Possible idea to consider? A similar video to this, but a model out of the box. A video to help a new painter learn where to put highlights and shades, where would be good to value sketch, etc., but right out of thr box. Great video as always.
@@VinceVenturella To expand on the idea, Take a raw plastic mini and assemble it. Then do a zenithal prime and take some close up pictures to look at and explore. Then hit it with your wash and drybrush and photo again. Now see where shadows and highlights come into play and how taking some pictures at these steps can help during later painting.
crazyhorse 1321 it can be done without priming in fact. For my Arkhan mount, I just took a picture with a hard light from above and then increased the contrast of the picture to have a good reference. twitter.com/pseudorythme/status/1042119110543527944?s=21
Glad you brought this up! Studying others' work to see examples of technique is a habit that I picked up since I started this hobby last year. Also, the missing cursor was actually quite helpful, as it forced me to find the points you were talking about, while simultaneously reinforcing the concept of how to study minis. Great job!!!
Well, maybe I will avoid the mouse, or maybe I will use some text bubbles or arrows. I would love to do this again in the future, so I will have to see what I can do.
Yeah, that's a shame, sorry about that, I didn't realize it wasn't recording my mouse movement as I have never done this exact type of video before, but I will seek to fix that if I ever do this type of thing again. Hopefully still useful. :)
@@VinceVenturella I thought it might even have improved the exercise in some ways, since it forces you to look for what you're talking about. Have to confess though, I watched it on my phone...
@Vince Venturella I only needed the pointer a couple of times because my English isn't good enough for my mind to instantly understand what is being talked about, when we're getting that detailed and technical. (And looking away to translate this online would have broken the magic charm. ;) Most of the time, I appreciated also having the freedom to just look around. One thing I didn't understand is why the head metals are called "gold". They'd be copper in my mind, with their orangeness contrasting sharply with the armor's main blue, and the choice of green to light them up is a consequence of these 2 colors being with one another - for contrast, again. I find it also interesting how "live is warm and dead is cold" applies to the mini itself (the head feels more alive than what's covered by the blue armor, in part due to choice of colors, doesn't it?) Also the green OSL being everywhere, while thematically debatable (I mean, OK for all energy sources, but the eye could have been a different color because it's his eye, not an energy weapon?) actually contributes largely to the unity of the mini. I still feel like it is "too clean". Don't read me wrong: I'm utterly jealous and looking forward to learning by baby steps to get towards this level of technical ability. I'm very respectful of that. The only thing I'd do differently is try to have more mud and more rust on some areas (bottom of the beige cloth, and where energy would have made the metal wear). Again, I already would like to paint like him. Oh, and I happen to want to do a rat (for Gloomhaven purposes), so I may just humbly focus on that one small element as a learning step. :-)
This is an excellent exercise in noticing compositional elements. Even without the mouse pointer, it was clear to me what you were referring to as you went over the composition. Early in the video, you said that this can also help us reverse engineer how a painter achieved their result; I'd gladly stare at this same mini again for another 10 or 15 minutes while you dissected the applied techniques.
this is my new favorite video from you. I have recently experienced a frustration or sadness when sitting down to start a new mini simply because I feel like I have no clue what I want it to look like. This process will help me prepare before I pick up that paint brush. Thanks!
It’s part of my process as well, I take notes on elements of a masterfully painted mini, and deconstruct what the artist did to then reconstruct it when painting my own, I also add my own flavor.
Yeah absolutely great idea! This was definitely helpful. I think the reverse of this would also be a great idea. Start with blank miniatures and “Look” at the model to figure out “How” to paint it. This is actually my biggest problem. If I don’t see pictures, I’m at a big loss. Ok so what if there are no reference pictures? We as painters have to start somewhere. My reliance on watching vids and seeing pictures of stuff before I start painting it is getting in my way of just digging in and painting it!
You dont need to use the same exact miniature to have inspiration for you work. You can study another miniatures with similar setup or even real life pics of the object you are studying.
A couple people have suggested it and it seems a good thing to do a video on, - how do you make those initial choices. Would be good to walk through the thinking process.
This is great! I always love videos about composition. There's always so much to discover. What I can' hear (or see) enough are theoretical aspects, like when colors are put in a triangle, usind different complementary constrast from color theory etc. I'd love to see you commenting art from other artists and explaining your own.
