Bet You Didn’t Know a Wash Could Do This! (The Wash and Color Hack You Need)

[@mindlasher]

It's funny that both you and Brent both released a video on washes the same week but from different sides of the topic. It really showcases that there are so many ways to approach mini painting. Thank you for the great video.

[@vitaemecha]

It's almost like there is a painting community that talks to each other.

[@gpk8059]

Your choice of colors works great with the Synthwave tunes. It is all about setting the right tone !

[@LylaMev]

Thanks!

[@mx.lucyfur]

I do this with digital art, often adding a layer filled with a single color then setting it to something like multiply or addition or whatever gives me the effect I want. It pulls the image together nicely and helps set that mod I'm going for. I might use this wash approach with a mini I'm planning on doing where the setting implied is a crystal cavern with underlighting from red and upper lighting in blue-purple. Choosing the wash color for the areas would help enhance the effect... though using blue for all of it would help tie the red areas in and add a cool tone to the shadows as often happens with the parts facing away from a warm light source. Thanks for the idea!

[@LylaMev]

I'm happy to inspire!

[@hugeminis]

I appreciate how you took an advanced approach to painting, but made it feel accessible and practical. Very well done, and the end result speaks for itself.

[@ericb7680]

I appreciate this. I've been painting/building for about 40 years < even did some commission work for a studio that has a YT channel> it has always been an intuitive thing for me, but there's always room to improve! Yeah, this will really help me... going to watch this several times- maybe drag out a mini and try it from the jump> Thank you for your help, Lyla -it matters. I also find your "mistakes were made" approach so refreshing, as it also helps to see things needing to be corrected, and to not become so frustrated when the intent isn't supported by my results. (not that mini painters are perfectionists, or anything, y'know....?) also I find your humor and the "kitteh inclusions" amusing. God bless< Thanks, again.

[@jakea3950]

Thanks for the education! I always try to explain to people why washes wrap the whole model togeather. The word im lookibg for is filter! Thanks for this explanation.

[@ghostgaming7431]

This can be done easier with an air brush. I use washes and inks(diluted), spraying them over the model and that will give you a nice filter(or 'tint' as I say). But using it like this is great for people who do not own an air brush. Awesome video!

[@DreamBigBuildSmall]

It's amazing what you can do with so few colors. I'm so glad I found this channel.

[@BathrobeKeck]

This is perfect to help me "rescue" apiece. I was trying to practice some dry brushing on a dwarf. Used a bright red and didn't have the brush dry enough before brushing. This can help me fix the heavy application of red. I'll just use the red as my "mother"

[@MaskedRiderChris]

Funny you posted this, I've been using washes more as filters for a while now, as it happens. I've messed with mother color theory before and always had the feeling I wasn't going about it correctly, so this was a good explanation of it. Good video!

[@alanmeranda6516]

This was something of a shocker in many aspects of painting models. It certainly lessens my concerns about painting heavily detailed figures. It would be impressive to see an armored vehicle such as a tank painted using this technique.

[@danwizzle91]

Thanks for the techniques I haven't used washes yet with my minis and you explained everything so well as to how you get such a great looking mini in the end and it does look great. Definitely subbing for more tips.

[@Sturmensky]

Washes are also a good way of limiting how much paint you need to buy. For example, I like to give a sense of volume by building light and shadow, but lack an airbrush. So I apply a general layer of wash, then build selective layers along undersides. I use the same wash for every part of the model (in my case, Seraphim Sepia). Not only do the subsequent layers darken the shadowed regions, eliminating the need to buy another colour (or more) for my dark tan, dark green, etc., but the initial coat over the entire model tints the entire thing - in this case, darker. Because my base colours are now lighter than the model, I can use them for highlighting! Suddenly, the entire model can be done with your base colours + one wash. (admittedly I push it a bit further - doing progressively more extreme highlights on, e.g., sharp edges or tips - but this can also be done in a paint-saving manner by grabbing a light, neutral colour, like an off white, and mixing more and more of it into your base colours on a palette - meaning you only need one more paint)

[@danwizzle91]

@Sturmensky that's a great idea! Thanks I like doing sharp highlights as well but I've been so inefficient with paint as well so I think I'm definitely bringing a few washes to my wishlist. Though I know now that I'll start using a wet pallete I'll be much better about not wasting paint

[@Sturmensky]

@@danwizzle91 Glad to help! And really, any sort of palette is fine if it's a shorter time span. I use a wet palette myself - just wanted to specify "not in the bottle" because I don't know how much you paint, and I *have* had people mix their bottles after I don't specify that detail lol! Another nice thing about mixing colours when you highlight: it brings the paint job together more. If washes provide unifying tints and shadows, mixing a common colour for highlights adds a unifying light.

