This is actually one thing I like about having left bigger army games behind for skirmish games: I can actually afford to spend the time I want to on any given model. And my time goes a lot further when a single model accounts for 20% of my force 😁
So in my recent foray into learning to paint loads of minis all over again, I ran into this very thing. I was burning out quickly, unsatisfied with brush sizes, paint qualities, contrast vs. regular paints and generally trying to take everything to the nth degree. So I'm sitting there with my coffee and looking at unpainted dudes with a few painted guys standing there and not under direct light and it hit me. You can't see that shit anyway, and even when you can it's often not unified, there's just too much noise. Yeah, if you pick the little dude up and look at him in isolation it's clear I took my time and there's loads of detail, but the squad looks jank. So I stripped them all, picked 1 metallic, 2 colors for the army colors and one color for the little bits and bobs like eyes and lenses and screens and plasma and all the hooha. Black, white, 4 colors and a brown wash. 7 pots total, everything done with those colors, AND holding mixing to a minimum. No highlights, just get some paint on there, I can go nuts on the details but they'll be monochromatic anyway, hit it, move on. It's almost got a cell shading kind of vibe to it, some of the details might look a bit off, only having one metallic, so all the metallic bits are gold, and individually it feels very off. But man, you set that shit down and look at a squad done up and they are unified and they pop, they're identifiable at a glance and just everything about it, I couldn't be happier. Once I connected that these are game pieces and color scheming has a game function, at a glance identification, and NOT some super realistic war diorama, it all just fell into place. Do they look "realistic"? No. Do I care? Also no.
Honestly, it seems silly, but I just really needed to hear this. I’ve been spending 4-6 hours per model since I started, as you can imagine, it really sucked the joy out of painting for a casual painter such as myself. I haven’t really been motivated to get back into painting lately, but now I may just slap chop my next squad and see how it turns out. Thanks!
I only really play Skirmish games and use slap chop variants all the time, the best part about them is that they're a great way to get the models ready for the table and you can always go back to add more details later.
Totally agreed, "Don't sweat the small stuff" is my motto with painting after nearly throwing the towel in with the whole thing. Agonising over minor details isn't how I want to spend my time and energy, and within the context of playing with models on the tabletop, those little details aren't going to get appreciated or noticed anyway.
Imo, it makes characters pop out more if you only do it on them... If every model looks like a character, who are the grunts? Also fun way to mess with your opponent... Highly detail your distraction unit, most likely will think it's something special since you put so much time into something that will get removed in 1-2 turns. ;)
Model details can definitely lead to a certain degree of decision paralysis for me. I can spend too much time staring at a model trying to plot out what paints I should use rather than actually painting it.
I tend to mostly paint squads ... OR characters. With squads, I build the paints/details up until I think it looks fine ... With characters I tend to use more time than an entire squad. ;)
Can relate. Just spent 6 weeks thinking, choosing, writing, printing bits for conversions etc. for my homebrew chapter, without even touching the paints. Being a perfectionist is not helping either.
I recently came back to the hobby after a 15 year break. Started by just enjoying painting videos during lunch break, or before bed (very relaxing stuff;)) but soon the itch started and I wanted to see how all the new stuff would be to play with (paints have improved amazingly from 15 years ago) but whereas younger me just went about it willy nilly, and mostly from just a gaming driven motivation, older me, IS actually wiser 😅 amongst other planning that was done, I made a pretty decent painting plan (if I do say so myself) where I incorporated my expected skillcurve (need to learn new paints,washes,technicals (love dirty down rust😍)) and went at it from the ground up. Found nice tutorials to set me on my way, and decided to aim for 3 goals. 1- tabletop ready 2- detailed 3-sweet AF. step 1 takes little time and gives a good result, step 2 is for when I get my brush control to the level I want (and then I'll go for all the eyes,gems,lenses) and on 3 I will Come back to pimp my army out with some osl, and some freehand markings. New (modern) sculpts are great, contrast paints are fun, wet palet a much bigger game-changer than I thought,and having a plan is the way to stay motivated (for me). just going through the Horus heresy starter box I'm (re)learning so much stuff but the best thing is: I'm having a lot of fun. And yes, all the pouches and holsters on my tactical squad are still just drybrused metal and it doesn't matter😎
This is why I loved Beaky-helms for fewer details to paint, I could finish one faster by avoiding those eyes. In the 40,000, there are no optometrists.
This resonates with me and current approach, “slap chop/ preshading” and speed paints is all I use now for the bulk of any army project. I’ll still try to go further on big minis or chapters. For me painted to any standard is way better than grey.
This is really key when painting those big KS board games with 100s of minis, have to find a way to paint the without worrying about the details so you can get them to the table. Depending on the game will either do a quick Speed Paint on the main parts and maybe acrylics after on specific details, or will do a full acrylic paint and painting each part, still don't really do multi layer highlight, glazing ect, as long as they look good on the game board they are ready to play. Difference is the time Speed Paint with a drybrush undercoat takes about 20 minutes a mini, and full acrylic with details takes 1-2 hours a mini.
Took me a long time to get the motivation to paint my Warlock Bombardier due to all the detail on his backpack. However, once I decided I'd just use 3 colours (silver main, bronze selected elements and a warpstone green as a spot colour), I painted him in no time and he still looks great.
I just really started painting minis this year (Infinity). I started with 4 colors per model and as become more comfortable I started to pick out more details to paint. I really believe that just getting some minis done really helps with motivation to get more done. Also just got to remind yourself that they are YOUR minis and only you need to be happy with the finished product. Thanks for the videos.
Also, you could try new techniques with newer models and see your progress in painting style... In my army a lot of squads have a different style...and I love to see the difference.
I recently finished a big game (for me). 60 minis felt like a ton. There were three groups of 15 minis that made up the three different minions of the game. Seeing basically three armies of the same sculpt was so daunting it took me way longer to paint than I expected. Most of that time was spent by me putting off painting. By the time I got to the Bosses of the game, I wanted it done so I spead up the process. I was throwing three speed paint colors on, skipping most details, and calling it done. Game looks great!
I always tell myself that my next model or army or warband will be painted faster than the lase....but I always get stuck in my OCD to paint all the details. But then, I am very happy when my models are finished.
This is why I chose the custodies, they are somewhat easy to get to "good enough", and have enough details if I want to try some more challenging stuff.
A few years ago someone gave me a piece of sound advice when it comes to detail. Hold your mini out at arm's length. That is usually the closest most people will see it. If you can not see the detail from that distance, then don't worry about it. It has helped me speed things up drastically.
As ive been slowly working on an admech army, ive been learning which details to "sweat" and which ones to happily ignore. There is a nice middle ground for me in there somewhere that allows me to paint the army to my liking without having to add reflextions in pupils for everything. Your message here is a great one for each person to think about and maybe learn what details matter for them and which ones dont. Thanks again for great conent!
