This is a really well made painting guide. Easy to understand and very detailed. Surprised your not more popular! Just started painting the original Zomicide Survivors. So I'm glad i watched this.
Dear Army Painter, I love your "Shading washes". I have been painting miniatures for many years now, maybe not steadily but I have many many hours to my credit. I have used several brands of washes, inks, and even thinned paints to make my own washes and every single one of them either roll right off the mini like water or they stain the underlying color so deeply that they had to be re-coated. In effect they never "shaded" the mini they darkened recesses and high areas an even color. However, your washes pool perfectly in the recesses of a mini and thin off the high areas leaving most of the original color perfectly exposed.
Hey :) Thanks for the useful help. Just the hairs left, I guess I figured out why you don't make them red/blond like on the fan art, the colour is hellish hard to make. Have you maybe a few hints about this? How to get an hair colour like Clovis fan art one. Nelly's hairs are more orange and easy to get (orange suit and highlights with orange + blond hair). But cannot find a way to have the clovis one.
I really like your products. I have all colors available. But what sucks big time is the different naming of the same color. Like "Black" and "Dead Black" or "Plate Mail Metal" and "Claymore Blade". Could you please give me a listing of ONLY the NEW colors in the Black Plague Paintset? I can put the ones with new names only away because I allready have them.
Hi, few qs - You mention you don't dilute your paints. Is this all the paints you used in the video or just the one you were using at the time? Also, how did you go getting underneath clovis' cloak with the primer (if you have the figure upside down)? Did you end up painting there too? Love the videos keep them coming!
+Stormbreaker69 He is only using Army Painter paints. Not all mini paints should be diluted. Citadel/GW paints should be watered down, P3 can be watered down (I do) but some paints believe it or not dont react well to water. I don't know about Army Painter paints I now use mostly Reaper Paints and they should not be watered down unless creating a wash. It took me a while to get used to. I haven't heard great things about AP paints and wash. AP has 3 products I think are great, their Quickshade Dip for painting huge groups like zombies, their angled drybrush is great, and their primer sprays are really good, also when painting huge groups like zombies. Between Necrotic Flesh primer and Quickshade Strong Dip, you can crank out good looking zombies in no time.
Very nicely done, and a miniature any gamer would be proud to put on the game board. Yet, there's always someone who gives these videos - whether it be here or other hobby sites - a thumbs-down rating. Jealousy is a vile thing, but I guess it's to be expected on the internet where you can remain anonymous. Excellent video - I look forward to future installments!
That's a weird way to paint black hair. It looks anime and clashes with the other colors. The brown/red from the art work or a brown black would have been a better choice in my opinion.
you're painting skills are rock solid i guess, but i think you should work on the blood paintings a bit. the blood itself doesn't look good enough. should have more depth in color and maybe some reflections. there is a specific color from the warhammer citadel series. something like arcoat or so. perfect to give blood a silky and fresh look. sure not all the blood should be fresh but sometimes it helps. im not so good at this either, but here is an example of what i mean. scontent-frt3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t31.0-8/773650_3654671425418_1901409199_o.jpg
***** just ordered the citadel blood for the blood god yesterday. will get the job done too i guess. the zombicide season one paintings was my very first tries and i made MANY useless steps that got overpainted later ^^
Am I the only one NOT a fan of these sharp highlights you see on figures everywhere? I think they make the figure look cartoonish and that a much more discreet highlight is preferable.