[@pecktec]

That’s really neat I’m gonna try that on my next project.

[@Darcyscentsational]

Adding a mother color to all the other colors is a neat technique thanks for sharing

[@harryravenkiller8580]

kinda enjoy your videos. You are becoming my goto creator when I want to know specific knowledge about mini painting.

[@jjordan73115]

It looks... Okay. You did say it was a speed painting technique, and it does look it. I've only painted a total of 7 miniatures, so I have NOOOOO room to give advice and / or say anything other than it this. It is a valuable lesson in a technique that can be employed for particular purposes. For that purposes it works, and I am very glad that you made a video to show how it can be done. Keep up the great work! Before i painted my first miniature, your's was one of the channels I watched for tips. Love your channel.

[@thetabletopskirmisher]

Thank you for this video. Lovely technique and its inspiring me to sit down and paint some more

[@shawnclark1261]

this is an interesting technique and sounds easy enough to try. like your painting

[@meangreenlipsey]

I found this to be really helpful in viewing shades/ washes in a different way. Definitely going to try it out, thank you!

[@brenthartman502]

Very good vid again Lyla... informative and you have done another great job. Cheers 😃👍

[@TigerShady]

I really appreciate the color theory explanation with examples. Very helpful.

[@itsio7188]

Wow, my eye is definitely drawn to the highlights and the transitional fades

[@Atli-Eiriksson]

Hey Lyla I have a challenge/experiment for you, you being a very talented miniature painter this should be easy. My challenge : pick up a classic kind of Airfix or Revell military model of either 1/72 or 1/48 scale and make something that instead of being a nice artistic interpretation of a thing to make it as photo realistic as humanly possible. It seems to me that many a hobbyists are under the notion that photo realism is unattainable yet the classic modelists have been doing it for decades as what drew me personally into Warhammer 40k for example was my humble classic kind of modeling hobby, and while everything is fine and dandy with being super artsy and solving everything in almost van gogh-ish surreal contrasts overlorded by the color wheel and non metallic metal techniques

[@philurbaniak1811]

👍👍 this is a really useful guide to the kind of painting I've been exploring lately! Basically I repainted some Blue Dudes as Green Dudes and I really like the blue tinted shadows under the green 😊

[@philurbaniak1811]

Also "Other Mother" color🧵🪡 ⚫👄⚫ 😃!

[@jesterprince4949]

The state of your brushes hurts my soul. Fantastic mini though, and learning about mother colours was definitely a massive step up for my painting.

[@LylaMev]

That’s one of my throw away brushes, which tells you how much I cared about this model 😅

[@BirthofaPainter]

I may have to try this - i use a couple similar techniques with a modification of slapchop and oil washes, so this looks like a fun tool to add to the box!

[@imienazvvisko]

Although i dont agree that leaving half of model and whole base in blue is good way of cheating and cutting corners (this miniature looks like blue earth elemental born from blue earth, which is cool in some way), overall it looks very good and filtering miniatures is interesting concept. I bet if base would be not painted but left as it was after puting bushes etc it would look amazing.

[@micahbernoff2851]

Awesome vid. Any chance you might be able to tell me what products you were using for your basing and where you sourced them? Or even do a video on basing in general?

[@arcadedelprof]

something tells me this method could go great with a "cel shaded" aesthetic (borderlands style) a few black strokes in some areas could make it pop. gonna do the experiment. Great video as allways! gave me something new to try

[@Oukage]

I see a mini witch video and I like. Will watch after work

[@LylaMev]

Thank you!

[@roryhatfield6696]

This was definitely an interesting type of painting. I will definitely be trying this

[@RCBashist]

Never heard of this Mother Color technique before, I'll have to give it a try. BTW you mentioned that our eyes are drawn to highlights, which is mostly true, but it's important to keep in mind that contrast draws our eyes even more.

