Ive tried so many new techniques after just letting go of all hang ups. At somepoint i just told myself, “go for it, 3d printing means you have as many models as you want give it a go!” Felt a lot more confident in myself and accepted that what i want out of the hobby might not be what various, more experienced painters can achieve…..at least currently.
Occasionally painting eyes that don’t suck maybe 😅 Completing a squad, or a single mini that represents my current skill and a bit of luck is the best. Also my niece loved the ranger girl from Vae Victis I gave her. 🥳
My greatest miniatures painting success? Grokking the notion of wet blending and the Shaolin 2-Brush Kung Fu of feathering/2-brush blending and getting somewhere with it. NMM is really driving me mental at this time because of the notion of grasping where the lights and shadows should be, but it's in the back of my mind as something I will perfect over time.
my biggest success was putting brush to mini and taking the plunge after being wishy washy about starting the hobby for almost six months, I am not going to give it up even if I never play another RPG.
I think the most aggravating factor is „the gap“. It describes the gap between your expectations (What you want to achieve) and your skills (what you can achieve) This is especially true in our hobby where we are surrounded by all this high end work all the time - and ist can be a very frustrating experience to train and wait for your skills to develop.
re: practice- i cannot stress, enough, how much better my painting became when i began regularly practicing my entire skillset (from the most basic to most difficult.) i think we tend to think that skills stay sharp and honed when they really need constant whetting. (also! getting a 3d printer and printing a ton of basic practice models has helped, so much.)
I believe it was Miniac in an episode of Trapped Under Plastic who said it best: Mini painters are trying to rush to level 60 in the mini painting game, when they aren't even level 2 yet. People just want to "git gud" so they can paint all of these amazing things that they see. However, we all need to remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint. We all have to learn how to paint at our own pace and try not to rush things.
"See your model" sure does have way more involved in it than I would have thought at first. Really good breakdown of what to look for! As usual, a great video; thanks Lyla!
This video got recommended to me at just the right time, got into miniature painting a few months ago and was overwhelming myself with wanting to learn all the techniques immediately and being good at it all. Just need to focus on enjoying it first!
The most useful thing I've learned by studying for 6 years is the zone of proxinal development. It is basicly the theory of stepping out of your comfort zone. But instead of comfort zone, you have 3 zones in concentric circles. The inner one is what you can do without help. This is your comfort zone. Outside of this is out of your comfort zone. In here you know what you're doing, so you don't develop in here, but need to get out of it. But if you go too far out, you'll be so confused that you won't be able to learn. So there is a zone outside the comfort zone, but close to it that we call zone of proximal development. Here you will be confused, but with some help you'll be able to master it. This is where you learn. My point is, try to find your zone of proximal development, and don't step too far out, and you'll understand your own learning a little better.
That's a good balance to this as the "slow down" advice is only useful to people rushing ahead too fast. Many people I talk to are scared to leave their comfort zone. My usual approach is to have one new skill or technique per project. I've never really picked up wet blending and will try it next time I have an excuse.
That's actually a similar concept to one used in language learning. It's how we learn new words by proximity to other words we know contextually. It's why reading as a child during the developmental stages are so important to fleshing out a good vocabulary, and why "vocab quizzes" in Class are absolutely pointless. One is using the proximity to form a bridge. The other is a leap!
I probably watched 20 hours of painting videos (You, Ninjon and Miniac primarily) before I even touched a miniature... My first set of Skitarii turned out incredible and I have received so many compliments (positive feedback as a beginner is extremely important)... Knowing the process and understanding WHY things are done a certain way will result in miniatures that you can be proud of! Thank you for your tips and tricks!
What helped me so much when I was back painting was using a model with lots of details to practice all different methods. I have a nurgle demon I've used literally everything on. Oils, NMM, Glazing, Stippling, Layering, Weathering it's so fun !
I cannot recommend watching as many different people do a technique highly enough -- I tell my students that, if how I am explaining it isn't working, they should ask someone else for this very reason. In other words, it's not you, it's the instructor. When I was a student, I was on the other side of this, confused and not understanding anything my instructor was saying. I asked some of my classmates if they knew what was going on -- one of them said yes, and explained the concept to me in a slightly different way which unlocked everything. In other words, it wasn't me, it was the instructor. 🙂 And thanks for being one of mine, Lyla...
Thank you for all the excellent suggestions on improving our work. One “seeing your work” technique that usually helps me is to go into various bathrooms in the house (each has different lighting) and holding the model so I can view it via the mirrors…..this gives me a new perspective and help me see the flaws (or areas of improvement) a lot more easily than simply looking at the model in my hand. Thanks again for your great tutorial!
Texturing has been the 'most consistently mastered' technique this year. Adding a filter over the final 'textured' highlights just makes it all better. Best practice tip: Reaper Bones minis are cheap - while a lot of the older white ones lack detail, some of the newer siocast sculpts are right up there with the evil empire from Nottingham and that low cost means you worry less about 'ruining' a mini if the technique doesn't work out.
