I've been painting miniatures for over 35 years and I learned long ago that craft paints can do anything the "miniature" paints can do for a fraction of the cost. Americana is my brand of choice and they do 95% of my heavy lifting. I even push it through an airbrush without issues. I will never understand how people lock themselves into the specialty paint ecosystem. Thank you for giving craft paints a fair shake.
Because I'm lazy and want something that works out if the box. I heard good things about Testors but most of the craft paints I've worked with wouldn't work. It's too much work to test out different brands and willing to pay more for the convenience.
@@seleneyue - Agreed, it is mostly about convenience. Which is why I have a box of cheap acrylics in all the colours of the rainbow to use as mixers with my 25 more expensive core paints. Don’t recall what they cost, perhaps $5 for 24 tubes.
@@seleneyue counterpoint: if you're new to painting and on a budget, mixing new colors is a lot harder than getting cheap paint to perform on the palette, and you can get virtually anything in the pantone index for a dollar a bottle at any craft store. You can also get some shades in craft paint that aren't commonly made by any of the hobbyist brands and aren't easily mixed to. Learning to work with different materials is a big part of the art side of the hobby, I'd like to see a lot more craft paint content online tbh
@@belmarduk my main issues are that I don't know how the craft paints would work on my miniatures, or how they would hold up over time. If there were experienced people to give pointers, then sure. But I'd probably only stick to the brands they listed
It makes me nervous how much confidence he's giving me as a new painter and I'm worried I'm gonna fuck up my next army trying something wild like craft paints haha
pesonally i worked with craft paints for YEARS before i bought my first set of citadel paint, so pesonally i always feel like they get a bad rap, so it's nice to see someone put a good word for once. XD
Me too. Back in the old days when we had to walk up hill both ways in the snow to school and couldn't afford to pay attention you had to buy what you could afford and that was craft paint.
@@peterpetruzzi8587 For me it was that i Just didn't have easy access to them. Only when about a year ago i found a game store near me did i start to build up my collection of model paints.
I just started this hobby about 7 months ago and use Apple Barrel craft paint to some good results, though I can always use the critique from those doing this longer than I. @benoit5302012
Honestly this seems like a great way to get people into the hobby at a low cost barrier. That way they're not spending tons of money when they go to GW, and they can just play with the paint. Plus a lot of people aren't going to be doing those advanced techniques until later, so once they've sussed out how to do them they can always go to better paints.
That paint range would probably be perfect for terrain. Especially those pieces you want to give a little bit of TLC to but still don't want to use your expensive hobby paints on. great vid.
In this disertation, I am defending my hypothesis that Jon should make a Skaven army not just because it would be awesome as hell, but also that he can use that cool warpstone drip base technique on everything.
I have used craft paints for all my minis over the years and have never had an issue with them. Yet every review I have seen when someone tries to use craft paints are the same. They dump the paint out and use it straight from the pot. This is the first video review I have seen where someone actually thinned out the paints and used them properly. Thank you for that.
I live in the middle east, we don't have the miniature painting hobby here at all. Art supplies stores don't even know what miniatures paint is. So I use basic acrylic paint that comes in big bottles with basic colours and my miniatures always turn out great. I'm only 6 months into the hobby and I'm loving it. I tried to order a miniature paint set from Amazon but they were very expensive and it'll take 3 weeks to get here. So instead i decided to keep on using basic acrylic paint (Craft paint). If you know the basics of colour mixing and thinning you don't even need to use miniatures paint!! Actually basic acrylic can give you way more colours variety than mintiture paint if you know how to mix it.
Fantastic video! I get a kick out of the "If it ain't paint specifically for miniatures, it'll never work" mindset. I also get a kick out of proving them dead wrong. I got into modeling by making terrain, and I've used Delta Ceramcoat, Apple Barrel, and Folk Art craft paints for years. At 50 cents for 2 oz. at Wal Mart, Apple Barrel is darn affordable. Some things I have learned over the years: 1. If it's a color you're going to use a ton of (like the Territorial Beige I use for basecoating my terrain, I take my bottle right over to the paint department and have them color match a pint of acrylic house paint. 2. Yes, Apple Barrel makes larger bottles of the same colors. Avoid these. Costwise, you can buy 5 2 oz bottles for the cost of a large 4 oz bottle. Numbers are hard for me, but even I can tell where the best value is there. 3. Arcrylic metallics aren't that great, from my experience. 4. Craft paint colors seem to dry chalky (it might just be the brands I use), but once you coat them with varnish or your sealer of choice, it tends to come back. 5. For a cloth texture, paint a slightly thicker layer on, with unthinned paint. When it's partially dry, draw your brush straight through it. You want to leave lines in it. When it's dry, repeat the process, perpendicular to the original lines. Keep at it until you get a crosshatched sort of texture. Thanks for the great video. One of these days I'll get brave enough to try oils. Or even win the lottery and afford some Citadel.
