As someone who is an outsider looking in on tabletop games, you're videos are very entertaining. I don't know if it's because your voice, your awesome attitude, the aesthetic, or all the tips you give. If I ever get into tabletop gaming it'll be because of you.
Just painted my first 40k model in over 12 years! Drukhari warrior in a nice crimson color. Came out lookn good after the shade wash and highlights. These tips helps since some of GWs paints are a bit different than I remember.
They are worth every cents that you pay for them, although I prefer the line they made for scale model kits. Crome is super shinny and Steel is a wonderful dark dark metal color.
YES!!! I was going to the comments just to recommend these paints. Super smooth, no chunky glitter look like a lot of citadel metallics. Just perfection. Combine them with oil washes and you are on to a winner imo..
I've had issues with the Vallejo Metal Color running after putting a wash over it. This is even after shaking the paint thoroughly and letting it cure overnight. Has anyone else had this issue?
I was heading over to mention this too, a bit too thin at times for a newbie like me but cover so well and are just a joy to use in an airbrush. acrylicosvallejo.com/en/producto/hobby/metal-color-en/chrome-77707/
A good friend of mine recommended "Airbrush flow improver" for diluting my regular paints, all my paints, and I've *never* looked back. (Edit: Warning, do *NOT* use it if you're a brush licker, it's very much not good for you)
I agree viscosity is the right term, but if you want the paint to flow more easily you want a low viscosity. Metallic paints normally come in a higher which is why they are more 'gloopy'.
Similar to the weathering pencils: I do my pupils with a microfine artist pen. Just purchase the finest pen you can at the fine art store and touch the tip to the sclera of your figure. Stabilize your hands and go in slow but it's easier than brush work.
I just want to thank you for reigniting my interest in the hobby. In the past I had an orc WFB army, a troll blood warmahordes army and unpainted (soon to fix that) frostgrave band. Your tips are great, philosophical videos are on point and thank you for turning me towards the current increase in skirmish games. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Good call on the Vallejo Air metallics. Have been using them for the past 3 years or so with a brush. I heavily recommend using their Model Air brown colors. Specifically, Armour Brown. It goes on sort of like a stain and/or a Contrast paint. Depending on how you move your brush, you will get a certain pattern. Draw your brush in a straight pattern, you can get a wood grain effect. I swear by it ;)
Great Vid again. You are the kind of person I would like to see at my gaming table. It is just wonderful how you make me want to try out new techniques. I am not a big twitch fan but will setup an account and join you!
Regarding those metallic paints that don't cover well, my tip is... use that to your advantage by laying down a non-metallic base coat close to the colour you want. That way, the base coat does most of the colouring work, while the metallic just adds the shine, as well as a subtle tint. For example, experiment with painting a thin coat of gold over a red or green undercoat, and see how it works out for you... 😉 I originally started doing this back in the day, when I literally had one silver and one gold, and they barely covered at all. So for a bright gold I'd base with a caramel; for a more worn effect, I'd start with a darker brown...
I discovered painting VJ metallics by accident. I bought it thinking it was normal paint, got home, was annoyed with myself, and then quickly wasn’t. I actually have airbrush thinner despite not having an airbrush to thin other metallics now.
Painting a CSM army myself right now and yes. Painting trim is such a nightmare. The silver lining though is it really helps your speed and accuracy. Both because you want to be done with this project so much so you wanna get it done faster and you don't want to have to go back and redo parts so your accuracy improves! But yeah I can't wait to move on to a different project that doesn't have so much trim or metallics (painting Iron Warriors).
For another project, I'd bought a can of Rust-Oleum Enamel Spray Paint Stainless Steel, and I was putting a mini together that would be all metallic. Previously I'd use some metallic mithril/ silver paint for some armor panels and such and then colored over it with contrast and it came out well, so I tried it with the Stainless spray paint. Primed the model with it, painted up red/ black contrast and it came out great. So, something to keep in mind when painting giant robots that you want metalic. :)
If you use superglue to get a pose you are happy with, once you're happy, you can then use Tamyia Extra Thin plastic cement in the way it's designed for regular modelling kits, so you take the brush, get some of the glue on it, and run it along the join. Essentially capillary action will pull the glue into the gap between the pieces, and you'll get that strong plastic glue bond.
thanks for the video, as always. for metallics, you should REALLY REALLY try the vallejo metal color range. again it's sold as an airbrush paint, but it's even better, plus you have a very wide range of silver tones (at least a dozen), from very dark to very bright, from "dirty" to clean
Vallejo metal air colours are amazing to paint with. I only wish there were more copper/gold/brass colours, not only grey/iron/silver/steel ones. And their gold colour is not gold at all :(
One thing I found was that the Vallejo air bronze was really transparent and feels too thin. But it was a one off, the other three air metals were fine. So when getting the air line paints, mileage may vary.