If you are bad at painting or you don't have the time, just paint metallic colors. It's so much easier and faster to do and it will look like you are actually good. Pick a base color, base the model, shade it completely, drybrush with a lighter metal, and finish with another drybrush of an even lighter metal. Do some details with contrast paints if you want, a little stuff on the base and you are done. Without drying time it's like 20 minutes per model maybe
I painted the Eldar Corsair minis from the box set and boy oh boy the level of the detail on this minis was incredible. So hard to paint then and took me ages to complete them, but got through it eventually. I hope not too many newbies bought that box. I learned a lot painting them, though.
Honestly this advice helps me a lot. Im looking at getting some very old Space Marines painted up as well as some more modern Stormcast Eternals and Chaos Warriors and I am liking the simple but effective basic concept. One metallic. One core colour. Two complimentary colours. A base skin colour. And done.
I agree, I never have completed an army until a couple of weeks ago when I just sat down to use only speed paints to do a force of dwarfs and I flew through the project leaving me with table ready force in no time!
Uncle Atom: where are they getting all this leather from Me thinking about it: Space cows! On the subject though, I was trying my darnest to hit those "Parade ready" or Juan Hidalgo's 'Eavy Contrast and realized I didn't want to use a dozen or more paints for those tiny details no one is ever going to see during games. Now for display models OK maybe I can go crazy but it's not worth my time (now I see) to spend hours upon hours for one basic troop while his squad mates are still just primed.
This video really helped me rethink how I was painting. I started to feel a bit overwhelmed by the task of painting just a handful more skinks. Was trying to hard to make it the very best I could for each one. Now just been finishing them off happily to a decent standard and not sweating it. If I want to later I can always go back and put some more details later. I want to learn and improve but I think this helped me focus on enjoying and learning rather than just trying to put in 100% effort
my recent process has been -> grey spray -> contrast and speed paint wherever possible for a base coat -> quick varnish spray -> streaking grime & removal -> light touch ups on metallics and specific bright areas -> bit of dry brushing -> basing. Done
When I'm painting, I always struggle to remember that most of the time, when the minis are out, they'll be at minimum 3 feet away from people's faces. Likely further. Who's going to notice the belt buckles?
In my forties now, and having been a painter/gamer for nearly thirty years. My skill level got high enough to the point I'm happy with my miniatures....since then it's been simple; how do I cheat to get there faster? I do approximately 200 minis a year completely painted/based, etc. I don't even speed paint, but I paint to a standard I enjoy, and I'm happy with. Any trick, tip, tool, that gets me there faster...is golden. Grass tufts? Done. Dips? Done. Washes? Done. Vallejo texture pastes for basing? Done. Colour primers? All day, every day.
I like a 40-40-20 system. What that means is I have two colors which each cover 40% of the model. A third color is used for SOME details for about 20%. The first color to go on is lighter, so don't be too careful, as any over painting will get covered by the dark one. Over the light one, use a few different shades or contrast colors. This means that skin, bone, bamboo and wood can all be the same base, but end up different colors. For the darker color, you can mix a little of the lighter one in on the fly, and use this to highlight capes, edges, top of head etc. for some easy variation and contrast. Now you have a model in eight colors with a cohesive color scheme and smooth blended highlights, but 80% of the surface is done in two base colors.
I paint Iron Hands for 30k, and generally limit myself to roughly 15 (probably a bit less) paints. I can paint all but the most unusual details with those, basing and weathering included. Whenever something new comes up, I just pick whatever paint fits the closest. I find that not having too many different paints helps with not getting too hung up on every little detail.
After watching some previous of your videos and after learning that on some crisis suits I've had for over 15 years that I had missed painting some parts and never noticed until I took a close look when painting up some more crisis suits of the same type. So these areas were black instead of white and it was just under the head. After that I've been trying more and more "good enough" and just doing the big details to begin with and leaving details until later and skipping some that just doesn't make a difference in the end, like belt buckles being metal.
I found myself painting everything to a basic paint job by using a triad set for each of the following: Skin, armor, clothing. weapons. Everything looks uniform and tabletop ready. Then, if you want to, take your time and focus on the details by squad. The slight differences in the detailed vs non detailed models will give you the drive to eventually put those last bits of thine on them all.
To answer "do we want to spend that kind of time" my personal answer is yes! I love spending that time making tweaks, cutting off and sculpting on extra details. I love finding models that make me go "oooooh I have an idea for that!" and really bringing an idea to life! For reference I also play TTRPGs not just wargames and enjoy displaying my nerd hobbies. In the end, I do the level of detail that I want. For some models that's literally taking small chips of amethyst and sticking them on the model for that real life glow. Others that's airbrushing and calling it a day. Every models, and the way I engage with that model, is different and that's part of what makes the hobby fun for me! Then again, I'm literally autistic and just a bit different from the majority
Throughout the process, I will stop, put the mini on my desk and stand about 2-3 feet away. If it looks good from that distance, then it is good enough for general gaming. I will spend a little more time and detail on heroic/unique units, however.
At times, it is fair to remember that these are playing figurines. The more you play, the better it is when the paint job is simple and helps identify your own troops. Keep the good paint job for your leaders and centerpieces.
You talking about GW models? Those are models for painting. The game just happens to be around and applies to their model range. There are more model painters than war gamers. A complicated paint job is no different than a simple one when identifying troops. The only problem would be unpainted models getting mixed with your opponents if you both play the same faction and build the same way. There are also a lot of people (myself included) that won't use an unpainted model in a game. Does this mean it takes years to get a new unit on the table? Yeah... And if you compound new purchases on top of current projects you have a situation in which you only paint and never play, which kinda backs my point.
@@kenupton4084 I thought of my comment more of a general advice, not necessarily GW specific. And if you are more of a painter than a player, then my advice is of course void.
I avoid minis with a lot of unneeded detail or with GW I simply do not add all the punches, pistols and knives etc as it just adds to the painting time and rarely get seen!
I painted up twenty Poxwalkers for my son's Death Guard army. I had fun with the various details. I worked on refining my shading and highlighting techniques. The models turned out disgustingly awesome. I also have NO desire to paint a Death Guard army of my own anytime soon.
While I love seeing miniatures that people have exquisitely painted to have TONS of detail, I'm honestly more impressed with the painter who can take only a few colors and make a unit pop with just a few simple techniques. That to me is impressive because you're limiting your color pallet and constraining your desire to lavish detail on each mini and allowing the color scheme and shading to show of the mini. I painted up a bunch of robbed cyborgs from Ramshackle Games a while back and purposefully limited my color pallet to just two reds, gun metal, a brighter silver, The Fang, and a leathery brown color, and a wash. That was probably the most fun I had painting in a long time (and I usually always enjoy painting). Plus, I got 10 crazy cyborgs done in no time for Stargrave. Also... ANOTHER game man! Guess I'm buying another miniature game. Love Reign In Hell and Space Station Zero. Seriously, if I end up enjoying your third game as much as the first two you guys will be in my top three of my favorite small press game publishers.
