Why do some Miniatures look better? - Painting volumes and light

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Why do some Miniatures look better? - Painting volumes and light

Рет қаралды 431,910

Squidmar Miniatures

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 421

@BB-pn2qv 4 жыл бұрын

I would love to see a full paint through a model going through these sorts of steps. You'd be a good Bob Ross for minis!

@GregMossage 4 жыл бұрын

I second this vote!!!! :)

@sewmanyhobbies942 4 жыл бұрын

Let's give this piece of armor a friend, right here...

@dillonbuescher1147 4 жыл бұрын

I love Squidmar but Goobertown Hobbies has the Bob Ross of minis on lockdown...Just listen to that voice!

@square721bt 4 жыл бұрын

Please do this I am so lost this made zero sense

@chubbyjaydraws 3 жыл бұрын

@@dillonbuescher1147 lol Brents voice is Bob Ross like 👍🏻

@SquidmarMiniatures 4 жыл бұрын

Hey guys, i completely f* up the name of the person painting the shield, it is of course Olmo Castrillo, a fantastic painter. Go check out his work: instagram.com/olmo_castrillo_miniatures/

@Schnozwangler 4 жыл бұрын

Didn’t think about the highlights in the under folds of clothing, been completely over looking that, awesome I learned something I can immediately use. Thank you!👍👍

@RealKilli 3 жыл бұрын

This was really mindblowing to me :D

@samuelsanfratello4617 4 жыл бұрын

Well darn! There goes my "base coat followed by a wash" technique! Thanks for explaining how to emulate realistic lighting!

@danrichards9516 2 жыл бұрын

I played 40k in the 90s, just got back into it the last month or so. Don’t even have an army yet, just some guardians, a couple warlocks and a farseer, with more on the way (oldhammer minis ftw)… I could paint decently back in the day. Well enough to win small local competitions as a youth. But times have changed. What I did back then is child’s play compared to the standard now. Which is awesome (if only GW would advance the Eldar mini line as much!), but has me working to catch up. This video… I’ve watched it a dozen times and listened to it as many more. Thanks for this and your other tutorials. I’m already far better than I was back then, and I know I have a ton of room for improvement. Best of all, I see a clear path to get there.

@kierans8620 2 жыл бұрын

Eldar could very well be getting a bunch of new stuff in the next few months!

@l__bugc__l 2 жыл бұрын

Love your channel ! After my devorce (20yrs relation & mariage) i was struggling and someone told me "Bro, go do something you loved as a kid. Its therapeutic and may help you", so i went back in time and rebooted a hobby i had as a kid. Modeling and painting.. I bought a 3D-printer and just started making things completely ignorant and unknown how much it meant to me... This ultimately pulled me back into the hobby and im lovin it! Feels like refinding parts of myself i lost during growing up.. It sure is true that growing up is the first step of loosing pure imagination and unbound fantasy one had as a kid.. Im realy happy i picked it up and refound a passion i had as a kid.. I havent seen much of your vids yet, just a few but i would like to thank you for giving so much insight on painting miniatures & the technics etc behind it all.. Much appriciated and keep up the good work! Thank you :)

@RintarouOkabeUnsheathed 4 жыл бұрын

Literally just finished airbrush glazing a basecoat on a set of Terminators and was wondering why they felt so "flat". Thanks for this! :D

@KingLoth 4 жыл бұрын

A class on blending would be nice too! It would go hand in hand with this one!

@snowball_from_earth 3 жыл бұрын

When I was younger I always thought it was a 3d shape anyways, so it should produce its own shadows and you wouldn't need to add any...

@tarpnarp 3 жыл бұрын

I still think like this lol. You have to get into thinking that the model might as well be in a painting scene. With different light sources and effects, that affect the composition.