[@devastator3904]

My only filter until now has been Agrax Earthshade...and I didn't realise it. My tone is John Blanche. I will now try this with Drakenshade, I learned a lot from this vid. I actually have a pot sitting on my desk.

[@iatebambismom]

If I remember correctly citadel used to sell glazes and washes, just different consistencies of ink. It's basically using a glaze, like you would for an oil painting. Great vid!

[@autochton]

Vallejo does sell a glaze medium, IIRC the main differences to washes are about how they respond to high spots -- washes will pull away toward recesses more, while glazes will stick a little better and add color to them.

[@joel6376]

Paint (including ink) is all just pigment with differing amounts of medium, liquid, etc. Mini painting gets away with selling the same product twice since they don't use pigment/known names to label things. Artist paint labelled phthalo blue paint on the shelf next to phthalo blue wash would be laughed out of the store. Citadel are the worst at this - take for example yellow, a color that is notorious for its terrible coverage. Instead of labelling pots as opaque/transparent/semi transparent (this relates to the pigment) they sell yellow with terrible coverage for decades. And they do this in order to keep users within their paint ecosystem. Boggles the mind people still put up with them.

[@iatebambismom]

@joel6376 cost vs. convenience. 90% of "hobby" products are just for convenience and speed. That's not a criticism. It's not really a con. Anyone can learn at theory, sculpting, terrain building, anything. Or just buy things and make it fast and easy during the few hours they have a week.

[@joel6376]

​@@iatebambismom The cost aspect is right, having paint work this way is in the manufacturers interest as they will sell more paint. They can cash in on trends as consumers finally notice that "hey they want single pigment colors" so GW roll out their new single pigment contrast line - a product that is an art standard, and have ridiculous fanfare to go along with this release. The yellow issue has been semi-addressed by GW by having "base" and other paint types, but in reality they just needed to go opaque/transparent/semi transparent and explain why. Their base yellow is still very iffy, but that is simply the nature of yellow. I agree that part of it is convenience, but everything else about color and paint mixing is hidden "outside" the hobby. The convienence is you can buy a paint and it will be roughly the same each time, making army painting easier. Because the colors used in mini painting are not the "traditional" colors (generally) it further locks users into the treadmill of buying these sausage paints. There is nothing convenient about breaking away from paint labelling standards and not labelling paint as transparent when it uses transparent pigment. Instead they group it in with others and the hobby ends up thinking that yellow has poor coverage (because it does) but they think that the paint is trash when the pigment is simply doing what it does. In fact it is quite weird they opted to do this since it makes them look incompetent at making paint - because the hobby doesn't understand this at all. Take for instance mixing complementary colors - this is used as a way to desaturate the mix in the hobby and this isn't touching on using warm/cool pigments and how that affects the outcome. Hobby paint desaturates when you mix in this manner because each "color" contains many pigments, typically when you mix more pigments this is what the outcome is (desaturated grey), so it makes sense that it does. So for hobby specific paint this is true. However in the real world when you mix complementary colors you do not desaturate them, provided they are decent quality (and even student paint is only a few pigments per color so it mixes fine). Instead you end up with a mix that is a vibrant colored mix of the two. It just doesn't go.. grey. There is a good painter (won golden daemons I believe) that has tutorials claiming that you mix in this manner to desaturate - going as far as to shit on the kimeria paint because it doesn't behave in the same way (it actually mixes and gives a vibrant result, which while not what he is used to is how paint is meant to work). Which is simply absurd. If I sound annoyed I am mildly. I painted as a kid/teen and then did not touch it for decades. When I jumped back in I bought a very limited number of vallejo primaries, thinking that this would allow me to mix as I were used to from watercolor. Incorrect! I get flat, horrible colors. The industry is set up to extract as much money as possible from its users. It is setup to be convenient but at the same time force purchasing of more paint as their paint simply does not mix well. It doesn't mix well because GW would lose customers if this was explained. I would love to get mass spectrometry of GW and other brands paint done, to find out exactly what is in each pot.

[@paulkemp8520]

Really cool. I have been using a, frankly, shit, version of this idea for a while for my ice wind dale campaigns minis, using a blue glaze over my initial zenithal, and then glazing again in the same colour later on. now I have a way to do it better. Thank you.

