I love seeing hobby youtubers able to translate all those "it's just practice" advices into actual rational, logical informations, it just helps improve the painting tenfolds instead of just letting people getting frustrated
Yeah. “It’s just practice” doesn’t help new painters when they’re practicing the wrong things. Even when they get the desired result once, they aren’t going to necessarily know what mix of hand movements caused it.
When I got back into painting again (after taking quite a break) I had someone tell me the one thing (related to tip 2) that still blows minds even though very simple. We all know to reduce the highlight as we get progressively brighter. What he was saying is instead of doing 2 thin coats (long live Duncan!) do it as you build opacity too. Those 2 thin coats do NOT have to be the same. Reduce the amount you do each time you lay paint making sure some of the previous is visible. Super simple but very effective.
Very few people talk about loading the brush. Getting paint to the right consistency felt like a massive step up for me. But then learning to load the brush with plenty of paint (and not just dipping the very tip into the paint) and twisting to bring back the point - that was a game changer.
Just want to say you've been an awesome addition to the YT painting community. Every Friday morning I go "is this a Ninjon on or off week?", and I've never missed a video. There's really no other channel I do that for.
I love when pros with a lot of background on the internet keeps doing videos like this, to help people new in the hobby or not that new, to always remember and follow certain patterns to just nail the result! Thank you Ninjon for helping us to SLAY THE GRAY!
What a beautiful painting. And really great tips. My favourite was getting better at making single brush stroke using the top/ side of the brush so inevitably you get better at painting smaller and smaller detail. Thanks Ninjon. Much love.
Glazes. Most people groan at the idea because they think it's tedious, something out of their comfort zone, and a more advanced "technique". It's not. You thin down paint until it becomes tinted water. You still paint on a thin coat like you normally would. Doing an overall glaze tint to "knock back" a gradient is one of the most effective and simple ways to get your cohesion and blends to stick together. Green looking too yellow? Glaze everything with a medium, cool green. Reds looking too orange? Take a glaze tint of wine red to it. Overlapping multiple glazes is like taking very weak window tints and stacking those on top of each other. Want to create a transition? Cool, mix the two tones together and start glazing it on top of the drastic change in colour, diminishing the area with each pass.
I really appreciate a video like this. I'm an automotive pinstriper and custom painter that's started painting miniatures. It's all about brush control and understanding how the paint operates. Acrylic paint behaves way different than the oil based enamels that I stripe with. I just finished my first box set, Recruit Edition 40k, last week and I can't wait to do more.
@Ninjon, you've become my favorite background when I paint. I love your attitude, your knowledge and your willingness to share it. More than once, you have said something that got my attention and improved the model I was painting while watching. My entire collection is better because of you. I'm too broke for patreon but I can sub, like every video, and leave you this creepy thank you letter.
Finally someone talks about these! For real, if you can grasp how these tips works you can seriously get SO much better at painting. Like honestly if you dont listen to these tips, you will make mistakes that you can figure out how to fix
Man...... thank you. You have opened my eyes. The way you have explained the techniques helped me understand so much more than ever before! Cue the disney music, "A whole new world...."
Brush pressure is probably one of the most unspoken things ever. I started doing this after hearing Richard Grey talk about it. Makes things a lot easier.
This is some of the most unique, useful advice I've heard and all of it broken down into practical steps to practice. Love this video, thank you so much.
Better Minis, Better Colors. Papa Jons. Awesome stuff in this video! for those interested join his Patreon, Jons a great guy who is a great source of painting knowledge!
I've been a builder and converter for years making some really cool conversions and builds, but I've always been too worried about ruining the models with my painting skills. The irony being that I never felt confident enough to lay down the paint, which meant I never practised and so never built up the confidence and the ability. I discovered your videos a few months back and you've inspired me to just jump into it. It's been exciting painting up my miniatures and slaying the grey. Thanks for all the inspiration
1000% on the final tip of pressure in a brushstroke. I've been painting for years and it didn't click in my head until I saw a few painters (Vince, Angel, Slowfuse) building color with hundreds of tiny almost scratch marks.
Solid advice. I've noticed myself doing some of these things over the years or simply don't think about them. It's good to be reminded about how to combat some of these issues while painting.
