How to Repaint Your Pre-painted Minis! Plus painting EYES the easy way! 

"Don't sweat it. Accept it." - Great advice for more than just mini painting...

Always good to see a painting video.

I am an experienced painter of minis and terrain and I can say that this is 100% amazing advice! This is the perfect way to get better looking minis on the table FAST! Since they are mostly monsters you are painting, they don't need to looks like golden daemon winners! That mini is going to be on the table for....mmmmm 10-15min and then gone! Save the hard work for the players minis....once they hit like 4th or 5th level. Any player that has a custom mini at level 1 is asking to die....and they will die.

One of your old videos, the one about painting the Hero Quest barbarian, inspired me to paint my Warhammer Darkoath Savagers. Thanks for all you do!

Am I the only one who comes for Death Bringer but stays for the professor? I'd love a whole episode of Death Bringer.

Your past note about clicking all notifications helped me get this video right away. Great tips and appreciate your talent

Dig it. I've been painting minis since the 90s, and I still love watching "basic" painting videos, because it seems like there's always "one simple trick" to learn from them that I hadn't seen before! 👍👍

LIKED based on the thumbnail alone!

I love all Dungeoncraft videos! I've got a massive pike of ugly pre-paints that will now get some TLC. I actually painted up a miniature to look more like my grandson, who was 7 at the time. He loved it! He's now 10 and still playing the same character! Funny note, as a 7 year old, he named his elf, "Warlord." Now he goes by Lorrie!!! 😂😂😂

I love all this OSR coverage!

These are the things I actually need. Thanks Prof.

Cool I have a bunch of prepainted minis because I don’t have the time or patience to paint. This may help on those bad paint jobs

Thank you for covering all aspects of the hobby. Great video!

I like this eye technique. I need to try it ASAP!

The swordsman looks like Orange County Chopper! I expected him to throw a chair. I love all dungeon craft's videos.

Fantastic video! Very useful and practical tips, great for beginners too. Very wise words on the subject of having the courage to be imperfect, you only ever see the best and most beautiful miniatures on the internet, a standard that very few of us live up to, so videos like yours are worth their weight in gold to bring us back down to earth.

Professor DM puts the craft in Dungeon Craft. These are why I subscribe.

The blonde dual-wielding fighter is one of the first four miniatures I ever owned, a gift from a very dear friend. I named his character "Eldrick." Great job with this!

Love how this painting tutorial was so down to earth for a new painter, no pressure or unrealistic expectations!

I love ALL Dungeon Craft videos, especially the ones about tabletop gaming!!

I love ALL Dungeon Craft videos!!!! ❤

Oh I love this! Especially the last 2: their model limit their potential, but it doesn't mean they can't look good with some love and a makeover!

Very cool. Nice to see these box minis get a fresh look.

I’m looking to get back into minis and RPG after too many years away. This is one of my 2 favorite channels.

The wash really makes a difference at the end. Love the approach to eyes too.

Roderick and the witch hunter came out impressively improved, the varnish made a big difference in sealing the finished look (literally, as the case may be). But even though the melty orc is nearly beyond fixing, it's impressive how much far ahead the derp barbarian ended up after the repaint. It's still visibly a bad face but the rest of him looks solid where it was a joke before.

Most people will be thrilled and stunned to have painted minis at the gaming table, so it only matters to you how good the paint job is. here's a great tip: You can unbend bent weapons on plastic minis with a zippo lighter or a candle. light the lighter or candle and hold it over the flame (not in it, that'll melt it). for about 5 seconds then straighten and hold that position for a couple of seconds.

I love all Dungeon Craft videos! But seriously your crafting videos and your player advice are my favorites but I'm so glad you do news too. It keeps me in the know of what's going on in my favorite hobby!

I might just let this video run five times on my phone while I read a book so the algorithm learns its flippin' lesson. So glad to see some practical and usable content!