Hey, I've just tried out this exercice and spend those ten minutes studying at the miniature and it was really interesting, thanks for pointing this out :).
I'd always heard that in order to get impactful figures it was best to take a highlight two steps past what you think it needs to be. Considering the scale of figures and the area that we work with its true. The black lining draws out colors and blocks sections not already separated by contrasting value. The pattering on the robe seems more like an airbrush stencil, due to uniformity, that was set over a mid-tone and then glazed to shadow and then lit up. What really gets me is the NMM. The variety of colors used is great to show the difference in light catches. All of this makes an 'active focus' figure with contrasts that allow your eye to move around.
It's really a masterclass in so many techniques, that is why I was excited to talk this one through, honestly, I could have done 60 minutes, but I feel that might have been pushing people.
Awsome video Vince. I often find I look for miniature photos for inspiration but then I can’t work out what I like about a certain paint job - I’ll give this a try next time I’m looking for inspiration
I just finished watching your hobby cheating video on object source lighting when this popped up - they go well together! Next I think i’ll review your composition video. Thanks for a very thoughtful process insight!
Nevermind... I blinked. However, i think the real 'trick' of it all, is the smooth blending. THEN, all of the details, and how the artist broke down each section, and added visual interest to each section. When i look at this, i see at least 6-7 different miniatures: The parts below the water, the terrain above the water, it's legs, its body, each of its weapons, the head and shoulders, and then the banner pole.
Yep, it's a rich figure that the artists makes sure has enough overall composition that it catches your eye, but the detail to discover as you drill in.
Studying other people's work (especially ones you think are great) is an awesome way to learn, thanks for reminding me of this and posting this video! Can I nitpick about the model we are studying though: I think the OSL on the little glass vials on his waist are screwy: the deepest fold of the cloth is in dark shadow, yet the vials are just there. Or did he have to do it that way, so that the vials would actually stand out?
I think your latter guess is correct. He had to bend reality just a little, cutting off most of the zenithal light and relying on the more subtle OSL glow from the bottles so they would stand out. Thank for watching and commenting and happy to help. :)
@@VinceVenturella Great, thanks for the reply. I'm just starting to learn OSL, it looks like there are no hard and fast rules, you have to balance a number of different (sometimes competing) things for it to look well.
Because I looked for such a long time at this mini, my eye get's drawn to stuff that doesn't read as what is intended. Don't get me wrong Darren is a much, much better painter than me, but my brain can still tell me what works and what doesn't. The gold (or maybe bronze) pieces don't read as gold or some kind of metal to me. Especially the rat at the top of the backpole reads more like polished shiny wood. It might be the colors or more likely the light placement. The same goes for most of the halberd (reads as something else than metal). Other NMM pieces look much better like the claw and the copper pressure thingy and especially the apparatus that is above his left shoulder (our right). Love the rest especially the OSL around the "potions" on his belt.
I hadn't even realised it was gone 10 mins. One of the places I've always wanted to go is warhammer world and go to their show room with all the painted minis. I know I could spend days in that room
Loved the video and I could almost see this as becoming a series where you pick a miniature and just go over it for 10 minutes talking about it. You could even put up text bubbles for your videos on techniques that you notice and have done tutorials. Another video that I could see you doing is going of common things shown in GW WarhammerTV videos (but because of copywrite rules I bet you couldn't show the video but I bet you could link to it or give the name) that you would not recommend doing (like using your good brush to get paint out of the pot and mix it with water).
Good exercise to practice when looking to balance color. You may want to remember that no on can see what you're pointing at when you say this here and that there.
I tried to do the challenge and not look away, Vince, but TH-cam played three ads during it 😂 This was great, though, hope you’ll do another like this at some point.
@Vince Venturella Hi Vince. Great video as always and in a totally different manner we are used in internet. I have a petition if you think is worth it. Im having trouble introducing some tonal variety into flesh and skin colours while painting my korgorath. I see lots of miniatures that introduce green and purple even orange in some areas of skin, giving the miniature a very organic feel. But im unable to achive that effect. Thanks for your videos man, im going from eternal noob to decent miniature painter since i watch to your videos.
So my best advice is glazing is your way to go. Usually when it comes to flesh tones, what you are wanting to do is introduce alternative colors through glazing in deeper colors into the recesses and shadowed areas. If you haven't already, check out HC 122 - How to Glaze, I use skin as my example in that video and that should give you some ideas. :)
@@VinceVenturella i have started to work on a Scibor Miniature a dwarf and it is from their monster hunter series it is also slightly larger than their other figures and i would like to know if the colors should be that of a medieval villager at all ?
