How to (properly) use SPRAY CANS on miniatures! 

Hello i'm a graffiti artist and also a miniatures painter who love the science behind paints, very interesting video, full of good advice! thx I have a few more things to say to those interested. People should know that graffiti paint brands can be very different in term of thickness, gloss and/or plasticizer and solvent base. As exemple, MTN 94 is a lot thicker than the fine coat you got with Molotow Premium and with Molotow Urban Fine Art you got a thicker acrylic coat, i find a bit too much for priming miniatures but ok for decor! The thing that make your primer paint stick to plastic is solvent and some are better than others, the best is Acetone. Now the thing that make our mini paint stick to primer is mainly the micro texture, mat give this texture so avoid gloss if you want to paint with acrylic water based paint over this layer (like most of mini painters). After trying something like 20 different brands and a lot of their different lines i can say that my favorite spray for priming plastic minis is by far Molotow Premium, but attention black come in 3 different type, take the "Deep Black" one! The best things about Molotow Premium are: very fine coat, very good adherence on plastic, satin matt finish, big choice of colors, quick drying, low price and real color painted on the cap. Now some counter example: If you take the "Montana White", the Loop range or the MTN Hardcore you will ruin your mini with a too thick, glossy and long drying time paint. If you take the Molotow Water Based , Molotow One4All or MTN Water Based the paint is matt but alittle bit too thick and above all it will not have the good adhesion on plastic that we are looking for. For the caps i will recommend to use the "standard" cap (black with white nozzle from molotow/mtn/montana...) if you prefer a strong flow (like on citadel/army painter and other primer sprays) but i often prefer to work with "superskinny" caps ( or fine skinny / super fine) so i can paint closer to my mini to be more precise and to use less paint but don't forget to take always 2 or 3 extra caps per spraycan because their nozzles are so little that it will clog and/or make droplets before the end of your can. And finally never forget to shake your cans well and do a spray test elsewhere than on your miniature. I'm done... sorry for my bad english, and have fun with spraycans ;)

Yeah, Marco I'm pretty sure we're gonna need the whole iceberg on this subject! A new video from you is always a breath of fresh air!

"Hey Hun, Marco says we've been doing spray cans all wrong! I need to run to the store..."

I have been painting miniatures for 35 years and I learn something with every single video you post. Thank you.

Brilliant. This channel is seriously breaking barriers of miniature painting.

My first ever comment on YT - yes please more about using spry cans! Although airbrush is well known, it takes time/place/moving while having children :)

There wasn't a single episode where I didn't answer the starting "Hello guys!" with an equally enthusiastic "Hello Marco!", always a brilliant way to cheer myself up ^^

Thank you for covering some non-traditional mini painting methods like this. When I told someone I was going to use oils on miniatures, having come from a traditional art background it seemed to make sense to me, they thought I was insane until I showed them that at least one person had done it with success. That is also how I found your channel and so glad I did.

A series would be great. I've a mate who used MTN 94 all the time to great results, I tried them once and it all went wrong. So a series on them would be brilliant! Great stuff. 👌

Thanx Marco! I'd like to see those miniatures finished.

This is swiftly becoming my favourite mini painting channel.

Yes please! A serie about how to use spray cans on models made by you can be mind blowing.

Dude you made me use oil paints, mix my own colors, put colors in my mettalics.... You have great ability to experience new things and share. May this channel grow even bigger than it already is. Kudos !

Marco I'm just so glad you're able to provide us will all these mixed mediums for our hobby. You're a goddamn hero.

Excellent! Would love to see more uses of these rattle cans on miniatures!

I have always thought that the basis for the success of a miniature and larger project was to optimize the primer paint as much as possible. Really interesting, thanks for all the advice.

This is incredibly priceless information on the level of using a wet palette!! Spread the word! I had a really sneaking suspicion that GW was tier-2 crap when my “new” cans were spraying furriness on my battle board!!

This medium is so far out of left field, an entire series would be very much appreciated.

One of the reasons I always look forward to your videos is that I never fail to learn something new. I wish I'd had this knowledge when I first came back to miniature painting; rattle can primers always made me nervous because I was sure I'd wind up glopping on the primer and clogging up the details. Awesome stuff to know now; even though I do my priming with an airbrush now, I'm sure I'll still find a use for this new knowledge.