Prof, as someone who doesn’t paint minis and can’t watch your videos because I’m driving, this was the best crafting video you’ve done in a long time! (Sorry UDT). I’d gladly listen to ten more of this.

I enjoy basing prepainted minis. I black prime the bases and then add mud texture paste or flocking, then I add grass tufts, rocks, flowers, ferns, or skulls. Easy and fun and takes an ok prepainted mini to a good looking mini

That is a really great idea. I think using the pre-paint as a starting point could really help new painters to overcome a few hurdles. The old Confrontation plastics juts needed a bit of focused work with highlights and a wash and it made them massively better in no time. I also really liked the concept of letting the model paint itself. Many times, things remain unpainted on the basis of chasing perfections versus purpose. "Table top standard" paint jobs en mass make an impact.

I always wanted to get into painting minis, but the eyes always intimidated me. Thanks for the video, Professor DM!

I already paint minis and I learned something about varnish. Thanks prof DM!

This was great. I started painting Imperial Assault mini's and threw in some D&D mini's as I go. Your tip for eyes is spot on. I paint the whole thing, and paint the whites last. Makes my life so much easier. Your brush suggestions are great too! I love that you can get good results with inexpensive brushes/materials. A lot of people think you need top tier brushes, but you really don't. Thanks for the vid!!

Not a painter and only occasionally use minis, but I enjoy watching the process and/or before and after coolness. Well done, PDM. You almost tempt me to indulge.

At 2:59, I become convinced that I'm not a minis painter, and probably never will be. Despite the voiceover saying "Huge improvement", my eyes are saying "eh, maybe the one on the right is slightly better ... I think ... but maybe that's because I was told it is."

Thanks professor! I might give painting my grey army another try.

The eye tip is fantastic. I've struggled with eyes so much. I am definitely going to give that a try.

Inspiring!

I especially appreciated the tips on painting eyes. Love these Dungeon Craft videos.

Love to see some crafting from the professor! Hopefully this can lure more people into the wonderful world of miniature painting.

Excellent directions, advice on point! Especially using the dip shades, I was shocked the first time I did, at how what had seemed a cartoonishly bright paint job all of a sudden had great depth and tone.

I need to rewatch your painting videos. I have the time now.

Love Dungeoncraft! Perfect project as we prepare for snow tonight.

Thank you for continuing the painting series! 👍🤓👍

I love a good miniature painting video with practical tips. Thank you! These are great tips even for new miniatures. I co run a miniature painting group (Madison Miniature Painters in Madison, WI) and this is a great video for all beginners to the hobby!

Wow. Those results are amazing. Excellent repaint of those miniatures!

This is great. I never thought about repainting pre-prainted minis. Also, the fastest painting tutorial ever, and it was still really good.

This video is awesome. I wish I had the patience, the workspace, and the money to paint my own minis. Well done. Definitely worth a sequel.

i watch all Dungeon craft videos, but ihave a special love for the painting ones

Thanks for the painting vid! you got some great results from some, less than stellar, figs. The final "dip" you did really did create an amazing effect. I also learned why some of my figs got a little "speckled white" after matt coating. It's appreciated. I also enjoyed your video on "slap chop" methods, but it seems to require very special paints. I admit it. I'm a cheapskate. If I can't use a basic acrylic craft paint like Apple Barrel or something, and then thin it to the consistency I want, I rarely buy it. I love that you're using a larger brush size, too. I didn't learn, until much later, that the larger sizes have better points, and generally better control in small spaces. I started painting back in the 1980's using a guide from Ral Partha: prime, base coat, wash for shading, dry brush highlights, add eyes first (to see the personality) and details. Since then, I learned about glazes and such. I started painting eyes differently, though. The Ral Partha method was really involved: brown for the entire eye socket, white horizontal line for the whites, colored vertical line for the iris, add a lower lid with the skin's shadow color, and an upper lid with the skin's highlight color, then cleaning up any thing that fell outside of that. After researching some methods of model diorama building, I started following the "3 ft rule" like you mentioned. Average visual distance will be three feet when playing, so make it look good at that range. I left the eyes the color of the skin, in most cases, and then just added a shadow color under the top of eye socket, for depth, and a short vertical line for the center of the eye in the same shadow color (usually a brown or black). The results were great, and I didn't end up with mounds of paint for the eyes. I also started to hate dealing with thinned pain and inks dripping where I didn't want them go so, I started thinking from the inside out. I started with a black primer, painted the whole model in the selected shadow color, did a "heavy" dry-brush of the base color, and then another dry-brush of the highlight color. Next, add the simplified eyes and details. Sometimes, to add texture or blend things, like creating a leathery worn look on a coat, I'd go back to smooth things out with a glaze. I really like the way they turned out. I don't know if this lengthy personal painting history will help anyone, but I hope so. In any case, Professor, thanks again. I've not painted miniatures in a long time and this makes me want to get back into the hobby again.

