Washes held me back- Here's an alternative way to shade! :-) 

If you liked this video, you might enjoy this one too! This is all about breaking the mental blocks for layering and highlighting :-) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_dle8ers8IA.html

Never thought I’d see someone telling nerds NOT to wash.

As a tip from a learned visual artist: A lot of volume and shape is emphasized, visually, by how the shadow seques into light. On rounded parts where the shadow is created through the shape of the object (like the underside of arms or legs), the shadow is best given a soft gradient into the light. Wherever the shadow is thrown by something else blocking the light, like on the neck under the chin, a hard edge is best. Many shadows on the body will have both. For example, the muscles have little gradients from the lit parts of the muscle towards the parts the light doesn't reach. But the shadow merges with a hard-edged shadow created by the muscle blocking out some light towards the skin underneath it.

"It's not a crutch, dad. It's something I've come to rely on to help me through life"

I’ve started applying washes as paint. I put it where I want it, not just an all over covering. Then, if necessary, I just apply the base color to clean up any places I was sloppy.

Great points here. I used to think washes were the one paint to rule them all, but I have learned that painting shadows and highlights is not only good at helping oneself improve painting skills, but also is very rewarding. Washes are great, but they should be used only in certain situations in my opinion.

I'll still tell amateurs to use washes for as long as they're comfortable. It teaches them the importance of dark tones and gives results quickly which is important when you're starting out, so you don't get discouraged. If you're just learning how to base coat and suddenly you're told you have to line shadows in crevices when you don't even have a steady brush hand, you're gonna hear a lot of "this isn't for me" really quick.

Your script reading voice is my favorite. It’s relaxing, satisfying, and almost meditative. You gave washes an objective analysis of pluses and minuses. Undead gnome has a good name.

I prefer going from darker to lighter, it's easier to reach upmost points than having a perfect aim to paint the shadows in the little crevices.

I really love how there is not right or wrong here. Some parts really look better washed (like the bones and horns, some hair too). Some look better Painted. And some parts work with both well. The Drummer is a perfect example, The hand painted abs look great, like a neat borderlands cellshade. But the Wash makes the muscles shiny, as if he was sweating after 2 hours on stage. Both work well depending on what you want to portray. Really nice video!

Nothing new but coming from a voice like yours I hope it wakes up some people

I've done a few models without or with limited washes and I've always had fun with them! One thing I like better than doing midtone as base > shade color is to do the shade color as the base. Then you go over with the midtone on the raised areas. I personally find it easier to paint the raised areas than recessed areas AND you can do some layering to get transition zones between the shaded area and midtone.

Everybody: Three easy tips to paint your minis INSTANTLY! Brent, the Bob Ross of mini painting: This will be a lot nicer if we just take our time and enjoy the process. ❤

You can also take a hybrid approach and concentrate the washes in the shadowed areas, then build up layers in the darker shadows. Another benefit with doing your own shadows if you start getting into building up multiple glazes is building in color depth, like making your shadows a cooler tone than the base color and highlights a warmer tone.

Brent, those figs look like they belong in comic pages. I like it.

Recently I've discovered the joy of shading by using a heavy wash then repainting the original colour on top and avoiding recesses then edge highlighting. It takes alot of work tho so i only use it on special models. But it's easier than painting recesses for me and makes it easier to get natural looking highlight colours with my limited paint collection.

That technique makes a really good comic book style .. looks awesome :D

Washes are a great tool. Even used in a controlled way as a quick glaze they have use. But understanding the limitations of a tool is also progress

This video just reminded me of how much I love Twin Godess Minis. I have learned that washes and painted shadows both have their place. I tend to paint my shadows and highlights and then use a wash to help unifiy and blend transitions. But that's usually on parts og the model that aren't super important, like pouches and such. On those important parts, I tend to paint and then glaze my blends.