You can really connect with us hobby painters well done I am notoriously consistent in tearing off fresh coats of half dried paint layers thanks for some genuinely helpful tips mate
This is a brilliant painting guide, just simplifying the things which can seem confusing to novices like me are beautifully explained. My painting actually has improved using these tips. Thanks Ninjon.
Your work is always incredible, dude, but the banshee you painted here really just blew me away. Loved this video, the real and practical advice that genuinely helped me on my mini painting path. It made me go check your Patreon to see if you had a 1 on 1 coaching session tier. ;)
Awesome. These tips are great! I am a fantasy artist/illustrator working in water media (watercolor, gouache, and acrylic) I have found good brush handling tips are rare. I am excited to try these out in my paintings. Thanks! :D
A. Your content has always been amazing. Thanks so much for these overlooked tips! 2. Thank you for acknowledging one of the *best* horror creatures: Pumpkinhead
This is a gorgeous sculpt, print, and paint job! Thank you for making fantastic content like this. I'm very excited to continue to learn from you and become a better painter.
I often touch the base of my brush (the part by the ferrule) to the edge of my paper towel I always have on hand to wick out excess moisture, and I find that helps rather a lot. I'm hard on my brushes, so the part about not always using the point of the brush is relevant to me--I often use the side of my brush, but apparently not enough, and that was a good pointer for me in particular. Brush pressure is something I can always be better at and about, too, so thank you for addressing that!
To be perfectly honest, I feel that Daryll explained it better last week.. Paint hard, Paint fast, No mercy! We need a paint off between "Daryll" and John. Don't piss on your foot because you got stung by a jellyfish..
Yes, please. Many will be dismissive of his absence. "Oh, he was the entire bit last video. Change it up." When we say we can't get enough Daryll we mean we can't get enough Daryll.
Still so much to learn. Thank you for the tips and that model looks amazing. I love seeing how you paint. I am a visual learner and just watching helps solidify things that I need to know. I would love to see more painting with commentary videos
Great video, thanks for the tips! New painter here (started 2 months ago) and I've only recently became aware of brush pressure. I agree, it makes a huge difference!
I have learned, by just constant doing, how important and critical brush pressure is and how much practice it takes to get the hang of (I am still learning how to control it consistently). But you are correct, I cannot think of a single place that really goes into discussing it in detail. Maybe a future video? You have a great sense to clear, concise, instruction that I thoroughly enjoy.
I don't do enough experimentation in mini painting because I am mostly painting up armies and I have created a paint scheme for them years ago and now I am stuck trying to match that scheme. I might try new things on character-type models, but mostly I am just trying to paint faster. Keep up the good work.
A while ago a professional painter for Rackham Miniatures (Confrontation) shared a tip: after putting down a layer, blow on it, like blowing out candles. That dries the paint enough to lay down the next coat immediately after.
I recently (like a week ago) figured out the side of the brush technique. That was so helpful to have it described for me here. Thanks Jon, I enjoy your projects.
Not at all confident you're going to see this one, but your use of color in that model is absolutely incredible! In reference to not being afraid of color, I'm about to prime and paint my first 40k miniature - its the first mini I will have painted in over 12 years - how do I incorporate contrasting color in a grim dark blood night??? Green corrosion on brass hardware? There will be metallic tones, but it seems like most of the real successful guys manage to use contrasting colors for interest, and my plan for this is to use stark contrast in light...
Excellent video Jon. One thing I'd really be keen to hear more TH-camrs talk about is the process of setup e.g. preparing all the paints on the pallet first, new paper in the wet pallet etc. I find this can be a strangely big barrier because if you don't know what your paint you spend a lot of cognitive load trying to work all that out and that's before you've even put paint on mini. I think as painters we understimate the process of being actively present which is completely different from playing video games, watching Netflix or even playing a guitar. Like any author or artist will tell you it's the START which is the most challenging, the painting process is arguably a lot easier.
Just recently discovered white werewolf tavern and oh boy, they have the best 3d miniatures stls i’ve ever seen, the sculpts are not only detailed, but dinamic and full of character
Very good. Translating a physical action into a description is difficult and you have done a near perfect example. Thank you. Getting ready for my first miniatures.