Glad to see someone of your caliber giving "Craft" paints a fair shake. I been using Apple Barrel, Folk Art and other cheap paints for years. I swore off of GW and other over priced miniature paint along time ago. You can easily get the same results with 50 cent paints as you can with a 8 dollar a bottle paint with just a few tweaks here and there with water, matte medium or my personal favorite pigment binder Glycerin. Even airbrushing with them. I have not tried the Testors Acrylic set yet though and you have 100% sold me on it. I'll be grabbing that set ASAP. As far as the mudding on the tongue for the highlight. Next time let the paint dry a little more and then add a tiny bit of Glycerin to your final highlight color it'll bind the pigments and you wont have that bleed into mud happen.
I think these are some of the best videos for beginners out there. Just watching how you built up color on the skin to show light and shadow and define contour made my day. Thanks.
@@sharkwolfdarkwolf2625 for the price and volume of paint, there's no better craft paint for miniatures, though I am expanding my paint varieties slowly with Vallejo, Citadel, and Arteza Fluorescent paints.
@@SkeleTonHammer oh, their matte paint is hard to layer without getting chalky. I always use satin or gloss finish and then flatten it back down afterwards with a good dull coat sealer
Man, your intros puts a big phat smile on my face, as do the rest of your videos. I actually really like super thick paints because I can blob it on my wet palette and drag some away from that blob and water it down to my preferred consistency. Because it's so thick it doesn't become too watery to use on the wet palette like a lot my paints do after a while.
You always have the best advice in terms or getting into the hobby for newcomers, money saving materials, experimentation, etc. Thanks Uncle Jon, I love you!
hell ya :) ( i like to add a tiny bit of ink to my crappy craft store paints to really up the pigment lol great stuff (great skit too) in Canada a great low cost brand is artists loft :)
can you do a video on how you started or your progression throughout the years. I am amazed how good you are in the amount of time youve been actually doing this. I'd love to know at what rate you were pushing yourself to learn key skills throughout the years. otherwise i love the podcast and the video!
I think it would be cool to see a video series going through several of the cheaper brands as a comparison. Some of them will obviously be junk, but some are actually quite good for the price. Delta Ceramcoat is a hill I will *always* die on.
I mostly have Docraft Artiste and Pebeo, but I've also recently picked up a whole bunch from Arteza (which may be UK-only, I'm not sure); I paid about £75 for 60 colours, and I'm _loving_ them...
Oh, I was tried to deliver same thoughts about craft paints for years in our hobby-group club: - Those paints are not actually that bad: you can start use them as alternative for blacks, dark browns first, try out them on terrain or bases. - I've even purchased set similar to that one from video, and started to evangelize to use it by everyone on one of our local "terrain painting parties" in wargaming club. I was literally running across area like a mad man and convincing everyone: "LOOK HERE BOY, this is cheap and inexpensive acrylic paint that aint that bad - it is mixing well with other cokors, coverage is niiice, and adgesion with plastic and primer is good too!!!1"
Once I saw testors I figured they would fair well ! I been a minature painter for years and your videos actually pushed my level up a notch recently your breakdown of certain techniques clicked with me .
I've painted a lot of minis in my time. To this day, two of my favorites, two of the minis I'm most proud of are a ghoul and a suit of power armor from the Fallout board game. Both were primed, based, colored and dry brushed with cheapo craft paints. Like anything in art, these paints are TOOLS. You can do anything with a tool as long as you're willing to experiment and learn the tool's ins and outs.
Total Recall meets fantasy demons vibe from that model. Love the video and the fact you can take a product most people in the hobby would walk by and i not give a second thought about.
Impressive results as usual Jon!Loved the skin tones you achieved and the cool shadowed trophy heads were a neat touch too, I love how the ultra matte finish works too, you don't get false highlights from the ambient light reflecting I'll be signing up to the Kickstarter too, you've sold me on it....
As always, perfect mix of educational, funny and entertaining. I watch a lot of mini and terrain videos, but you're one of the few that I actually listen to the notifications and watch as soon as I see it. Furthermore, some of the other channels have been doing the hobby paint versus craft paint thing. And I was wondering if a painter that I think is REALLY good would agree with their assessment. Turns out, the "craft paint isn't as bad as we thought" is pretty much the consensus.
I've just bought this paints in my local hardware store, to test them, and they really surprised me. Never thought that one of the pro painters that I follow had already tested them.