Great tips, thanks! “Everyone knows this except miniature painters” lol :p

I love how you bring information from so may different art forms into miniature painting. I always feel inspired after watching your videos!

You are like a wizard! I just thought the can came with a cap. You have opened up a whole new world for me. Please don't stop what you are doing you are a treasure. And of course I'm making another trip to the art supply store because of you.

This technique with washes would be really interesting to see.

Finally somebody making a vid about that! Missing it from YT for years. Not for my sake, but now I can direct people here instead of explaining this way to often...

Yes! More cans please! Always love your videos Marco, you're attitude is so inspiring - keep up the great work

Holy crap man, I'm thoroughly impressed. Love your channel! Great tips, and keep up the good work!

Super hyped about a series on this “new tool”. Anxious to see more on the subject soon.

You do deliver. As usuall. Thank you for your work. You are the one who push the painting world forward the most this year. Keep up the amazing work, and innovate! :)

I am same amazed as I am baffled about this video. I defiantly would love to know more about the subject, especially the difference between caps and what results they help to achieve. I was sure that street-art spray cans don't fit model painting because they are too thick, etc.

rewatched this again. going to try it out finally!! with my CSM army I'm building up! MAKE THIS INTO A PROPER SERIES!!!

Thanks Marco for expanding my horizon with each of your videos.

Thank you for this most recent video - I've been painting miniatures and terrain for years - but still found new information and tips - thanks again Tony

Man I was really skeptical coming into this one. Proved me wrong. Your channel, has given me so much knowledge, I'm so grateful!

You continually show such great exploration of techniques, tools, and media -- all with the best personality. I could not love your channel more!

I was just doing this last night! My background is in props and cosplay, so I've got more skill (and knowledge) with rattlecans than with a brush. I have been painting some sculpts by Rocket Pig games in batch, and discovered that if im slow and careful with my light placement, i can establish most of the colours and basecoat at the same time. My workflow then moves into TMM, touching up hues and tones of my accent colours, and reapplying or toning the highlights (washes) before base and weathering.

I would love to see more miniature painting with spray cans and different caps.

Thank you for liberating miniature painters! Seriously great video!

I love your videos! So much good information you give and its fresh! Not recycled tips that you hear or read 100 times before!

This video is INCREDIBLY informative! Thanks Marco. You're the man!

Just started getting back into miniatures and based on this video ordered a can of Montana Gold black for priming my Necrons. Still getting a feel for how the paint works, but its been doing wonderfully.

All the info in your videos is incredible, this one changes everything for me.

At what point do we offically add Marco to the master painters hall of fame? I mean hes already there in my heart honestly!

Super cool Marco, I love your take on expanding the hobby to the wider art world!

Man, you are a legend. Your videos are super informative. The idea of using knowledge from other subfields of art is obvious when you say it, but actually very few people do it. You are one of the people that taught me to think beyond "primer-drybrush-wash-two think coats" way of painting, thank you.

Like this so much, can't wait to get down to the art store and pick up some vivid colours to try👍👍👍

Would love to see more about spray cans. That’s awesome!!! I never even knew they made different tips for them.

That was probably the best spray can video I have seen. Amazing!

I'd love to see you re-visit this topic Marco, with a little more advanced information.

Perfetto. Marco makes difference in the vast world of painters

Mind blown!! Fantastic video showing another world that I knew nothing about. Brilliant stuff

So from what I’ve heard, people have a REALLY hard time doing imperial fists, but the rattle can layering you did looks REALLY good and seems easy enough to get done about 10 marines in 10 mins. Really interesting stuff. Personally I am going to be painting Night Lords which are dark and not so vibrant, but this video gave me an idea that I’m going to try. That is doing an undercoat in black, and then another layer using a midnight blue so that the recesses are different than the outer layer. This along with some dry brushing I was planning might go a long long way to improve my painting as I am still new. Thank you!!

Dude I had no idea you could do this, and airbrushing is such a big cost commitment. More videos on spray can methods would be awesome!

Wow that was super inspiring. You never fail to amaze 👍🏻

That video literally blew my mind. I had no idea you could do this with spray cans and these different kinds of caps exist.

Great video, Marco! I really like this topic and would enjoy seeing more on spray cans. The effect you achieved on the 3 marines was fantastic and opens a lot of possibilities for batch painting troops.

The frequency with which you share new and super useful tips is very high. There are so many videos about priming with spray cans and none of them come anywhere near the value I found in these 12 minutes.