I'm a beginner, and your tips are really helpful! Actually I've been afraid to start painting up my admech killteam, because first miniature I've painted using Leadbelcher came up messy. I think I'll try to use airbrush thinner to make GW metallics more liquid.
Your first few will always look the worst. After your first 6 or so they should start looking decent. If you don't want to have your expensive minis look like a mixed train wreck you can always buy some plastic army men and have at those until you feel comfortable with your painting. Plus you can use them to practice more advanced techniques. There is also D&D minis for more detail. Those are usually cheap and come two to a pack. And don't forget, you can always dunk them in some simple green or super clean for a few hours/days to strip off the paint. You will need a toothbrush to get some of the stubborn paint off though.
So over the last 6 months I've painted close to 60 Black Legion infantry models. Edge highlighting next to the armor trim doesn't intimidate me much anymore. I'll dogpile in on the Vallejo metal color bandwagon. It covers great, flows well and makes this process way more fun. Having to fight the paint to make it do what it should be doing sucks. A paint like Vallejo Oily Steel (from the regular line, not the specialty metallic line) is a great example of normal metallic paint just being crappy to apply. Same goes for Auric Armor Gold from Citadel. Leave the room to go get a drink and the entire pot has separated. That color acts more like a glaze(useful for other reasons then but not for straight up painting gold).
I've had exactly the same issues when trying to do edge highlights. So, I started loading a detail brush as if I was going to use it to dry brush, then, using the side of the brush technique, do a few passes down the edge I want to highlight. Essentially I edge drybrush rather than edge highlight. Ymmv, but, speaking as a compulsive drybrusher, I'm finding it easier to get more consistent edge highlights doing this than trying to paint them on like the pros. Also, it makes less of a mess when I, invariably, stab the brush into an area I wasn't trying to highlight.
2:26 Vallejo Air metallics are the absolute BOMB. The pigment concentration, consistency and how it flows so easily off the brush tip allows you to do so much metalwork in one pass. My go-to every time.
I used it recently with gold and silver highlights you have to go with a light touch but worked great if you're just looking to put stuff on the table quickly.
Greg McCormack thanks for the info. I have a bunch of Blood Claws to paint up and they have so much bling and flair that might be a good route. They are just troops after all.
All Hail the fez. Nice tips. Done the freezer trick before. Keep telling my friends their are multiple hobby specialists for paints etc. Most of them are GW fan boys Thanks Uncle A.
How durable are these pencil highlights? I guess you have to varnish immediately aftherward if you do not want it to rub away. Luke APS used some metallic permanent markers and I tried it and must say that they are perfect if you aim for a quick Tabletop standard paint job.
It’d be best to varnish the model - I generally varnish every model after I’m done painting it if it’s going to be a piece I play with on the tabletop. Thanks for watching!
The 3rd tip sounds particularly great. I have LOTS of Watercolor Pencils that I've picked up over the years. They are so much easier to use than other watercolor mediums when it comes to things like keeping your paper from buckling.
New painter here--is it not recommended to use water or something like lahmian medium to thin down thick metallics? Or are you just offering an alternative to thinning?
Water added to most metallics tends to make them "split" since there are actual metal flakes suspended in the paint. You will end up with a weird metallic wash at some point, which you don't want running all over the rest of your paintjob. A small amount of matte medium or similar can usually be helpful, though.
I transferred my citadel Metallics for droppers using a little bit of water and it watered them down a bit. I have not tried using them yet.. Is this bad for the citadel Metallics? If so, how are people transferring metallic pots to droppers?
Hey Uncle Atom, have you tried applying an ink wash over those Vallejo Air Metallics? I've tried Vallejo Metal Color in the past and found that the paint comes off if you run an ink wash over it, even after letting it cure overnight. Ruined a whole batch of models that way!
You can cheap buy superglue and permanent marker (on gloss surfaces) using Acetone - I brought a 500ml bottle of off the shelf bog standard nail polish remover for £1 ($1.20) and use it either n a thin brush or a cotton bud
I never had any luck with acetone. Now simple green did work for me. I left one metal mini in acetone for a week and the stubborn paint just wouldn't budge.
Or you can use metallic sharpies... seriously, they're stupid good! Like those paint pencils but without the stoppages and spills. But it has to be metallic (other colors not so good) and a real Sharpie (haven't found another brand that works).
Do you have any recommendations for things for if I just want to test out a color/shade? Like I don't have a lot of spare model parts lying around and I'm trying to plan out a color scheme and I'd like to paint something first to see if the colors I'm working with or how I'm applying them might work out but I don't want to ruin a model in the process. I've seen people use plastic spoons to test color, but what about if I want to test shades?
Ime, 3 possibilities: 1. Sacrifice some models. Maybe a pack of cheap ebay buys. 2. Ask at a local hobby Store. Some, especially GW stores often have test paint minis and might be willing to give one out. 3. Use a model, and in a pinch, prime over it again. Stripping paint *can* be useful, but generally, you can paint over a rank and file model twice if your paint is properly thinned without loosing much detail.