It's nice to see someone advise conscious craft over industrial applications of wash. Both drybrushing and washing have their place, but the way it is usually recommended to "create highlights and shadows", creates cartoon-looking figures with no discernible light source.

Shading by hand results in a comic-book-style look...which I like

For me, personally, I'm at an age where my eyesight is starting to fail on me, and I mainly use washes to help me distinguish the shapes on a model. Washes are a useful tool, but I agree there's nothing beating deliberate shadows and highlights.

Washes look better. I've never enjoyed the ultra cartoony style that mini painters work so hard for

So, basically I can now sorta justify buying a shade and highlight color for my favorite colours instead of a *generic* shade.. Thank you for sharing Brett! Love your videos!

Using slapchop as a base and then doing some manual highlighting and shading with the paints I have has been my go-to for the last set of miniatures I painted. When I started painting I always thought I HAD to use washes. I don't. They are one tool among many.

As a casual player and painter, this was really fun to watch and I will definately give it a try in upcoming paint jobs. Thanks

The drummer turned out really neat. It reminds me of cell shaded animation styles.

Arms out? That’s a shadowin’. Knees bent? That’s a shadowin’. Sitting down? Oh you better believe that’s a shadowin’.

That is a stage makeup paint job on that demon! Love it!

I think washes work better on very fiddly/detailed minis as opposed to minis that have large flat areas.

I agree with your statement. If somebody has the artistic and technical skills, giving most miniatures volume with the brush gives the better looking result. It takes some more training, but everybody can decide for themselves, when they want to start. It starts to get confusing, when the beginner painter has to decide whether to use an ink or a wash, do some wet blending or NMM or what ever technique might be applicable for certain situations. Those minis look really - especially the skeleton! 👍

Oil washes have the ease of use of washes and the control of manual shading, they are imo the best choice for shading

I adore the kitty cameos in the little window you show the colors you are using! Also, all good info! I'm learning so much from your videos! I have a few minis for d&d i have wanted to paint forever. I've bought some paint and brushes, but have been scared to start the actual painting. I feel like I now have the confidence to start them! Thank you so much 😊

So many people try to explain how to place shadows and highlgihts and its a very deep subject to go into. that fact that you've broken it down to if it faces up or down. absoleulty incredble and the best way to explain it when moving forwards from Washesh to shading. Stellar Video 🤟

My original technique, which I go back to for some figures, was learned from the how-to book included in the 1980s era DnD Battlesystem box set - prime grey, put black in the deep shadows, use your shadow colour next where shadows will be, then mid-tone all over, then highlights on that, followed by optional drybrushing. Less do-overs that way by working up from the shadows.

Thanks for the Video, Brent. I really enjoy them and find inspiration! Cheers from germany. Keep up the good work.

I personally like using washes and paints, starting with a shadow tone and highlighting up to the brightest. In this I purposefully make my color scale brighter than what I'm aiming for in the finished product. Then I apply a wash to help unify the tones, highlighting with a mid tone to further the contrast in some areas. Honestly, I think using both washes and manual shading in tandem is the ideal world.

I’m gonna try painting my shadows on my next simple mini!

I think washes are great for "organic" materials like cloth, hair or skin. Inorganic materials benefit from ambient occlusion by putting the wash in the creases only. Like you said, anywhere you don't like the outcome of the wash, you can easily paint over it anyway.

agreed. in the last year or two i've stopped using washes on all but my fastest tabletop minis. They have their place and time, but i've been having a lot more fun making decisions for myself

I Love Gary so much!!! 😄 They all look sweet, definitely good examples for both techniques!

When I started painting minis back in the 90's I could only afford artist acrylic paints, mainly because you get alot of paint for little money, what this did was get me to use as little paint on a miniature as possible due to how thick such paint is, by the time I was able to afford regular mini paint I noticed that there was not much difference between what I was doing with artist acrylics and mini paint. the mini paint was much better to work with and I did not use washes till a couple of years ago. When watching videos on other people paint I am always amazed at how little paint control most use. But the end result is amazing.

