Is Realism WRONG in Miniatures? 

Also, there is no reason why one should stick to only one style for everything: you can easily paint tabletop models in a way and display models in a different way. They are meant to be looked and enjoyed in different situations, so it is quite normal to use different styles

I've had a number of discussions somewhat like this one - people often forget that what looks good and effective in a well-taken photo, doesn't necessarily look good on the table, and vice versa. Blanchitsu really teaches this - awesome piccies, little piles of mud on the table that look like you just couldn't be bothered! It's a style which is really difficult to do well for both scenarios, and any style which leans that way can have a similar effect. It's a good general point worth remembering that you need to know what you're aiming at and for what purpose.

"I am a fan of subtlety in...most things" says the man in the Fez.

I really like that all the videos tell me "Do what you like" I need to hear that often 😀

Oh, man. I ALWAYS hated that cartoonish super-high-contrast look with strongly defined contours and so on. And in a way - I felt bad painting in my subtle "realistic" way, because in all the videos on the internet people repeat like a mantra: "you can't have too much contrast. Increase the contrast, and when you think you have enough - then increase it even more. You always have too little contrast." Thank you for this video, Uncle. ❤️

The cool thing nowadays when you're deciding on a painting style for a mini are all the video guides that exist. Usually, you don't have to guess how techniques were done and you can find styles you like and start having fun painting much more easily than in decades past.

Good points. Personally would also consider what the model is, and the number of them. A single model that is part of a unit of 100 is going to get less painting time than a single model from a skirmish warband of 10, where you might want to accentuate some textures and details. Some models also benefit from garishness like some demons or very exotic things.

What a great way to start my daily transit to work. Watching this on the train

Grimdark or Blanchitsu? Gotta say it was seeing what I now understand now as these painting (and kitbashing) styles applied to INQ28 warbands that drew me back into the hobby after a 25 year hiatus.

I found Dipping in to Goop (what a fantastic phrase) perfect for board game miniatures like Zombicide where model detail is lacking or the pieces are going to be handled more. Goop has the benefit of an extra layer of protection so less paint comes off through handling or chipping.

I really like the idea of painting with an end style in mind. So you can make one faction “pop” a little more with high contrast but another one be more realistic. I know a lot of people like their orks to be more cartoony but something like imp guard to be more realistic

Artistic technicalities aside, realism or interpretation thereof in painting is a very interesting project when the theme you are trying to depict is completely alien to our real world. You immerse yourself in that universe to understand how it could work, and try to become its visual narrator to tell yourself and others how you would want it to look like. Realism might be boring and unoriginal, and "wrong" in certain artistic communities that value a different approach to art, but it is nonetheless a valuable tool for curiosity and even self-reflection.

I paint for roleplaying games and skirmish games, so I paint for about 25-75 cm distance (which would be in hand to about the middle of the table). This means quite a few highlights and shadows, but not overly so, and details that end at just having the eyes painted. Heroes, I paint for closer eyesin quality, but I use colour schemes to have them stand out.

To be fair when we paint "realism" its a hyper realism that you don't get on a lot of things in reality that makes the minis look their best. You'll never find a military vehicles or a ford transit painted with volumes and contrast in mind.

I’ve never found high-contrast attractive, because even on the table my mind tells me I shouldn’t see light work that way irl.

I love it when your videos end straight with the outro music. 😊

I've been trying to nail down a scheme that suggests an 80's muscle car, but literally last night I thought to myself: "A tan/brown w/light blue highlights would look awesome on space marines, and be more realistic." Damn it.

Really interesting video Uncle. And it's nice to learn that I'm not the only one somewhere in the middle of no highlights/shadows and enormous contrast.

This is one of those videos that I didn't need to click on because I knew exactly what you were going to say. But I'm still here because your voice is just so amazing! Your audio mixing is god tier and your videos are perfect background noise for working!

One real easy way to see what he's talking about is when he's talking about his shirt, and pointing to it, you can see some folds are almost black, while the highlights are a very vivid blue. If you paint any 28mm model, no level of molded detail will get you that dark in the folds. It's just the physics of scattering light at that scale. So to get it so if you took a photo of your mini of Uncle Adam, then took a screen capture of his blue shirt, and put them side by side, you need to push the contrast in your paint quite a bit to get the miniature to look realistic and the same as a photo of the real person at life-size scale.