Spot on. Sometimes I have gone as far as shaving off some details tk make it even easier. As much as the added details can be nice when you want that higher level look, other times they just complicate the model for something that would be lost in the overall look of the army when it is in the battlefield. I also really liked your tip about details in the shadow areas. This can’t be over stated. Amazing what we can get away with by maximizing the shadow areas and ignoring details and highlights (which incidentally then draws the focus to key parts of the model, like the head and upper arms for example)
Ha! You're not allowed to mind read... I'm doing a kill team ( guardsmen) , had a look at regular military, saw most of it is the same color and decided against a whole lot of different colors on the pouches and whatnot. :D
I try to only high detail paint my special character/ leaders in my army. The general troops are painted with less detail. This makes those special ones pop more. I also agree about all the leather pouches. Nowdays most tactical gear is a nylon or some kind of carbon fiber even gun holsters so it would make sense if in the future they would Not have as much leather pouches etcetera. This would allow you to use the same contrast paint as your major armor color with only a few highlight details to make them pop.
In batch painting where I have 30+ models I need to paint, I simply base then then do a quick dry brush over important details followed by a brown or black wash. Don't get me wrong I love painting but it's not that important when you're playing a wargame with a lot of miniatures
Great advice! The trick is trying to figure out what actually makes a noticeable difference when at a distance on the tabletop. On models with lots of details I tend to only basecoat and shade everything (or contrast) but then only highlight the primary colours like the armour and not all the little details. I find some details are just too small to need highlights for the tabletop. I actually collect 40K necrons and daemons mainly because they have less details and work well with drybrushing, shades and contrast so are faster to paint. 😅
for my T'au monstrosity, I put alot of time into a pathfinder team. the purpose was to see color combinations and the details within the model. now that I've determined the colors and order of application, I can begin the rest of the 90 troop mini's. to Break up the monotonous feel of assembly line painting, I will mix in some other genre mini's. after completing 10 or 20 of the 40k, I will paint a Lance (4 or 5) battlemechs or 4 to 5 medieval mini's. by rotating thru my mountain of shame, I tend to keep from getting burned out.
I usually do a white brush prime (im terrified of spray cans and get a bad coat) and a black undercoat so, i usually don't paint hard to reach details , cus I really don't want to paint 8+ minis with this hard to reach details ...so they can be in the shadow
I spent so much time practicing painting on cheap models with few and often indistinct details that ignoring them has become second nature to me. The painting method shown in this video is definitely my favorite way to paint most models these days but it does have its limits... The still unpainted Dark Vengeance Librarian sitting on my desk always makes me queasy every time I look at it haha
I really like your attitude - how you speak and formulate everything in a very friendly and well...kinda warm and polite way. It's like listening to an old friend. Dunno how to describe it, really. New to the channel and will stay here for good, just to spend some evenings "together" and maybe learn something new in the process. Cheers! - Not Very Skilled in Explaining Stuff Polish Fan
Kinda ran into a wall painting Ultramarines Robute Guillman, I have about 7 hours in painting him, and still have about 30% of the model to go. This is over the last two months. My trick to feel like I’m accomplishing something is to have some small like scatter terrain which is simple to paint available. Whipped out airbrush and very quickly had some scatter terrain to use to add a little more interest to board. Now instead of one piece done in two months, I got 30.
first units i assemble and paint gets all the pouches purity seals knives and whatnot backbanners? sure. Second unit+ gets bare bones arms legs head check arms are holding something? great thats enough. skipping the extra junk speeds up getting the second unit on the table by then you are sick of the sculpts anyway and its a slog instead of fun
I get this sort of "perfectionist" thing with my miniatures. By no means am I a great painter, I mean that I just cant let myself cut corners with it. Whether it's a torso completely obscured by a gun, or a tiny button than no one would notice, I just have to paint the details lol, otherwise I feel frustrated. That does mean that it takes me a long time to paint everything, and with my armies being Skaven and Tyranids, that means a looot of hours spent painting to the highest standard I can; I genuinely have not finished painting any model in a single day, not even a Clanrat. Then again, I dont really play the game anymore and my main involvement with the hobby is painting/building, so I guess without the added pressure of needing a finished army to bring to games then the extra time isnt that big of a deal :)
a lot of those Space Marine pouches are optional and I've learned to just not add them to my models during assembly since they don't add very much to me relative to the time they take up. thanks Atom!
i love how one is hanging out 4 days with some crazy good painters and the response is: maybe... just contrast over a drybrush xD Lovin it honestly, the story makes it just so much cooler :D
@@tabletopminions hey, yes thats for sure... also thats totally fine (mediocre painter myself) but i really found the background story pretty amusing. Keep the good content up, really enjoying it :)
More truth from the keeping it real channel. What I would have given to be in that jam session! This and the many other vids of yours and others in a similar vein on related topics have really changed my painting and correspondingly my hobby satisfaction. With speedpaints and a completely different approach to underpainting, I have dramatically increased my painting output. Interestingly enough, my painting has actually gotten better as well, mostly due the fact I’m just! painting a lot more. It’s a spiral up instead of into down into painting ennui. I enjoy it more, get more production which increases my sense of accomplishment, less guilt/hobby frustration and all this makes me want to do more. I actually came to this same conclusion about 2 months ago on details. Mostly due to how much speedpaint will run everywhere, and I was repainting everything. The rest came from painting some really simple sculpts. Most detail does not show at table level in units of soldiers. Regiments of mostly uniform guys look way better than gray prime, and their canteens or misc pouches being occasionally jacket colored rarely stands out. In fact with contrast style paints, it not actually the same color even though you painted it with one color. Honestly it’s not slacking or “cheating” it’s getting better without having to pretend I want every piece of slow match or belt buckle hole to be visible on a one inch figure at 3 feet. What is visible is sad gray primer on a unit next to a painted one.
I’m getting ready to start building an Imperial Guard 40K army, I’m already looking at over 100 individual soldiers to paint. I’m realizing that you are right I don’t need to go crazy with the detail.
i just got into warhammer again after 20 years, and yes im starting to play.. BUT, im old now, so im taking my time on my models.. its a hobby, and it takes time.. and then also there arent many game events here in Denmark :(
I'm slowly building a collection of 5 minis in each main space marine chapter. I feel like I have to add at least one detail from the upgrade kit to make them feel more like they're from their chapter. But I always dread painting them, even as im deciding to add them.
I am painting an Ork Battlewagon (including FW Supa Kannon) and it's yellow for Bad Moons and fully magnetized. I'm painting the rivets metal and the hammered on ramshackle metal panels either black or metal, flame and checkered patterns and it's getting to be too much.
To be fair, if you started to cut corners and rush it a bit, it would be absolutely on brand for orks. Gotta get that wagon on da table so it can get da boyz into da foight.
