My two cents about mini painting is as follows: The most important thing is to get the miniatures painted and have fun when you are painting. It is so much more fun to field a completely painted lance/army and when you enjoy painting you also get better and finish miniatures on a level you never imagined you would be able. Painting is to me a beloved hobby journey where I can't say today where it leads me tomorrow - I only know that I will enjoy it ;)
I was guilty of having tons of half complete miniatures that I lost interest in, then I just decided to start finishing them and listing them on eBay. It turns out people will pay a lot for well painted miniatures you just have to wait till the right buyer comes along! Now I have a self funding hobby haha!
Hi, this is a great inspirational video! For what it's worth, this is my approach: When painting within 1 force, my goal on the 1st model is usually to set a decent, but easily reproducable standard. Every mini after that one has to look roughly equal, by using the same colours and steps. When I start a new army, my goal is to improve on the previous one, by adding some technique or trick. Unrelated-to-anything-else, one off models are the things I test techniques and try to push my skills on. Then see what might be usable on the next army project. My current battletech project has speed in mind, since the models sometimes have some janky details and nearly unreachable moldlines. I didn't want to waste time on a best-possible paintjob. I batchpaint on the 1st major colour, including shade, layer and drybrushing steps. Then every individual mech has to be finished in 2 evenings of painting. Nothing groundbreaking, but 18 mechs down the line, that speed and confidence got a little boost. That noticably improved my brushcontrol already. Everything else after, will be painted just a little faster. I'm already curious to see how that is going to affect my Iron Warriors expansion after this.
Thanks for doing this and I'm glad I found it. I definitely needed to hear it! I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to painting: I have a lot of what I've been told are extremely well-painted miniatures, but they've never seen the table top. Now that I've re-discovered Battletech, it's time to start painting to play rather than painting the best I possibly can. Thanks again!
Happy to give some inspiring words :) If you share any of your minis on Instagram be sure to tag me! I'd love to see what you're getting ready for battle!
This is such a fantastic video Jusin, lots of fantastic insights and encouragement. I feel inspired to paint up some of my own neglective BT mechs now!
Thank you for watching! You never know who is going to stop by :) we’ve talked before and most of the twitch painters I knew knew I struggled for a long time, if I’ve been able to turn some of my feelings into something inspiring for someone else then win-win! Austin and I hang out in the drd miniatures discord a lot these days, if you wanna hang out and do some hobbying with us sometime that would be awesome! Im sure Austin would love to talk shop about current designs we’re working on too.
I used one of my nicer brushes and literally just hand applied lines on areas that looked like they’d be prime spots for scratches. Based on the paint scheme I will typically use my edge highlight color and go a smidge lighter with the mix for the scratches so they stand out. Essentially what’s happening is you’re giving the illusion of a spot where light is catching the edge of the paint so I usually use a bright color. On a really light colored mech, white for example, you can either use a dark color for scratches or you can slightly tint your white miniature towards a hint of grey or a blue grey so that your edge highlights and scratches of pure white show up. Hope that helps :)
That raven looks awesome . To me the thing about BattleTech , it’s a dirty beat up universe . No matter how bad your paint would be , it can look good on a table , based on the environment of the game
Those Mechs are looking great! Well done! I prefer this "reduced" look. In my eyes it is fitting the machines much better than the style you can often find in tutorials for Warhammer.
To my eye that Raven looks amazing. It is my favorite among all of the blue and green mechs you showed here. However, I totally get that sometimes you have people telling you something is awesome and your artist eye sees it as crap/unfinished. I'm very much still a painting newb. My strategy is to identify which of my minis I don't care as much about (less likely to be played with on tabletop, usually) and those are my experiments. New jeweling technique I want to try? Different wash strategy? New contrast paint? All that goes on the experiments, so I have my ideas solidified when I go to do the minis I'm more emotionally invested in and will definitely play with.
My favorite artist told me once “An artist’s work is never done, it’s simply in a state where they decided to stop.” Or something to that affect. I relate to this a lot. Personally, it’s hard to be happy with my work, I always see faults and improvements I can make but it’s not practical to work on a piece forever. What gives me the most enjoyment is inspiring others with something I’ve done. I feel like I’ve left an impression when that occurs and that’s something the person I’ve inspired takes with them. My boss tells me all the time “don’t let the pursuit of perfection get in the way of good enough” which is also a good philosophy to keep in mind as well.
@@Thearmedpainter we are always our own worst critics for sure. You should be proud of your work though your models look amazing. I would say with your lines and shading you are up there with Sam Lenz.