I am in the block painting with shade -phase. Sometimes I use drybrushing and some effect paints. Depending on the model and color choices sometimes the end result looks pretty good.

I do enjoy Uncle Atom's morning philosophy class. Frighteningly similar views, did you get in my brain?

Having taken a decade or so off from painting, I find now in returning, that - with my long atrophied skills - I am happy with "Looks good at arms length". Enough shading and highlighting for one to be able to say "Yes, thats a trooper in a green coat" and not "What is that amorphous blob?". Cheers!

I prefer low lighting the cracks via zenithol or actually nuln oil washing a white primed mini, THEN blocking, then dry brush. I hate washing after blocking, because it changes the colors, so I'm guessing while painting what the end color is going to be, and that's not fun for me.

Having this very issue at the moment. My Stars Wars Legion Imperial force is all based for Forest World. I love the "mudtroopers" from Solo: A Star Wars Story so I bought some Snow troopers and tried painting them in that scheme. The first one was screen accurate, but the camo scheme work so well it was hard to see them on the tabletop from 6' away. The next one I painted I used mainly Citadel Contrast paints. It look cartoonish up close, but great down on the battlefield. Hopefully the third one will turn out just right.

I'm so glad somebody said it. I hate high contrast. I always paint for realism. I go muted colors, I use washes to blend everything together, rather than make parts "pop." I despise stark edge highlighting and I've always thought it looked super ugly. It has always seemed to me that highs and lows of light... well, they are just going to be there anyway, because this is a 3d model, not a flat piece of canvas. I xenithol highlight my primer and then I don't use super heavy paint over it and there, we go, that's as far as I ever go with contrast levels. I still can't stand it when I see the thick edge highlighting lines and the 5 shades brighter color on the high points. I honestly think it isn't a matter of choice, it just looks BAD.

I would never consider myself a skilled painter, but I do change styles based on what I want my minis to look like. So Death Guard are mostly green with a ton of Agrax Earthshade for that grungy look. My Ultramarines clean blue with subtle wash and edge highlighting. My sisters are PINK! which meant I had to adjust my Zeithal to be solild gloss white where I wanted the pink to pop no wash with again subtle edge highlighting. Necrons were just silver metallic with a light wash and a few glazes. Most of my decisions boil down to what is quickest but sometimes the vision demands more effort.

I prefer more realistic subtle style to highlighting and weathering.

Personally I like tabletop quality. That is where models are being seen for the most part.

I guess what we feel as realistic is still stylized anyway. It's just the approach in its different facets. For instance I'm trying to break away from the standard gamer look and since I'm not painting armies, I'm fine avoiding any dry brushing or washing. It takes time layering very thin coats of subtle pigment amounts, but I can have much softer transitions and controlled color variations. Yet still, in those variations, I'm using different colors for the light reflecting. There's almost always pinks and reds and yellows and blues and greens, even if the base color is grey. The result, well, the more right it looks, the more realistic it probably is, but the technique is always an adaptation of what is physically happing in 1:1 scale. To me, the bigger question is: Can I control it, or did it happen to look awesome by accident, so I can't replicate? Even if the solution to painting something looking "realistic" is beeing sloppy and random, I can't just be that, I've got to know where to add and where to stop. But don't we call that "art"? As in "artificial"?

I was recently talked down to in a miniature painting Facebook group because “it’s passable for ‘Eavy Metal, but eventually you’ll paint with realism.” Or… maybe I won’t? Painting is fun but I’m not an artist, I just paint minis for the game table.

Man I thought your background music was really loud, then I just realised my spotify was on. Tripping out hard

Block paint, wash, dry brush, edge highlight. Boom. Done. Been doing it this way for 15 years and I still love the results. On some very special or specific models I'll take extra time and use more advanced techniques like wet blending, but I find that tabletop quality models really only need the four techniques to look great for playing.

We should all be using a wet palette.

For painters with skill in various techniques, size of project and time constraints will also be factors when deciding on which approach to take.

I'm now mainly painting historical WWII and modern vehicles and ships, so realistic is what I am shooting for. When I painted 40K models a little more contrast was good. My Grey Knights painted silver with a blue wash, black, and red looked great on the table. Black Templars with white and red stood out as well.

I'm glad that this video exists and that it reminds everyone you don't always have to crank the contrast up to have a good mini.