Had no idea about the different caps!! This changes everything!

Fantastic tutorial man. Super glad I found your channel!

Awesome this was super insightful!!

Brilliant stuff, Marco!

This video is excellent! I’ve always enjoyed the light/shade style provided by using an air brush and now I know it can be achieved using spray cans I’m definitely going to give it a go!

Amazingly edited and extremely helpful video!

so wild. orders of magnitude more info than any other spray can video I've seen. This is the typical level of content I come here for. thanks!

Awesome! My prayers have been answered!

Fantastic, a new adventure in my painting journey

This is incredible!

Great video as always dude! Thanks for all the awesome advice 😁 have fun and stay safe

Grande Marco!I would love to see a video more focused on how to paint those Minis. More for beginners like me, more slow focusing in each layer describing the specific spray head used, the angle per layer, the distance to spray and the pressure to apply. Because they look super cool. Grazie mille!

Amazing work. So useful.

Thank you for this video - I've been trying to learn more about cans!

I've been dabbling in the use of spray cans too over the last years, and I'm eager to learn even more. So, yes please, more spray can material!

Every damn time I learn something new. Every...time. I got to get myself a patreon account to help you out. Incredible!

I've been looking everywhere about picking a primer, but man your video touches on things not a single other article or video has. Not a single one even mentioned graffiti paints like you use, or using them in the way you're using them. Some places kind of felt snobby in how they chose their brands, but you were so much more relatable and game off as just really knowledgeable. Really happy I found your channel!!

This is a game changer for me. Thank you so much.

Thanks Marco. Very useful. Keep it up!!!

I figured I knew at least a few things about spray paint but everything in this video was news to me. Wow. Thanks Marco.

Thanks for sharing. Love the videos as always

This is so helpful! I've been frustrated with the results I get from spray cans - definitely going to try out these tips.

Great idea. I would love to see more about this technique

Wow This is awesome information Marco i would definitely love to see more videos on this topic.

Excellent stuff!

My boi Marco coming at us with more hobby secrets! Thanks so much!

that yellow made my day. Amazing, thanks for share your knowledge

This was incredibly useful information. Thank you, seriously thank you.

Marco this is awesome! Thanks as Always.

Helloooo Marco Brilliant tutorials already changed the way I paint thanks keep up the good work keep them videos coming

I watched your videos time to time, but with this one you made me subscribe.

Awesome! More on this please! Mind blown! Super cool!

I would love to see more of this!!

Great vid yet again!

Dude, this was uneffinbelievable. That effect. 🙀🙀🙀

This is amazing. I feel like a whole new world opens up.

Outstanding tutorial once again!! Jas👍

I do a lot of work with cans, this was a great video! Thanks Marco!!

this video is awesome. thank you :)

The most valuable tip about graff cans could be the caps, a lot of difference between all the existents and marks the difference, or could be too the type of paint this cans uses. This last one is for me the most important info we can have. For example: MTN 94 is one of the best cans for graffiti artists but not for model kits because this is based in a mix of oils as solvent and has a ver long dry time. Instead, Nitro 2G Black is one of the best acrylic all-purposes solvent I tried. For me, the best choices for model kits are: Nitro 2G for blacks, Montana Gold and Flame Blue for colors (Flame Blue has a thinner solvent) and maybe Molotow Beltons if you don't want to use any kind of finish coat. At the end of the day, you have to try and know not all this cans are equals. Each brand thinks on artists first and then you can find some of this cans are great for other materials than walls like plastic, metals... My best tip I can give to everybody is "know the caps first and then try each brand in different materials until you know them before painting any definitive model kit". Hope this was useful for you, from a Graffiti and Hobby practicer ^^

11:28 oh yes. definitely more on spray can use. I've exploited the chunkiness and temperature sensitivity of some low quality cans to get paint chip effects (since it breaks off the surface easily) and sandy or rusty finishes but mostly on terrain and then top coated with a flat or satin to preserve the surface. I've used Montana in the past mostly in my canvas work, but really haven't thought about the model/miniature applications. Thanks for the insight.

I knew I was still in the basic realm of sprays. Nice to know I can actually control my spray with proper cans and nozzles.

Thank you for highlighting why spray cans are relevant to our hobby!! Excellent as always.+

This is an awesome video. Sometimes I just can't be bothered getting the airbrush out, so spraycan tips are appreciated