Genuine question, 8:24 - what about Shades? I am new and just finished Cawl, but I had to apply some shade to a Servo Skull, and just lightly touching the skull caused a lot of the shade to rush out and flood it. I then spent minutes trying to spread it out, and eventually sticking a corner of a paper towel into its eye to absorb the swimming pool of shade. How do you wick shade without losing the darkest parts of the shade itself first?
I watched you alot last spring and your videos inspired me to be more creative in a mundane time where I had to keep to a tight schedule now I'm back and hooked again keep up the amazing work PS now I must return to slaying the grey!
Great video as always. I copied the color scheme on the knight with black armor and gold trim, and I look forward to trying to emulate this color scheme too.
This is also awesome! You helped inspire me to get into the miniature painting hobby and I'm loving it. Also I heard you mention monster hunter world in a teeped under plaarstic episode. I'm binge listening to them all. What weapon do/did you main? Keep up the great work. I learnt a lot from this video. Thank you.
For a while I was priming the minis is medium brown army painter primer. I actually love how that base was working with nearly every color. Your videos are getting better by the day! Thanks!👍🤪🤘
Did you airbrush the brownnish red in the beginning? (2:40) I would guess you did? :-) Thanks SO much for your amazing content. I am preparing myself for painting miniatures again after 15 years of abscense and your videos are helping me the most :-)
Great advice, techniques and tips as ever mr Ninjon. For me know one else shows how to actually get that paint on to a model in a satisfying the way you do. Thank you.
Great tips! Some of those I haven't heard of, and I think number 7 is going to be the hardest for me. I have been working on that for years now, and I am slowly getting there, but it can be challenge, I don't know why.
If you aren't painting 5-6 hours every day you definitely need to make some practice with brush before painting session on paper or primed piece of plastic. For example every time after a 1-2 day break im doing this: - painting a few equal parralel lines or rows of similar sized dots - drawing a ring with single opaque brushstroke
I love seeing hobby youtubers able to translate all those "it's just practice" advices into actual rational, logical informations, it just helps improve the painting tenfolds instead of just letting people getting frustrated
Yeah. “It’s just practice” doesn’t help new painters when they’re practicing the wrong things. Even when they get the desired result once, they aren’t going to necessarily know what mix of hand movements caused it.
I like that Daryl still allows you to post on his channel. He is such a stand up dude.
You've gotten so good at producing content. Well done, sir.
When I got back into painting again (after taking quite a break) I had someone tell me the one thing (related to tip 2) that still blows minds even though very simple. We all know to reduce the highlight as we get progressively brighter. What he was saying is instead of doing 2 thin coats (long live Duncan!) do it as you build opacity too. Those 2 thin coats do NOT have to be the same. Reduce the amount you do each time you lay paint making sure some of the previous is visible. Super simple but very effective.
Jon, you have gained so much more confidence in front of the camera since you started. Keep up the good work.
Very few people talk about loading the brush. Getting paint to the right consistency felt like a massive step up for me. But then learning to load the brush with plenty of paint (and not just dipping the very tip into the paint) and twisting to bring back the point - that was a game changer.
Just want to say you've been an awesome addition to the YT painting community. Every Friday morning I go "is this a Ninjon on or off week?", and I've never missed a video. There's really no other channel I do that for.
This is a video that the TH-cam mini painting community needed for a long time. There is so little about brush control. Kudos, Sir!
I love when pros with a lot of background on the internet keeps doing videos like this, to help people new in the hobby or not that new, to always remember and follow certain patterns to just nail the result! Thank you Ninjon for helping us to SLAY THE GRAY!
Yay, the banshee looks like an Iron Maiden album cover!
Have ben painting minis for over 40 years and i learn something new each time i watch a video of yours .top notch skills and great video .
Them, normal people: "This house gives out full sized candy bars!"
Me, a painting gentleman: "NINJON IS PASSING OUT PAINT, BOYS!"
Full bars, how does this not topple your economy?!
Red paint runs out faster.
we ride at dawn bitches
What a beautiful painting. And really great tips. My favourite was getting better at making single brush stroke using the top/ side of the brush so inevitably you get better at painting smaller and smaller detail. Thanks Ninjon. Much love.