I have adopted working the zenithal, black wash, drybrush white, then paint white highlights. It's easier to work black and white and not worry about color blends until you add ink glazes.

Having different styles and approaches keeps me sane. My ultramarines are painted very fussy and clean ( no mud, grime, etc). My death guard is a glorious mess of large colour slops, excessive washes and dry brushing, slime added with abandon, etc. Secretly, I think I prefer that style, is very relaxing

Despite 25+ years on/off painting miniatures, I'm not a miniatures artist, so I just paint to a level I think is acceptable for me, for both photos and tabletop, I'm somewhat stuck in some kind of a mid-90s style, but some techniques are still a mystery to me. I go as far as putting a wash on, then I tend to be selective in my highlighting - I don't tend to highlight everything these days and my highlights do tend to be subtle. Sometimes I push the boat out, depends on the detail level and my enthusiasm. Sometimes I take a risk - like I have recently on some Grey Knights Paladins, and the moulded lettering all over them. I did the lettering in Contrast Talassar Blue over Vallejo Model Air Silver! Yeah, they'll be standing out on the tabletop!

I think one's painting style should evolve over time. It just means you learned new techniques.

I have a new appreciation for that blue (purple?) shirt of yours. Now I want one lol

Worth mentioning that volumetric highlighting and shading is necessary partially because lights don't behave the same way on a tiny miniature indoors as they would on a much larger shape under sunlight. It's not just for seeing details more easily from afar, it's also to recreate a lighting situation that doesn't exist at the miniature's scale.

I like to do highlights and shadows a bit, but I get worn out from trying to do a lot of it, which is part of why some of my minis sit on my desk for so long. But I think it's important for a convincing look, because a life-size version would have more shadows on it.

For metallics I've started using metallic paints then washing GW inks over it and it looks ace ,! Still can't figure out blue or skin though that's what I contrast

I think it's really cool how long you and Sam have been friends

Realistic doesn't mean that you won't have to highlight and make your model readable. The shirt thing you explain at the start of your video is still true with realistic style, the model is still too small for the light to do its job even if the sculpt has the recesses.

I definitely prefer to do it a little more subtle. I see some models online that have really dynamically painting lighting and shadow, and it can look nice, but I can't help thinking, "That would only look that way in certain situations," and that it doesn't look right moving around a board. That and sometimes strong edge highlighting makes characters look like they belong in Tron.

Wet pallet, absolute must!

It's not the contrast itself that causes garishness, it's the color saturation level people use to create that contrast, that does it. Color isn't a requirement to create contrast at all, value is (hence zenithal highlighting). There are a lot of crisscrossing of terms in the hobby sphere that aren't applied correctly, coming over from the art world. You can get high contrast with low saturation, by concentrating on materials and their condition. For example, black painted armor is going to reflect light differently that the black rubber of a tire or hose. Use these differences to find the opportunities to create realistic contrast, without drifting into garish.

I feel it depends on what you’re painting. On a space marine scout, for example, I’d have more contrast showing on his power armour. However, when painting things like his fatigues, exposed skin, leather boots and holster, I’d use less contrast and be more subtle.

Great video. Keep up the good work.

i tend to not paint highlights, unless it is a cloak. instead i go for grim-dark weathered

As long as you're having fun painting you're doing it right. C:

This is probably a bit off topic, but I recognized you at GenCon. I don't actually play any minature wargames, but I think I found your videos looking for something on painting models. Anyway, I do enjoy your videos despite not playing the games you talk about.

Nice and cozy as always 👍

Good video! I like subtle and more realistic colors. I want the miniature to be viewed within 2 feet. I want people to say “wow” and then move closer to inspect the detail. Coming from model making, ships and historical miniatures, I want realistic colors and even a little atmospheric effect by bluing or greying the colors a little. I don’t play with my minis these days I currently use them in dioramas using model train materials to create a scene.

With minis painting I go for painting with realism pretentions meaning, it's cartoony but has certain real life things like rust and dirty here and there on bright white decals etc

Another great vid... sensible advice !

