One day, everyone is gonna be painting minis. It'll be the cool new thing to do.

*IMPORTANT LINKS*

[bradydonovan]

Memorizing this trick for the next time I paint imperial guard

[odiram]

My brain tells me this is crucial information to remember even though I’ve never painted a mini before and don’t have any particular intention to start

[Covert]

This doesn't sound like a trick, it sounds like an actual technique.

[raymondraptorclaw]

I’ll never understand why people get scolded for finding an easier way to do things, instead of a harder and least efficient method.

[roostertwo]

Learning a painting technique isn’t a trick, it just means you’re a good painter.

[nuyabuisness]

I've got friends that like swarm armies like bugs and guards, and they LOVE this method. Helps them crank out a dozen models in a couple hours.

[Xenro]

My older brother was HUGE into warhammer years ago. I distinctly remembering him do this and the minis always came out amazingly

[sable]

I really hope it does get popular, as its a great hobby. I do wonder how that might affect prices though.

[chicken]

Underpainting with dark colors is a great technique for mini painting! It can really enhance the final look of the model.

[Pentagram]

this shouldnt be considered cheating, this is a valid technique used not just in mini paintings, but painting in general. It's how we learned to shade in oil painting in college.

[jeremyjdl]

Old school oil painters did something similar. It’s called grisaille. A monotone under painting that you later (after it’s dried a bit) glaze over w/ thin translucent layers of color paint. It gives a really cool look especially in portraits. Makes the subjects skin glow a bit on the canvas w/ how light moves through all the thin layers of paint over the grisaille.

[MichaelAivaliotis]

It’s not tricking people. It’s how it’s done.

[soupo-sandwich]

shadows don't have to be black, though! dark blue, purple, or really any color shadows work, too, and sometimes look better :)

[NameIsDoc]

Pro tip, You don't need to use black and white, Dark colors browns, dark pinks, dark blue and then use transition colors that are brighter versions of the above OR different colors for your lights and mid tones. Then you can use colors that compliment or even complimentary to your contrast paints to make various effects. Want a more diverse grayscale? use shades of purple and a yellow contrast paint on top to make it muddy gray. Want your yellows to look great? Start with a pink base and transition to a warm white. When you put a cool yellow on top The white becomes yellow but the pinks become slightly desaturated oranges

[TobsterWobbles]

As someone who paints traditionally, you'd probably get a much more coheasive effect if you underpaint with a very dark color instead of black. For warm tones underpaint with dark brown, for cool tones dark green or blue. You'll still get dramatic shadows, but the colors & shading on the character will look a bit more realistic.

[RatRatRattyRatRat]

This is what my dad taught me to do with normal paintings. Start dark and bring out the lights. Neat.

[TheEmber]

As my group's designated mini painter, I did need to know that actually.

[-Alexander-K]

If you trick people into believing you made something beautiful by using special techniques to make something look beautiful, then you didn’t trick anyone… you just made something beautiful.

[wohdinhel]

this is basically how 3D models in games get colored in the rendering process so it makes a ton of sense!

[cazarilmachine]

This is done in videogames all the time. Curvature and ambient occlusion maps create the same base grayscale effect. Then you can just multiply your base color with it, same as how the color is thin enough to allow shadows to show through in the paint.