@tylergifford2063 2 жыл бұрын

It does it's just not as pronounced, and this way looks cooler so it's what people are looking for now

@josephcoon5809 2 жыл бұрын

The thing is, the brain processes many things in conjunction with one another. The amount of your field of view taken up by an object is far from the only thing the brain considers when determining how big something actually is. Shading, relative sizes, parallax, and even high-level concepts like what the object is used for all contribute to the final perception of an object. This why you can have a 100 foot sculpture of a spoon a few hundred feet away that might look like it is right in front of you, or a miniaturized figure of a building within in a whole miniaturized cityscape that encompasses your entire field of view seem like it is hundreds of feet tall. You learn to see in color within a month or two of birth. You learn object permanence in about a year or so. You don’t come with the understanding that a cube oriented differently and at a different distance under different lighting conditions is the exact same cube. You have to experience that cube repeatedly and under different parameters for your brain to associate all the different visual patterns as a single physical object. That’s why baby mobiles are so important. They “distract” babies because their 100 billion neurons are busily looking for jobs to do. Without purpose, neurons die. Boredom is the result of neurons looking for work to do. Just like in human societies, as some neurons take on certain tasks more efficiently than ten neurons handling that task, those other nine neurons need to find a new task to handle. The day you stop learning is the day your neurons start dying. You are your neurons, so that’s when you start dying too.

@TejrnarG 2 жыл бұрын

Me too! But there are important differences between a model an the full size real world. For example the structure doesn‘t go very deep in a model, so the differences in brightness are far less pronounced than in a real size object. I think this is also because the light reflection of surrounding things (like the table) has it much easier to get in into all the folds and dents.

@taylorbevans556 3 жыл бұрын

This video is amazing. The lighting for cylinders, cubes, and spheres applies to a lot of art, including miniatures, obviously. This is why I think that artists shouldn't specialize in one or two areas and instead branch out, because by doing that, you learn a lot that applies to all the other mediums that you enjoy doing. Thanks for the amazing video Squidmar, it's helped me a lot!

@SquidmarMiniatures 4 жыл бұрын

👑👑 I'm in the midst of releasing my dream miniature brush as well as some wonderfully sculpted miniature busts. It's something I'm really proud of and been working on for the better part of the last year. Late pledges are up and You can check it out here: www.squidmar.com/latepledge 👑👑

@matthijs2981 4 жыл бұрын

early gang. "Working from home" actually means "working through dark imperium"

@jaymondo 4 жыл бұрын

That is exactly what I have been doing! How did you know?

@ChuckHaney 3 жыл бұрын

Idea: Paint your armies by light types. Morning or Evening; High Noon; 45 Degrees ... or some such distinctions. Perhaps a video of three different minis painted to show different degrees of sunlight (or moonlight, or lamplight, or firelight.)

@TwoRavensMinis 9 ай бұрын

That's a really cool idea!

@Leopardtag Жыл бұрын

Everytime I have some doubts about how to use the lights to highlight my models I come back to this video. It's hard for newbies to understand how to run away from the "eavy" way to paint Space Marines and this video really helps to shine a light on the subject (pun intended). There are a lot of good painters out there but you are one of those who really contribute to teach. Thank you and you team.

@Copratra 4 жыл бұрын

Oh, you sweet summer child... When I started painting - I sadly stopped a couple of decades ago - the White Dwarf was just coming up and Warhammer wasn't even released... So all this had to be learned by trial and error, by making the miniatures look as good as possible with as little work as possible. Acrylics were a new thing, so I learned this with enamel paints: totally different kind of torture, to be honest! Now I'm contemplating on taking my ancient paint toolbox out and dust off the unpainted miniatures I still have stashed somewhere only because of all these lovely videos around KZfaq. Your's being one of the top ones, for sure!

@Moondog-wc4vm 4 жыл бұрын

Same hee, warhammer wasn't a thing when I started, and some of those paint jobs were horrible to behold. No tutorial videos in those days, not for a long time after that. I dusted of my old kit and old models about 2 years ago and I'm just about seasoned enough to put out a few tabletop ready miniatures now. They're not great, but they're not totally embarassing either! I've got a lot of very old metal miniatures, some from D&D, some from warhammer and some from the old fantasy gamebooks like Lone Wolf. I need to paint them up and try to make them look decent!