Seeing how this simple way of painting gives such cool results, might just lower mybstandards and go with this for the majority of the minis i have to paint. Thank you for showing us this

Never thought I'd tear up during a painting tutorial. Thanks for believing in us

Am I the only one who thinks the washed mini in the thumbnail looks significantly better?

Great! I thought you'd disappeared. I'm more of a modeller than a figure painter, but I always really enjoy your videos, and more often that not, there's something that's helpful. Glad to see you back, and thanks!

There are other benefits of washes. When layering a many tones on a material like an arm or a cape, rather than glaze each transition, doing a wash all over with the intermediate color or a red color for skin, can remove some of the layer transitions which will save some time.

It's very nice to see a well established painting guru bring this up directly. I've been at it for a while now and this year I cut waaay back on using washes because I found it not only sabotaged my ability to "get to the next level" of painting, but I was finding it was actually slowing me down when trying to churn out armies. I found it was very easy to prime black, use the shadow colors as my base layers, highlight with the mid tone, and pickier highlight with the highlight color. Reaper got me into triads early, I now use mostly ProAcryl and love their "totally not a triad" triad system!

One of the biggest hurdles that I face when painting is knowing where to shade. Back in 2003 when I was a teenager I would have loved to see videos like this to gain this information. Planning on getting back into the hobby again thanks for all the instructional videos you publish! Keep up the excellent work!

I'm loving the comic book style to these paint jobs

I appreciate the bare basic tutorials you upload. I've been struggling finding mini painting tutorials that don't involve multiple convoluted, advanced techniques and nine layers of paint. They have their place, but they can be discouraging when it's all I can find when I just want to learn where to put shadows and highlights.

As an experiment, I spend a month painting in triads and hand painting shadows rather than using washes. It was much more time-consuming and I am back to washes, but I feel it really improved my skills as a painter.

Totally agree. I started using washes all the time, and now, I use them rarely , only on chains for instance

Thanks a lot for your content ! Surprisingly enough, this not only teached me on painting without washes, but also on how to use and consider washes ! Typically, I'm not a huge hobbyist on painting : I went bacl to it 10 years after painting warhammer armies, and mostly to paint a full box of The Witcher minis. That implies that I won't go all in on the budget and material for painting. Having this elements into consideration and with your videos, I can weight more easily the pro and cons of going full washes or going a little more "above" with hand-hightlighting. For my personnal needs, I think washed will completely do the trick 90% of the time, as my minis ask for a darker overall theme and even if it goves more possibilities, the manual process for highlights also asks for a way bigger pool of paints... So I'd prefer it only for a few selected minis and on specific colors ! :)

I really love the clean look of manually applying shades, thank you for this video :-)

Thank you very much for this type of video. I very much appreciate the information. I get into my comfort zone and don't really experiment or expand. Then I go and watch something like this, and am inspired to try something better, to become better. Have a wonderful day sir.

By far my favorite painting channel

Nice bright colors and color patched make for a good comic look. I especially like the drummer. Need to try it for myself some time.

Right now I’m doing the big brain play and highlighting manually and washing. Partly because just washing doesn’t look to good unless you’re going for something grimey, and partly because I don’t have any really good thin brushes right now

I think the washed figures looked better tbh. :)

Before you got me onto speed paints my method was -prime tan or grey -apply wash to create deep shadows and reveal contours/details -paint highlight colour -heavy wash 3 steps atter priming for a low-effort result with strong contours and soft gradients. I was very proud of this method. Now I speed paint without remorse.

Love your videos! I'm still learning so still using washes. Really appreciate your instruction and narration; no fluff and clear context.

