The One Secret to Display Painting - HC 314 

The only mistake you made that I could catch was you assuming I could catch any of your mistakes. it all just looks like a start-to-finish process, and I just enjoy the ride. Yours is a channel I like watching, but I also come here to learn, and you teach well. Some that I watch, are just for that- watching. They don't really teach techniques, and to be fair, most of those channels I'm referring to don't promote themselves as tutorial videos; more just the joy of watching someone painting a miniature. But your channel is a two-for; we get the joy of watching someone paint, along with the tutelage of someone who knows what they're doing. Win-win. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

OH BOY, I ALWAYS WANTED TO WATCH VINCE PAINT A SHOULDERPAD FOR AN HOUR. But this is about 13 minutes. I personally, appreciate these "slower" videos as it helps me master that brush movement. You can tell me a hundred times how to do it, but I need to see it done slowly to fully understand.

You could have called it “I paint a shoulder pad for 20 minutes” and I would have clicked anyways. 😂

That Ninjon intro still makes me chuckle, great you've got it in there. And wonderful tips as always

What do you mean, futzing is stressful? That's my stress relief! I only stress over the fact that I have so much to paint and so little time. Bonus points for using the word "futzing" because it is a fantastic vocab word.

This is exactly how I approach my sculpting & converting. Keep working until it’s right, sometimes remaking the same thing over and over. Great video!

Tbh I am considering subscribing to Trovarion's and Marco's Patreons just because they post long form footage there, so such content is appreciated.

Hi Vince. Thanks for another very interesting and thought provoking video. Again it helped me accept the gulf between my perfectionist side wanting to do the best possible job and my skills not being capable of it (yet?!) Your comment about brush skills and paint knowledge having to be high before even contemplating this level of finish was very sobering but also very true. It was like saying "You can't apply to join this club until you have put the time and effort in." Through much of the video I was thinking of the parallels between this hobby and music. It has been said that it takes about ten thousand hours of practice before someone can be said to master an instrument and I suspect that the same is true here. Also, you have to spend time and effort to really "listen" to music to learn to hear every nuance in it whereas most people just listen for pleasure. In the same way you have to really "see" the mini to pick up the cues that the brain processes automatically. With that said, I don't think I have the patience or time to paint to this standard but the key is - that's okay! So long as I understand my limitations and manage my expectations I can still enjoy the hobby. I can also apply this to my guitars - I'll never be a virtuoso guitarist but so long as I understand that and get pleasure from playing - it's okay! 😆👍

Loving the display cabinets! Futzing around here!

If not for the expected (and instantly recognizable) series title, you could almost re-brand these types of videos as "the mini-painting philosopher" - because this video, in addition to the tutorial, really goes to the mindset behind painting. I think for most of us, 'futzing' is something we do even as we get to the point where we can consider display painting. Also, might just be my experience, but I think the understanding of light and volumes comes at different times for different 'textures' (I can do a pretty good red or purple cloak, starting to get leather texturing, but flesh tones are still hit and miss for example)

The armor looks like a fine red wine - simply delicious! 4:00 I'll revisit in a few years because I don't think I have what it takes to get admitted to Display painting - I struggle with some of the basics because I barely ever have time to paint...

Always appreciate these valuable bits of knowledge that you pass on to us Vince. Also really loving the ratcast conversion!

Let me check if I can guess the two important corrections made : 1) The white front reflection, too small first then too large, the corrected to good size 2) The first glaze was too large and you had to redo the shadow just above the arm. Amazing as always. As an aspirant new painter who is focused reaching character and one day display level painting ,I had to the change the way is see a project. I was looking at a miniatures as a whole, working to get all part of the armor to the same level each time. Spending 20 hours before finishing the armor was discouraging, the reward was too far away. Now I don’t consider the mini as a whole, I am focusing on painting the left leg in golden NMM, painting it until I know that anymore paint would make it worse then I reward myself. Considering mini this way was the single most impactful decision I made to improve my painting.

This video makes me feel better about all my futzing on the mini I've been painting for the last few days. The multiple OSL points has been challenging for me but the process sounds similar to what you describe: layering, examining, reacting, glazing (over and over again).

Love the way you explain the process. You make it super interesting Also the shields on these guy are incredible.

Magnificent result! Well done Vincent!

Great topic and approach as usual Vince!

Immensely helpful! Thank you, Vince!