[@folkloresophie]

Very cool way to use washes 😊

[@LylaMev]

I think so too!

[@lordbravura]

Could you show this techinique with other colors? It is quite interesting

[@MadstoneAdventures]

Do you have a video on how to protect painted miniatures with clearcoat or varnish?

[@krzysztofmathews738]

Wow. This is literally the first time I've heard the "Mother Color" terminolgy, but it makes perfect sense as a solid approach to basic color theory in creating a consistent color palette for a character. Very well explained!

[@LylaMev]

Thank you!

[@michaelpembroke4427]

Ninjon did a video on this a while ago. Really good watch as well

[@LylaMev]

@michaelpembroke4427 yes! I knew the technique, but never heard it by that name before that video!

[@jacobwachtman1429]

Great miniature, interesting to see if I can focus less on the unimportant stuff. I find it hard to do all the mixing with limited space for a wet pallet, and mixing in a dry pallet has always had bad results for me.

[@peterbacon50]

I love your work I have learnt a lot of you keep up the good work and you look amazing

[@smacky101]

How would you change this process for a mostly white mini?

[@katywalker8322]

The mother colour concept is interesting. Never even thought if it. However, not sure i have the eye for colour to pull it off.

[@KarynJacobson]

Ii used a wash with my last dnd project that was an Orge Zomie. Everything turned out stunning.😅

[@scottrenfer2735]

Looks great! Thanks for the awesome tips!

[@1AngelAlita]

It looked very messy during the process but the end result looks interesting and there's some artistic beauty in it...

[@jameszeropr]

This amount of paint mixing gives me anxiety. I'll use a shader/wash and choose that color wisely. Thanks for the video!

[@aclevername9381]

Filters are a must when painting camouflage on tank models. I use enamel filters for that. You can do great things with filters on almost any mini/model. Why baking soda, btw?

[@joel6376]

The model world has great techniques that are underrated in this hobby

[@jessicaschoen6647]

This definitely gives this model the appearance of being spotted at a distance as she's coming in to raid a village. It makes her look very sinister and scary with the bottom half obscured in darkness. While some people are commenting on the need for the full model to be painted, this model definitely tells a story with the partial light on her.

[@Ryan-qi6fd]

Love this exploration of color! Where did the neat Dimensional Shambler model at 8:10 come from?

[@LylaMev]

Crippled God Foundry!

[@Qew77]

Great video but i really dont understand why use zenithal if you use opaque paints

[@foulplay99]

Zenithal helps to reinforce in your head where the shadows and highlights will fall even with opaque paints. Some people will take a photograph of the zenithal and keep that as a reference whilst they continue to paint the model.

[@LylaMev]

Zenithal is especially important in a model like this where I only paint the top half and front of the model.

[@Qew77]

@@foulplay99 but then you just use one brush stroke to fill whole face with one color

[@sburbtube6766]

The advice to not paint the entire mini to perfection and leave some areas just darker is eye opening. Thank you!

[@PixelatedPenfold]

I understand why you didn't do much with the bottom or back of the model. However, this isn't something I can do myself. I have this urge to paint everything, especially something that has been built into the model (such as the leg wraps or the patches (?) on the material hanging down the front. It doesn't have to be very detailed but I think my model looks unfinished unless everything (including the base) is painted. Yes, this does take more time, but I prefer to take longer rather than be bothered by looking at "almost finished" models. Maybe it is just me.

[@markgnepper5636]

Great stuff friend 👏 👍

[@terrencemiltner1005]

Looking forward to giving this a try on a painting challenge next month.

[@funchick202]

A friday upload! I have heard of using these as a filter, but I didn't know what it meant!

[@DustinDustin00]

Just found your channel and love it! Any tips for painting hordes of duplicate miniatures (like in the Zombicide boxed games)?

[@teh0tak1n9]

Cool Video! And pretty amazing technique. When priming with an airbrush (and you used vallejo primer, correct?), did you wash the mini beforehand. So far I had not great results when priming my minis with an airbrush. Either the paint came right off or it pooled terribly in the recesses. And the primer always seems tremendously runny and wet.

[@LylaMev]

I Use stynelrez from badger air. I don't wash my model unless I need to. my guess would be that you are applying too much paint at once, and possible have the psi too low and that is causing the paint to not adhere properly.