Glazes. Most people groan at the idea because they think it's tedious, something out of their comfort zone, and a more advanced "technique". It's not. You thin down paint until it becomes tinted water. You still paint on a thin coat like you normally would. Doing an overall glaze tint to "knock back" a gradient is one of the most effective and simple ways to get your cohesion and blends to stick together. Green looking too yellow? Glaze everything with a medium, cool green. Reds looking too orange? Take a glaze tint of wine red to it.
Overlapping multiple glazes is like taking very weak window tints and stacking those on top of each other. Want to create a transition? Cool, mix the two tones together and start glazing it on top of the drastic change in colour, diminishing the area with each pass.
I really appreciate a video like this. I'm an automotive pinstriper and custom painter that's started painting miniatures. It's all about brush control and understanding how the paint operates. Acrylic paint behaves way different than the oil based enamels that I stripe with.
I just finished my first box set, Recruit Edition 40k, last week and I can't wait to do more.
@Ninjon, you've become my favorite background when I paint. I love your attitude, your knowledge and your willingness to share it. More than once, you have said something that got my attention and improved the model I was painting while watching. My entire collection is better because of you. I'm too broke for patreon but I can sub, like every video, and leave you this creepy thank you letter.
Thanks a ton Cody, it means a lot!
Finally someone talks about these! For real, if you can grasp how these tips works you can seriously get SO much better at painting. Like honestly if you dont listen to these tips, you will make mistakes that you can figure out how to fix
So true about pressure, and so hard to explain to people at the start of their journey!
Man...... thank you. You have opened my eyes. The way you have explained the techniques helped me understand so much more than ever before! Cue the disney music, "A whole new world...."
Great painting, but more importantly great explanation and rationale. I'm new to figure painting and your videos are incredibly helpful!
Thank you for proving us with entertainment. And Daryl. Thank you Jon.
Brush pressure is probably one of the most unspoken things ever. I started doing this after hearing Richard Grey talk about it. Makes things a lot easier.
Wow, LOVE how the finish turned out! I have an GW castle that I’ve been hesitant to paint, this might be the look that it gets!
This is some of the most unique, useful advice I've heard and all of it broken down into practical steps to practice. Love this video, thank you so much.
Better Minis, Better Colors. Papa Jons.
Awesome stuff in this video! for those interested join his Patreon, Jons a great guy who is a great source of painting knowledge!
I've been a builder and converter for years making some really cool conversions and builds, but I've always been too worried about ruining the models with my painting skills. The irony being that I never felt confident enough to lay down the paint, which meant I never practised and so never built up the confidence and the ability. I discovered your videos a few months back and you've inspired me to just jump into it. It's been exciting painting up my miniatures and slaying the grey. Thanks for all the inspiration
Thanks for the kind words, Danny! You got this!
1000% on the final tip of pressure in a brushstroke. I've been painting for years and it didn't click in my head until I saw a few painters (Vince, Angel, Slowfuse) building color with hundreds of tiny almost scratch marks.
Solid advice. I've noticed myself doing some of these things over the years or simply don't think about them. It's good to be reminded about how to combat some of these issues while painting.
Something I recently saw was the use of "lining". Will be trying that soon and will be following your excellent tips. Thank you sir.
Incredible video, your first point especially hit me hard and made me think for a moment.
the end result of the mini especially looks incredible.
I love WWT! Currently working on a diorama using the goblins from their Academy of Magic. Great tips that are indeed more obscure.
You can really connect with us hobby painters well done I am notoriously consistent in tearing off fresh coats of half dried paint layers thanks for some genuinely helpful tips mate
This is a brilliant painting guide, just simplifying the things which can seem confusing to novices like me are beautifully explained. My painting actually has improved using these tips. Thanks Ninjon.
Your work is always incredible, dude, but the banshee you painted here really just blew me away. Loved this video, the real and practical advice that genuinely helped me on my mini painting path. It made me go check your Patreon to see if you had a 1 on 1 coaching session tier. ;)
Great video! These really are the things that make the most difference in improvement and you’re right, they don’t get discussed nearly enough!
I just tried this and it works %100 my one model looks way better then I ever thought was possible
Awesome. These tips are great! I am a fantasy artist/illustrator working in water media (watercolor, gouache, and acrylic) I have found good brush handling tips are rare. I am excited to try these out in my paintings. Thanks! :D
A couple years late but this is by far the best mini painting advice I’ve seen
Ninjon....... some of the best informative videos out PERIOD!
