AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 flaherty wrote:

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:

 Togusa wrote:

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:

 Togusa wrote:

 Geifer wrote:

 lord_blackfang wrote:
2) Is it just me or do the paintjobs look oddly flat and not at all Contrasty?

The reds and yellows seem to be formulated for good coverage above anything, which I suspect is a way of making these colors work in the first place. As far as I'm aware not all of the current Contrast paints produce equal results either. It's kind of important to learn the specific properties of each paint in order to know how to achieve the effect you want.

But as has been said from the moment Contrast paints were out in the wild, GW's one thick coat marketing doesn't actually do Contrast paints justice.

I really wish there was an actual path to learning how to paint models. A lot of the "teaching" tools GW provides don't really give you any real depth or examples. It took me three months to actually find out what an edge highlight even was, and that there were multiple types of them. Another big one is just "how does color work?" because it can be almost damn hard to figure out how to layer and highlight and with which of the 500 colors available to the painter. These range updates are nice, these paints look super fun and I may end up getting some for my HH army to brighten them up. But I really do wish there was more help available for the paintingly challenged out there. I'd paint a lot more if I could actually figure out what I am doing in the first place.

There are literally tons of people making videos explaining these things. What else do you want?

Some [Me specifically] people have trouble learning from videos. You can't stop a video and ask for clarification. Many videos don't actually show the whole process or skip steps.

What I'd like to see is official GW classes offered at GW stores, multi-session set ups where you could go and learn all the basics from a human standing right next to you, where you could safely experiment and learn and get feedback and advice.

I can't see any feasible way that they could offer anything other than a basic, base, shade, layer system tutorial, simply due to time, never mind that many gw employees aren't actually that great painters themselves. Plenty of higher standard painters offer classes, but can be pricey. I find the best way is to just do. Experiment, see what works and what doesnt, adjust, set targets. Read articles and watch videos, examine works you like and see the techniques used, try to mimic them. This is the best way to learn in my opinion. It takes time but is worth the graft.

I don't think classes are the answer, given how few stores they run, especially in the US.

They could do a lot more with video. You can get a lot of the basic techniques by watching the "how to paint a _______" videos, but a collection that really broke down the basic, like edge highlighting, with more time spent showing the do's and don'ts, macro shots, explanations of how to hold your brush, etc. They have a "master class" under Warhammer+ that did a good job of showing how to wet-blend and talked through the principles in decent detail, but that stuff should be free to draw new people in IMHO. Darren Latham's now deleted videos were the best example, you got to see almost the entire paint job and he provided a lot of good pro-tips, e.g. "paint the crotch webbing now, because if you don't you'll likely screw it up when you paint the white armor plates."

It's easy to forget that coming into the hobby from a cold start is intimidating. There's a 300 page book to read, $300 of models and materials you need to buy, and 30+ hours of building, painting, and reading before you're able to play a game. Anything that streamlines the process is helpful in bringing new blood into the hobby.

I've moaned about this in the past... miniature painting tutorials don't teach you how to paint in general, they just teach you how to paint X specific model. GW tutorials are some of the worst for it IMO.

Most of what I've learned about painting is trial and error over many years, but I could probably teach someone else in a couple of days.

I think miniature painting tutorials generally focus on how to get a specific model on the table using specific paints and specific methods, so miniature painters who don't have an art background miss simple things like creating volumes, diffuse lighting vs specular lighting, value vs colour, how ambient light affects colours (so how to paint models so they look like they exist within a certain environment), how to desaturate colours to make them look more realistic and uniform, utilising different types of contrast like value contrast, colour contrast and warmth contrast, using different varnish types to accentuate lighting, materials, textures (opposed to the simplistic idea of "spray it all matte"), a really important one I think people don't learn is shortcuts and simplifications so if you're painting a whole army what can be done to speed things up, what different artistic interpretations exist and how they can be achieved (like realistic vs enhancing effects, or maybe simplifying certain effects for greater impact).

Things like the intro to art 101 of "how to paint a sphere vs a cone vs a cube vs a cylinder" or "how to paint leather vs fabric vs skin vs metal" or "how to mix colours" is something wargamers might not find out until they've already been painting for years.

I only really started learning that stuff when I started watching canvas oil painting tutorials rather than miniature painting ones.