You can of course do it any way you like. But the idea of the sharp contrasts one can create on these miniatures, is to lift the illusion of depth. On such a small scale, the "natural" light is simply not enough to make it believable, if we where to only use 1 base color, with shade and highlight we instead create a illusion of depth, and how much you wish to build upon this is entirely up to you. Personally I prefer to ad in some zenithal light when painting, giving the sharpest and brightest highlights from where the sours of light should be the strongest, in this case, the sun above. This way you can keep the more subtle highlights on the bottom, and more shaded areas of the model, while the face and shoulders will take the full effect of striking highlights and edging.
andreas holm But sharp contrasts are not natural, even if they are "striking" - they just make a figure look cartoonish and painted. The reason to why people paint this way is - if I remember my modelling history correctly - because they took notes from artists painting on canvas. An artist painting on a flat 2D surface must use more contrast in order to create depth and a sense of three-dimensionality. This is simply not necessary with figures since they are 3D, and so theerefore they have depth. I think a lot of people mies the point of having highlights: its there to show the scale of the light. However, they also forget to account for the actual light you have (if there's no light you won't see the figure at all of course), which exaggerates the painted highlight and thus ruin the impression IMO.
But you have to remember, as I noted in my earlier comment, that even though the models have 3d features the scale if so small it wont show. This is the real reasons why we as painters have the ability to create this depth using shades and highlights. By your definition, you could all the same just use one flat color and let the "natural" lights and shadows be created by simply holding the miniature towards the light. And it doesn´t work that way, what we as painters are trying to achieve is a sense of faked realism, where we help the miniatures along the way, and creates an illusion of lights and depths. How far we bring this, is all up to ourselves. But I think the objective of any artist working with 3d models is to create a sense of realism, with respect of the scale that he is working on. Some like the cartoonish look, some don´t, and thats fine, but I think its important to remember that these depth and highlights dont come by themselves on such a small scale. And if you don´t like the cartoonish look, but still want to created depth and highlight, you can always use a more dull palette with less striking colors, this would work great with this game as it is set in the medieval times. And on a side note, have you ever seen velvet? Theres your natural striking colors right there. Or try to open a door, looking at its edge with a source of light hitting only one side, now you have the same color but in light, shade and with an edge as well. See, all the features we put in to our models, they exist here in real life as well, you just have to pay attention to details as you look at something.
andreas holm Velvet and doors are not commonly found as human skin - just sayin'. Either way, the usual way of talking about lights, highlights and shadow is to refer to a plain ball or sphere, which also has all the features you talk about. I never said a figure should be painted in one flat color and then let the natural light take care of the shadows and highlights; what I'm arguing about is the sharp contrast you have on way too many models. If you want a cartoonish look, by all means go for it; but my impression is that most modellers try to paint to get as close to possible to the real thing. And that's where way too many fail with the strong contrasts they use. A comparison: the ancient Egyptians painted people mostly seen from the side, but they couldn't help themselves from painting eyes and bodies as if they were seen from the front, making the paintings look quite bizarre (just google it). They couldn't get out of the mindset that if you can't see something, it's nto there or not "real", like a real eye. You and I both know that an eye seen from the side of the person looks like a wedge with a rounded outer side, and the Egyptians knew that as well - but they still insisted on painting the eyes as if they were seen from the front. Which brings me back to painting model figures: people can't help themselves from painting striking contrasts, even if there shouldn't be any, just because it's "right".
@Kojak0 Andreas Holm explained it properly. The exaggerated highlights is to bring out details. The models are too small and more often then not viewed at a distance. Miniature painters who know what they are doing will exaggerate contrast and shadow/light to make the model "pop" and enforce details you'd lose with realistic painting.
So obnoxious for them to pitch a different color primer for each black plague model to they can get noobs to shell out $100+ for spraypaint they will have sitting around unused. Not Cool, Army Painter. The whole paint of Army Painter Primer is when you are painting an ARMY, hence the name. So getting Necrotic Flesh when you have 63 zombies to paint makes perfect sense. But teaching noobs to use a unique primer for each Player Character is just abusive.
This is a really well made painting guide. Easy to understand and very detailed. Surprised your not more popular!
Just started painting the original Zomicide Survivors. So I'm glad i watched this.
This was a fantastic tutorial, thank you.
