The SECRET to Painting White AND Black??

Sometimes miniature painters complain about painting specific colors. Often times, those colors are things like yellow, or white. I believe that white and black are among the most difficult colors to paint, but at the core of it, understanding how to paint them is summed up in one topic that we explore in this video.

Videos referenced:
How to Feather: (doesn't exist...yet!)

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AIRBRUSH STUFF:

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[larrymanns]

Having someone immediately point out something they don't like about a recently finished work you are proud of is possibly the most relatable thing I have seen in one of your videos so far.


It's good to see you turn those feels into something productive!

[erykborkowski]

Miniac: nothing in this world is pure white...
Me: i clap my hands when plane lands.
Miniac: except him.

[pyranna]

I just finished painting a Black Legion marine. My trick for painting all that black armor? Painted it a really dark metallic (Vallejo Magnesium) then heavy washed it with black oil paint.
For the highlights I cleaned the oil off with a Q-tip. Worked out amazingly, reads as black metal & looks kinda Grim Dark.

[Hanzedous]

You are like the Alton Brown of mini painting. I love it!

[rogeroverstreet]

"... Pink." OMG, I'm still laughing. I've been there. One of my first minis was a barbarian and I did his skin wayyyy too pale. To this day anyone that sees him asks if it's a zombie barbarian.

[CameronStocks]

I think you've got the right approach with thte theory but the "value distribution" - or maybe value concentration (?) needs to be even more extreme. Your set of squares on the right still reads as pink to me, so I would concentrate those shade colours even more, or even finish with a lighter value.

Practically - I actually think you did white very well in your 'eavy metal marines SoB!

[zlostoja]

Dude, bring on the nerdiness I'm all for it!

[emilymegan]

The cleanliness of your chalkboard and the exquisite placement of the post it notes brought tears of joy to me eyes!

Oh, the content was great too🤣

[xBULLETfromABOVEx]

This is honestly one of the best videos you have produced, the quality of the content, the subject matter, the level of comedic/entertainment value, the engagement throughout and the simplicity with which it is conveyed was all stellar.

Thank you for going full time and providing such great content

[therealDonMac]

I get my CC from Facebook and Discord groups. My wife only says, "Wow, that's great honey." or "Wow, look at all that detail. Great job honey" lol.

[travishill]

When you asked the your wife's opinion at the end I laughed so hard an employee came to the office to check on me.

[hushmush]

The layering bit actually might help me figure out glow effects on miniatures, thanks!

[thegrumpymanlikestopaint]

God damn I felt your pain when she said pink hahaha

[DoaTheJackalope]

Thank you for always being so educational, positive, supportive, encouraging, and funny

[tristanelwell]

Hey Scott, traditional painter here: value proportion is important, but the reason an area might be reading as a light tint of a color, rather than white, is because your darker values are too saturated. If your halftones and shadows are an identifiable hue, that's the color an object is going to read as, no matter how light you get. The darker areas on a white object are always going to be relatively low in chroma (discounting the effects of colored light sources, which are a whole other level of complication). So, the darker values for white can be a warm gray, a cool gray, a purplish gray, a greenish gray, etc, but the "gray" aspect is always going to be stronger than the "color" aspect.

[TheRunesmythe]

Vince Venturella talked about something similar in one of Hobby Cheating videos about painting black armor; the conclusion was that for something to look black, at least 60% of the surface has to be black meaning that you have a fairly small area for all your other highlights, which pretty much sounds like what you were saying. I would imagine that for white, and possibly other colors, that number or close to it is the "Goldilocks zone" you want to aim for; the larger the surface area covered by whatever color you want it to be, the more our eyes will perceive it as that color.

[PokeInTheEyeShape]

Paraphrasing: "You may easily spot something that doesn't look right, but struggle with how to fix it." This is the theme of my painting life. :D Great vid, Scott. And no where near too nerdy. I love this stuff.

[Malachi]

The ability to paint well is one thing. The ability to paint and also relay what it is that you are doing in simple and digestible ways is something else entirely. You're doing a great job! Keep at it!

[Mikey__R]

A zenithal prime, followed by a value sketch is probably more useful for figuring out where your shadows and highlights should be. Once I kicked out layering, I started to enjoy painting a whole lot more.

[dennisvolpe]

Just got my miniac sweatshirt today. Time PAINT MORE