A. Your content has always been amazing. Thanks so much for these overlooked tips!
2. Thank you for acknowledging one of the *best* horror creatures: Pumpkinhead
This is a gorgeous sculpt, print, and paint job! Thank you for making fantastic content like this. I'm very excited to continue to learn from you and become a better painter.
I often touch the base of my brush (the part by the ferrule) to the edge of my paper towel I always have on hand to wick out excess moisture, and I find that helps rather a lot. I'm hard on my brushes, so the part about not always using the point of the brush is relevant to me--I often use the side of my brush, but apparently not enough, and that was a good pointer for me in particular. Brush pressure is something I can always be better at and about, too, so thank you for addressing that!
To be perfectly honest, I feel that Daryll explained it better last week.. Paint hard, Paint fast, No mercy! We need a paint off between "Daryll" and John. Don't piss on your foot because you got stung by a jellyfish..
Yes, please. Many will be dismissive of his absence. "Oh, he was the entire bit last video. Change it up." When we say we can't get enough Daryll we mean we can't get enough Daryll.
Still so much to learn. Thank you for the tips and that model looks amazing. I love seeing how you paint. I am a visual learner and just watching helps solidify things that I need to know. I would love to see more painting with commentary videos
Everything vidéo I'm always happy to see your intro. Its one of the best out there.
Marvelous tips and even more paint job! I almost can hear that banshee yieling
Great video, thanks for the tips!
New painter here (started 2 months ago) and I've only recently became aware of brush pressure. I agree, it makes a huge difference!
You always have great insight in to helping others improve the foundational skills of painting.
Thank you.
Thank you for the tips! Beautifully painted!
Great video Jon, but the only tips I need I got from last week's video "Paint Hard, Paint Fast, No Mercy"!
I have learned, by just constant doing, how important and critical brush pressure is and how much practice it takes to get the hang of (I am still learning how to control it consistently). But you are correct, I cannot think of a single place that really goes into discussing it in detail. Maybe a future video? You have a great sense to clear, concise, instruction that I thoroughly enjoy.
Great video. Great tips. Great looking mini and paintjob. Had to join the White Werewolf Tavern Patreon to get these minis. Thank you!
Thanks for awesome tips and she is beautiful. Always enjoy your stuff.
Very well done video. I look forward to these every 2 weeks.
Great ideas as always, thoughtful painting
I don't do enough experimentation in mini painting because I am mostly painting up armies and I have created a paint scheme for them years ago and now I am stuck trying to match that scheme. I might try new things on character-type models, but mostly I am just trying to paint faster. Keep up the good work.
A while ago a professional painter for Rackham Miniatures (Confrontation) shared a tip: after putting down a layer, blow on it, like blowing out candles. That dries the paint enough to lay down the next coat immediately after.
Love your content man! And the LITERAL BEST of references 👌
I recently (like a week ago) figured out the side of the brush technique. That was so helpful to have it described for me here. Thanks Jon, I enjoy your projects.
Not at all confident you're going to see this one, but your use of color in that model is absolutely incredible! In reference to not being afraid of color, I'm about to prime and paint my first 40k miniature - its the first mini I will have painted in over 12 years - how do I incorporate contrasting color in a grim dark blood night??? Green corrosion on brass hardware? There will be metallic tones, but it seems like most of the real successful guys manage to use contrasting colors for interest, and my plan for this is to use stark contrast in light...
Dude, thank YOU for all the amazing work you make. I mean it.
I've seen canvas painters do something similar as your first tip. They call it "toning" the canvas. Synergies abound!
Excellent video Jon.
One thing I'd really be keen to hear more TH-camrs talk about is the process of setup e.g. preparing all the paints on the pallet first, new paper in the wet pallet etc. I find this can be a strangely big barrier because if you don't know what your paint you spend a lot of cognitive load trying to work all that out and that's before you've even put paint on mini. I think as painters we understimate the process of being actively present which is completely different from playing video games, watching Netflix or even playing a guitar. Like any author or artist will tell you it's the START which is the most challenging, the painting process is arguably a lot easier.