The ‘eavy metal paint teams paints the way they do to sell models. You don’t have that pressure. Don’t worry about things that aren’t fun to paint. Painting for you should be fun.
I have to collect all the armies when playing a new miniature game. I paint them so i am happy with how they look overall. I don't go full hog on every detail, as I just want to get them on the table ready to start gaming. Lots of washes and highlighting/dry brushing if i spend hours on minis i would never game or just give up and play video games instead. it is each to their own, but on a tabletop you cannot see all the details from 3ft away anyway
Talking about demon monsters in sci-fi armor, I do hope that more mutant chronicles models come out. Looks like Res Nova is working on some for Warzone Eternal.
After watching this channel for two years or so, almost a year ago I decided to build both halves of multiple games of W40K deathwatch vs. "chaos cultists" (mix of 25mm base GW human infantry)/knights...so around 175 infantry and 20 vehicle sized models between the two halves...i basically do the methods described here and then come back through as many times as i want to add in another set of effects a squad at a time...because of the numbers i do at one time, I probably spend 30m total on each infantry model to get it to where i want it for a game...but not necessarily finished. Doing a basic but pleasing paintjob on that many models, at a recreational pace, is going to end up being a little more than 13 months, and I might add details for months after that before a final clear coat. If I put maximum effort into each one, and used every technique I could learn, I might be done by 11th edition launch...and i'd be sick of looking at them. I'd need a break before I could fully enjoy playing the game. The results are better than i thought I'd achieve when this hobby was still just in my head (thanks mostly to you, sir) so 30-60min is when I naturally decide I really like where its at and stop.
I don’t do armies, but my rule of thumb is everything has two base colors, and no more than 3 detail colors. I’m not competing, or selling my models. So they just need to have some paint on them.
Uncle Adam One thing I really dont get is... gw wants to decrease "digestion time" right? The time between purchase, building, painting, fielding, and the next purchase. They want that time period to be small, for obvious reasons. Hence the invention of contrast paint. ... so why do there models get more and more bits and bobs every year? Frankly i don't like to paint model from the last 4 or so years because, there's just to much stuff. It doesn't look right.
I am reminded of techniques for painting rank and file Napoleonics. Might be worth looking into the dim red dawn of time; if you needed to paint 1000 figures for a battle to a historical approximate accuracy, perhaps the grognards have some wisdom to pass down.
I can agree that sometimes models have details only the sake to have more details. When I started painting I didn't pay too much attention to them. As I learned more I put more and more effort into details. I'm not pushing to golden demon level of painting (maybe one day) but I want to make my models as good as I can. My personal philosophy you only have to make a model looking good once, and it will stay that way.
Not going to lie. Some days I have put off painting a particular miniature after, looking at all the detail. I love the detail and sometimes I don't like it.
I think I managed to get a pretty good mentality down from Marco Frisoni. As long as you do bold important colours with contrast or something. Oil washes can be your only form of shading and sketchy details and the important features of a model are left when you're further than 1 ft away from it
So I know TTM going for this... but unpainted models have an extremely good meta camouflage in the right set up. I played this one guy and I swear his units blended into the store's terrain to the point where I would forget models on the board! In his defense he wasn't doing it intentionally...lol
Hi Adam, I'm painting my first team for Kill team, the DKOK and found a bit hard to paint so much models the same way, so I tried to do it as a single model, begun with green, everything that is that color, must be done, and so on, they're done, but looking at them I begun to see, and pick up every single detail, I painted the buttons, the small skulls on the backpacks, the display on the flamer, I find it hard not to look at that small things and say "Hey you forgot that" perhaps is a distorsion from the single 54/75mm minis or the single 28mm mini diorama, I think it has to become as an attitude, to paint in different ways, but it's not so simple, thanks for your weekly help
Depends on what you're going for I guess. If you're painting a model for the tabletop, do you really need to go to the hassle and stress and nail biting horror of trying to paint the damn things eyes? Unless anyone picks it up and peers at it, no one is going to notice. Paint the model until you are happy with it, then put it down. Don't panic over whether or not someone is going to quibble because you didn't paint that tiny effing button on his belt pouch.
Interesting journey and I can relate to this. You start basic then you want to get more and more details because that is what the “pro’s” are doing. But that for me he slowed it down so much so losing interest. Going to try the fellowship now by less detail by instruction, but more detail what I am happy and level of ability. Hopefully will keep the level of motivation and not discouragement of lack of ability. I hope that makes sense, but this video really was a good reminder that I am on the right track for me. Hope all is well with family and friends
I wonder if you'd get more banf for your buck by for example giving the round thing on the back a coat of some brown contrast to make it appear bronze instead of adding the silver highlights. But I absolutely agree, don't sweat the small stuff.
You should paint detail to your level of comfort and satisfaction, but I think you should also push yourself now and again just for the satisfaction of it. Personally, I often find those tiny details fun to complete as little easter eggs for people to see if they look at the mini a bit closer. It's way better to have details and not worry about them than it is to have poorly detailed minis where you have fewer choices.
Since my primary goal isn't to just throw stuff on the table to play, I paint all of the extra details I want. I do Tyranids, and I add the toxin sacs and adrenal glands because I like the extra details. I magentize the warriors and bigger units, paint the extra bits, I enjoy it. I paid for a box of plastic and since my enjoymentis painting that plastic, I make sure I get my moneys worth.
Uncle Atom being the voice of reason and calm in a lanscape full of "be a fancy overachiever" - great message, very much appreciated!
This is actually one thing I like about having left bigger army games behind for skirmish games: I can actually afford to spend the time I want to on any given model. And my time goes a lot further when a single model accounts for 20% of my force 😁
So in my recent foray into learning to paint loads of minis all over again, I ran into this very thing.
I was burning out quickly, unsatisfied with brush sizes, paint qualities, contrast vs. regular paints and generally trying to take everything to the nth degree.
So I'm sitting there with my coffee and looking at unpainted dudes with a few painted guys standing there and not under direct light and it hit me.
You can't see that shit anyway, and even when you can it's often not unified, there's just too much noise.
Yeah, if you pick the little dude up and look at him in isolation it's clear I took my time and there's loads of detail, but the squad looks jank.
So I stripped them all, picked 1 metallic, 2 colors for the army colors and one color for the little bits and bobs like eyes and lenses and screens and plasma and all the hooha.
Black, white, 4 colors and a brown wash. 7 pots total, everything done with those colors, AND holding mixing to a minimum.
No highlights, just get some paint on there, I can go nuts on the details but they'll be monochromatic anyway, hit it, move on.
It's almost got a cell shading kind of vibe to it, some of the details might look a bit off, only having one metallic, so all the metallic bits are gold, and individually it feels very off.
But man, you set that shit down and look at a squad done up and they are unified and they pop, they're identifiable at a glance and just everything about it, I couldn't be happier.
Once I connected that these are game pieces and color scheming has a game function, at a glance identification, and NOT some super realistic war diorama, it all just fell into place.