I got back into painting minis after a several-year hiatus. I wanted to get away from washes and try blending and relying more on brush work like you’re doing. I totally understand when you said you were feeling self doubt! I’m in the same boat!

something I've started using in some capacity are oil washes. slap on a protective coat of varnish, slather on a heavy oil wash, and then use a q-tip and some mineral spirits to clean off the high points

I've been doing both for a while now, and for me, it's the way to go. Basecoat, shade, highlight, a local wash to what I'm working on and make sure I get the outline recesses, then a touch of manual shading again, a touch up on the highlight, and you're done. That might sound like a lot, but you gotta do something while waiting for paint to dry. I just do multiple areas in multiple stages. Worth mentioning that once you've done a wash, go light with any after effects. Also, huge fan of a basecoat, a metallic, then a wash, then some VERY light opaque highlights. I WAS doing metallics without an undercoat, just straight on the prime job, slapping a wash on it and calling it done. For anything that isn't a signature for the piece, this is actually fine, but anything you actually want to highlight needs a bit more work IMO. That's a technique too, leaving the boring bits boring instead of going all out on every bit of the model. Helps pull the eye to the cool bits and reduces noise.

Loving the style direction your painting is taking you these days - cartoon, magazine, cleaner

The drummer and kobold especially, ends up with an anime vibe, and in that context the more extreme contrast looks legitimately good. I think a whole group of minis put on a table or diorama together, and I think the cohesiveness would support the style. It's also a step towards learning better brush control for finer work. If you never stop using washes to recess shade, that's always likely to be a challenge. Although I'm not above using an oil pin wash cheat to be fair.

Hullo Brent, I have enjoyed watching your mini painting videos for quite some time now. I believe that you address topics that painters of any level can benefit from, thanks! You present your techniques in an easy to understand manner and your voice is truly an enjoyable temblor! I do enjoy and look forward to seeing you have posted a new video! Please keep creating and sharing your art with us! See ya next time.

I usually use the wash only on the shadows. I might add some paint or ink to the wash, and wash repeatedly as if glazing.

I am old enough that this is how we were painting when I started. Inks let alone washers were years in the future at that point. There was no Internet so everything was learned in person or from print. It is a much better time now . Great video

YES! I've been working on applying my shading differently for like a year now and i definitely think its upped my game too! Great vid buddy :D

Huzzah, neat idea sir.

I think of using a wash like a technique, just like glazing or wet blending. It just has a much lower skill floor, so it is easy to teach and learn the basics and makes the figure look great. If you thin the wash down more you can use it as a glaze in certain areas, or all over as a filter to slightly tint everything and unify your colors after layering. It is all in how it is applied.

My most recent breakthrough in mini painting has been trying to be more deliberate with wash use and try to paint shadows and highlights myself, and the results have been amazing! I personally have prefered to base everything dark and then just focus on working towards mids and highlights. Thanks so much for being there with helpful videos like this every step of my mini painting journey Brent.

Great stuff friend 👏 👍

I think washes are useful like training wheels in that they can reduce the difficulty in achieving the desired effect. They're a useful tool for everyone, but you don't always need or want them.

I love it when the title feels like it’s calling me out personally… that usually means I’m about to learn something important, and I sure did ❤

Loving the groundswell for Twin Goddess minis, the spelljammer models tuned me onto them i loved them since, Very fun scupts that really feel designed to be painted not just be cool models! Ive been on a similar journey painting-wise, something ive been doing experimentally is basecoating with my shadow tone and i think thats working well for me, anything to stop relying on the random favor of the wash gods haha

Lyla Mev released a video on washes this week too. She came at it from a different angle. I love that both of you are fantastic painters that have different ways to get to a finished mini. It really showcases that there are several different ways to enjoy Mini Painting. Thank you for a great video Brent.

All sorts of ways to do shading. You can apply your wash just in the recesses as if it were a darker paint tone. You can wash an area and go over it with your base coat on the raised area (also cleans up any mottling caused by your wash). You can start with your darkest tone and work the raised areas upwards from there. In general, washes are there to save you time, not to create the best looking mini, because all of the above methods take more time than just slapping wash on it and calling it a day. So yes, not using washes will probably result in a better looking mini, at the cost of the mini taking longer to paint. Like everything, it's a trade-off.