@Velcraft 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for covering this, helps a lot of those struggling with why their paintjobs don't "pop". Here's another quick tip I've picked up: Learned while working on OSL techniques that lightsources shed light at roughly the square of distance. Sounds complicated? Think of it this way: Every 1m away from a candle, the light gets 4 times as dim. Depends on the lightsource of course, your feet aren't that much further from the Sun than your head is compared to how far the Earth is from the Sun. This is why most paintings and paintjobs judge the light situation to be overcast/gloomy instead of full sunlight, easier to work with shadows and light when the contrast isn't too drastic.

@johnhoang930 4 жыл бұрын

Yes. This is what we all want. All the time.

@musicmartins94 4 жыл бұрын

That last detail about the center line in the chest and the folds on cloth just blew my mind. Thanks so much for all your videos! Every time you post I get super motivated to paint and improve.

@johnperratti3161 4 жыл бұрын

This is one of the best videos I've ever seen...absolutely interesting. I learned so much, thank you Emil!

@jackcrossems 3 жыл бұрын

I'd love a few more of these videos! Just going into detail for one simple factor of painting. Like a Masterclass series?

@PainterIdeas 4 жыл бұрын

Mind blowing Emil on how you approached something quite "scientific" and explained it perfectly explained. Great video. Thanks.

@joelmartindalmas328 3 жыл бұрын

As a physicist I know tons of bytes of knowledge about light and maths, but I had zero idea about painting 🤣. Thanks for the video! Prety nice. I started looking at your videos one week ago and now I am already a Big fan of your work

@jaketheglutenphreakharris6620 2 жыл бұрын

Honestly the most important video for developing my painting I’ve ever watched. I come back to it once a year at least

@drzephy 7 ай бұрын

3 years later and this is still the most important video you've ever released ^_^

@lucaspenades 4 жыл бұрын

Wow... just wow. I started painting a little less than a year and a half ago, and your videos have really inspire me a lot. I feel you're making me a way better painter. I don't have a lot of ressources and I never touched a brush or a camera in my life before all this, but the hobby is changing my life in a great way, and you are changing my hobby in an amazing way. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I hope I will some day be able to paint like a pro, I already see some amazing results! Keep on the great work, I'll be sure to watch everything to the end!

@AlexTerryUK 4 жыл бұрын

You sir are a great teacher. Getting back into the hobby after over 10 years and you are making me very excited about the potential of my model painting!

@SaraphimSword 4 жыл бұрын

This was eye opening! I paint as I listen to your videos and I was able to immediately appreciate the shapes on my mini and try some new techniques! I’ll be able to use this on every mini and I’m definitely sharing this with friends! Keep up the awesome work, thanks so much!

@GreifRitter 2 жыл бұрын

Excellent explanation! Especially that recesses can be in direct light!

@saml6798 4 жыл бұрын

Started a new group on your and Scot's advice. We randomise a list of topics and generate a piece of a model to paint in a week. First week is a cloak and we already have 20 members. Low pressure but consistency will hopefully get us all painting more. Also pushing each other to do better. Thank you for the inspiration!

@Genercidel 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you Mr. Squidmar Sir. Very helpful 👍🏽

@gazmatraz5248 2 жыл бұрын

After watching this video and getting a wet pallet my miniatures look like another person with skill painted them! Great video and fantastic advice!

@thebrokenmask8304 3 жыл бұрын

Really love this format of videos where you take time to explain stuff that might seem granted to advanced painter but isnt for peoples who just started a while ago with 0 background in this kind of hobby. Very helpful even tho indeed my "brain" seem to try to do it naturaly.

@MiniatureMedium 4 жыл бұрын

I feel like I'm back in Drawing 101 learning still lives. Great job explaining the basic shapes and how to form the volumes. Reminded me of a professor I had.