I do something similar when starting to paint I look at pictuers on the internet to give me ideas on colours and to see if I can get any ideas but for not as long as you lol think it helps and gives me inspiration
But by studying another person's work, your just learning how they painted things, and everybody has to find their own way. I think it would be far better to look at real life giant rat warriors in their armour, and start there.
It's a good point, for the next video I will try to see if I can schedule up the giant rat reference model, but I know he normally books months in advance. :)
Possible idea to consider? A similar video to this, but a model out of the box. A video to help a new painter learn where to put highlights and shades, where would be good to value sketch, etc., but right out of thr box. Great video as always.
That is a really good idea, and I will make sure it's capturing my mouse in the next one.
@@VinceVenturella To expand on the idea, Take a raw plastic mini and assemble it. Then do a zenithal prime and take some close up pictures to look at and explore. Then hit it with your wash and drybrush and photo again. Now see where shadows and highlights come into play and how taking some pictures at these steps can help during later painting.
crazyhorse 1321 it can be done without priming in fact. For my Arkhan mount, I just took a picture with a hard light from above and then increased the contrast of the picture to have a good reference. twitter.com/pseudorythme/status/1042119110543527944?s=21
Glad you brought this up! Studying others' work to see examples of technique is a habit that I picked up since I started this hobby last year. Also, the missing cursor was actually quite helpful, as it forced me to find the points you were talking about, while simultaneously reinforcing the concept of how to study minis. Great job!!!
Well, maybe I will avoid the mouse, or maybe I will use some text bubbles or arrows. I would love to do this again in the future, so I will have to see what I can do.
There are times you said something like look here at this line, but the video has nothing in it to identify where it is you are pointing at.
Yeah, that's a shame, sorry about that, I didn't realize it wasn't recording my mouse movement as I have never done this exact type of video before, but I will seek to fix that if I ever do this type of thing again. Hopefully still useful. :)
@@VinceVenturella I thought it might even have improved the exercise in some ways, since it forces you to look for what you're talking about. Have to confess though, I watched it on my phone...
Yeah but in some way it forced me to look deeper into the miniatures so i could see a lot of details i havent noticed before.
@Vince Venturella I only needed the pointer a couple of times because my English isn't good enough for my mind to instantly understand what is being talked about, when we're getting that detailed and technical. (And looking away to translate this online would have broken the magic charm. ;) Most of the time, I appreciated also having the freedom to just look around.
One thing I didn't understand is why the head metals are called "gold". They'd be copper in my mind, with their orangeness contrasting sharply with the armor's main blue, and the choice of green to light them up is a consequence of these 2 colors being with one another - for contrast, again. I find it also interesting how "live is warm and dead is cold" applies to the mini itself (the head feels more alive than what's covered by the blue armor, in part due to choice of colors, doesn't it?) Also the green OSL being everywhere, while thematically debatable (I mean, OK for all energy sources, but the eye could have been a different color because it's his eye, not an energy weapon?) actually contributes largely to the unity of the mini.
I still feel like it is "too clean". Don't read me wrong: I'm utterly jealous and looking forward to learning by baby steps to get towards this level of technical ability. I'm very respectful of that. The only thing I'd do differently is try to have more mud and more rust on some areas (bottom of the beige cloth, and where energy would have made the metal wear). Again, I already would like to paint like him. Oh, and I happen to want to do a rat (for Gloomhaven purposes), so I may just humbly focus on that one small element as a learning step. :-)
This is an excellent exercise in noticing compositional elements. Even without the mouse pointer, it was clear to me what you were referring to as you went over the composition. Early in the video, you said that this can also help us reverse engineer how a painter achieved their result; I'd gladly stare at this same mini again for another 10 or 15 minutes while you dissected the applied techniques.
Maybe we'll try to build up over time and eventually and go for 30 minutes eventually. :)
I love how you analyze great works of miniature painted art! Hopefully you will do something similar in the future.
That's the plan! :) - I really love this type of episode.
this is my new favorite video from you. I have recently experienced a frustration or sadness when sitting down to start a new mini simply because I feel like I have no clue what I want it to look like. This process will help me prepare before I pick up that paint brush. Thanks!