Just recently discovered white werewolf tavern and oh boy, they have the best 3d miniatures stls i’ve ever seen, the sculpts are not only detailed, but dinamic and full of character
This video has helped me sooooo much. I’ll probably revisit it many times. There are a ton of techniques in here that have not been addressed.
I bought some wolf mini figures like 3 years ago when I went to the opening of a game shop in my city and I finally decided it’s time to paint them.
I’m sick (food poisoning) and your new video made my day a whole lot better. Thanks for the tips!
Yikes! Hope you are feeling better!
Very good. Translating a physical action into a description is difficult and you have done a near perfect example. Thank you. Getting ready for my first miniatures.
Genuine question, 8:24 - what about Shades? I am new and just finished Cawl, but I had to apply some shade to a Servo Skull, and just lightly touching the skull caused a lot of the shade to rush out and flood it. I then spent minutes trying to spread it out, and eventually sticking a corner of a paper towel into its eye to absorb the swimming pool of shade.
How do you wick shade without losing the darkest parts of the shade itself first?
Great instruction video, and lots of food for thought.
Another great one Jon, love that you always paint a mini and show your work as you explain..and your work is sick...
Perfection. Simply amazing.
this gives an extra joy to my Fridays, Thanks.
Great content, man! Awesome mini, gorgeous paint job and important topics you covered. Thank you!
I watched you alot last spring and your videos inspired me to be more creative in a mundane time where I had to keep to a tight schedule now I'm back and hooked again keep up the amazing work
PS now I must return to slaying the grey!
This paint job is gorgeous!
Great video as always. I copied the color scheme on the knight with black armor and gold trim, and I look forward to trying to emulate this color scheme too.
Oh man the crispness of that printer is amazing! I didn't know if the new screen type would've made that much difference
Tip 6 blew me away never thought about there being a varying degree of ways to paint with a brush lol
I have a saved youtube playlst titled warhammer painting at this point it’s basically just ninjon vids
Brilliant work dude. Learned a lot
Thank you I finally picked up a brush again
Love the nod to Next Level Painting
This is also awesome! You helped inspire me to get into the miniature painting hobby and I'm loving it. Also I heard you mention monster hunter world in a teeped under plaarstic episode. I'm binge listening to them all. What weapon do/did you main? Keep up the great work. I learnt a lot from this video. Thank you.
Great Sword 4 Life!
For a while I was priming the minis is medium brown army painter primer. I actually love how that base was working with nearly every color. Your videos are getting better by the day! Thanks!👍🤪🤘
Bravo dude! Videos keep getting better! Keep being you bro!
Maravilla!!! Love your work! Thanks for share!!!
Did you airbrush the brownnish red in the beginning? (2:40) I would guess you did? :-)
Thanks SO much for your amazing content. I am preparing myself for painting miniatures again after 15 years of abscense and your videos are helping me the most :-)
Great advice, techniques and tips as ever mr Ninjon. For me know one else shows how to actually get that paint on to a model in a satisfying the way you do. Thank you.
"In a satisfying way the way you do" is what i ment to say
Great tips, thank you for the great explanations and examples!
Great clip and tip #7 is really good. I did like the others as well!
Highlight of the week with your uploads. Start a new job next week and I’m looking forward to being able to finally join your Patreon!
Great tips! Some of those I haven't heard of, and I think number 7 is going to be the hardest for me. I have been working on that for years now, and I am slowly getting there, but it can be challenge, I don't know why.
So many great tips here. Thank you sir
I clicked sub button based on this video, went to main page and it's at 100K subs now! Kidding aside, great info, will definitely be watching more!
Some rare and choice tips! Very nice.
As I started using things like thin glazes to build up layers I found that going over the top with a medium helped unify the finish.
I've been using deep sea Blue as my base coat before my white zenathel, been a huge improvement with one easy step
If you aren't painting 5-6 hours every day you definitely need to make some practice with brush before painting session on paper or primed piece of plastic. For example every time after a 1-2 day break im doing this:
- painting a few equal parralel lines or rows of similar sized dots
- drawing a ring with single opaque brushstroke
THE LITERAL BEST OF ALL DAYS, HERE IN THE BEATS LAB IN MINNESOTA
I wish a man would speak about me the way John speaks of Halloween. I can feel the love 🧡