I started out painting my few miniatures for playing D&D many, many years ago. I thought I needed to paint them so that they wouldn't be obvious in the wilderness. I used a lot of browns and dark tones to look "realistic". Each model of an orc needed to be different than all the other orcs. Each character needed to be different from other characters. Later. much later, I started into more wargaming. This meant, for me, that unifying measures should be taken to paint models in an army or squad in a similar manner. It also meant that I could use more bright colors on my models. Then Age of Sigmar came about and I began using more dynamic colors (encouraged by my daughter). Now I prefer painting models like they just entered the battlefield and haven't seen the grime of battle yet. I do like the looks of my current models better than my drab ones from 40 years ago, but those guys have undergone the weathering of time.

I tend toward “realism,” partly because I’m too lazy to do anything but subtle highlights. So going for the more high contrast style breaks me out of my comfort zone. I actually want to try for the more garish look on my next few minis to shake things up a bit. I’ve been trying to push myself to be looser and more free with my painting so that I get less bogged down in the details. I still can spend hours painting a single mini… not efficient.

First, all painting styles are valid because it's art, so fill yer boots. However, from the perspective of visible on the table one of the big issues I see is that people are pushing texture contrast (which is generally the result of drybrush and wash styles of painting) instead of pushing volume contrast. If an arm is as bright on the bottom as on the top but the texture of the muscles are edge highlighted that is harder to read at a distance unless that contrast is really pushed. Those lines merge together. Volume contrast is "more realistic" in that's how real objects are lit, but also is more readable from longer distances without looking janky up close. The top down "zenithal" style is most appropriate for this because in most stores you have overhead fluorescent lights which gives a wide top-down lighting. If the paint transitions from light to dark at the same points the actual light transitions from light to dark you won't be fighting the ambient light to give information on your miniature.

I'd just like to see more people put effort into the finish of their paint. I see so many people posting what would otherwise be fairly well painted minis if it wasn't for the fact 95% of it has a horrendously inconsistent, blotchy looking paint allover it. I don't understand the point in worrying about things like edge highlighting if you can't even get solid colours nailed, as it just shows up the rest of the paint job. I personally like to see all sorts of styles though as I just view them as perspectives.

I always paint on feel/mood. Sometimes realistic, some times contrast'y, sometime just experimenting etc. Having fun painting is the most important criteria for me.

I would want my miniature to look the same at ~3" as the "real life" object or character from ~6' away. Why? Because we want to enact / simulate in miniature some literature or movie some scenario we have stuck in our head. The physical object and the pigmented detail lend some "majesty" to this enactment that far exceeds pushing carboard chits around. This is why scale models are so popular since we don't all have the opportunity to have the real world object in our lives. The challenge of making it look real is... complicated. I found that ultra-matte paints and clear coats help create that real world diffused and dulled down reflections off surfaces. I think the level of exaggeration depends on the the real world thing you took inspiration from: anime or cartoons can benefit from a more heavy handed contrast style and LOTS of panel-lining. Sometimes models with camouflage may need a less accurate vibrant green so you do not forget them in a tree-line terrain piece. Sometimes you want to play a game and a compromise is needed of look vs getting it on the table within the year. When doing a single character model vs a squad of 20, levels of less detail and higher contrast in a "crowd" may be needed. Only the painter decides when a model is done so it is the "correct" choice on when to stop. Glad you chose to tackle this!

Excellent vid. As ever.

At this point... I just use contrast paint XD

My model painting style is 'impressionistic'

Great stuff friend 👏 👍

Get there!

at it's core it's just art and everyone like's it a different way

Honeslty I only try the realism on the characters and higher level models. Base level troops and vehicles will get a bare paint look.

The title of this video and it's content is why I don't subscribe to this channel and always hesitate before clicking. Many years ago, I was a member of a rebellious cult of military scale modellers: Der Sonntag Bund. Our pink Shermans, Tigers and Walker Bulldogs so infuriated the community owner and moderators, they banned us all. We laughed and painted Flecktarn on our US Army rangers. My point here, is this video seems to be about presenting why you don't like a style, with no offer as why you prefer your style. If you focused more on "Here's what I like, here's my style, here's how you do it, here's how it looks," and less on "I don't like this style," you'd get to spend less time in your videos on "But you do you," disclaimers. But hey, you do you ;). (Yes, this post is carefully constructed satire).

After a hundred of minis in, what I've found was the art style learned from painting technique.

How much does the outro sound like get shwifty?