@dlvnmedia 2 жыл бұрын

I would note that if you are attempting army painting to think maybe save this for your character and HQ models - as if you want to get something to play on tabletop this can be a little more time consuming. Plus these will be seen from about three feet away. Love you Emil but I think that this is something that needs to be considered when making something for play versus something for competition. Not saying that this should not be considered at all but for most people this maybe should not be the main driving force for them. Just my thoughts going in.

@sub2willne168 4 жыл бұрын

How are you sooo gooooood? Btw lets go Duncan!

@Cridant1 2 жыл бұрын

This is your best video for me, thank you.

@OflasI 3 жыл бұрын

WoW, this video is awesome. You open my mind now I really understand how I have to think when I piant my miniatures. Thank you very much.

@SaLeRiC18 4 жыл бұрын

Wow, yes it was heavy and hard, but i think with a bit of patience and practice, we can all master it! Thanks Emil!! 😁👏🏼👏🏼

@ALJessica 3 жыл бұрын

This video is one of the Best vids out There on painting :) thanks for it.

@blacksheepboy 4 жыл бұрын

Kung är du! Älskar dina videor och har tagit till mig massor på kort tid, även jag har tagit upp den här hobbyn efter 15 års paus, så känner igen mig väldigt mycket i din hobbysituation! Jag tror du tar upp väldigt mycket saker framförallt nya personer till den här hobbyn inte tänker på så mycket, Keep it up!!

@peterfiser 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you, I learned to look at miniatures in a different light.

@matejhorejsi9160 4 жыл бұрын

I also use imagining the angle in which is the light hiting the surface. If it is acute angle, it is going to be dark and opposite in the obtuse angle. So if the light hits the cilinder it will be bright in middle because of the 90° angle and it darkens with decreasing angle.

@filthyraqun3561 4 жыл бұрын

sir you just opened my eyes to a whole new level thank you kindly

@petefenner8905 2 жыл бұрын

I'm fairly sure I understood all of this already, but it was so nice to hear the way you described it and showed it to us with so many visual aids. Excellent tutorial! Massively helpful, thank you soooo much.

@idk-yl7fn 4 жыл бұрын

Great video. Thank you for teaching me....

@jmc7034 4 жыл бұрын

I’m going to watch this again when I’ve recovered from working nights. It will sink in better

@Redskies453 4 жыл бұрын

In the grim darkness of the future, there is only nightshift...

@dan_zehner 3 жыл бұрын

I love these kinds of videos, and hope you do more of them! I'd really enjoy seeing you do some analysis on BattleTech minis, since they have SO MANY flat surfaces/cube shapes and are very difficult to do super realistic.

@f1matt 3 жыл бұрын

Ok this was way more interesting than I expected honestly.

@Monstein 4 жыл бұрын

Highlighting as I am watching this. I am finding myself shifting the highlights to go along with what your saying. Thank you.

@shanewalker3427 3 жыл бұрын

Mind. Blown.

@jamesrobinson6304 4 жыл бұрын

I mean it will be 2 main things Skill level and Time spent golden demons and golden brushs the artists are of insane highskill and alot of those projects are year long protects I personally am happy at my skill level for someone whos only painted for a few years and my time spent varies I very rarely spend more the 2-3 days one hero/monster models and squads of 10 will take me 3-4 days so useually i go 1 ro 2 heros a week or one squad of 10 a week or 2 depends on how much time i have keep painting you will get better, unless you are some genuis getting better can be a bit of a slow grind but you will get there, Don't get upset at better models try to learn from them and see what you can take form them for your own work

@nikroth 4 ай бұрын

That was super cool and informative, thank you !!