Joyful to know they are good to go! I just started on my way to assemble my M41 1/35 tank and you gave me the last knock to use the humungous craft paint collection I have from my other hobby. Greetings!
For my first few years of mini painting, I exclusively used Folk Art craft paints from walmart. They worked fine for a begginer, great if you're not sure if the investment into mini paint is worth it to you. Don't trust the metallics though, all my old ultramarines gold trim has faded off.
DUDE JOHN...WTF! this mini looks great. probably most beginers wont be able to get that result, but its good to know that if you try hard enough and dedicate enough time to painting its possible to get a fantastic result. good work, good content!
My first properly painted miniature was actually done using majority craft paints, a Tyranid Swarmlord done in a variety of blues and greens. To this day I still have not found a better medium for blending smooth transitions on fabric, and despite years of experience since painting that first model, my 80% craft paint Master of Possession still has the best cloak out of all my CSM.
My two best works have been painted with craft paints. Primarily because that's all I own 😅 it was definitely fun to see how you could pull this off dude 💜
I just started printing my own terrain, and was wondering how I would ever paint it all without spending a fortune on the mini paints I am used to using. I'll order a box of this stuff!
House paints really are great for terrain. A cheap 1/2-litre tin in dark brown is my standard base coat for everything, and I use sample pots to add colour and for dry-brushing.
Great video! It was nice to hear someone not crap all over craft paints because they are cheap. I started with craft paints and learned a lot from them and still use a couple occasionally especially for basing because they work well for me and for that purpose.
For budget reasons I use Craft Paint almost exclusively. A good trick is to get some Matte Medium for thinning it down and, if done right, you can even make a budget friendly wash with them as well.
Awesome video! I was walking through blick and saw some cheap acrylic paints I was very curious about. Now I'd love to see a craft paint comparison/shootout.
I don't know if it's the paint, the model, your skill as an artist or a combination of all three, but this turned out amazing. Looks like a Frank Frazetta painting.
I have tried many brands of craft paint over the years, with different levels of success. Thanks for the video mate. Also I have 2 pair of big fruit bats living in my gumtree :)
I live for the chair spin. Ninjon is my favorite mini youtube painter. It's about teaching and improving skills. Not about plugging a patreon or amazon affiliation after long burning out. Any before i continue with the video, I use liquitex matte medium (or flow improver, same thing and i can't remember what's on my table) to thin my craft paint up. 2 drops for 1 drop of paint. Dollar store window cleaner for airbrush. Im not brave enough to try it out of the airbrush yet.
I use a similar formula, about 2-1 in a dropper bottle and mixed well. This still allows for thinning if needed. For table ready figures it seems to work fine.
I have been using craft paints like theese for some time (from Solo Goya, they have both very matt and very glossy paints). I find all of the things you said about Testers to be true for them as well. Craft Paints like these are way better than their reputation (except for white and ivory colors, those are chalky AF) Coverage is worse than with miniature paints, but not the main problem. As you, I've found that vibrancy is usually more of a problem. Oh and creating texture, it is SO damn hard not to create texture with these paints. You either thin them too much, and there is no coverage left, or more often, not enough, and you create texture. It's really tricky
The goopy-ness of many craft paints is a problem. Don’t have time to paint five layers of anything, so I tend to use my craft acrylics mainly as mixers - to adjust the hue and tone of more expensive paints.
The 2 base tones tip is worth the like by itself, never mind the actual painting. Now I want to see a follow-up, trying to use old school Testors enamel model paints . . .
Another tool in the tool box for ya.My son and I use alot of craft paint and I had nothing but craft paints to work with for 20 years and only just recently had the opportunity to purchase real miniature paints.They are not as bad as people think and are surprising easy to work with once you use them a while.
We have a big art supply company in Germany (Marabu) and they sell different grades of paints. Their semi matt acrylics are good for everything and cost almost nothing. But the pigment separates after time. I am still loving them but I switched over to Vallejo for miniatures and card alters. Their I can use a toothpick to mix them back together (still searching for a vector mixer that I can afford). They also have acrylic effect paint that I can highly recommend for sand or water texture.
I myself paint with Amsterdam all acrylics "craft paint", the tube is 120 ml and costs about 6,99$. I wouldn't change it for anything else right now, especially because of the low cost.
Amazing paintjob, Jon! Quick tip: if you shoot your ‘slow-mo’ footage at a higher frame rate (like 60fps) it’ll look smoother when you slow it down. Thanks and keep it up!
I've been using craft paints since 2017 when I started the hobby. i only use citadel washes. Yes some times they need 3 or four coats but that is only because I used to prime black when I shouldn't have.
great video, i have been painting with cheap wal mart apple barrel for years now. It gives me some hope and excitement to see a someone with skill and experience get a great result with similarly cheap paint. also, whats the song you used in this video?
