If you need some help planning out how you’re going to paint your models, these three ways to plan a paint scheme will be perfect!
Goobertown Hobbies is a great content creator with interesting takes on the hobby. Whether it’s a collaboration with other YouTubers or a challenge for himself, he covers a broad range of topics. Since he has so much great content, why not check out what else he has done?
This week he is looking at how to plan out your paint scheme! It can be hard to see a gray mini and think exactly how you will paint it, so check out these three great ideas from Goobertown Hobbies!
3 Ways to Plan a Paint Scheme: Goobertown Hobbies Tutorial
This is the puzzle we all face before painting a mini. Even if you have an idea in mind (like a particular chapter or faction), you need to know how to get there! So, this is the puzzle we’re going to solve today.
Strategy 1:
You can always just start at the beginning and work forward as you go! Get some minis on your painting table and start putting paint on the models. This might not seem like having a plan, but sometimes trial and error is the only way to go.
Often, we don’t realize just how many details a model has, and sometimes you won’t see them until you get in there and start working with it. So, if you get in there and try a few things out, this can be the best way to understand everything in the model. Also, when doing this, you can ponder your next color while doing the previous stage.
Strategy 2:
This time, you’re going to work backward, from the end to the beginning! If you know where you want to go, you can reverse engineer something you already like. So, if you found a perfect scheme for your model, you can use that as an example and figure it out from there.
When you box art you like, look at it, find out what colors go where, and then start breaking down your paint scheme.
You can also use something like Photoshop to help you design your paint scheme. Take a picture of your model, turn it into a grayscale, and start throwing on your colors! You can even print off pictures of your minis and test out color schemes with crayons!
Strategy 3:
This is sort of starting in the middle. You need to prioritize your key steps (such as a purple body, steel weapons, etc…), and once you complete your key steps, you can go back and fill in the rest with colors that work well.
If you can’t figure out how to paint certain armor parts, swords, glowing effects, or anything else, just paint what you want for the rest, and once that’s all done, you can decide which colors will work the best.
Often a single color can make or break a model, so spend your time worrying about the key colors; the little details will work themselves out if the main scheme works.
Thinking About Your Tools
The order does matter for certain things, so keep in mind that if you’re washing or airbrushing, that can get messy. This can be another puzzle, so just be sure to think about what order you need to paint, even when starting in the middle.
One Last Idea
You can also build your entire plan around a new technique you want to try! Maybe you want to do a ton of wet blending, stippling, or OSL. So, instead of having a super hard scheme in mind, plan your entire paint job around using that new technique as much as possible! It will help you learn a new technique, and you’ll probably end up with an excellent mini!
There you have a bunch of ideas to plan out your scheme! Before we go, though, this model he is using is a collaboration with One Page Rules, so be sure to check them out if you want to score the mini!
If you are curious about the whole review with more details, don’t forget to watch the full video above! Also, be sure to Subscribe to Goobertown Hobbies if you enjoy his content!
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
