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As a perpetual beginner I really like the tone of this video and I really appreciate the level of detail that you're thinking about in terms of how to approach it. Washing the brush is a great example of a very important step that hardly gets a mention beyond "clean your brush regularly" etc... You've actually taken time to give a beginner some structure as to when to wash and, having seen more than a few, its the first time I've really heard mention of washing not just between colours but during painting the same colour.
A few thoughts/additional questions
1) I like that you start it really simply and hope you follow this with further videos. I think one confusing thing that you've left out is the subject of watering/thinning paints. Granted that's not essentail for many getting started, but in my experience those who are more likely to just slap paint on a model will already be doing it; those looking for guides are already going to have come across watering down paints. So to see you painting right from the bottle without addressing watering paints (or even to address that you're just leaving that stage out for now) might confuse them. They see a regularly and widely reported method not being covered which might make some question the rest of your tutorial. Especially when you're then actually spenidng more time talking about brush cleaning, an area that is often left quite ignored.
2) Get the macro mode on and do some very close up video of layering paint onto the model. For me one aspect that is a struggle is when you give the model one sweep of the brush and you have some paint, but not a full covering. This is often when also thinning the paint, but not exclusively, it might also happen when painting a softer colour over a very strong base (eg painting over a black as opposed to white base coat).
When you see pros paint as you've shown in this video and with that kind of camera angle, you get the visual impression that the brush touches the model and the paint perfectly covers in one sweep of the brush.
The trap for beginners is both sweeping the brush too many times over the same area when the paint is still wet, ending up moving paint around rather than layering it on and also potentially building up small ridges of paint. Which then even if they leave it to dry and come back for a second coat, means that they've watered their paint down to make it thin, but then slapped on far too much paint.
I think this will also really help when you talk about feeding paint into the brush, both in terms of how much to load onto the brush and also when you might come to talk about different kinds of brush and the load for different effects. Eg the difference between straight from the bottle; thinned paint; contrast, washes and shades; highlights and drybrushing.
2) What to paint first. You touch on this, but in a very casual level in this video. What to paint first, in what order and how is a big questionmark for beginners, especially when you view paint guides like GW has which work with layering colour atop colour. It might be worth giving a video purely to helping people devise a paint scheme for a model. Starting from the simple stage of how to pick paints for colours, then how to view the model as sections and work out what paint goes on where and then steadily work out an order for the paint so that you cover the model well without ending up making a mess going over areas too many times or swapping colours far too often etc... It's also great for when washes come in since if you can stage it right you can wash several areas at once (easier) rather than doing segment by segment and perhaps using the same wash on different areas at different times, which is much harder to contain.
3) Stories about cake are neat, but at the same time I'd try and contain such quips mid-talk to being abit shorter. I think analogies work best at either the start or the end, in the middle they can break up the flow of thought somewhat.
4) I'd try and stick to one model start to finish. It provides a single easy point of reference for someone to latch onto visually and see the effect you're talking about. If you're going to swap models I'd make each one a mini tutorial of its own with a complete start, middle and end so that when you change models you're changing to show a new "phase" rather than "I didn't like the model" etc... That way a person sees the effect achieved on a single model and then you move on. Ideally sticking with a single model can help show a complete process, whilst breaking things up can show individual steps more clearly, but might mask the combined result.
Eg if you showed layering on one model then shading on another and then highlights on another you've got all three steps, but no link between them for a person to unit the thoughts together on how they work on one model.
5) On the subject of washing the brush mid-painting it might help to go into drying the brush as well. So that a person isn't thunking the brush in to clean and then ending up over-watering their paint because they fail to dry it properly.
Great video! I'm not a beginner, but I learned that I've been putting way too much paint on my brushes! They'll probably last longer now that I've seen your video. So thanks for that.
"Calgar hates Tyranids."
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2020/09/04 19:43:11
Subject: Re:How to Paint Miniatures like an Amateur
I do agree that being a pro expert does not mean that you will actually be able to teach!
Painting and teaching to paint are two very different things.
Because one is all about your practice and another is all about your ability to communicate
However I strongly disagree with statement made (experts don't make great teachers 1:30)
There are experts that make awesome teachers! In-fact I had great experts who spoke almost no English, and who I learned alot from! Had drawing instructor from China, did not speak much but his hand did all the speaking for him. I had experts who where A-holes who I learned alot from. My sculpting teacher was a complete A-hole but I actually learned to see and feel the torso and the body from him. I had experts who did not know how to teach but would inspire so much that it would get me to go out and learn with zeal.
Are the problems with you-tube videos for beginners really that big? I do not think so. Because the video information comes in and filters much differently than actually reading the information. I can watch 2hrs of instructional videos but pick out and actually remember 2 small bits on information from em. Because that is just how I learn.
Because you have to understand that everyone learns at their own speed in their own way. And an absolute beginner could get inspiration and pick up on something a pro painter would say or do, and there is just not a way for you to really know what information will stick and what wont. Example of that is my teacher was doing a lecture on how to draw a foot, during her talk I realized how to do the shading on the upper lid of the eye, and then it hit me, that regardless of what the teacher was actually teaching I picked out what I needed at the time. In fact I don't even remember the lecture or how to draw the foot, but I do remember how the shading on the lid is done.
However I do appreciate where the video is coming from! Would of loved to see same direction for technical instructional videos, like about a step by step guides on how to optimize piece of software, or troubleshoot CMYK printer settings for epson. Because in those cases people do not provide basic entry lvl instructions often enough.
For something like art and craft, figuring things out and learning hands on is part of the learning process, and at end of the day people are different and learn differently, some beginners will need detailed step by step instructions, and other beginners would actually be held back by step by step instructions, for some beginners hearing about wet blending technique is intimidating, but for others that would be just the way they learn to paint from the start and might be better off for it.
My whole frustration with YouTube beginner instruction videos are the long intros! When a person is talking about how their channel is doing, how to support them, how to like and sub, why they are making this video, what is in the video, why their video is so great, ets 4-10 mins later, the actual video starts with the information. Because Just like there is a difference between a teacher and a painter, there is a difference between a teacher and a you-tuber.
sidenote--
Now, getting people actually not intimidated by the hobby and sit through long painting sessions and not give up, is another issue all together that has little to do with (how to paint) beginning videos. Because in this case you would have to explain how one would inspire a total beginner to sit and paint Tech-Priest Dominus fighting a Necron Lord and why it is more fun than just playing Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus with you maxed out phosphor blaster on a dominus with EE.
This message was edited 5 times. Last update was at 2020/09/04 19:59:35
Pariah Press wrote: Great video! I'm not a beginner, but I learned that I've been putting way too much paint on my brushes! They'll probably last longer now that I've seen your video. So thanks for that.