I started painting last year, and since then I have just used craft paints, because is too expensive to buy citadel or vallejo paints here in Brazil. But I really enjoy the finished minis that I've painted.
I started minipainting with craft pains, Anita's FolkArt, Americana, DecoArt, etc. I've not had any massive issues with them like the stories I've seen online. There are issues with certain paints and pigments like you said, but that may be that some of these bottles are old.
Also, there are levels of quality. The really cheap craft paints - especially the kind you might find at the dollar store - are likely the source of many of those horror stories. Paint so cheap, it's not worth using. But craft paint on the higher end can work decently.
Fantastic video as always! Using crafting paints not inherently designed for miniatures really shows how talented you are at painting! The "half-brothers" look amazing!
It kind of scares me that I did the exact same thing about a month ago; went to Menard's and saw this box. Grabbed it to check it out. I've actually used Delta Ceramcoat for years as base paints. As you noted, you just have to learn to work with them. Since I now know that I live in your head, I know that Oil Painting follow up video is still in your head. I'm watching you Tendy Boi !!
Thanks for the vid, even thought the paint was very matt.. It looks a little chalky as well.. but still even though it might be chalky it looks great! Nice vid, as always 👌
Going off the rails on a craft paint train!! I had used craft paints for years and they can be hit or miss even within the same brand but as always a skilled painter can make it work.
Thanks. I just orders from Menards even though we dont have this store in California. With shipping I still saved 10 bucks vs. the amazon link provided, and its in stock. Cant wait to try it out. :)
Creature Caster is great! Bought their Death Elemental for my Necron army (Nightbringer). Great sculpts! Will be buying more from them. Great vid, Jon!
Whoa, so much to unpack here. I've been using artist's acrylics on minis for a few years, but after watching this I'll definitely be trying these if I can find them. The painting and color advice are very useful. Love the end result, the skin especially reminds me of Brom's work.
I've been painting miniatures for over 35 years and I learned long ago that craft paints can do anything the "miniature" paints can do for a fraction of the cost. Americana is my brand of choice and they do 95% of my heavy lifting. I even push it through an airbrush without issues. I will never understand how people lock themselves into the specialty paint ecosystem. Thank you for giving craft paints a fair shake.
Because I'm lazy and want something that works out if the box. I heard good things about Testors but most of the craft paints I've worked with wouldn't work. It's too much work to test out different brands and willing to pay more for the convenience.
@@seleneyue - Agreed, it is mostly about convenience.
Which is why I have a box of cheap acrylics in all the colours of the rainbow to use as mixers with my 25 more expensive core paints. Don’t recall what they cost, perhaps $5 for 24 tubes.
@@seleneyue counterpoint: if you're new to painting and on a budget, mixing new colors is a lot harder than getting cheap paint to perform on the palette, and you can get virtually anything in the pantone index for a dollar a bottle at any craft store. You can also get some shades in craft paint that aren't commonly made by any of the hobbyist brands and aren't easily mixed to. Learning to work with different materials is a big part of the art side of the hobby, I'd like to see a lot more craft paint content online tbh
@@belmarduk my main issues are that I don't know how the craft paints would work on my miniatures, or how they would hold up over time. If there were experienced people to give pointers, then sure. But I'd probably only stick to the brands they listed
...a fair...---shake---. 😅😅😅😅
turns out if you're an award winning painter it doesn't really matter what paints you use as long as you know what you're doing, awesome work my dude
It makes me nervous how much confidence he's giving me as a new painter and I'm worried I'm gonna fuck up my next army trying something wild like craft paints haha
pesonally i worked with craft paints for YEARS before i bought my first set of citadel paint, so pesonally i always feel like they get a bad rap, so it's nice to see someone put a good word for once. XD
Me too. Back in the old days when we had to walk up hill both ways in the snow to school and couldn't afford to pay attention you had to buy what you could afford and that was craft paint.
@@peterpetruzzi8587 For me it was that i Just didn't have easy access to them. Only when about a year ago i found a game store near me did i start to build up my collection of model paints.
Yeah the do get a bad rap. The real benefit for mini paints is the shear variety of colors and ease of use right out of the bottle.
same
I just started this hobby about 7 months ago and use Apple Barrel craft paint to some good results, though I can always use the critique from those doing this longer than I.
@benoit5302012
Aaaaand just like that, all the mini paint companies put a hit out on Jon.
Wouldn't surprise me, considering that most of them are just grifters.