I’m looking to get into painting miniatures with my children. We have no trouble finding mini’s for things like D&D or pathfinder, but I’m really struggling to find models to get started in the BattleTech world. Is there some place I should be looking to find these things so we can continue to learn?
I pick up a lot of my Battletech minis here: www.fortressminiaturesandgames.com The company I work for also does a lot of proxies that work for the game (Fortress caries them too): deathraydesigns.com/product-category/minis/ Right now prices can be really silly on the box sets and force packs because of Covid and stock issues. With that in mind for newcomers I recommend the following: A Game of Armored Combat ($60) , Beginners Box ($20), Clan Invasion ($50). At full msrp the total would be: $130 add on the Alpha Strike Commander’s Edition rule book and you’re at $170 or so. This nets you 15 mechs, 2 battle armor infantry stands, a bunch of paper maps, cardboard assets and data sheets. If you do some savvy shopping you can usually find the above 10-15% off online pretty consistently (when stock isn’t in pandemic mode anyway). At this point you can totally stop spending. It’s enough to get you and your kids playing if you approach it like a board game. If you want to expand however keep an eye out for the force packs when they hit. They have 4-6 mechs in them and range from $20-30 bucks which isn’t too bad. Of all the war games I’ve gotten into over the years, Battletech is one of the cheapest. If you are open to the metal minis those usually range from $10-15 each which is a lot more compared to the plastics mentioned above but in both cases it’s a heck of a lot more affordable and approachable than anything GW puts out (and I was a 40k player for about 11 years or so). I hope that helps! If you have any other questions feel free to ask :)
@@Thearmedpainter thanks for the quick reply. I actually already have the Beginners Box and Clan Invasion ordered and should be here within the week I’ll grab the others and let that be where we start. Hopefully more of the packs start becoming available soon.
Such a good video! I've been painting a year and needed to hear that from someone I think is one of the best
You’re too kind :)
My two cents about mini painting is as follows:
The most important thing is to get the miniatures painted and have fun when you are painting. It is so much more fun to field a completely painted lance/army and when you enjoy painting you also get better and finish miniatures on a level you never imagined you would be able.
Painting is to me a beloved hobby journey where I can't say today where it leads me tomorrow - I only know that I will enjoy it ;)
The Raven looks great! Do you think maybe some metallic gold paint would work for the "astronaut visor" look of the cockpit windows?
Couldn't hurt to try, may use some gold and a wash of some sort to give it a little gradation.
I think the green / blue Raven looks fantastic. That whole lance is fire.
I was guilty of having tons of half complete miniatures that I lost interest in, then I just decided to start finishing them and listing them on eBay. It turns out people will pay a lot for well painted miniatures you just have to wait till the right buyer comes along! Now I have a self funding hobby haha!
Hi, this is a great inspirational video! For what it's worth, this is my approach: When painting within 1 force, my goal on the 1st model is usually to set a decent, but easily reproducable standard. Every mini after that one has to look roughly equal, by using the same colours and steps.
When I start a new army, my goal is to improve on the previous one, by adding some technique or trick. Unrelated-to-anything-else, one off models are the things I test techniques and try to push my skills on. Then see what might be usable on the next army project.
My current battletech project has speed in mind, since the models sometimes have some janky details and nearly unreachable moldlines. I didn't want to waste time on a best-possible paintjob. I batchpaint on the 1st major colour, including shade, layer and drybrushing steps. Then every individual mech has to be finished in 2 evenings of painting. Nothing groundbreaking, but 18 mechs down the line, that speed and confidence got a little boost. That noticably improved my brushcontrol already. Everything else after, will be painted just a little faster. I'm already curious to see how that is going to affect my Iron Warriors expansion after this.
Great content. Start with the end in mind to avoid disappointment.
That raven with the gold cockpit has a Master Chief vibe. I like it! Don’t be afraid to ask other people’s opinions either.
Thanks for doing this and I'm glad I found it. I definitely needed to hear it! I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to painting: I have a lot of what I've been told are extremely well-painted miniatures, but they've never seen the table top. Now that I've re-discovered Battletech, it's time to start painting to play rather than painting the best I possibly can. Thanks again!
Happy to give some inspiring words :) If you share any of your minis on Instagram be sure to tag me! I'd love to see what you're getting ready for battle!
This is such a fantastic video Jusin, lots of fantastic insights and encouragement. I feel inspired to paint up some of my own neglective BT mechs now!
Thank you for watching! You never know who is going to stop by :) we’ve talked before and most of the twitch painters I knew knew I struggled for a long time, if I’ve been able to turn some of my feelings into something inspiring for someone else then win-win!