For years i was driven toward the “realistic” (lower contrast) style of painting, recently i switched to a higher contrast style mainly because i’m fascinated about the “tridimensionality” the style adds to the models. I like the resoults a lot 😁

Yeah I'm no pro. But I typically just use a wash and a highlight. My aesthetic is super dingy and dirty. I'm a veteran and my general look, whether it's my Tau or my Space Marines, they are dirty, dinged up, and they look like when they get back to base the first thing they'll do is power wash their armor. And if I use a desert aesthetic, sand. Is. Everywhere.

What are these guys from ? 8:15 Asking for a friend

Really good video!! I've always felt like models are viewed in 2 ways. Either from 3+ feet away within a unit, when it's pretty much going to look good regardless, and up close in a photo or under close examination, where subtlety looks really nice. In both situations, I don't see a need for intense contrast, especially when it's not blended well.

4:27 or is it golden?

All the Blanjitzu guys looking at u with loaded weapons

Dude, look again, your 'two tone blue shirt' has a bright orange edge to it.

My painting style is “Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings.”

I like your voice.

Guess what folks- you don’t need a wet pallet. At most you can use your hand and call it a day. I have many fully painted armies and have NEVER owned a wet pallet. It’s a “nice to have” at best and your models will still be beautiful. It’s okay to buy the cheap brushes and not feel bad when they fray, it’s ok to use super glue, and it’s okay to enjoy your hobby the way you like.

I've been wearing shirts all wrong. Lets not get started on my two coats.

Being a 40k fan and saying you like subtly.

"Realism" is subjective. There are lots of techniques which are clever and attractive - but whether or not they are "realistic" is a matter of personal opinion.

It depends. Sometimes I'm all in on the Darkgrim style and in the next day I'll be all about cartoony, nmm, bright and vibrant colors. Sometimes all within the same army. My Dark Elves are by far the biggest army I own and you can totally see that they share the same Colorscheme but they styles differ a lot. 😅

"'Realism' and 'subtlety' are coward's words." - a Space Marine, probably. All joking aside, I generally try to make my 8 foot tall, bright red, banner on their backpack, and glow-y blue pistol and sword weilding super soldiers look as a realistic as possible given, well, all of that.

Well, they can't all be bangers!

Whatever your painting style, skill level and personal preferences are, I think more people need to focus on realism of builds. Honestly it's more common sense than realism. I'm a 40k guy myself and I see absolutely obnoxious stuff all the time. Mostly I'm talking about goofy ass hero poses, and even some stock models are guilty of this. Ones that logically make no sense, and how people can have way too many within their army (sure looks great individually, but as a whole force on the table top facing the enemy?). I see stuff on pinterest/instagram or the like that's just plain stupid. Like having a two handed gun being held by the fore end and also having a power fist or big ass melee weapon in the other with no scabbard or holster/sling on the model. Or having a one man crewed vehicle in some dynamic action pose with the sole pilot popping out of the hatch to be see screaming into a hand radio and dramatically pointing off in the distance. The most common bother of mine would be lack of ammo. Unless your guys have stuff like heavy flamers, hell guns, stuff powered by insanely high capacity compact batteries (you get it) the vast majority of people build their models with no additional ammo to be seen on their boys. They don't have to be carrying thousands of rounds, but just give each guy a couple extra mags.

Gunpla is freedom and so are miniatures.

All Hail the You Tube Algorithm God's

Who downvotes this kind of content?!?

More like 222nd model lol.

Realism is relative.... eyyy see what i did there :D

well me dun doing faces as my type two diobeets goes on my eye sight got bad and i try to do ther faces some i can do others yes hes wharing a gass mask and not doing it just did buch of reging haros and had hell time to do darn faces so lot got sun glasses and just red steeks fore lipstck on the moth and some had gargels so just the moth see the vid the other is my mod i did to bust line but thats nother hare or thare yes back rank guys and girls do not get much say face detal at all the nest batch girl guard got do the faces thare be more out thare and no sun glases see as post

Uncle atom's habit of reminding everyone that he's speaking his opinion " This is just my opinion; you do you, etc." suggests that he runs into a lot of folks who aren't very well mentally equipped to be watching RU-vid-whether they be trolls or modern-day softies. It's somewhat annoying, but I mostly feel bad for him that he has to round the edges of his discourse so as not to say something even slightly offensive.

Only military skin in my military minis, yellow red dumb-gwlike-color are totally wrong and bad.