Do they look "realistic"? No. Do I care? Also no.
Preach it!!
I’ve largely adopted the portrait mentality, the places I put more details on the areas I want you to focus on.
Honestly, it seems silly, but I just really needed to hear this.
I’ve been spending 4-6 hours per model since I started, as you can imagine, it really sucked the joy out of painting for a casual painter such as myself. I haven’t really been motivated to get back into painting lately, but now I may just slap chop my next squad and see how it turns out.
Thanks!
...should try painting squads as a whole, instead per model. Speeds up painting too.
I only really play Skirmish games and use slap chop variants all the time, the best part about them is that they're a great way to get the models ready for the table and you can always go back to add more details later.
Totally agreed, "Don't sweat the small stuff" is my motto with painting after nearly throwing the towel in with the whole thing. Agonising over minor details isn't how I want to spend my time and energy, and within the context of playing with models on the tabletop, those little details aren't going to get appreciated or noticed anyway.
Imo, it makes characters pop out more if you only do it on them... If every model looks like a character, who are the grunts?
Also fun way to mess with your opponent... Highly detail your distraction unit, most likely will think it's something special since you put so much time into something that will get removed in 1-2 turns. ;)
Model details can definitely lead to a certain degree of decision paralysis for me. I can spend too much time staring at a model trying to plot out what paints I should use rather than actually painting it.
100% if not more
It's this which is why my favorite Patreon sculptor is Dragon Trappers Lodge
Part of the reason I havent painted the new Cadian models
I tend to mostly paint squads ... OR characters. With squads, I build the paints/details up until I think it looks fine ... With characters I tend to use more time than an entire squad. ;)
Can relate. Just spent 6 weeks thinking, choosing, writing, printing bits for conversions etc. for my homebrew chapter, without even touching the paints. Being a perfectionist is not helping either.
Definitely! I often ignore details that I don't think need painting. Sometimes models are over - embellished
Entirely awesome to see that pool of UA-cam talent come together for a weekend of casual painting/gaming fun like this.
I recently came back to the hobby after a 15 year break. Started by just enjoying painting videos during lunch break, or before bed (very relaxing stuff;)) but soon the itch started and I wanted to see how all the new stuff would be to play with (paints have improved amazingly from 15 years ago) but whereas younger me just went about it willy nilly, and mostly from just a gaming driven motivation, older me, IS actually wiser 😅 amongst other planning that was done, I made a pretty decent painting plan (if I do say so myself) where I incorporated my expected skillcurve (need to learn new paints,washes,technicals (love dirty down rust😍)) and went at it from the ground up. Found nice tutorials to set me on my way, and decided to aim for 3 goals. 1- tabletop ready 2- detailed 3-sweet AF.
step 1 takes little time and gives a good result, step 2 is for when I get my brush control to the level I want (and then I'll go for all the eyes,gems,lenses) and on 3 I will Come back to pimp my army out with some osl, and some freehand markings.
New (modern) sculpts are great, contrast paints are fun, wet palet a much bigger game-changer than I thought,and having a plan is the way to stay motivated (for me).
just going through the Horus heresy starter box I'm (re)learning so much stuff but the best thing is: I'm having a lot of fun.
And yes, all the pouches and holsters on my tactical squad are still just drybrused metal and it doesn't matter😎
This is why I loved Beaky-helms for fewer details to paint, I could finish one faster by avoiding those eyes. In the 40,000, there are no optometrists.
This resonates with me and current approach, “slap chop/ preshading” and speed paints is all I use now for the bulk of any army project. I’ll still try to go further on big minis or chapters. For me painted to any standard is way better than grey.
This is really key when painting those big KS board games with 100s of minis, have to find a way to paint the without worrying about the details so you can get them to the table. Depending on the game will either do a quick Speed Paint on the main parts and maybe acrylics after on specific details, or will do a full acrylic paint and painting each part, still don't really do multi layer highlight, glazing ect, as long as they look good on the game board they are ready to play. Difference is the time Speed Paint with a drybrush undercoat takes about 20 minutes a mini, and full acrylic with details takes 1-2 hours a mini.
Took me a long time to get the motivation to paint my Warlock Bombardier due to all the detail on his backpack. However, once I decided I'd just use 3 colours (silver main, bronze selected elements and a warpstone green as a spot colour), I painted him in no time and he still looks great.
I just really started painting minis this year (Infinity). I started with 4 colors per model and as become more comfortable I started to pick out more details to paint. I really believe that just getting some minis done really helps with motivation to get more done. Also just got to remind yourself that they are YOUR minis and only you need to be happy with the finished product. Thanks for the videos.
Also, you could try new techniques with newer models and see your progress in painting style... In my army a lot of squads have a different style...and I love to see the difference.
I recently finished a big game (for me). 60 minis felt like a ton. There were three groups of 15 minis that made up the three different minions of the game. Seeing basically three armies of the same sculpt was so daunting it took me way longer to paint than I expected. Most of that time was spent by me putting off painting.
By the time I got to the Bosses of the game, I wanted it done so I spead up the process. I was throwing three speed paint colors on, skipping most details, and calling it done. Game looks great!
I always tell myself that my next model or army or warband will be painted faster than the lase....but I always get stuck in my OCD to paint all the details. But then, I am very happy when my models are finished.
This is why I chose the custodies, they are somewhat easy to get to "good enough", and have enough details if I want to try some more challenging stuff.
Like you said. Don't forget to look at the big picture. Some times details don't really add anything to the overall look.
A few years ago someone gave me a piece of sound advice when it comes to detail. Hold your mini out at arm's length.
That is usually the closest most people will see it. If you can not see the detail from that distance, then don't worry about it.
It has helped me speed things up drastically.
As ive been slowly working on an admech army, ive been learning which details to "sweat" and which ones to happily ignore. There is a nice middle ground for me in there somewhere that allows me to paint the army to my liking without having to add reflextions in pupils for everything. Your message here is a great one for each person to think about and maybe learn what details matter for them and which ones dont. Thanks again for great conent!
If you are bad at painting or you don't have the time, just paint metallic colors. It's so much easier and faster to do and it will look like you are actually good. Pick a base color, base the model, shade it completely, drybrush with a lighter metal, and finish with another drybrush of an even lighter metal.
Do some details with contrast paints if you want, a little stuff on the base and you are done.
Without drying time it's like 20 minutes per model maybe
I love when you look at real military kit for inspiration and no matter how much detail there is there it's all just one colour 🤣
I painted the Eldar Corsair minis from the box set and boy oh boy the level of the detail on this minis was incredible. So hard to paint then and took me ages to complete them, but got through it eventually. I hope not too many newbies bought that box. I learned a lot painting them, though.
Honestly this advice helps me a lot. Im looking at getting some very old Space Marines painted up as well as some more modern Stormcast Eternals and Chaos Warriors and I am liking the simple but effective basic concept.
