Squidmar is back with another tutorial showing us how he went from a painting beginner to a competition winner in 8 months!
Squidmar’s channel is rapidly growing due to his great tutorials ranging from full-scale models to tips, even to practical physics! This time around he goes through how he improved his painting so fast and some tips to help you do the same.
From Painting Beginner to Competition Winner in 8 Months
This was the first mini he ever painted, and in only 8 months became pretty awesome! Let’s see how he from that to the pic below.
Step 1
He removed all washes from his arsenal! Washes fall into crevices, not where light should really go. They also dumb down colors and forced him to put more detail in.
Step 2
Make or buy a wet palette! This is so important to any painter. It lets you blend so easily, makes you paint faster, and teaches you how to thin your paints. This is a giant step everyone should make.
Step 3
Paint regularly! He painted every day for 6 months straight. Even if it’s not much, just a few minutes a day will make you so much better naturally.
Step 4
Don’t repeat! If you constantly are painting different miniatures, it will naturally make you so much better. Just forcing yourself into new minis will push your skills.
Step 5
You need to analyze other painters’ work. Not just scrolling the Insta feed, actually breaking down what colors they use, where they weathered the minis, and what makes theirs look great. Do it as often as you can, understanding why people do what they do will really help.
Step 6
Copying other people’s work! This may seem strange, but if you can analyze a piece of work and then copy it, you learn so much. You can then apply the lessons you have learned to your own work. Just make sure to give credit if you are posting something up.
Step 7 & 8
Understanding how light naturally falls on minis and how shapes should be painted. When you can break down how light falls on different shapes and materials, it will instantly make your pieces so much more realistic.
Step 9
Commission work! This lets you paint minis you normally wouldn’t, forces you to get better, makes you faster, and forces you to stay inside a certain paint scheme. You have to go fast and make things look as good as possible. This is a blessing and a curse but will make you so much better in no time.
That does it for this awesome tutorial. Hopefully, this helps you in your quest to improve all the time!
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Squidmar Miniatures is a great place to learn all kinds of painting techniques! Be sure to subscribe to Squidmar Miniatures YouTube channel for more tutorials.
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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!