These models are just phenomenal. They look amazing both ways

I moved to oil washes a while ago. So much less clumsy than an acrylic wash and can be used to make some pretty good blends from shadow the highlight. Not much work involved, often great as a last step to tie the model together; but, requires me to be available for about 1.5 hours as I need to interact with the model during specific points of the drying time.

I always struggled to get washes to look like I wanted on most parts of minis, so now I base coat with my shadow color instead of my mid-tone and highlight up from there. Also, I dig the almost comic book look the heavy shadows you did bring out.

The video I needed to see to pick up the brush again. Thank you

You make it look so easy, your base layers are so clean and tidy!

Interesting videos. Always good to have another tool in the toolbox. I have seen people using some in-between technic I would say. They use washes but apply them only where the shadows would be, like you did with your paints. And I love Gary. I need to get one.

Thank you for what you doing. Informative, relaxing, funny

I'm really glad you've worked this out, and even better that you are sharing it. I don't know if you can tell from my comments this is something that I feel very strongly about. This is the kind of thing that I wish I was a youtuber so I can share. In my opinion, not only does this look much better but it's actually faster, if you consider the cleanup stage where you re-apply your base colour. Now that you've discovered this I wish I could sit down with you and share the ridiculously easy and fast way to blend these painted shadows and highlights.

I personally like to take my three colors and mix them up to create five levels: darkest, 50:50 darkest:mediumest, mediumest, 50:50 mediumest:lightest, and lightest. Then I break up each shape/surface on the model into underside horizontal, underside 45 degree angle, vertical, topside 45, and topside horizontal and paint each mix on those respectively. It can then be refined from there but I find it really helpful to basically have a discrete process for where shades and highlights go.

Love your color schemes really enjoy your videos

Good advice for those that want finer detail and more control. I feel that washes are great for fast painting, like speed painting and techniques like that. This is great advice for those that want to move into more of the collector side of painting as deliberate shadows done well can look great, but done poorly they just look messy. I use a good mix of things as washes are still great for aging as you mentioned.

I think that folks should understand that washes not only shade, but they are also a glaze that changes the basecoat color. Great for a quick fast job, but not for a Golden Demon type paint job.

Great video, easy to follow and simple explanation will definitely help new comers, and for experience painters washes can help as a tool to move from using multiple layers. I have that wash selection but dont use often as I like to paint .

Meant to comment on this a month ago, but if I excel in anything, its procrastination. Anyway, I was experimenting on this awhile back on some practice minis, because for me, the cons of using washes have always outweighed the pros. I love layering and glazing to get my bright highlights, but hate doing so to get the original base colors to look like what they looked like pre-wash, (Green and red washes have always been the worst for me) so delving further into this method was a must for me. I recently got pretty heavy into Rumbleslam, and the vastly imposing, and muscular nature of the minis is a really good proving ground for this method. Plus, its a pretty fun game.

A much needed to reminder to #paintbravley. Thanks!

Everything you just said is true of drybrushing as well. It's a teaching tool. When you advance you get to layering/highlighting and sometimes "wet brushing" for quick models but without the chalky look of dry brushing.

The painted one is very comic book looking. It's great, however I'm not sure it would fit wargaming mini vibes. If that was a spiderman model with that colour scheme it would be absolutely killer. I'd prefer the wash if it wasn't so glossy.

Just loooooovely!

I've found that it's much better to use washes to change the tint of underlying bits that have been deliberately shaded. Use them to give color variation across skin or such.

Another big down point of washes is that they make everything slightly glossy. Which usually looks worse. This for me is the biggest drawback. Washed minis don’t look dull due to stainy washes, but due to stainy glossy washes… Great video! Spread the word!