[@teh0tak1n9]

@@LylaMev ah thanks. I will try to adjust that! And probably try your primer! would love to be able to prime with the airbrush... especially useful when it is rainng outside!

[@LylaMev]

@teh0tak1n9 try it with a paintbrush and see is it sticks to the model. If yes, then it's the airbrush that is the problem

[@teh0tak1n9]

@@LylaMev great idea! I will. thanks a bunch!

[@mikekelley2991]

Do you seal your base with anything before painting it? Great video! I really need to focus on the "Mother Color" concept and this helps.

[@LylaMev]

I do not!

[@ionminiatures]

I’m not good enough to pull something like this off myself. Maybe one day I’ll get there. 😊

[@scottlarmore5038]

Idk if this is a technique I’ll use, normally i just go with box art, or try putting a slight spin on it. But this is definitely a very interesting idea. Maybe if I started painting minis that weren’t GW, or if i wanted to create my own sub faction I might give this a go. Cool video though, your talent is obvious.

[@MrDracoSpirit]

Not sure on everything here, but I do find using the same wash on different areas can work very nicely to 'filter' the model.

[@DaronSchmit]

Interestingly, I really loved how the base turned out even though you spent next to no time on it. Overall I loved the video and love to learn more about applying color theory to mini painting. Great paint job!

[@peteypete3597]

Beautiful ❤

[@roystonlodge]

I’d love to see a video about tips for painting TERRIBLE miniatures. e.g. Minis with a severe lack of detail, particularly in the face. Bad 3D prints with REALLY visible layer lines. Etc.

[@nak3dxsnake]

More than anything use reference and try to recreate what you like. Adding things like yellowy patches and even reddish shading to greenskins can make them look more realistic. Especially in areas like ears hands or places light might pass through the skin and diffuse.

[@paulgunyan6985]

This was a nice lesson on mother color and filters but damn, that paint job came out rough. It makes me sad that people seem more interested in speed painting everything instead of working on their skill. The hobby has become lazy with too many "shortcuts".

[@LylaMev]

I LOVE painting in more detail, but yes, speed is what is popular on youtube.

[@danielvidalrubio2306]

Hey Lyla, Thanks for the amazing video. It’s an excellent idea and I’ll definitely will try it. In an unrelated note, there are two moments in the video with footage of you airbrushing and wearing your mask. I can see you’re using what seem to be 3M 6055 filters which give you A2 protection against any possible gases related to the painting work. That is an excellent choice. However, you are missing P2 (or even better P3) protection against airborne particles created by the paint atomization from the airbrush. I myself was in the same situation until relatively recently, when someone gave me this advice that I am now sharing with you. Add to your filters 5925 (for P2 protection) or 5035 (for P3 protection) 3M pads. To hold them in place on top of your filters, use a 3M holder K0501. All parts come together nicely and then you’ll have a complete A2 + P2 (or P3) protection. May your lungs serve you for as long as you need them. All the best and thanks again, Daniel

[@magnusmillerwilson]

I love this!

[@Panda]

Now thats a cute cat

[@GreyHouseGames]

All hail the mighty algorithm!

[@LylaMev]

Thank you!

[@tyeklund7221]

I will never understand how painters can work with brushes that aren’t at a perfectly fine point. HOW DO YOU NOT GET PAINT ON SPOTS YOU DONT WANT IT?????

[@juliawacker]

Late to the party but I often use skewers or tooth picks for this

[@jongrubka7169]

Excellent

[@beadb82]

I actually like this style. Different. Seems like it would be difficult to mix the paints constantly for a aquad of models.

[@theo-paintingminiatures3541]

you are making very useful videos with great presentation! I also started developing my channel and I hope I can follow your steps :)

[@LylaMev]

Best of luck!

[@Grundadrakk]

Wow, this is awesome, going to give it a go on my undead minis for the old world. Thanks for the intro into this :D

[@michaelpembroke4427]

Recommended shade colors of reds, blue, greens and purple? chaos colors? Chaos worshiper? Coincidence? I THINK NOT!