One metallic. One core colour. Two complimentary colours. A base skin colour. And done.
I agree, I never have completed an army until a couple of weeks ago when I just sat down to use only speed paints to do a force of dwarfs and I flew through the project leaving me with table ready force in no time!
Congratulations! Thanks for watching!
Uncle Atom: where are they getting all this leather from
Me thinking about it: Space cows!
On the subject though, I was trying my darnest to hit those "Parade ready" or Juan Hidalgo's 'Eavy Contrast and realized I didn't want to use a dozen or more paints for those tiny details no one is ever going to see during games. Now for display models OK maybe I can go crazy but it's not worth my time (now I see) to spend hours upon hours for one basic troop while his squad mates are still just primed.
This video really helped me rethink how I was painting. I started to feel a bit overwhelmed by the task of painting just a handful more skinks. Was trying to hard to make it the very best I could for each one. Now just been finishing them off happily to a decent standard and not sweating it. If I want to later I can always go back and put some more details later. I want to learn and improve but I think this helped me focus on enjoying and learning rather than just trying to put in 100% effort
I always appreciate your perspective of, "hey it's a hobby - you should be enjoying it! Do it how it makes you happy." Thanks for that.
my recent process has been -> grey spray -> contrast and speed paint wherever possible for a base coat -> quick varnish spray -> streaking grime & removal -> light touch ups on metallics and specific bright areas -> bit of dry brushing -> basing. Done
When I'm painting, I always struggle to remember that most of the time, when the minis are out, they'll be at minimum 3 feet away from people's faces. Likely further. Who's going to notice the belt buckles?
I am 😳
In my forties now, and having been a painter/gamer for nearly thirty years. My skill level got high enough to the point I'm happy with my miniatures....since then it's been simple; how do I cheat to get there faster? I do approximately 200 minis a year completely painted/based, etc. I don't even speed paint, but I paint to a standard I enjoy, and I'm happy with. Any trick, tip, tool, that gets me there faster...is golden. Grass tufts? Done. Dips? Done. Washes? Done. Vallejo texture pastes for basing? Done. Colour primers? All day, every day.
I like a 40-40-20 system. What that means is I have two colors which each cover 40% of the model. A third color is used for SOME details for about 20%.
The first color to go on is lighter, so don't be too careful, as any over painting will get covered by the dark one. Over the light one, use a few different shades or contrast colors. This means that skin, bone, bamboo and wood can all be the same base, but end up different colors.
For the darker color, you can mix a little of the lighter one in on the fly, and use this to highlight capes, edges, top of head etc. for some easy variation and contrast. Now you have a model in eight colors with a cohesive color scheme and smooth blended highlights, but 80% of the surface is done in two base colors.
I paint Iron Hands for 30k, and generally limit myself to roughly 15 (probably a bit less) paints. I can paint all but the most unusual details with those, basing and weathering included. Whenever something new comes up, I just pick whatever paint fits the closest. I find that not having too many different paints helps with not getting too hung up on every little detail.
After watching some previous of your videos and after learning that on some crisis suits I've had for over 15 years that I had missed painting some parts and never noticed until I took a close look when painting up some more crisis suits of the same type. So these areas were black instead of white and it was just under the head.
After that I've been trying more and more "good enough" and just doing the big details to begin with and leaving details until later and skipping some that just doesn't make a difference in the end, like belt buckles being metal.
I found myself painting everything to a basic paint job by using a triad set for each of the following: Skin, armor, clothing. weapons. Everything looks uniform and tabletop ready. Then, if you want to, take your time and focus on the details by squad. The slight differences in the detailed vs non detailed models will give you the drive to eventually put those last bits of thine on them all.
To answer "do we want to spend that kind of time" my personal answer is yes! I love spending that time making tweaks, cutting off and sculpting on extra details. I love finding models that make me go "oooooh I have an idea for that!" and really bringing an idea to life! For reference I also play TTRPGs not just wargames and enjoy displaying my nerd hobbies. In the end, I do the level of detail that I want. For some models that's literally taking small chips of amethyst and sticking them on the model for that real life glow. Others that's airbrushing and calling it a day. Every models, and the way I engage with that model, is different and that's part of what makes the hobby fun for me! Then again, I'm literally autistic and just a bit different from the majority
Throughout the process, I will stop, put the mini on my desk and stand about 2-3 feet away. If it looks good from that distance, then it is good enough for general gaming. I will spend a little more time and detail on heroic/unique units, however.
At times, it is fair to remember that these are playing figurines. The more you play, the better it is when the paint job is simple and helps identify your own troops. Keep the good paint job for your leaders and centerpieces.
You talking about GW models? Those are models for painting. The game just happens to be around and applies to their model range. There are more model painters than war gamers.
A complicated paint job is no different than a simple one when identifying troops. The only problem would be unpainted models getting mixed with your opponents if you both play the same faction and build the same way.
There are also a lot of people (myself included) that won't use an unpainted model in a game. Does this mean it takes years to get a new unit on the table? Yeah... And if you compound new purchases on top of current projects you have a situation in which you only paint and never play, which kinda backs my point.
@@kenupton4084 I thought of my comment more of a general advice, not necessarily GW specific. And if you are more of a painter than a player, then my advice is of course void.
I avoid minis with a lot of unneeded detail or with GW I simply do not add all the punches, pistols and knives etc as it just adds to the painting time and rarely get seen!
I painted up twenty Poxwalkers for my son's Death Guard army. I had fun with the various details. I worked on refining my shading and highlighting techniques. The models turned out disgustingly awesome. I also have NO desire to paint a Death Guard army of my own anytime soon.
While I love seeing miniatures that people have exquisitely painted to have TONS of detail, I'm honestly more impressed with the painter who can take only a few colors and make a unit pop with just a few simple techniques. That to me is impressive because you're limiting your color pallet and constraining your desire to lavish detail on each mini and allowing the color scheme and shading to show of the mini. I painted up a bunch of robbed cyborgs from Ramshackle Games a while back and purposefully limited my color pallet to just two reds, gun metal, a brighter silver, The Fang, and a leathery brown color, and a wash. That was probably the most fun I had painting in a long time (and I usually always enjoy painting). Plus, I got 10 crazy cyborgs done in no time for Stargrave.
Also... ANOTHER game man! Guess I'm buying another miniature game. Love Reign In Hell and Space Station Zero. Seriously, if I end up enjoying your third game as much as the first two you guys will be in my top three of my favorite small press game publishers.
Spot on.
Sometimes I have gone as far as shaving off some details tk make it even easier.
As much as the added details can be nice when you want that higher level look, other times they just complicate the model for something that would be lost in the overall look of the army when it is in the battlefield.
