Kenny from Next Level Painting is back with 3 hobby hacks to paint miniatures easier that changed his painting life!
Today Kenny helps us tackle a bunch of hobby hacks that will make your life so much easier. This video is all about getting your units to a battle-ready standard without much hassle. If you want to see way more hobby tips, you can go see the rest on his Patreon here! Or if you want to see his previous tutorials, you can check them out here!
He’s going to be using techniques from his awesome 101 painting curriculum, which is a set of three easy lessons to get your minis on the tabletop fast and looking good! Get your paints and brushes out and let’s go!
Paint Miniatures Easier With These 3 Hobby Hacks: Next Level Painting
Hobby Hack 1
He painting some Dryads in this video and starts with the Dark Umber from Vallejo. Just to note, he primes these black before this step. What’s the hack here you may ask? Assembly line and airbrushing!
If you have a lot to paint, as he does in this video, doing an assembly line with steps is the way to go.
Next, he breaks out the Beasty Brown and Earth from Vallejo. He uses these to create a very simple top-down zenithal highlight with mainly the Beasty Brown. Again, using the assembly line feature with fast technique to get them done quickly.
The best part about the assembly line is when the first mini is dry, you’re ready to paint it again. Now, put more Earth in the mix and do another top-down highlight. To finish this off, he uses a mix of Handle Wood and Weathered Wood from Secret Weapon. He does this in another top-down highlight.
Hobby Hack 2
He goes back to the same colors from the last step and dry brushes the same colors over top. Dry brushing with the same colors is super easy but will really pull out all the highlights. When you’re batch painting, this is super important. He does this super dry and does a few subtle steps to get a good transition.
Then, take a much less dry brush to let it really pick out the highest areas. This might look a little too aggressive at first, but he’ll bring it back in the end. Just a note, he has a big dry brush and a small one, that way you can do targeted brushing when you need it.
Hobby Hack 3
Next, take some gloss varnish and airbrush thinner and combine it into the airbrush. First, create a very thin coat over all the minis, just be sure to keep this very thin at this point. This really pushes the details and helps bring everything out. You want this to dry fast and not remove the details.
Then he gets out the Reikland Fleshshade and Nuln Oil. He starts with the Fleshshade and then blends it with the Nuln Oil on the model. Just keep it moving and don’t let it sit or pool too much in any area.
Because you did the gloss varnish in the last step, it will naturally find the correct areas and add contrast. It will darken the darks and leave most of the whites intact. From this step, you can do all the highlights you need, but you have a perfect base on a ton of minis in just a few minutes. This isn’t the end of the paint job but is a perfect and fast base.
If you want to see how to take it to the next level with all the highlights and how to paint better, check out Kenny’s full video on them on his Patreon!
Join The 101 Painting Curriculum From Kenny
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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!