@qricc 4 жыл бұрын

A true master is an eternal student

@JohnEdvardReiten 4 жыл бұрын

This video helped me understand shadow and highlight better, even though I don't do miniature painting

@deifiedtitan 4 жыл бұрын

I think something to add would be the concept of ambient occlusion and edge highlighting and why they're often seen as the key points before things like directional lighting and volume. Often in miniature painting, especially for a large quantity of similar models (eg. your army), you're attempting to capture the detail of the miniature with as little non-diagetic lighting as possible to accentuate detail and ensure they're as 'blank slate' as possible for whatever setting. For example, adding a warm orange light from a relatively horizontal angle would suggest dusk, but if you paint your miniature that way and place it alongside others with even lighting and it immediately seems out of place. Instead the majority of miniature painting is just about creating contrast within the miniature itself, so edges are highlighted far beyond what they would normally appear to look like, recesses are occluded far more than they would be. Because there's this unspoken visual language in that style, everything can be painting in wildly different schemes and still look like they belong together, whereas more advanced schemes tend to either look overdone or out of place unless they're intentionally removed from the context they're in. Not to say this is a bad video by any means, it's a great explanation of the concepts at play and valuable for people looking to take projects a step further, but I think it ignores some of the reasons why the 'basecoat > shade > highlight' method exists beyond its speed.

@dnlowithstripes 4 жыл бұрын

From the thumbnail, I can tell you immediately that the right one looks better because it's a primaris :)

@gakagatame 4 жыл бұрын

Great video. One to refer to again and again 👍

@davidtremblay9903 2 жыл бұрын

This video is what made me subscribe! Great explanation, good example and interesting theory. Good job! Keep it up!

@artofadamlumb952 4 жыл бұрын

Superb explanation of light physics in painting. Hats off to you Emil. Good explanation with good examples of how it applies to miniatures. 👏

@larsickenroth7169 2 жыл бұрын

Good tutorial. Being a 'canvas-painter' I might add three things I see rarely mentioned in GW-videos: 1. It is important to pick a consistent point of light for the figures, and consider not just the type of surface, but also the light-source. This determines not only brightness, but also the cold/warmth of the tone to make it more realistic. Just splashing on lighter blue on ultramarine, won't really create volume. Which ties into the second and third: 2. Determine complementary colours for light and shade, aside from the 'object colour' itself. And realize that the colour of the object itself (for example: red armour) is not necessarily what you're painting (add in blue for the darker tints en yellow for lighter, for example). 3. Mix mix mix! I see too much of this 'mahlen nach zahlen' (paint by numbers) stuff. That's not how you get nice results. Think of it this way: you're not just painting your wall at home, but also laying in the light and dark tones that makes that wall seem like it's in the environment of your living room.

@TwospotzArtAndCraft 4 жыл бұрын

JUST how I tech this stuff to others as well. Tubes, spheres etc. GREAT way to explain it! *hälsningar från en 45årig konstnörd!*

@bassjunkie85 4 жыл бұрын

Dude, I'm learning so much from your videos. My dreadnought is gonna look a lot better now thanks to you

@oliviervachon-roy8740 2 жыл бұрын

Amazing video you are a great communicator and teacher thank you !!

@gregmccormack5709 4 жыл бұрын

It's always good to consider new advanced techniques whether you intend to use or not. Great Vid!

@EvilRezzident 3 жыл бұрын

This is my master class

@Jemso999999999 4 жыл бұрын

it all makes sense now

@degenerate6109 4 жыл бұрын

This is honestly great, you explained it in a style that really helped me understand it. Moreso than tutorials that feel more Friendly.

@johneldar_wolf6793 4 жыл бұрын

Best explanation of painting minis I've ever seen. Keep up the videos / tutorials.

@GregMossage 4 жыл бұрын

Fantastic video to highlight (😜) some very fundamental concepts that can dramatically shift our skills when we aware of them, understand their impact and how to utilize it with the tool we have, and put them to use! I would love to see a followup video (or videos) really getting into this topic more and more. Thank you!

@stewste4316 6 ай бұрын

grreat, part 2 with harder examples would be amazing

@jacklalaing169 3 жыл бұрын

Great video. Well thought out, explained clearly things I never thought of in painting. Well done Squidmar.

