The Most Important Tool in ALL of Miniature Painting

Michigan Toy Soldier (where I buy my minis and hobby products in North America!):
Code: NINJON2023 for an EXTRA 5% OFF! Meaning all products are 15-25% off RETAIL!

10% off your order with coupon code: ninjon

Monument Hobbies Pro Acryl: (my brushes, also paint, primer, basing paste, etc.):
5% off your total order! Usable EVERY purchase! Enter COUPON CODE: ninjon

Element Games - (ALL your hobby needs, UK based, ships WORLDWIDE):
Use Referral Code: JON1303 for DOUBLE STORE CREDIT CRYSTALS on your first purchase!

Red Grass Games (my mini holder)

AMAZON LINKS: materials I use, no extra cost to you and they give me a bit of money as a kickback (anything you buy while starting with these links, actually!):

[stephenkotowych]

This was the kind of how-to video I didn't know I needed. More like this, please!

[howardcoates]

$49 desk lamp, (LED bulbs in a circle) with a magnifier in the middle. Flexible neck on the lamp base. Works great, can see details wonderfully. I have a portable set of specs similar to yours Jon, that I use when i am painting away from the desk.

[Old_Wizard_Minis]

I use some Costco special 3.00+ readers. Comfortable and cheap. Imho if the detail is so small that it is difficult to be seen at that level no one is ever going to see it in normal lighting.

[SamBalducci]

I own the CraftOptics Magnifying Eyeglasses. They are both expensive and worth it. I purchased them to help me work with my electronics projects and soldering and since then they have been useful for everything from miniature painting to removing slivers and repairing jewelry. Since I have worn glasses my entire life since I was about 10yrs old, $500 for a pair of glasses was nothing as I have stigmatism and have paid $1000 in the past for lenses and frames. While my vision has changes since I purchased them a few years ago, I have needed to update them as the magnifiers work fine. They did work with my eye doctor to get the lenses correct and my eye doctor even helped me make sure they were fitted correctly once I received them. It is the only way I can enjoy painting miniatures as get older. I have tried 3x readers and others but the change in focal length and always needing to be a certain distance killed anything else I tried. Now I use them. They are expensive but I feel if you do a lot of other close-up work, they are worth it.

[ZXKIRK]

my friend biught me some magnifiers, ive been painting for nearly 30years... it feels like im learning to paint again, absolutely brilliant (I also think my eyes are going!)
love Ninjon |"i'm just gonna mess around and knock out a quick paint job"... goes on to produce a model slightly better than I could achieve in my dreams!
great stuff.

[benkonczal]

I appreciate the philosophical monologue. While I’ve built a few miniatures, they are not my normal subject. However, your points are relevant to any model. I’m glad to hear you share some of the deeper thoughts that are part of the process. As professional builders grow, there’s so much more that goes into painting/assembly/scratch-building, etc. occasionally we just need to share them to help others get even better. And ultimately, maximize the fun and enjoyment we have!

[BranOfSteel]

This actually just happened to me last night. I was wrapping up a paint job on Ghost from ASoIaF and was really proud of how good it looked. Grabbed my phone for some pics and it was the derpiest, saddest doggo I ever did see. Grabbed up my rarely used magnifiers and got him fixed up. I will be using them far more going forward!

[luckyskaven]

Your lightheaded and fast videos are actually my favorites! I'm glad they rejuvenate you as well.

[andreasblau]

I feel you so much with this. It really helps my mental health painting miniatures. For me I also love to change projects for this because it makes painting more interesting. E.g. I change between infinity, freebooters fate and moonstone. All amazing models but so different characters in sculpting. Just simple fun and recovery after a hard week of work and it really helped me recover after a really hard year. Hope you will be always good and will always find the fun and love in your painting as you do. It always shows, because even your fast paintjobs are just amazing and your way of telling the story of it is just perfect. Just keep being the way you are, you are amazing!

[jakeschwartz]

It's crazy how easy Ninjon makes it look to get contrast and depth on his models.

[dreadpirate]

Nice to see a top tier professional like you use washes. Therapy/Fun painting is my wheelhouse.

[kimmipops]

I recently bought a magnifying table lamp - so far it has been a positive experience, it really helps seeing the small details, even for a beginner painter like myself 🙂

[Gamecapturevideo]

Magnifying glasses were a game changer for me, i didn't realize how much i was straining my eyes until seeing you and Vince using them and i gave them a try.

[williamskogen]

I have a desk mounted magnifier lamp. Can't paint without it now!

[jonathanmasters]

At my age I find my cheapo, over my glasses, magnifiers from Amazon essential just to be able to work out what all the otherwise blurry details are on the model. The only downside is how much it screws with my depth perception !

[JontysCorner]

An odd benefit of my vision correction. I am hyper near-sighted so for tiny details I just need to take my glasses off 😂

[IcarusGames]

If you struggle to wear the glasses magnifiers (they make me nauseous) grab yourself a magnifier lamp. You can get them in a variety of magnification and they come with the LEDs around the outside of the magnifier lens, which makes seeing the model so much easier!

[nazjones]

im currently using a cosmetic led light magnifier but the glasses look a lot more comfortable. Keep up the great work love the channel

[Veles]

Cheap magnifying glasses from amazon were a game changer. The big think I found helpful was being able to see the paint flow off the brush like you can see in all these lovely closeup videos on youtube. It was like, ah! I understand now!

I've been getting loads of adverts recently the loupes (the kind of thing dentists wear) and I keep thinking they'd be really good, then I look at the price 😬

[wannesfey]

I started using magnifying glasses a few months back. It is indeed a gamechanger (being 56 years of age). It is still trail and error when it comes to glasses versus a fixed magnifying glass on a stand, magnification, But yes, I don't paint without them anymore.