Honestly this seems like a great way to get people into the hobby at a low cost barrier. That way they're not spending tons of money when they go to GW, and they can just play with the paint. Plus a lot of people aren't going to be doing those advanced techniques until later, so once they've sussed out how to do them they can always go to better paints.
This might be the best mini painting video I've seen on youtube. Easy NNM, Easy Rust, Using entry level craft paint. Legendary. I learned so much.
I pictured Jon's kids walking in on him as he was at their craft desk wearing the wig..."Mom, dad's doing the thing again!"
We all know they're gonna catch him running from one spot to the other putting the wig and glasses on each time, doing both voices
Wait, they were both Jon?
I thought he’d got Eugene from TWD to help out on the episodes 😅
I always come here for the sketches and get dumbfounded by the amount of skill you have as a miniature painter.
I really enjoy the fact that your videos always feel educational even when you are using a “challenge” material.
That skin tone is absolutely gorgeous
Hi simon
That paint range would probably be perfect for terrain. Especially those pieces you want to give a little bit of TLC to but still don't want to use your expensive hobby paints on. great vid.
Testors has been there for model builders for decades. The citrus smell of their glue still haunts me to this day.
That's a childhood memory I didn't realize I had until you mentioned it. I can still smell it when I think about it.
"Lets encourage glue huffing!"
😊💕
In this disertation, I am defending my hypothesis that Jon should make a Skaven army not just because it would be awesome as hell, but also that he can use that cool warpstone drip base technique on everything.
I have used craft paints for all my minis over the years and have never had an issue with them. Yet every review I have seen when someone tries to use craft paints are the same. They dump the paint out and use it straight from the pot. This is the first video review I have seen where someone actually thinned out the paints and used them properly. Thank you for that.
I live in the middle east, we don't have the miniature painting hobby here at all. Art supplies stores don't even know what miniatures paint is. So I use basic acrylic paint that comes in big bottles with basic colours and my miniatures always turn out great. I'm only 6 months into the hobby and I'm loving it. I tried to order a miniature paint set from Amazon but they were very expensive and it'll take 3 weeks to get here. So instead i decided to keep on using basic acrylic paint (Craft paint). If you know the basics of colour mixing and thinning you don't even need to use miniatures paint!! Actually basic acrylic can give you way more colours variety than mintiture paint if you know how to mix it.
Fantastic video! I get a kick out of the "If it ain't paint specifically for miniatures, it'll never work" mindset. I also get a kick out of proving them dead wrong. I got into modeling by making terrain, and I've used Delta Ceramcoat, Apple Barrel, and Folk Art craft paints for years. At 50 cents for 2 oz. at Wal Mart, Apple Barrel is darn affordable. Some things I have learned over the years:
1. If it's a color you're going to use a ton of (like the Territorial Beige I use for basecoating my terrain, I take my bottle right over to the paint department and have them color match a pint of acrylic house paint.
2. Yes, Apple Barrel makes larger bottles of the same colors. Avoid these. Costwise, you can buy 5 2 oz bottles for the cost of a large 4 oz bottle. Numbers are hard for me, but even I can tell where the best value is there.
3. Arcrylic metallics aren't that great, from my experience.
4. Craft paint colors seem to dry chalky (it might just be the brands I use), but once you coat them with varnish or your sealer of choice, it tends to come back.
5. For a cloth texture, paint a slightly thicker layer on, with unthinned paint. When it's partially dry, draw your brush straight through it. You want to leave lines in it. When it's dry, repeat the process, perpendicular to the original lines. Keep at it until you get a crosshatched sort of texture.
Thanks for the great video. One of these days I'll get brave enough to try oils. Or even win the lottery and afford some Citadel.
Glad to see someone of your caliber giving "Craft" paints a fair shake. I been using Apple Barrel, Folk Art and other cheap paints for years. I swore off of GW and other over priced miniature paint along time ago. You can easily get the same results with 50 cent paints as you can with a 8 dollar a bottle paint with just a few tweaks here and there with water, matte medium or my personal favorite pigment binder Glycerin. Even airbrushing with them. I have not tried the Testors Acrylic set yet though and you have 100% sold me on it. I'll be grabbing that set ASAP. As far as the mudding on the tongue for the highlight. Next time let the paint dry a little more and then add a tiny bit of Glycerin to your final highlight color it'll bind the pigments and you wont have that bleed into mud happen.
Hah! I have that exact set that I bought specifically to be the "and my kids also want to paint things" set! I'll have to give it a legit chance.
I think these are some of the best videos for beginners out there. Just watching how you built up color on the skin to show light and shadow and define contour made my day. Thanks.
Cool approach..you end up with what I would describe as a Frazetta tone to your work..which is a compliment..in my book
My first mini ever was painted using Apple Barrel craft paints, and to this day is one of my favorite minis.