Appreciate the video! My tip for non-bright-yellow blonde hair is pretty simple. Basecoat with a light cream color (like citadel bleached bone) then the bone color of whatever speed/contrast paint you have (pallid bone, skeleton horde etc). If you want you can go back and highlight. I really like the results with that; before my blonde hair always looked either unnaturally yellow or too brown.

I love that you are addressing how to improve pre-painted mini's. You surprised me with your advice to use SpeedPaints on the torch, but not the rest of the figure... One of the very best options, and also one of the quickest to reach the finish line, is to use the original Dip Technique on pre-paints: brush it on, though, to avoid excess and waste; use a dark brown color (Minwax Polyshades Royal Walnut), rather than black (Minwax Polyshades Tudor). A dull coat is a must, always. I paint armies of figures 800+ and still counting, since 1992 (long before SpeedPaints were even an idea), and I use basic block painting (cheap craft paints, full-strength from the bottle -- GASP), followed by the original Dip Technique, brushed on. I've received compliments, for decades, even though my style is basic, and utilitarian, I paint to game with a table full of figures, not for contests. Last war game had 1,200+ figures on a 15'x5' table, with 10 players pushing them around. I bake my figures in a 2nd hand, dedicated to the purpose, slow cooker, set at 200 F/100 C, baking them for 20 minutes: no frosting, no issues whatsoever. The pre-painted vinyl figures are fine at 200 F/100 C, for even 30 minutes: they get soft, but they do not melt, or deform. Cheers!

Great advice for a new mini painter. Thanks.

Crafting videos from Professor DM rock! And Deathbringer carries the show! Just ask him.

Another great crafting video from Dungeon Craft! 👍👍👍👍😎😎😎😎 I have been collecting what looks like the better painted prepainted minis, but must admit I have a couple of those orcs! I've seen somewhere that some people have actually stripped certain of the prepaints, and there can be actually good sculpts under those dodgy paint jobs that would bear a paint job from the primer up! 😃😃😃😃 Thanks again, Professor DM! 👍👍👍👍😃😃😃😃

Quite the tip as I've always wondered myself if it was worth repainting, never had confidence that the end result would be worth the time.

The crafting videes are just as important as the news and DM advice videoes.

Great video! Sometimes it seems like people get intimidated about painting because they see master-level pieces that a professional artist spent 2 years on and think "I could never do that." Well you'll probably never climb Mount Everest either but that doesn't mean that you can't take a walk around the park and feel good about doing something for your fitness. Like you point out, the actual amount of effort it takes to get a decent-looking model, or to make a huge improvement on a mass market one, is not that large. If an artless clod such as myself can do it, anybody can do it.

Been subcribed for .... well since Covid This is the FIRST non DnD video that YT has recommended me !

Deathbringer speaks truth. It's all about him. Okay, the Dwarven PSA about the fake orcs was pretty good too.