My greatest painting success? Learning things about painting miniatures and painting at all that I can use without thinking about them while I paint. Now I can use this energies to think about wider horizons. Teaching this to other ~3500 painters hands on in the last 15 years in workshops and coachings thaught me how to explain things in an easy, approachable way. Knowing where my student is at when I see him paint helps me to go back at my own journey and see where the "issue" lies. Combining this with the personality of the painter in front of me I learned to give the right lessons in the right moment. This is I would say my greatest painting success :)
Another big mistake I see people make is painting in poorly lit rooms with yellow light, which is typical of house bulbs. Models can look deceptively good in that sort of lighting, especially the blends, because you're 1-2 meters away from the light source typically if it's hanging in the middle of the room, which softens everything and tricks the eye. Then as soon as you get it near a window, outside, or under a daylight bulb you'll notice a million flaws because the lighting is harsher. Since I started painting directly under a daylight desk lamp, the look of my models drastically improved.
I love this video. You do a great job of explaining the frustrations many of us feel when starting out in the hobby. I know before I started I watched a ton of video tutorials, and felt like I could easily replicate what I saw. Lol that's really not the reality. I've been painting a couple months now and am still in the "thin your paints" and "add more contrast" stage. But your video does a fantastic job of explaining why. As always great job, and thank you for your content.
I,m just a beginner in this painting of these models and after seeing this video i now know i am still having trouble where the shadows go but i have taken a picture of the model I,m doing so I,ll be tryiny the shadows out tonight,and thanks
Sounds kinda like a negative, but my biggest hobby success has been accepting that someone my miniatures just look donk. Accepting that I'm not going to do NMM as well as you the first time I attempt it, or glazing as well as Ben Komets, really allowed me to do the best I can, unhindered by unrealistic expectations.
The photo one is so real, I just started this hobby and then get all excited about the mini I've painted, cause it looks good to me, then I want to show it to my friend who's been in the hobby for some time. Take a photo and boom it suddenly looks like a piece of garbage XD
Thank you so much for this... I've been gong through a rough patch in the hobby, trying to finish my Warhammer minis and my Hero Quest minis, but I just have struggled to get some of this stuff right. I've gotten frustrated and discouraged by all of it, especially when seeing others' work but now I realize that I haven't nailed down all of the basics and overestimated my own abilities. Thank you so very much for helping me regain my passion for this hobby
You could have put this video out 2 weeks ago when I was failing super hard at glazing. Now I'm just going through the points and going "yeah, made that mistake" over and over
I thought I was done with the model for this video, looked at the footage and ended up redoing the eyes because I didn't like them 😅 it happens to everyone!
Best advice i ever got is, do it wrong, but do it. As jacke the dog said "sucking at something is the first step at being sort of good at something." Just try layering if you want to learn it, if you mess it up, great, now you know how to do it wrong.
wow just found this channel ( been watching miniac, ninjohn, Goobertown, squigmar, Ebay mini rescues, + more) for years. how the hell did this channel only get suggested to me now? lol well nice work witch Ur mini painting + utube editing is nice "Bing sesh incoming"
One thing that may help is this- don't feel like you have to use X technique. All painters have their own style and tools in their belt and not all styles and techniques work for all painters or models. Just because "Everyone" is using a certain technique doesn't mean that you have to use it too! If NMM is driving you nuts... maybe rather than torturing yourself to get it to look just right- try something else. You may find that you are better suited to a different technique and that you get more satisfying results without all of the self-torture.
Thank You for all the great tutorials. I havent painted a mini in 30 years seriously. The hardest think for Me is mixing paints on my pallet. Example lighteninga paint to the shade I need it to Be. I thin fine I just cant seem to mix them together properly.
Hope your hand is better. This is a great video. It took me the better part of a year to finish my first space marine squad. The units visited the dunk tank several times. Also, I just love the content creators in this community.
Practise on a primed base is just the kind of excellent "common sense: advice I wish I'd been given when I first got into the hobby. Thank you so much Lyla.
you know in all the videos of yours ive watched i think this is the first time ive heard you swear, but good tips ive gone back to basics on my models with just bascoating washing and highlighting/layering slowly i struggle with this stuff cause im colourblind and cant really see shades of colours very well if at all, good video as always look forward to the next one
As a color blind painter the part about watch as many tutorials you can find, 1 million percent agree. I cant tell you how many times I've thought I understood what needed to be done only to watch a few more videos and realize maybe I didn't understand as well as I thought I did.
As always a great video. This is such good info, this is what I needed today. I need to practice more. I have been mini painting for 5 years now. I have made great advances thanks to amazing channels like yours! Thank you so much! Plus, hope your finger is ok?!
Thanks for the video. re: improvement; I find too much focus gets put on quality, but I find there are periods of time where my paint quality doesn't improve much, but I get noticeably faster, and/or less stressed out during the process. So if you notice an improvement of speed, or an improvement of cognitive load, congratulations, that's improvement also.