I also really liked your tip about details in the shadow areas. This can’t be over stated. Amazing what we can get away with by maximizing the shadow areas and ignoring details and highlights (which incidentally then draws the focus to key parts of the model, like the head and upper arms for example)
Ha! You're not allowed to mind read... I'm doing a kill team ( guardsmen) , had a look at regular military, saw most of it is the same color and decided against a whole lot of different colors on the pouches and whatnot. :D
I try to only high detail paint my special character/ leaders in my army. The general troops are painted with less detail. This makes those special ones pop more. I also agree about all the leather pouches. Nowdays most tactical gear is a nylon or some kind of carbon fiber even gun holsters so it would make sense if in the future they would Not have as much leather pouches etcetera. This would allow you to use the same contrast paint as your major armor color with only a few highlight details to make them pop.
Recently I've been making the most important part of the model painted well then speed paints for the rest! Life is too short to sweat the details!
In batch painting where I have 30+ models I need to paint, I simply base then then do a quick dry brush over important details followed by a brown or black wash.
Don't get me wrong I love painting but it's not that important when you're playing a wargame with a lot of miniatures
Great advice!
The trick is trying to figure out what actually makes a noticeable difference when at a distance on the tabletop.
On models with lots of details I tend to only basecoat and shade everything (or contrast) but then only highlight the primary colours like the armour and not all the little details. I find some details are just too small to need highlights for the tabletop.
I actually collect 40K necrons and daemons mainly because they have less details and work well with drybrushing, shades and contrast so are faster to paint. 😅
for my T'au monstrosity, I put alot of time into a pathfinder team. the purpose was to see color combinations and the details within the model. now that I've determined the colors and order of application, I can begin the rest of the 90 troop mini's.
to Break up the monotonous feel of assembly line painting, I will mix in some other genre mini's. after completing 10 or 20 of the 40k, I will paint a Lance (4 or 5) battlemechs or 4 to 5 medieval mini's. by rotating thru my mountain of shame, I tend to keep from getting burned out.
I usually do a white brush prime (im terrified of spray cans and get a bad coat) and a black undercoat so, i usually don't paint hard to reach details , cus I really don't want to paint 8+ minis with this hard to reach details ...so they can be in the shadow
I spent so much time practicing painting on cheap models with few and often indistinct details that ignoring them has become second nature to me. The painting method shown in this video is definitely my favorite way to paint most models these days but it does have its limits... The still unpainted Dark Vengeance Librarian sitting on my desk always makes me queasy every time I look at it haha
3 colors up. I try for 3 different colors on a squad.
And those archvillian sci-fi models are amazing. I printed all their dwarves from last month.
I really like your attitude - how you speak and formulate everything in a very friendly and well...kinda warm and polite way. It's like listening to an old friend. Dunno how to describe it, really.
New to the channel and will stay here for good, just to spend some evenings "together" and maybe learn something new in the process. Cheers!
- Not Very Skilled in Explaining Stuff Polish Fan
Thanks for sharing your insights and experience with the community
Kinda ran into a wall painting Ultramarines Robute Guillman, I have about 7 hours in painting him, and still have about 30% of the model to go. This is over the last two months. My trick to feel like I’m accomplishing something is to have some small like scatter terrain which is simple to paint available. Whipped out airbrush and very quickly had some scatter terrain to use to add a little more interest to board. Now instead of one piece done in two months, I got 30.
first units i assemble and paint gets all the pouches purity seals knives and whatnot backbanners? sure. Second unit+ gets bare bones arms legs head check arms are holding something? great thats enough.
skipping the extra junk speeds up getting the second unit on the table by then you are sick of the sculpts anyway and its a slog instead of fun
I get this sort of "perfectionist" thing with my miniatures. By no means am I a great painter, I mean that I just cant let myself cut corners with it. Whether it's a torso completely obscured by a gun, or a tiny button than no one would notice, I just have to paint the details lol, otherwise I feel frustrated. That does mean that it takes me a long time to paint everything, and with my armies being Skaven and Tyranids, that means a looot of hours spent painting to the highest standard I can; I genuinely have not finished painting any model in a single day, not even a Clanrat. Then again, I dont really play the game anymore and my main involvement with the hobby is painting/building, so I guess without the added pressure of needing a finished army to bring to games then the extra time isnt that big of a deal :)
I needed to hear this. and I'm jealous of Vincy-con. I'd love to hang out and paint with a bunch of friends.
a lot of those Space Marine pouches are optional and I've learned to just not add them to my models during assembly since they don't add very much to me relative to the time they take up. thanks Atom!
i love how one is hanging out 4 days with some crazy good painters and the response is: maybe... just contrast over a drybrush xD Lovin it honestly, the story makes it just so much cooler :D
Not everyone has to paint like those guys - I’m sure I never will, and that’s okay. Thanks for watching!
@@tabletopminions hey, yes thats for sure... also thats totally fine (mediocre painter myself) but i really found the background story pretty amusing.
Keep the good content up, really enjoying it :)
More truth from the keeping it real channel. What I would have given to be in that jam session! This and the many other vids of yours and others in a similar vein on related topics have really changed my painting and correspondingly my hobby satisfaction. With speedpaints and a completely different approach to underpainting, I have dramatically increased my painting output. Interestingly enough, my painting has actually gotten better as well, mostly due the fact I’m just! painting a lot more. It’s a spiral up instead of into down into painting ennui. I enjoy it more, get more production which increases my sense of accomplishment, less guilt/hobby frustration and all this makes me want to do more.
I actually came to this same conclusion about 2 months ago on details. Mostly due to how much speedpaint will run everywhere, and I was repainting everything. The rest came from painting some really simple sculpts. Most detail does not show at table level in units of soldiers. Regiments of mostly uniform guys look way better than gray prime, and their canteens or misc pouches being occasionally jacket colored rarely stands out. In fact with contrast style paints, it not actually the same color even though you painted it with one color.
Honestly it’s not slacking or “cheating” it’s getting better without having to pretend I want every piece of slow match or belt buckle hole to be visible on a one inch figure at 3 feet.
What is visible is sad gray primer on a unit next to a painted one.
Very good points. Glad you’re painting more. Thanks for watching!
I’m getting ready to start building an Imperial Guard 40K army, I’m already looking at over 100 individual soldiers to paint. I’m realizing that you are right I don’t need to go crazy with the detail.
3:52 "That would be, as the children say, 'dope'." 😆
Pro-Acryl paints from Monument Hobbies are excellent btw.
i just got into warhammer again after 20 years, and yes im starting to play.. BUT, im old now, so im taking my time on my models.. its a hobby, and it takes time.. and then also there arent many game events here in Denmark :(
Dude. Thank you. This is EXACTLY the advice I needed to hear.
I must say, after watching your video I was skeptical. I tried it out and it really didn't make a big deal!!! Thanks for the content!
I'm slowly building a collection of 5 minis in each main space marine chapter. I feel like I have to add at least one detail from the upgrade kit to make them feel more like they're from their chapter. But I always dread painting them, even as im deciding to add them.