I just started a few months ago and use Apple Barrel to good effect.
How did you go about learning light behavior? Your use of light brings this mini to life!
The best kind of hobby heresy, and im here for it.
Acrylic craft paints are what I use. This is appreciated.
Apple Barrel is my paint brand currently, though i have only been painting minis for about 7 months.
@@W.edgewargames apple barrel battalions assemble!
@@sharkwolfdarkwolf2625 for the price and volume of paint, there's no better craft paint for miniatures, though I am expanding my paint varieties slowly with Vallejo, Citadel, and Arteza Fluorescent paints.
@@SkeleTonHammer oh, their matte paint is hard to layer without getting chalky. I always use satin or gloss finish and then flatten it back down afterwards with a good dull coat sealer
I use Pluscolor and Folk Art craft paints and they are good enough for everything i do.
The issue is that Testor's no longer exists. It's Rustoleum now. They just kept the logo to keep sales.
One of my friends paints his historic minis with craft paints and they look amazing. That being said he is a good painter.
Man, your intros puts a big phat smile on my face, as do the rest of your videos.
I actually really like super thick paints because I can blob it on my wet palette and drag some away from that blob and water it down to my preferred consistency. Because it's so thick it doesn't become too watery to use on the wet palette like a lot my paints do after a while.
My new favorite youtuber. Keeping it REAL! Im gonna go buy some merch now lol
Golden hi flow are amazing, their transparent and fluro lines are really standout!
Agreed! I also use some of the fluids line, sometimes combined with their matt medium. Awesome results and the lightfastness is amazing!
With all that matt, apoxy would add a game changer to the base...water, waves and splashes and foam...🤘🤘🤘🤘
This model came out sick!
i never thought about using the zenithal highlight as a reference and making the two base tones and coloring in the dark and the light. I like it!
Look into sketch type painting if you haven’t already
One or two of my favorite paint jobs I’ve done are with craft paints. Getting and using miniature paints still feels nice though.
You always have the best advice in terms or getting into the hobby for newcomers, money saving materials, experimentation, etc. Thanks Uncle Jon, I love you!
I usually just watch tarped undr plarstic but from time to time a just john video is good for the soul.
"Dramatic use of light"... yah you are pretty good at that man.
I love the color palette for this model. It looks amazing. Especially since it was done with craft paints. So cool.
Testors Craft Paint: Stonks! Fun video, always love a good experiment!
Nice work, the rusted swords look dope
Love the Rust effect! Great Video!
hell ya :) ( i like to add a tiny bit of ink to my crappy craft store paints to really up the pigment lol great stuff (great skit too)
in Canada a great low cost brand is artists loft :)
can you do a video on how you started or your progression throughout the years. I am amazed how good you are in the amount of time youve been actually doing this. I'd love to know at what rate you were pushing yourself to learn key skills throughout the years. otherwise i love the podcast and the video!
I think it would be cool to see a video series going through several of the cheaper brands as a comparison. Some of them will obviously be junk, but some are actually quite good for the price. Delta Ceramcoat is a hill I will *always* die on.
I mostly have Docraft Artiste and Pebeo, but I've also recently picked up a whole bunch from Arteza (which may be UK-only, I'm not sure); I paid about £75 for 60 colours, and I'm _loving_ them...
Appreciate the midwest representation. Been with Menards for 8 and a half years!
Oh, I was tried to deliver same thoughts about craft paints for years in our hobby-group club:
- Those paints are not actually that bad: you can start use them as alternative for blacks, dark browns first, try out them on terrain or bases.
- I've even purchased set similar to that one from video, and started to evangelize to use it by everyone on one of our local "terrain painting parties" in wargaming club. I was literally running across area like a mad man and convincing everyone: "LOOK HERE BOY, this is cheap and inexpensive acrylic paint that aint that bad - it is mixing well with other cokors, coverage is niiice, and adgesion with plastic and primer is good too!!!1"
Once I saw testors I figured they would fair well ! I been a minature painter for years and your videos actually pushed my level up a notch recently your breakdown of certain techniques clicked with me .
Yeah, Testors craft paint is probably way better quality then most craft paints
I've painted a lot of minis in my time. To this day, two of my favorites, two of the minis I'm most proud of are a ghoul and a suit of power armor from the Fallout board game. Both were primed, based, colored and dry brushed with cheapo craft paints. Like anything in art, these paints are TOOLS. You can do anything with a tool as long as you're willing to experiment and learn the tool's ins and outs.
Total Recall meets fantasy demons vibe from that model. Love the video and the fact you can take a product most people in the hobby would walk by and i not give a second thought about.