Good stuff Vince. I am eager to get back into display painting myself

Amazing vince! So Good. 👍 Will most definately try this red nmm and i Love this topic. More displaypainting for the people!!

I'm sorry Vince, but I had to screenshot the last couple seconds. The finished work; It is beautiful! I try to touch brush to mini once a day, but during the dry spells, videos like this inspire me to continue. I love your attitude towards the craft, and am grateful to you for making these videos. Cheers!

Great stuff as always. I struggle to visualize what I want the end result to be. At the same time if I'm being honest I think the real message here is to just sit and work at it. More of a mindset of giving significant effort to achieve something that pushes your boundaries, rather than just "getting it done".

Absolutely awesome video. Thank you it was very helpful.

Those redeemed rats are looking super killer 👍

Wow this video lifted a lot of mental weight. For some reason I had this mental conception that experts paint well in the same amount of time it takes for me to do a 3 color minimum. I don't want to spend 45 min on a single shoulder pad. I'm going to finish this breaka boss troggoth now. Thank you.

I think your "pfutzing" might be similar to my idea of "endeavor" and I feel like it is one of the most under-rated keys to success in display painting. To me, endeavor means enlarging ones scope to observe and record smaller and smaller bits of visual information. For example, in the beginning, I thought a shoulder pad was so small that I was happy to paint within the lines--and I was happy with the result because I thought I'd achieved a level that was realistic for the scale. There was a subconscious process of simplification editing both my perception and execution that, as my skill has improved, has progressed along a scale but still exists. Probably we have to do that to prevent becoming overwhelmed. But, I feel like endeavor has to be pushed, or maybe it's like opening a door to give yourself permission to see and incorporate more subtle elements. I do know that it seems to go in steps--like, suddenly I'll realize that some feature that I'd been painting as a single element could actually be broken down into several different areas of detail, and from then on it seems effortless to incorporate that added level of detail. I just wish I could get into the habit of opening that door more often.

Omg...it took me far too long to realise this is one of the fabled ratcast eternals we've heard so much about! Can't wait to see them done.

Those ratcast are looking fab!

great fig, and thought process.

I am painting my first competition mini right now for a local small entry, there was one really good painter that always wins and my girlfriend said "you could do that" so now i have less than 10 days to refine my entry

A master at work.

Came for the clickbait, stayed for the reassuring advice.

Your ratcast are looking neat! Cant wait seeing the army on parade :)

Thank you very much for this and all your other fantastic videos. I have to say I was waiting for Payne's Grey to make an appearance but would that not work for NMM red?

Nice work Vince.

Great video! I'm still painting my 3d printed totally-not-Sister-of-Battle 75mm mini. I'm trying to achieve NMM black metal armor. It's not looking perfect yet, but I'm on a journey to discover how to paint it. So far no secondary reflections, perpahs it's bad idea to leave them for later, but that makes it a little bit easier for me. I'm also trying to limit my palette as much as possible.

Though I would not say I’m working on display models I sometimes find myself futzing and enjoying the futzing process. I sometimes do some futzing on models that I don’t particularly care too much about just to see what I can accomplish. Thanks for the video!

I love watching this, it's so fantastically useful. Would you consider getting a bright set of lights though? Sometimes it can be hard to see the detail and true colours of what you are doing, and sometimes the white balance feels off. I can't get enough of your content :)

Great video! 🥰🐶

One question I have had on my mind for awhile, most of the time we lay paint down it dries darker. To compensate for this, adding multiple layers brightens it back up. But is their a point of diminishing return, besides the obvious to much paint?

Its funny how one can start this hobby and feels all educated and skilled after a year only to find out that is just the entry of the rabbit hole. But as always, Uncle Vince will put you in the right place 😉

As always thank you for the video it's always very informative I enter painting competitions not to win but to improve because I know I'm not going to win but through the constructive criticism the judges are going to give me I know where I can improve

This is why I could never paint like Angel Giraldez or Jose Davinci. Aside from the obvious, those guys are masters of layering, they know exactly what each individual layer should look like on the mini, so they never need to futz backwards and forwards between the shade, base and tinted tones. I had a brief chat with Kijo as well, he also glazes in just the one direction, from base to highlight then from base to shade.

