm down
I wish I could have seen this video before trying to paint my first model in 1998. It would have saved a lot of frustration and built a lot of confidence.
This was a pretty good rundown of the really basic, beginner stuff. I'm waiting for the "advanced beginner" videos the most though!
Loving the Boardgame Geek shirt.
Also remember after priming to turn your spray can upside down and spray until you just see air. This stops your can nozzle clogging up when using in the future.
Dude great vid I'm new to painting so thank you. Best vid I've seen so far.
One key nugget from this; “what’s really important is brush control.”
You are a great teacher, I appreciate your tutorials!
All praise be to the fez, and the fez-bearer!
At 4:25, you show a figure in a Citadel holder to illustrate painting up into the undercuts. Here's a cheaper alternative that gets less overspray on the hand holding the model. Use poster tack (Blu-Tack) to stick the models to a paint-stirring stick (the kind you get for free at Home Depot with a gallon of paint). I stick about three models on a gallon-size paint stick, or four to five on the longer five-gallon stick, and prime them as a group. Leave several inches at either end of the stick for holding. The first few swipes of spray go across the whole set, and then I come back in to hit specific undercuts on individual models. On the single-model touch-ups, I sweep up-to-down, instead of right-to-left, to only hit one model at a time. (Some spray cans--like the Krylon Ultra-Flat Camouflage cans--have nozzles that are great for narrow spray, others not so much.) With the models stuck to the sticks with poster tack, I can hold the stick vertically or upside down to get at the armpits and underskirts; with hand-holding space at each end, I can reverse my hold on the stick to paint the backs. Poster tack does an amazing job of holding the models on the stick, and is easy to remove. You can even use it over and over again, regardless of it gets painted; just pull and knead it into a fresh ball, and you'll revitalize it's stickiness.
Yes, I used to use those. Made a video about them, too: ruclips.net/video/NV0CmJyLO3w/видео.html These days, I prefer the Citadel handles. Thanks for watching.
@@tabletopminions Your video is almost certainly where I got the idea of paint sticks originally, since you were one of my first virtual mentors on this hobby journey. I just figured that they deserved a mention here, since this was very much aimed at beginners who may not have invested in a lot of specialized tools like Citadel handles yet. And besides, you can prep dozens of minis on paint stir-sticks for a mass priming session, whereas you'd need $50 worth of Citadel handles just to prime a single unit of Intercessors.
I'm just here for that "Bob Ross" vibe, wow.
Thanks for the beginner content videos. I know there are a lot of RUclips videos on painting miniatures. My struggle is still with quality. A part of the problem is that the mid-steps looking messy. For me, my paint jobs go from clean primed miniature to messy base coat. Then, I get stuck on fixing little bits which never really resolves the messy look. I hope that a Wash will hide the worst parts of the base coat. I am working getting to 'good enough' and getting to 'done' so I can play games with painted miniatures. I find gaps and mold lines are a problem, too. Thx for continuing to provide useful tips. Have you tried using Perfect Plastic Putty to fill miniature gaps?
Stellar presentation
Preschool teacher: Hey Billy, what's your favourite colour?
Billy: *SKELETON*
also another bit about the reasons why you may want to prime 'dark': with acrylics (please please be using acrylics of some sort lol, be it the citadel good stuff or even craft paint, make sure it's acrylic and not like model paint or something), is that each layer plays off of the last like, 1-3 layers under it (depending on opacity), and it is FAR easier to build from dark to light, than it is to darken something that is too light for you, ESPECIALLY if you're just starting out or not fully at a point of grasping ways to darken stuff.
Nicely constructed tutorial! Well done, as usual!
Geezer here...
Great vid.
Game on.....
My British are going be so ready to exile napoleon!
I will using this darker reddish, not too dark because Napoleonic but they’re British
This may sound odd, but to help me choose colour schemes I actually use the various computer games to quickly bash out ideas to see if they work (mostly use Dawn of War 1&2). It's far from perfect, but it can give the immediate feedback of "this could work" or "this looks horrible" and you can see how it looks in squads by doing an easy comp-stomp with the AI set low.
Boy I'm here early! I see the fez, I'm happy
I just enjoy listening Boston Massachusetts my grandfather had a fizz cap he was in this large quiet group of men that's the one I was back when I was little
"What colour is the skeleton's skeleton?"
These are the questions that need answering. Thanks Uncle Atom!
One counterpoint for the dark primer argument. If you have glowing armpits from priming white, you're not going to be missing them anymore, they stick out! Training yourself to paint every part of the model.
fwiw; Rust-Oleum painter's touch 2x has been fine for priming minis for me as long as I'm not directly hosing onto a single mini which I figured out pretty quick. I just thought I'd add this, since it's a very cheap option most beginner painters can get at wal-mart or any hardware store and it has a very broad range. For a 2x paint it dries surprisingly thin once you get the application technique right, and it had a very short learning curve
edit: even with multiple coats for zenithal priming, I think the most important thing with any spray primer is just knowing how much of it you need to use to get coverage and that's just about being attentive. It's probably best to prime your first couple of sets of minis with the best, lightest primer you can get (I'm a fan of Tamiya fine surface myself) but I think after that first couple of cans runs out it's a good idea to bust out some empty sprues and learn to work with cheaper stuff. I could not afford to prime with the same range of primers I do now if I was buying hobby focused products, I can buy three cans of Painter's Touch at the hardware store for the same price as one can of Army Painter.
One bit of advice I heard that’s been helpful is “put your shadows next to your highlights whenever possible.” It does really make the model pop.
Step 1: sit down and paint
Step 2: repeat
Step 3: repeat
Step 4: repeat
I dunno man that sounds a bit drastic, I honestly don't think I'm ready for even that 😅
@@tomgeytenbeek2207 lulz, foryou bud,
step 1: sit down and paint
step 2: __________
@@j453 okay but seriously man I sit down, I try to paint and then I feel so bad for the misery I'm about to inflict on my minis and the therapy they're going to have to attend and I put down my brush and can't bring myself to commit this act of murder 😅
@@tomgeytenbeek2207 you can't be that bad lol.
@@j453 you underestimate my power 😊 nah, I'm not *that* terrible... But I'm incredibly inexperienced, and I don't want to ruin any of my cool new little lads by making stupid mistakes, so I'm being wayyy too slow and careful... But I'm fixing it by just buying some random plastic stuff and practicing on things I can afford to get wrong, so I'm slowly learning the ropes
I'm amazed that your Interocitor fez shows up on film!
You have seriously been the biggest help thank you!
Why did I see dis so late? I've bin painting for like two weeks and I only got two minis done a day! Why didn't I watch this?!?
Also nice video 👍