[@LylaMev]

Purple is always the answer

[@theblackantonio]

Drakenhof Nightshade!! I discovered it on day 1 of painting and it's been my secret sauce ever since - love the blue-black color, but you just articulated what I seemed to feel by instinct. Also, I use a blue-grey as my midtone for zenithals (drybrushed on slap chop style cuz no airbrush)

[@RannarV]

Using filters is good known in scale modeling

[@electrictrojan6719]

Twilight looks almost watchable minus the blue filter :)

[@ItachiGun-t9q]

All the fake painting in b roll is priceless :D

[@saveversus]

This looks like a cool "nighttime" look. Can it be applied with lighter colors? Something closer to sunrise?

[@TerryMartinTrEmUp]

Mother color is the term Samuel L. Jackson uses when he's picking out crayons....

[@ClemensRech]

Using shades and. mothercolors: always have, always will. That being said shades to me are the more important tool.

[@chrisinculture]

Thanks Lyla. Great video! I've been trying to work out how to get colours to feel more coherent together. One request though please - can you give a trigger warning if you're goig to use horror movie clips? I often watch with me daughters. I know lots of mini worlds are horror settings, but the dying nuclear holocaust victim was a bit too real. Thank you :)

[@Tabletopreadygames]

The model looks like Carrot Top doing a Viking cosplay

[@LylaMev]

Thats a new one!

[@calexanderm]

Great informational video. Although I feel that naming citadels specifically feels like a promo video for GW when there are so many other good options that are much more affordable.

[@LylaMev]

I would use red or orange for sunrise!

[@OhEmGeeGee]

Axl Rose Dryad

[@brandondollar]

That's a Carrot Top miniature, so I'm pretty sure you need a jokero orange.

[@LylaMev]

??????

[@polgarath]

Have you heard of what is called color gamuts?

[@pawe6199]

Althou this is great, I wouldn't paint my army like that. Imagine You paint 100 miniatures in sets of 10 every week or two. I bet each set is going to have a slightly different shade of colours because of manual mixing on the palette. I rather pick concrete colours or prepare a bottle of mixed colour for whole army. This is good for some hobby painting and for exposition of individual miniatures. Not for tabletop painting. At least I wouldn't. :)

[@ger5956]

Please don’t forget to like and comment to appease the almighty algorithm 😁❤️👍🏼

[@LylaMev]

HOW ARE YOU SO FAST

[@Fnordathoth]

At the end of the video you said, "Tell me what you think" so here goes. First off, I absolutely love the majority of your videos. So know that what I'm about to say isn't meant to be mean in any way. You said in the video that people's eyes are drawn to bright and they will focus on that; so maybe I'm just weird. My eyes were immediately drawn to all the blue and all my brain could see was an unfinished model. I'm sorry. Like I said, I love your videos but for me this is a technique I'll likely never use.

[@LylaMev]

Thats totally fine! This was more of speed paint; something that you want to get on the table but spend a little more time on. Personally, I would spend a bunch more time on it!

[@bsal3579]

I would agree with everything Fnordathoth has stated, not to be mean-spirited. For me, it's an OCD thing. It would absolutely drive me bonkers to look at and not finish.

[@metagrossle]

I appreciate the lesson. I have seen ninjon do a mother color episode and I think the mother color/filter idea is great. Please do another so we can see more.

[@LylaMev]

Me too. It was very hard to put her down. @@bsal3579

[@skatanchurch]

I think that problem with this model isn't the technique and filters but the ratio of blue/and other colours in bottom half of the model. If she would use little bit less blue and let the other colours get there little bit more, the feeling from the model would be just fine and wouldn't feel like unfinished. I would like to see the difference of 30% less blue and 30% more colours of the materials. Btw thx for the video. Nice as always. We love it.

[@CosmicDuskWolf]

The shades are cool, mother color interesting concept. Though it would take every fiber of my being not to paint those boots.

[@kellinbray5347]

There’s more washes than citadel

[@CactusJackter]

Not a fan of this new clickbait title direction, though understand if its actually getting results.

[@LylaMev]

Unfortunately, it does!

[@toddanderson5967]

The theory was great. The painting and end result of the figure is horrible. I have seen you paint better than this. You rushed it, then stopped short. I am not trying to be a troll but this was bad.......

[@LylaMev]

the point was speed!

[@habiks]

You lost the bet.. what do I win?

[@HiraethCustomCrafts]

Say waaash ?

[@jerrydronenberg312]

This just looks unfinished.

[@LylaMev]

I would have loved to spend more time on it!