Love the skaven heads

Amazing stuff as always bud ☺️ now imagine someone trying to paint a whole blood angels army like this 😜 RIP but I totally agree you need to learn, try new things force yourself to develop in order to get to a decent standard for "Display" painting. Many people just stay where they are out of laziness, not wanting to try new things and sticking to a pre set way of painting (this paint is for that, now we highlight with this and then use a wash) also a major help I have found is painting of course in different styles, lighting on the models (blue moon light, red fight lights, blue or green plasma etc...) also different types of models I also paint Batman miniatures game models totally different style of minis all of this stuff helps inform you how to paint. Oh and one last thing I will always tell people paint a busy or two. By the time I "finished" my first bust I learned so much, done my second one shortly after and it was nearly twice as good half way though the painting of it. Best way to learn how to blend in my opinion is a bust or a vehicle because of the space you have Inna given area 🙂

That's a pretty different approach compared to how I do it. My strategy has always been to try and shorten the time I need to paint a model as much as possible, and to use that saved time to paint more models. That's why I ultimately decided to abandon layering and glazing altogether, despite the fact I was getting some really good results with them. It took me some time, but I basicaly reinvented my painting style from scratch and can now paint much faster than before.

Great stuff friend 👏 👍

Art and adjustment are often the same. #14 Scott mentioned he is constantly reacting. Reactions seems par for any art focused on realism. It’s hesitation over how to fix (root of futsying) that defines the experience time wise. Vince, great exhibit on glazing! The most drastic correction I noticed was darkening the red at the very top between your two reflective strips.

Futzing around, ok grandma Vince………. Seriously great video and good advice. Love the resurrection of a word us Gen X’ers haven’t used since we were teens

id watch you paint shoulderpads for weeks vince, no worries!:D thanks for a great video as always:) i had one question tho, do you generally do one section of the mini for display like "finishing" up a shoulder, then going to another shoulder and so on, and ajust for cohearancy when its all up to 90%? or was this just to keep the video a normal length so you did not have to finish an entire ratcast?:)

Nice recommendation of video vince, I really liked it. Just a question, which colours would you use to do the same among vallejo or citadel (as I own a couple of reds from them) range? I started red brown (dark siena + matt red) some time ago for the base coat but stopped for other projects becouse I was unsure 🙈

I'm glad there are people who can paint like this but I have realised it is 100% not for me; I would get about 3 layers in, completely mess it up by covering over everything with a layer that was too thick and then probably want to throw the model out the window. I'll gladly stop at "they look ok from about 3ft away in a squad if you don't look too hard" quality - drybrushing and contrast paints are a lifesaver lol

Took me a while to realise that it is a skaven head on a stormcast body and not just a skaven model

Thanks for the video! If you go back this far on comments, curious how you know when to stop when "futzing." I think your point about adding visual interest over time is really interesting, but when it gets past the point of each individual step being clear in the difference it makes, how do you know when you have achieved the goal? Or maybe my eye just isn't as trained as yours when it comes to how each step on the shoulder pad created a specific change.

Hello Vince! Thank you for another awesome video. In previous hobby cheating videos you talk about Varnishing throughout the process. During this video I never saw you varnish the shoulder pad. Do you varnish throughout the process when painting for competition? Do you give a final ultramat coat with your airbrush to protect the miniature? Thank you in advance! -horacio

I saw an error practically as you were talking about making errors. And I saw you correct it but fixing it up with a darker shade. It was like at 12:40

It's amazing how much useful infos you can put in a 15 minutes video :) How different would the technique be if you were using oil paints? It's not layers over layers so how would someone approach this?

Goddammit Vince, get some decent lights and mic! You are one of the best/most helpful YT'ers in this genre and I certainly appreciate what you do for this community. BUT, much like improving painting skills, there are simple things you can do to better present your product. I started writing this in a tongue in cheek, ribbing to type mood but realized half-way through that it actually bothers me at this point. It's with constructive criticism in mind and apologize for the harsh tone. (I mean, it's not 'that' harsh. Maybe mad Ned Flanders harsh.) I'll keep watching either way. Cheers.

Anybody have any recommendations for good resources on studying lighting and its effects?

Thanks for the great video! From my experience futzing is a good way to learn lighting, osl and nmm. Paint a highlight, hmmm doesn't look right. Make it brighter, intensity is right but maybe it's too small? Hmm make it bigger, hmm now it's too big, make it smaller. Hmm maybe it's placement is off, let's move it a bit. So basically I just futz around till it looks "right". Unrelated question, do you know if there are any persons who won a golden demon and a grand tournament?

@Vince Venturella i have to be that guy and ask, but where can i get one of those display cases from for my minis?

Vince, what are those display cabinets and where did you get them?