I am really impressed
excellent work. 💞
Dear Army Painter, I love your "Shading washes". I have been painting miniatures for many years now, maybe not steadily but I have many many hours to my credit. I have used several brands of washes, inks, and even thinned paints to make my own washes and every single one of them either roll right off the mini like water or they stain the underlying color so deeply that they had to be re-coated. In effect they never "shaded" the mini they darkened recesses and high areas an even color. However, your washes pool perfectly in the recesses of a mini and thin off the high areas leaving most of the original color perfectly exposed.
I havent had the same experience. AP shade pretty well but they stain a little too much for my liking. Turpinoid and Abteilung Oils work best IMO.
Hey :) Thanks for the useful help. Just the hairs left, I guess I figured out why you don't make them red/blond like on the fan art, the colour is hellish hard to make. Have you maybe a few hints about this? How to get an hair colour like Clovis fan art one. Nelly's hairs are more orange and easy to get (orange suit and highlights with orange + blond hair). But cannot find a way to have the clovis one.
I really like your products. I have all colors available. But what sucks big time is the different naming of the same color. Like "Black" and "Dead Black" or "Plate Mail Metal" and "Claymore Blade". Could you please give me a listing of ONLY the NEW colors in the Black Plague Paintset? I can put the ones with new names only away because I allready have them.
admin.thearmypainter.com/files/downloads/guides/Warpaints%20Single%20Lists.pdf
Hi, few qs - You mention you don't dilute your paints. Is this all the paints you used in the video or just the one you were using at the time? Also, how did you go getting underneath clovis' cloak with the primer (if you have the figure upside down)? Did you end up painting there too?
Love the videos keep them coming!
+Stormbreaker69 He is only using Army Painter paints. Not all mini paints should be diluted. Citadel/GW paints should be watered down, P3 can be watered down (I do) but some paints believe it or not dont react well to water. I don't know about Army Painter paints I now use mostly Reaper Paints and they should not be watered down unless creating a wash. It took me a while to get used to. I haven't heard great things about AP paints and wash. AP has 3 products I think are great, their Quickshade Dip for painting huge groups like zombies, their angled drybrush is great, and their primer sprays are really good, also when painting huge groups like zombies. Between Necrotic Flesh primer and Quickshade Strong Dip, you can crank out good looking zombies in no time.
Very nicely done, and a miniature any gamer would be proud to put on the game board. Yet, there's always someone who gives these videos - whether it be here or other hobby sites - a thumbs-down rating. Jealousy is a vile thing, but I guess it's to be expected on the internet where you can remain anonymous. Excellent video - I look forward to future installments!
Nice video, wish you could afford a better camera so I could see the details of the mini while you're painting though.
Your voice and accent are soothing to me... #NoHomo
Which paint set were you using?
That's a weird way to paint black hair. It looks anime and clashes with the other colors. The brown/red from the art work or a brown black would have been a better choice in my opinion.
you're painting skills are rock solid i guess, but i think you should work on the blood paintings a bit. the blood itself doesn't look good enough. should have more depth in color and maybe some reflections. there is a specific color from the warhammer citadel series. something like arcoat or so. perfect to give blood a silky and fresh look. sure not all the blood should be fresh but sometimes it helps.
im not so good at this either, but here is an example of what i mean.
scontent-frt3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t31.0-8/773650_3654671425418_1901409199_o.jpg
***** just ordered the citadel blood for the blood god yesterday. will get the job done too i guess. the zombicide season one paintings was my very first tries and i made MANY useless steps that got overpainted later ^^
thx
Am I the only one NOT a fan of these sharp highlights you see on figures everywhere? I think they make the figure look cartoonish and that a much more discreet highlight is preferable.