Impressive results as usual Jon!Loved the skin tones you achieved and the cool shadowed trophy heads were a neat touch too, I love how the ultra matte finish works too, you don't get false highlights from the ambient light reflecting
I'll be signing up to the Kickstarter too, you've sold me on it....
Can I just talk about how much I love how they posed the run on these guys. It's the perfect combo of "oh lawd he comin'" and "HUYAARRRGH" dork run.
As always, perfect mix of educational, funny and entertaining. I watch a lot of mini and terrain videos, but you're one of the few that I actually listen to the notifications and watch as soon as I see it. Furthermore, some of the other channels have been doing the hobby paint versus craft paint thing. And I was wondering if a painter that I think is REALLY good would agree with their assessment. Turns out, the "craft paint isn't as bad as we thought" is pretty much the consensus.
I've just bought this paints in my local hardware store, to test them, and they really surprised me. Never thought that one of the pro painters that I follow had already tested them.
Joyful to know they are good to go! I just started on my way to assemble my M41 1/35 tank and you gave me the last knock to use the humungous craft paint collection I have from my other hobby. Greetings!
You and Marco need to do a paint collection paint off
Nice paint set. I wonder how it airbrushes.
I'll keep an eye out to see if I can catch this at a good price.
For my first few years of mini painting, I exclusively used Folk Art craft paints from walmart. They worked fine for a begginer, great if you're not sure if the investment into mini paint is worth it to you. Don't trust the metallics though, all my old ultramarines gold trim has faded off.
wow... that's an amazing frazetta kinda palette you ended up with.
DUDE JOHN...WTF! this mini looks great. probably most beginers wont be able to get that result, but its good to know that if you try hard enough and dedicate enough time to painting its possible to get a fantastic result. good work, good content!
Proof of patience you guys discussed in the podcast. A dope video topic as well. Next is full ball sack using ONLY craft paints!
My first properly painted miniature was actually done using majority craft paints, a Tyranid Swarmlord done in a variety of blues and greens. To this day I still have not found a better medium for blending smooth transitions on fabric, and despite years of experience since painting that first model, my 80% craft paint Master of Possession still has the best cloak out of all my CSM.
And, to the surprise of no-one, Jon buys more paints 😉 Thanks for another video, keep up the good work!
My two best works have been painted with craft paints. Primarily because that's all I own 😅 it was definitely fun to see how you could pull this off dude 💜
Me too., glass to see others that get good results from craft paints.
Surprising results! I especially like that glazed rust on the sword.
I just started printing my own terrain, and was wondering how I would ever paint it all without spending a fortune on the mini paints I am used to using. I'll order a box of this stuff!
I actually recommend craft paint for terrain, because the details generally aren't as fine.
House paints really are great for terrain. A cheap 1/2-litre tin in dark brown is my standard base coat for everything, and I use sample pots to add colour and for dry-brushing.
Great video! It was nice to hear someone not crap all over craft paints because they are cheap. I started with craft paints and learned a lot from them and still use a couple occasionally especially for basing because they work well for me and for that purpose.
For budget reasons I use Craft Paint almost exclusively. A good trick is to get some Matte Medium for thinning it down and, if done right, you can even make a budget friendly wash with them as well.
Intersting find, glad to see they actually held up.
Awesome video! I was walking through blick and saw some cheap acrylic paints I was very curious about. Now I'd love to see a craft paint comparison/shootout.
I don't know if it's the paint, the model, your skill as an artist or a combination of all three, but this turned out amazing. Looks like a Frank Frazetta painting.
I have tried many brands of craft paint over the years, with different levels of success. Thanks for the video mate. Also I have 2 pair of big fruit bats living in my gumtree :)
I read this in the accent
I live for the chair spin.
Ninjon is my favorite mini youtube painter. It's about teaching and improving skills. Not about plugging a patreon or amazon affiliation after long burning out.
Any before i continue with the video, I use liquitex matte medium (or flow improver, same thing and i can't remember what's on my table) to thin my craft paint up. 2 drops for 1 drop of paint.
Dollar store window cleaner for airbrush. Im not brave enough to try it out of the airbrush yet.
I use a similar formula, about 2-1 in a dropper bottle and mixed well. This still allows for thinning if needed. For table ready figures it seems to work fine.
Looks sick John, love your style.
Seems like their medium recipe is the key here differentiating them from generic craft paints. I wonder what the additives are?
This dude is great at painting!
Nice studio too!
Loved the alter ego, of the non painting trucker/bazooka hunter. Entertaining and educational Jon. Thanks so much keep em coming!.