I've learned a lot from your videos. As a beginner, are there any miniature figures that you'd recommend - aka something simple & not too expensive to help develop my skills? Perhaps a model you've demonstrated in the past. The subject doesn't really matter, it's about practice.
The most annoying thing for me is I did art in high school for four years and had a teacher that I realised now was only interested in teaching those he believed had talent. Until I could access the net, my best efforts were looking at other peoples work and trying to decide how they achieved that finish. But I once painted 120, 1/72 scale British Napoleonic figures to build a fighting square. This included the Black Watch Highland regiment. I got to tell you, when that square formed, it gave truth to the statement, "Quantity has its own quality". Art teacher didn't accept it as art though.
@@funchick202 there are different ways... the rust color goes on like a wash. You want it to collect in the cracks. The corrosion texture goes on kind of like a paste. The rust pigment is a powdered pigment that you put down a pigment fixture and then you kind of dusted under the pigment fixture. Usually most of them haveInstructions so I just follow the instructions. If they don’t you can always look it up on RU-vid.
Your skill is amazing! You made not only my least favorite Sisters of Battle look great, but I actually thought that was the worst model GW has released in years.
I was wondering which model would be good to practice on and using the bases is a great idea. Now I am wondering if there are kids toys at Daiso that I could prime and practice on too.
One good trick to "git gud": It feels like you've watched over 9000 youtube tutorials on mini painting and it still doesn't look like it should? Start watching oil painting tutorials, watercolor tutorials, color theory tutorials, anatomy tutorials... I the end miniature painting is also _painting_. There is so much you can gain from broadening your perspective!
Thanks for the videos! One idea, I have seen you use a tablet for testing color schemes. I searched hji n low for tips on this and found nothing. What to use, how to use etc. That would make an interesting video, at least for me. :)
HI Lyla, thanks for your content. Very inspiring. If you take ideas on next videos - I am having problems with varnishes. I work with models that often times have metal and gems. So when the miniature is done I have the problem - I can not spray varnish the model with matt varnish, it will kill the shiny metal paints and gems (I use gem technical paints often), and going over the model with brush applied varnish also does not give good effect. Now, the only technique I found for myself is to paint the model to 90% of completion with all matt parts done - varnish it with spray, then come back with metal paints and gems and then seal it with gloss varnish on only those parts. This is painful and very time consuming sometimes. Can you advise on better techniques or maybe even make a tutorial on varnishing models with different materials? Maybe this problem is not common, but I could not find any good varnish tutorials on RU-vid.
My go to varnish is testors clear coat. It leaves matte matte and metallic metallic. Otherwise, there are different types of varnish like gloss and metallic that you can paint back over specific areas it need be.
This is your best video yet. I think all miniature painters with less than 5 years of experience under their belts needs to watch this. Great tips, great points.
Can I get a comprohesive outlineing of the basics, everyone talks about them but I feel like they never get clearly outlined. What are the core fundamentals,
"Slow the Fuck Down" should be an entire video on its own. I often have to stop myself from "painting impatiently", which never yields anything but frustration later. If I'm in an impatient mood it usually means I should switch models or go do something else for a while.
LOL that's a good point. I think the trick is many of us wander into this trap of going too fast. Seems like two things you gotta do (1) Recognize when it is happening and (2) Stop yourself. I think (1) is much harder than (2), and this current video already gives some clues (stop and take a photo, stop and ask others what they thing, etc). I wonder, do you have other tricks to catch yourself when you've fallen into the trap of going too fast?
It's important to gage the amount of fun you are having, and if the frustration you feel is a "challenge," or a "fun ruiner." Once the problem is not a fun exciting challenge to overcome, put it down.
@@LylaMev There was a famous psychologist (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) who coined the idea of "being in the flow" that state of extreme focus and performance. He made a chart you can see if you google "skill vs difficulty and flow". He has a wealth of other research related to this (mostly about how to optimize the chance of being in the flow, and how it relates to happiness).
its the 'understanding light and dark' that I don't get. Like I know how to practice blending, glazing, etc, but how do you practice light and dark? I can do all the techniques but I'm not great on getting the lighting just right, especially NMM surfaces.
@@LylaMev DOUBLE DOWN! YOU WERE MERELY EMPHASIZING THE POINT! going godmode. next time do a pitch up and a pitch down and overlay them for the real god vibe
Not fix, but deleted. While editing, I found an issue with that audio clip and I edited a new version. I pulled it into my software, lined it up with the old clip and..... Was so tired I forgot to delete the old version, leading to double audio. Damn late night editing!
ah yes, "see your model" kinda implies i should be able to mentally picture what it should look like vs. what i managed to make, as an "artist" (literally refuse to call myself that but others do) Aphantasia seems to be a recurring problem. good thing i keep clearly labeled ugly minis around to remind me what does not work out well.