You can of course do it any way you like. But the idea of the sharp contrasts one can create on these miniatures, is to lift the illusion of depth. On such a small scale, the "natural" light is simply not enough to make it believable, if we where to only use 1 base color, with shade and highlight we instead create a illusion of depth, and how much you wish to build upon this is entirely up to you. Personally I prefer to ad in some zenithal light when painting, giving the sharpest and brightest highlights from where the sours of light should be the strongest, in this case, the sun above. This way you can keep the more subtle highlights on the bottom, and more shaded areas of the model, while the face and shoulders will take the full effect of striking highlights and edging.
andreas holm
But sharp contrasts are not natural, even if they are "striking" - they just make a figure look cartoonish and painted.
The reason to why people paint this way is - if I remember my modelling history correctly - because they took notes from artists painting on canvas. An artist painting on a flat 2D surface must use more contrast in order to create depth and a sense of three-dimensionality. This is simply not necessary with figures since they are 3D, and so theerefore they have depth.
I think a lot of people mies the point of having highlights: its there to show the scale of the light. However, they also forget to account for the actual light you have (if there's no light you won't see the figure at all of course), which exaggerates the painted highlight and thus ruin the impression IMO.
But you have to remember, as I noted in my earlier comment, that even though the models have 3d features the scale if so small it wont show. This is the real reasons why we as painters have the ability to create this depth using shades and highlights.
By your definition, you could all the same just use one flat color and let the "natural" lights and shadows be created by simply holding the miniature towards the light. And it doesn´t work that way, what we as painters are trying to achieve is a sense of faked realism, where we help the miniatures along the way, and creates an illusion of lights and depths.
How far we bring this, is all up to ourselves. But I think the objective of any artist working with 3d models is to create a sense of realism, with respect of the scale that he is working on. Some like the cartoonish look, some don´t, and thats fine, but I think its important to remember that these depth and highlights dont come by themselves on such a small scale.
And if you don´t like the cartoonish look, but still want to created depth and highlight, you can always use a more dull palette with less striking colors, this would work great with this game as it is set in the medieval times.
And on a side note, have you ever seen velvet? Theres your natural striking colors right there. Or try to open a door, looking at its edge with a source of light hitting only one side, now you have the same color but in light, shade and with an edge as well. See, all the features we put in to our models, they exist here in real life as well, you just have to pay attention to details as you look at something.
andreas holm
Velvet and doors are not commonly found as human skin - just sayin'. Either way, the usual way of talking about lights, highlights and shadow is to refer to a plain ball or sphere, which also has all the features you talk about.
I never said a figure should be painted in one flat color and then let the natural light take care of the shadows and highlights; what I'm arguing about is the sharp contrast you have on way too many models.
If you want a cartoonish look, by all means go for it; but my impression is that most modellers try to paint to get as close to possible to the real thing. And that's where way too many fail with the strong contrasts they use.
A comparison: the ancient Egyptians painted people mostly seen from the side, but they couldn't help themselves from painting eyes and bodies as if they were seen from the front, making the paintings look quite bizarre (just google it). They couldn't get out of the mindset that if you can't see something, it's nto there or not "real", like a real eye. You and I both know that an eye seen from the side of the person looks like a wedge with a rounded outer side, and the Egyptians knew that as well - but they still insisted on painting the eyes as if they were seen from the front.
Which brings me back to painting model figures: people can't help themselves from painting striking contrasts, even if there shouldn't be any, just because it's "right".
@Kojak0
Andreas Holm explained it properly. The exaggerated highlights is to bring out details. The models are too small and more often then not viewed at a distance.
Miniature painters who know what they are doing will exaggerate contrast and shadow/light to make the model "pop" and enforce details you'd lose with realistic painting.
So obnoxious for them to pitch a different color primer for each black plague model to they can get noobs to shell out $100+ for spraypaint they will have sitting around unused. Not Cool, Army Painter. The whole paint of Army Painter Primer is when you are painting an ARMY, hence the name. So getting Necrotic Flesh when you have 63 zombies to paint makes perfect sense. But teaching noobs to use a unique primer for each Player Character is just abusive.