That's awesome, happy to help as always. :)
I really enjoy this video and concept. Thank you for making me take the time to look at this for that long.
Excellent, happy to help as always. :)
It’s part of my process as well, I take notes on elements of a masterfully painted mini, and deconstruct what the artist did to then reconstruct it when painting my own, I also add my own flavor.
Yep, it's the best thing I can recommend. Just looking, really looking can make a huge difference.
This was super useful. I look at reference photos but really soaking it in for a longer uninterrupted period is a totally different thing.
Yep, it's good to really deep dive, really unpack each little detail and appreciate it all.
Yeah absolutely great idea! This was definitely helpful. I think the reverse of this would also be a great idea. Start with blank miniatures and “Look” at the model to figure out “How” to paint it. This is actually my biggest problem. If I don’t see pictures, I’m at a big loss. Ok so what if there are no reference pictures? We as painters have to start somewhere. My reliance on watching vids and seeing pictures of stuff before I start painting it is getting in my way of just digging in and painting it!
You dont need to use the same exact miniature to have inspiration for you work. You can study another miniatures with similar setup or even real life pics of the object you are studying.
A couple people have suggested it and it seems a good thing to do a video on, - how do you make those initial choices. Would be good to walk through the thinking process.
This is great! I always love videos about composition. There's always so much to discover.
What I can' hear (or see) enough are theoretical aspects, like when colors are put in a triangle, usind different complementary constrast from color theory etc.
I'd love to see you commenting art from other artists and explaining your own.
There was some call to continue this so I think I will have to make it into a series.
Hey, I've just tried out this exercice and spend those ten minutes studying at the miniature and it was really interesting, thanks for pointing this out :).
Awesome, happy to help. :)
Agree with the other comment saying this should be a series
I will see what I can do. :)
I'd always heard that in order to get impactful figures it was best to take a highlight two steps past what you think it needs to be. Considering the scale of figures and the area that we work with its true. The black lining draws out colors and blocks sections not already separated by contrasting value. The pattering on the robe seems more like an airbrush stencil, due to uniformity, that was set over a mid-tone and then glazed to shadow and then lit up. What really gets me is the NMM. The variety of colors used is great to show the difference in light catches. All of this makes an 'active focus' figure with contrasts that allow your eye to move around.
It's really a masterclass in so many techniques, that is why I was excited to talk this one through, honestly, I could have done 60 minutes, but I feel that might have been pushing people.
Awsome video Vince. I often find I look for miniature photos for inspiration but then I can’t work out what I like about a certain paint job - I’ll give this a try next time I’m looking for inspiration
Happy to help as always and this really is the first thing I do (or longer) for pretty much every paint job. :)
I just finished watching your hobby cheating video on object source lighting when this popped up - they go well together! Next I think i’ll review your composition video. Thanks for a very thoughtful process insight!
Thank you, glad it's appreciated. For me understanding the thought can be as important as understanding the techniques.
Awesome video as always Vince! Some really great observations.
Thank you sir, much appreciated.
Nevermind... I blinked. However, i think the real 'trick' of it all, is the smooth blending. THEN, all of the details, and how the artist broke down each section, and added visual interest to each section. When i look at this, i see at least 6-7 different miniatures: The parts below the water, the terrain above the water, it's legs, its body, each of its weapons, the head and shoulders, and then the banner pole.
Yep, it's a rich figure that the artists makes sure has enough overall composition that it catches your eye, but the detail to discover as you drill in.
make this a serie!!!!!
Seems to be a popular request. I will have to see what I can do.
Studying other people's work (especially ones you think are great) is an awesome way to learn, thanks for reminding me of this and posting this video! Can I nitpick about the model we are studying though: I think the OSL on the little glass vials on his waist are screwy: the deepest fold of the cloth is in dark shadow, yet the vials are just there. Or did he have to do it that way, so that the vials would actually stand out?
I think your latter guess is correct. He had to bend reality just a little, cutting off most of the zenithal light and relying on the more subtle OSL glow from the bottles so they would stand out. Thank for watching and commenting and happy to help. :)
@@VinceVenturella Great, thanks for the reply. I'm just starting to learn OSL, it looks like there are no hard and fast rules, you have to balance a number of different (sometimes competing) things for it to look well.