I have been using craft paints like theese for some time (from Solo Goya, they have both very matt and very glossy paints). I find all of the things you said about Testers to be true for them as well. Craft Paints like these are way better than their reputation (except for white and ivory colors, those are chalky AF)
Coverage is worse than with miniature paints, but not the main problem. As you, I've found that vibrancy is usually more of a problem. Oh and creating texture, it is SO damn hard not to create texture with these paints. You either thin them too much, and there is no coverage left, or more often, not enough, and you create texture. It's really tricky
The goopy-ness of many craft paints is a problem. Don’t have time to paint five layers of anything, so I tend to use my craft acrylics mainly as mixers - to adjust the hue and tone of more expensive paints.
The 2 base tones tip is worth the like by itself, never mind the actual painting. Now I want to see a follow-up, trying to use old school Testors enamel model paints . . .
Another tool in the tool box for ya.My son and I use alot of craft paint and I had nothing but craft paints to work with for 20 years and only just recently had the opportunity to purchase real miniature paints.They are not as bad as people think and are surprising easy to work with once you use them a while.
Wonderful as always. Thanks!
That is an insane paint job there.
Like always thanks Jon for inspiring me to go back to the table and crack on
We have a big art supply company in Germany (Marabu) and they sell different grades of paints. Their semi matt acrylics are good for everything and cost almost nothing. But the pigment separates after time. I am still loving them but I switched over to Vallejo for miniatures and card alters. Their I can use a toothpick to mix them back together (still searching for a vector mixer that I can afford).
They also have acrylic effect paint that I can highly recommend for sand or water texture.
I myself paint with Amsterdam all acrylics "craft paint", the tube is 120 ml and costs about 6,99$. I wouldn't change it for anything else right now, especially because of the low cost.
Great video, Jon! I fondly remember humble beginnings with my first Testor set
Amazing paintjob, Jon!
Quick tip: if you shoot your ‘slow-mo’ footage at a higher frame rate (like 60fps) it’ll look smoother when you slow it down.
Thanks and keep it up!
I love your no nonsense aprotch to painting. Great stuff!
I've been using craft paints since 2017 when I started the hobby. i only use citadel washes. Yes some times they need 3 or four coats but that is only because I used to prime black when I shouldn't have.
great video, i have been painting with cheap wal mart apple barrel for years now. It gives me some hope and excitement to see a someone with skill and experience get a great result with similarly cheap paint. also, whats the song you used in this video?
I started painting last year, and since then I have just used craft paints, because is too expensive to buy citadel or vallejo paints here in Brazil. But I really enjoy the finished minis that I've painted.
Testors was actually my first mini paints, they can be very solid but do take a little bit to adjust to
i like micador acrylic, that and a wash with a little dishwashing soap gave a contrast paint type shade.
I love the attention to detail where youre wearing the flannel shirt when unboxing the paint
I started minipainting with craft pains, Anita's FolkArt, Americana, DecoArt, etc. I've not had any massive issues with them like the stories I've seen online. There are issues with certain paints and pigments like you said, but that may be that some of these bottles are old.
Also, there are levels of quality. The really cheap craft paints - especially the kind you might find at the dollar store - are likely the source of many of those horror stories. Paint so cheap, it's not worth using. But craft paint on the higher end can work decently.
@@Bluecho4 I've bought all my paints from HobbyLobby. Some of them can be finnicky, but they look nice in the end.
Fantastic video as always! Using crafting paints not inherently designed for miniatures really shows how talented you are at painting! The "half-brothers" look amazing!
Again, this is quality. Love it. Beautiful paintjob.
It kind of scares me that I did the exact same thing about a month ago; went to Menard's and saw this box. Grabbed it to check it out. I've actually used Delta Ceramcoat for years as base paints. As you noted, you just have to learn to work with them. Since I now know that I live in your head, I know that Oil Painting follow up video is still in your head. I'm watching you Tendy Boi !!
Thanks for the vid, even thought the paint was very matt.. It looks a little chalky as well.. but still even though it might be chalky it looks great! Nice vid, as always 👌
Going off the rails on a craft paint train!! I had used craft paints for years and they can be hit or miss even within the same brand but as always a skilled painter can make it work.
Thanks. I just orders from Menards even though we dont have this store in California. With shipping I still saved 10 bucks vs. the amazon link provided, and its in stock. Cant wait to try it out. :)
That's awesome that you could get it shipped to you!
Creature Caster is great! Bought their Death Elemental for my Necron army (Nightbringer). Great sculpts! Will be buying more from them. Great vid, Jon!
Whoa, so much to unpack here. I've been using artist's acrylics on minis for a few years, but after watching this I'll definitely be trying these if I can find them. The painting and color advice are very useful. Love the end result, the skin especially reminds me of Brom's work.