All hail Deathbringer! Eyes are the hardest! I tried to give my paladin green eyes, it ended up looking like green warpaint across his upper face. So rather than beat myself up, I ran with the warpaint idea and left it with the "happy little accident".

Another great video. Back in the day, I kitbashed a bunch of Heroclix into the crew of Serenity. I ended up stripping them down and was shocked how much detail was hidden under that factory paint job. But that's the next level.

This seems like a new core DungeonCraft video! Right up there with UDT.

I don't typically get to paint minis, but I will keep this video in my back pocket for when I do!

backed the Adventure Double Feature on the first day!

I love all Dungeon Craft videos. I still need to start the first coat on my first mini....and I remember your first videos, but I was between moves. 2024 may be the year I actually start. Thanks for the secret to eyes.

This is a GREAT IDEA, and especially good for kids and beginners.

Moar homebrew do-it-yourself crafting and gaming plz!

These were some great tips! Virtually all painting tutorials videos are too advanced for me. I might even try the eye method.

Awesome video, I’ve been a big fan of the crafting videos for years which got me into the hobby. I love the practical approach to getting good looking terrain and minis on the table. Just joined the patreon, it was totally worth it!

I have some old minis that i painted in the 1989s. I plan to keep a few just for nostalgia. These tips will help with the ones I repaint.

Great how-to! Thanks for the detailed advice. These kinds of minis are in my price range, so this is much appreciated!

I like these kinds of videos the most - painting, crafting, gm advice and campaign stuff. Not so interested in WotC news, but a Dungeon Craft video is a Dungeon Craft video so I watch them too. This got me thinking if I should paint my Wrath of Ashardalon miniatures which were ”pre-painted” by the previous owner.

I refuse to repaint minis, but I'm committed to making sure Dungeon Craft gets the views.

This might be your best video. I am gonna have to try that quick shading dip method!

I love all Dungeon Craft videos! That aside, another good one. Excellent tips.

Professor! More fabulous content! I feeling pretty dumb never considering repainting painted minis 🤦🏻‍♂️. I've always steered away as a snob that prefers gray and good intentions! Thanks for the wake up call

Great tutorial PDM. I've repainted a few World of Warcraft minis, and I think your last few steps will really help them out.

Fantastic video for new painters and old ones too!

Excellent painting advice! This is going on my list of videos I give people when they ask how to paint minis :)

I love ALL Dungeon Craft videos!

These are the types of videos i wanna see!

I just love those videos, i know it's not fer everyone, but they're just 10/10.

Heck yes! Less drama and more crafting

I've just recently started painting minis. I appreciate the tip for the eyes!

I have been doing this a good bit lately. Cool to see the Professor doing a video on it.

Thanks for this! I’ve got so many pre-painted minis in my collection, this is going to be so helpful.

I'm glad you focused on cheap models. They aren't mentioned enough. I have tons of both cheap & expensive and they definitely don't paint the same but I feel the cheapos generally don't get enough love.

I’d love to see other “repurposing minis” videos! Can you show how best to alter pre-bought minis? Ex: change a torch into a sword. Etc? Maybe an episode on “minis made from dollar store toys” or something similar 🙂

With the Tanarukk, I recommend to paint all the mouth red...then pick every teeth visible and painted it with Bone White, then highlight them with Pure White, once its dry, put any dark shade. Citadel Nuln oil, or Agrax Earthshade, or Soft tone from Army painter... That's how i paint my 40k/AoS Orks mouths and they look quite menacing.

Most of my RPG mini are repainted Heroclix. Acetone bath - spray prime white - base layer - detail - wash - rebase - seal. Go in batches of 5. Skip the eyes.

The tip about painting eyes is priceless.

Love any videos demystifying mini painting.

More crafting and painting videos please! Thank you

I Love ALL Dungeon Craft videos!

I love this video title & watched as soon as I saw it. I was impressed by the recommendations.

Great video! You inspired me to have a look at my old prepainted minis this weekend.

It's crazy how a few touches here and there can spruce up an old figure.