Because I looked for such a long time at this mini, my eye get's drawn to stuff that doesn't read as what is intended. Don't get me wrong Darren is a much, much better painter than me, but my brain can still tell me what works and what doesn't. The gold (or maybe bronze) pieces don't read as gold or some kind of metal to me. Especially the rat at the top of the backpole reads more like polished shiny wood. It might be the colors or more likely the light placement. The same goes for most of the halberd (reads as something else than metal). Other NMM pieces look much better like the claw and the copper pressure thingy and especially the apparatus that is above his left shoulder (our right). Love the rest especially the OSL around the "potions" on his belt.
Yeah, the OSL is great.
You know, Vince... If you were ever to make a jump-scare video, this would be the format to pick.
Yep, just like 8 minutes in - boom, long mouth scary ghost girl. ;)
I hadn't even realised it was gone 10 mins.
One of the places I've always wanted to go is warhammer world and go to their show room with all the painted minis. I know I could spend days in that room
It really is amazing, I have lost many hours in the hall. Definitely recommend going if you get a chance.
Nice lesson in studying minies
Loved the video and I could almost see this as becoming a series where you pick a miniature and just go over it for 10 minutes talking about it. You could even put up text bubbles for your videos on techniques that you notice and have done tutorials. Another video that I could see you doing is going of common things shown in GW WarhammerTV videos (but because of copywrite rules I bet you couldn't show the video but I bet you could link to it or give the name) that you would not recommend doing (like using your good brush to get paint out of the pot and mix it with water).
I think this perhaps would be a good idea for a full series. I am going to look at how to execute as it would be great fun to look and examine art.
Good exercise to practice when looking to balance color. You may want to remember that no on can see what you're pointing at when you say this here and that there.
Yep, a good tip for the future and a real Doh I realized afterward.
I tried to do the challenge and not look away, Vince, but TH-cam played three ads during it 😂
This was great, though, hope you’ll do another like this at some point.
Hilarious and apprecaited. This is definitely something I want to do another version of at some point. :)
Sounds like the beginning of a dodgey hypnosis video... Look into my eyes, look into my eyes... Hehe 🤣
You hear nothing but the sound of my voice... ;)
@@VinceVenturella hypno painting, i'd buy that for a dollar 😁
@Vince Venturella Hi Vince. Great video as always and in a totally different manner we are used in internet. I have a petition if you think is worth it. Im having trouble introducing some tonal variety into flesh and skin colours while painting my korgorath. I see lots of miniatures that introduce green and purple even orange in some areas of skin, giving the miniature a very organic feel. But im unable to achive that effect. Thanks for your videos man, im going from eternal noob to decent miniature painter since i watch to your videos.
So my best advice is glazing is your way to go. Usually when it comes to flesh tones, what you are wanting to do is introduce alternative colors through glazing in deeper colors into the recesses and shadowed areas. If you haven't already, check out HC 122 - How to Glaze, I use skin as my example in that video and that should give you some ideas. :)
Brilliant! :)
Thank you sir, very much appreciated. It's a wonderful piece that has inspired me for years. :)
Wait! Before i start this 10 minute challenge - Can i blink, while staring?
You can, as long as it's quick.
there is a web site you should go to Putty and Paint because they have figures you have not seen at all.
Yep, I love Putty & Paint, it's a great site for inspiration and to see artist's work.
@@VinceVenturella i have started to work on a Scibor Miniature a dwarf and it is from their monster hunter series it is also slightly larger than their other figures and i would like to know if the colors should be that of a medieval villager at all ?
@@marcyablon1279 I say sure, sounds fun to me.
Am I the only one who thought of the title of a new blockbuster: "Men who stare at minis"?
Coming this fall, to theatres near you. :)
I do something similar when starting to paint I look at pictuers on the internet to give me ideas on colours and to see if I can get any ideas but for not as long as you lol think it helps and gives me inspiration
Totally agree, it's great to see the other painted items as inspiration, sometimes I stare a lot longer than this! :)
But by studying another person's work, your just learning how they painted things, and everybody has to find their own way. I think it would be far better to look at real life giant rat warriors in their armour, and start there.
It's a good point, for the next video I will try to see if I can schedule up the giant rat reference model, but I know he normally books months in advance. :)
Crap, i was actually playing with my dog! Lol....
There you go, it's tough to focus for that long. :)
I made about 20 seconds......:(
Well, it's the sort of thing you build up to. 20 seconds this time, 40 seconds next time. ;)