@TheThuss 4 жыл бұрын

This video is the reason why I’m a patron 👍🏻 Don’t know if it will make me any better at painting, but atleast I know more of why it looks like my 3yo paints my minis :)

@TheRodentSama 4 жыл бұрын

I've never used shading techniques. Only highlights and washes... allowing for the natural light of the room to make the shading. I showcased some of my stuff a couple years ago on a forum where everyone uses airbrush and shading techniques... and was told my work looked flat... until someone pointed out my models looked similar to the 1980s and early 1990s 'eavy Metal style. Considering I started in 1992 made me feel pretty damned good to have my stuff compared to the original '87 painters :D I mainly do scenery these days though.

@chuckray5543 4 жыл бұрын

Thank you for this.

@mylor1066 4 жыл бұрын

Such a good explanation

@juliancscs 7 ай бұрын

This really helped me understand. Thanks

@anubis1112 4 жыл бұрын

As long as you like your own Minis everything is good 😁

@DARKMATAR0610 4 жыл бұрын

Excellent video, looking forward for the next part !

@JayJapanB 4 жыл бұрын

Painting with forms is cool. I do think competition painters overdo it. Creating a style formed from a quest for a higher skill ceiling, rather than serving the model itself. It becomes this thing where you can't not pick the guy who chose the style that took more effort, regardless of whether it actually looks good or not.

@Bloodangel1977 3 жыл бұрын

Great breakdown!

@lonecolamarine 3 жыл бұрын

Man this is great, cuz this also applies to drawings, as WELL as mini painting. Thx man, I probably won't be painting for much more than just so I don't have bare models, but maybe one day I'll have some HD marines

@ldidkovsky864 4 жыл бұрын

thank you emil! very inspiring

@NathanLazyBear 4 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the content, That is amazing to break down miniatures to primary shapes! That is so cool, I think in miniature the zenith highlighting takes care of some of it. The scale we work in definitely depends on the kind of highlighting we do. 100% I think this is great guide line to bump up the quality of miniature painting and can't wait to implement this theory to my miniature painting.

@Katoasapun 4 жыл бұрын

love to hear more like this, really think this is a good place to start learning!

@frantyc 4 жыл бұрын

Det här var hur nyttigt som helst! Mycket informativ och bra. Hoppas att du lägger upp en video om ljussättning för NMM också. 😀

@jackofn0trades29 4 жыл бұрын

Air brush white on one axis, airbrush black on the other side, got it.

@johnnagy3493 4 жыл бұрын

Dude, your videos are legit. Make more of them. I DEMAND IT!.. Who am I? I am Om' Zerok The Sinister!

@charleyedwards2121 3 жыл бұрын

i would love to see you and Goob do a colab series taking people through the steps. People who have never painted anything to a complete 1st model

@Samanar 4 жыл бұрын

Me: Can barely keep wash where it's supposed to go. Squidmar: You should highlight the very center of every fold. There are levels to this game :s

@BB-pn2qv 4 жыл бұрын

WOW, this was excellent.

@7thCircleHobbies 4 жыл бұрын

Theory heavy, but very useful! Thanks for taking the time to make an a complicated subject more approachable with visuals!

@noahnielsen2657 4 жыл бұрын

Really good video, this is gonna improve my painting a ton! its nothing i didnt already know but this was a very digestible refresher.

@CyberWallX Жыл бұрын

Lmao you got me kind of with that eyelash. Blew on my screen before the picture was moved. Touché.

@paulus_germanus 2 жыл бұрын

Love your vids, bro! Awesome channel!

@jonashenriksson2182 4 жыл бұрын

Interesting subject, will definitely try to focus on this next time I paint. And those brushes looks pretty...

@loltwest9423 4 жыл бұрын

This way of breaking down models agrees with my engineer's brain. Seems like a perfect opportunity for experimenting.

@MateuszPetkiewicz 3 жыл бұрын

Love those theory videos

@ChuckHaney 3 жыл бұрын

Have you ever tried photographing your minis before you paint them to show where the light falls? You could use Photoshop to highlight where the highlights fall on the piece.