Not paint related per se, but those display cabinets look magnificent! Where did you find something that size / that spacious?

A bit surprised you do one shoulder pad at a time, instead of the two shoulder pads together. In my mind, I want to do both of them to keep myself in the same mindset throughout the process. Then if I mess up one, I'm messing up in the same way on the other - or if I get it right, I got both right.

So the bid thing to really understand is color ? Or how they work together?

Hey Vince! Any reason you didn't do your usual Zenithal here?

Did you paint all that over straight black? I’ve never seen you do that before. On another subject have you seen James Wapples content recently where he talks about oil metallics and color shifts? I’d be interested to see your take

I love Vincey technomancer Vee! 🥰🐶

I think the error was on the angle next to the back of the model on the flat side of the shoulder pad

I always thought the secret to display painting was picking a figure you are prepared to spend the time on, cause as you say, all that futzing takes a while, and no one wants something half futzed :)

Hey, Vince, why don’t you make a book with all your art and technics nicely explained?

So better explanation is one in the worth of Alan Quartermaine take your time you have all the time you need and do you want to play and quality over quantity

Good call on not calling it "Watch Vince paint a shoulder pad."

Alternate title "What is flexing: How to paint red NMM."

When is the Stormvermin Eternals Battletome coming out?

wowww those cabinets at the start are greeeat!!!! looks expensive! heheh

Come on down to Vincey's Pauldron Cauldron!

Mistake spotted: there is a Skaven head on this Stormcast Eternal

Aside from the tutorial, which I find very interesting and helpful, your "Scavencast" look a little bit...uncanny. The paintwork is great as always, but seeing our craven ratfolk in shiny armors and humanoid postures seems a little to weird for me ;-) Still waiting to see the whole army. I'm sure it will be fantastic :D:D

3:05 this is something I honestly needed to hear since I've been on a Death Guard project and I've been deeply frustrated because every miniature isn't exactly how I want. A few weeks ago I spent two hours highlighting stormhost silver on five models. Keep in mind, these aren't Grey Knights or Stormcast Eternals, but Death Guard, dominated by greens, browns, and flesh tones. I really need to rethink my approach to the project. I'm aiming for higher than normal quality but I'm honestly getting too anal. Now painting my Mortarian model, that'll probably be another story.

Screw oils and color theory and steaks on my table; where do I get me one o dem aprons? Also: my futzing only makes things worse. I’m doing *something* wrong. My futzing is reacting to my mistakes and repeating and refining them until I can’t see what I’m painting anymore.

Interesting video. Perhaps I'm wrong, but while futzing can yield a great result, you can't get that super smooth blend. Part of me still like the unrealistic super smooth technique of Bobby Wong's Blood Angles and Jennifer Haley's technique from the early 2000s.

Is true metallic not accepted in competition painting?

Futz had two meanings for me….yours and for my life experience as an old guy…Futz the movie, a sexual satire!

Is that model a rat-cast? Cool convertion

8:01 that’s what she said 😂😂🐶

Can you make more videos on gold non metallic metal

You are good.

This confirmed that I will never be a display painter 😅

Futz around and find out

Uncanny valley right?

Ah the "Just the Tip" method. What sexually active person hasn't used that technique... oh... wait you're talking about painting. I'm sorry Vince, but sometimes I just can't resist a dirty joke. An sometimes when you say that in your videos, that is what pops in to my dirty mind. What can I say other then I'm rude, crude and socially unacceptable at times. Thank you for the video. Also I found ZERO mistakes or errors, because all of it just turned out to be happy little accidents which give it character in the end!

Vince: *paints red on model in a few shades...stops* Me: Holy hell that looks like red metal! Vince: *paints more red and glazes* Me: make that polished metal! Vince: *spends 45 minutes and finishes* Me: I need to learn NMM 😞

😁

: )

Time for a new camera buddy

hmmmm. finding errors in your work? inconceivable! maybe ... 6:47, i think your glaze was still too wet and the bright tone flooded out a bit

Can you spell this secret for me ahahhw

Pedicure God no I don't want to red non-metallic metal

So summarized, "futzing" is yiddish for "fussing" and the point is to be overly concerned for detail, which... should be a given if someone wants to do more detailed painting. I get why this is hard to convey, because in order to explain someone that you need to do it over and over, you need to show how and why. I would've skipped the clickbait entirely and written something like 'Display pieces: How I paint meticulously' or 'When perfectionism pays off: Display painting' :)