Austin and I hang out in the drd miniatures discord a lot these days, if you wanna hang out and do some hobbying with us sometime that would be awesome! Im sure Austin would love to talk shop about current designs we’re working on too.
Very cool bellows, my sense of beauty rejoices
Definitely have felt that feel before. Great video and keep it up!
Those turned out real nice!
Thank you :)
holy smokes, is this video specifically for ME!?!? 😂
I like the scratches on the mechs. Any chance you can show how you do that.
I used one of my nicer brushes and literally just hand applied lines on areas that looked like they’d be prime spots for scratches. Based on the paint scheme I will typically use my edge highlight color and go a smidge lighter with the mix for the scratches so they stand out. Essentially what’s happening is you’re giving the illusion of a spot where light is catching the edge of the paint so I usually use a bright color. On a really light colored mech, white for example, you can either use a dark color for scratches or you can slightly tint your white miniature towards a hint of grey or a blue grey so that your edge highlights and scratches of pure white show up.
Hope that helps :)
That raven looks awesome . To me the thing about BattleTech , it’s a dirty beat up universe . No matter how bad your paint would be , it can look good on a table , based on the environment of the game
Awesome advice!
Those Mechs are looking great! Well done! I prefer this "reduced" look. In my eyes it is fitting the machines much better than the style you can often find in tutorials for Warhammer.
Thanks :)
To my eye that Raven looks amazing. It is my favorite among all of the blue and green mechs you showed here. However, I totally get that sometimes you have people telling you something is awesome and your artist eye sees it as crap/unfinished.
I'm very much still a painting newb. My strategy is to identify which of my minis I don't care as much about (less likely to be played with on tabletop, usually) and those are my experiments. New jeweling technique I want to try? Different wash strategy? New contrast paint? All that goes on the experiments, so I have my ideas solidified when I go to do the minis I'm more emotionally invested in and will definitely play with.
When is your painting good enough?
When you are happy with it!
Those models look awesome though!
My favorite artist told me once “An artist’s work is never done, it’s simply in a state where they decided to stop.” Or something to that affect.
I relate to this a lot. Personally, it’s hard to be happy with my work, I always see faults and improvements I can make but it’s not practical to work on a piece forever. What gives me the most enjoyment is inspiring others with something I’ve done. I feel like I’ve left an impression when that occurs and that’s something the person I’ve inspired takes with them.
My boss tells me all the time “don’t let the pursuit of perfection get in the way of good enough” which is also a good philosophy to keep in mind as well.
@@Thearmedpainter we are always our own worst critics for sure.
You should be proud of your work though your models look amazing. I would say with your lines and shading you are up there with Sam Lenz.
I’m looking to get into painting miniatures with my children. We have no trouble finding mini’s for things like D&D or pathfinder, but I’m really struggling to find models to get started in the BattleTech world. Is there some place I should be looking to find these things so we can continue to learn?
I pick up a lot of my Battletech minis here:
www.fortressminiaturesandgames.com
The company I work for also does a lot of proxies that work for the game (Fortress caries them too):
deathraydesigns.com/product-category/minis/
Right now prices can be really silly on the box sets and force packs because of Covid and stock issues. With that in mind for newcomers I recommend the following:
A Game of Armored Combat ($60) , Beginners Box ($20), Clan Invasion ($50).
At full msrp the total would be: $130 add on the Alpha Strike Commander’s Edition rule book and you’re at $170 or so.
This nets you 15 mechs, 2 battle armor infantry stands, a bunch of paper maps, cardboard assets and data sheets. If you do some savvy shopping you can usually find the above 10-15% off online pretty consistently (when stock isn’t in pandemic mode anyway).
At this point you can totally stop spending. It’s enough to get you and your kids playing if you approach it like a board game. If you want to expand however keep an eye out for the force packs when they hit. They have 4-6 mechs in them and range from $20-30 bucks which isn’t too bad.
Of all the war games I’ve gotten into over the years, Battletech is one of the cheapest. If you are open to the metal minis those usually range from $10-15 each which is a lot more compared to the plastics mentioned above but in both cases it’s a heck of a lot more affordable and approachable than anything GW puts out (and I was a 40k player for about 11 years or so).
I hope that helps! If you have any other questions feel free to ask :)
@@Thearmedpainter thanks for the quick reply. I actually already have the Beginners Box and Clan Invasion ordered and should be here within the week I’ll grab the others and let that be where we start. Hopefully more of the packs start becoming available soon.
Paint until you hate it.. add a nuln oil wash.. and wait for it to be gold..hehe
your table top standard is too darn high sir.
Omg I’ve ruined it is one of the stages in my painting.