I am painting an Ork Battlewagon (including FW Supa Kannon) and it's yellow for Bad Moons and fully magnetized. I'm painting the rivets metal and the hammered on ramshackle metal panels either black or metal, flame and checkered patterns and it's getting to be too much.
To be fair, if you started to cut corners and rush it a bit, it would be absolutely on brand for orks. Gotta get that wagon on da table so it can get da boyz into da foight.
The ‘eavy metal paint teams paints the way they do to sell models. You don’t have that pressure. Don’t worry about things that aren’t fun to paint. Painting for you should be fun.
I have to collect all the armies when playing a new miniature game. I paint them so i am happy with how they look overall. I don't go full hog on every detail, as I just want to get them on the table ready to start gaming. Lots of washes and highlighting/dry brushing if i spend hours on minis i would never game or just give up and play video games instead. it is each to their own, but on a tabletop you cannot see all the details from 3ft away anyway
Talking about demon monsters in sci-fi armor, I do hope that more mutant chronicles models come out. Looks like Res Nova is working on some for Warzone Eternal.
After watching this channel for two years or so, almost a year ago I decided to build both halves of multiple games of W40K deathwatch vs. "chaos cultists" (mix of 25mm base GW human infantry)/knights...so around 175 infantry and 20 vehicle sized models between the two halves...i basically do the methods described here and then come back through as many times as i want to add in another set of effects a squad at a time...because of the numbers i do at one time, I probably spend 30m total on each infantry model to get it to where i want it for a game...but not necessarily finished. Doing a basic but pleasing paintjob on that many models, at a recreational pace, is going to end up being a little more than 13 months, and I might add details for months after that before a final clear coat.
If I put maximum effort into each one, and used every technique I could learn, I might be done by 11th edition launch...and i'd be sick of looking at them. I'd need a break before I could fully enjoy playing the game.
The results are better than i thought I'd achieve when this hobby was still just in my head (thanks mostly to you, sir) so 30-60min is when I naturally decide I really like where its at and stop.
I don’t do armies, but my rule of thumb is everything has two base colors, and no more than 3 detail colors.
I’m not competing, or selling my models. So they just need to have some paint on them.
Uncle Adam
One thing I really dont get is... gw wants to decrease "digestion time" right?
The time between purchase, building, painting, fielding, and the next purchase.
They want that time period to be small, for obvious reasons. Hence the invention of contrast paint.
... so why do there models get more and more bits and bobs every year?
Frankly i don't like to paint model from the last 4 or so years because, there's just to much stuff. It doesn't look right.
This is encouraging for me, im new and want to paint my models to be table top ready, glad I can do this and feel ready to play ❤️
To be a fly on the wall at VincyCon....epic. Soooo, that shirt gonna be for sale? Just checked Snarling Badger with no luck.
I love this channel and Ninjon
I am reminded of techniques for painting rank and file Napoleonics. Might be worth looking into the dim red dawn of time; if you needed to paint 1000 figures for a battle to a historical approximate accuracy, perhaps the grognards have some wisdom to pass down.
I can agree that sometimes models have details only the sake to have more details. When I started painting I didn't pay too much attention to them. As I learned more I put more and more effort into details. I'm not pushing to golden demon level of painting (maybe one day) but I want to make my models as good as I can. My personal philosophy you only have to make a model looking good once, and it will stay that way.
Space marines make their own pouches when they do sleepovers, similar to Vince-con.
Not going to lie. Some days I have put off painting a particular miniature after, looking at all the detail. I love the detail and sometimes I don't like it.
My ultramarines are a study in excessive detail obsession. My orcs are where I let it fly fast and loose. It’s so liberating
I think I managed to get a pretty good mentality down from Marco Frisoni. As long as you do bold important colours with contrast or something. Oil washes can be your only form of shading and sketchy details and the important features of a model are left when you're further than 1 ft away from it
So I know TTM going for this... but unpainted models have an extremely good meta camouflage in the right set up. I played this one guy and I swear his units blended into the store's terrain to the point where I would forget models on the board! In his defense he wasn't doing it intentionally...lol
I remember you saying something similar in a previous video. This is a good reminder.
Hi Adam, I'm painting my first team for Kill team, the DKOK and found a bit hard to paint so much models the same way, so I tried to do it as a single model, begun with green, everything that is that color, must be done, and so on, they're done, but looking at them I begun to see, and pick up every single detail, I painted the buttons, the small skulls on the backpacks, the display on the flamer, I find it hard not to look at that small things and say "Hey you forgot that" perhaps is a distorsion from the single 54/75mm minis or the single 28mm mini diorama, I think it has to become as an attitude, to paint in different ways, but it's not so simple, thanks for your weekly help
Depends on what you're going for I guess. If you're painting a model for the tabletop, do you really need to go to the hassle and stress and nail biting horror of trying to paint the damn things eyes?
Unless anyone picks it up and peers at it, no one is going to notice.
Paint the model until you are happy with it, then put it down. Don't panic over whether or not someone is going to quibble because you didn't paint that tiny effing button on his belt pouch.
That is candy coat painting 101, that is how candy apple red is applied to cars!
Leaving off accessories and bits like pouches, backpacks, etc that are not needed for WYSIWYG are a great way to save time.
I like to give more detail attention to my special units and just keep it simple for my rank and file.
I am painting a grim dark templar army but i always do all the details then was then pick out the more eccentric details.
Great vid. I’ve watched your channel for many years now. Merry Xmas and happy new year.
Interesting journey and I can relate to this. You start basic then you want to get more and more details because that is what the “pro’s” are doing. But that for me he slowed it down so much so losing interest. Going to try the fellowship now by less detail by instruction, but more detail what I am happy and level of ability. Hopefully will keep the level of motivation and not discouragement of lack of ability. I hope that makes sense, but this video really was a good reminder that I am on the right track for me. Hope all is well with family and friends
Agree with all you said!
I wonder if you'd get more banf for your buck by for example giving the round thing on the back a coat of some brown contrast to make it appear bronze instead of adding the silver highlights. But I absolutely agree, don't sweat the small stuff.
When I look at photos of modern day guns, most are one or two colors maximum. Thanks for watching!
You should paint detail to your level of comfort and satisfaction, but I think you should also push yourself now and again just for the satisfaction of it. Personally, I often find those tiny details fun to complete as little easter eggs for people to see if they look at the mini a bit closer. It's way better to have details and not worry about them than it is to have poorly detailed minis where you have fewer choices.
My minis are game pieces, not works of art. The faster, the better as far as paint techniques go. Thank you for this video!
Since my primary goal isn't to just throw stuff on the table to play, I paint all of the extra details I want. I do Tyranids, and I add the toxin sacs and adrenal glands because I like the extra details. I magentize the warriors and bigger units, paint the extra bits, I enjoy it. I paid for a box of plastic and since my enjoymentis painting that plastic, I make sure I get my moneys worth.
If I cant see it I dont fret over it, I'm a painter not player of the games , great video as always.
Great video as always!