Colour Theory in Practice: Are Limited Colour Palettes Faster? [How I Paint Things]

[@dwarrenmsp]

Really cool finished product and it was nice to see the process. One thing I wish we could have seen was doing the weathering on his coat, pants and boots. It's something I struggle with.

[@franpschorr3646]

I know it’s an old video but that looks insanely good.

[@JohnMiller-yh2lj]

Thanks for the video, I have been scratching my head how to paint my kill team you just gave me my answer. Thanks

[@samsilva-cairns8799]

Cheers for this refreshing to see them not im blue or green for a change.

[@sweatilaa5325]

as someone who almost failed art in elementary school (saved by an essay...), the perspective of an average joe is very nice, refreshing, and easier to understand for a pleb like me.

[@WarhammerGeek]

This is exactly what I did with my Necrons. Primed them silver and just used that as the base coat. Filled in the details (which is even easier on a Necron Warrior as they don't have much) and then drybrused on some rust/weathering. It was simple, didn't require a lot of paints, could easily bee done in batches, and looks good on the table.

[@davidknight2220]

As always useful & to the point help me in my assault on the Lead Mountain Thanks

[@TheBeardyDragon182]

Bruh! I would never have thought of putting red and grey together, I think this is my new colour combo! Awesome vid btw!

[@skinko_hobby]

Those jackets are just so beautiful to watch at being shaded

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Nothing beats a bit of the juice! ;D ...well, maybe Agrax.

[@wolfehoffmann2697]

Very nice work. In regards to space marines and limited palettes, that's really why I've always been a fan of doing pouches, belts, etc in brown leather for a bit more color contrast. It breaks up all that solid color. I like to add extra pouches as well, and make sure they have ones that are realistic to what weapon they're carrying. (Like the drum-fed heavy bolters on HH models getting drum pouches taken from Imperial Guardsmen intended for the grenade launchers. Cutting up bolter pouches and making double-thick pouches for Stormbolter magazines.... little detail things like that. )

[@MLaak86]

I like this Kreig like lad concept

[@timothyyoung2962]

I have definitely notice that “Marine Juice” has started to be another go-to shade next to the old reliable Agrax Earthshade. I usually limit my color pallet just to kind of tie in the minis for whatever warband I’m making. Even if the minis are not painted exactly the same, they will usually have the same color types on their bodies maybe with an accent color like red or blue for wrappings, sashes, etc. Miniature looks great. REALLY like the color scheme on this one.

[@CrashandTrash596]

That’s amazing and fast! Thank you.

[@garybullock5917]

Hi as they say less is more and you've made a great example of that when i started i put to many colors on the figures and the just fought each other great job as always

[@PlaidPenguinGaming]

You really are the undisputed master of washes. I love how this figure turned out, he looks great.

[@huwtindall7096]

Awesome! Limited palette with a single feature colour on small details (red webbing/globes/helmet strap) in this instance produce top results. You see this in interior decorating. Lots of muted greys/whites then a splash of colour on a feature wall or kitchen splash back or something.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Ha! Here's me inadvertently creating an army scheme that'll look like an incredibly sinister kitchen advancing on the enemy... Glad to know it's not without precedent, tho!

[@euansmith3699]

Wow, that mini looks great; especially the highlights and dirt on the great coat.

[@NeoByteNL]

Holy crap dude, probably one of the best looking one's I've seen on your channel.

[@KimHarderFog]

Love that marine juice on top of grey seer, with the red leather accent colours - great job!

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

I'm starting to find it works for all sorts of things!

[@G_Threepwood]

Lovely paint job! A squad of those on the table would look fantastic

[@FLSheepdog]

Been using a color scheme like this that I saw on Petethewargamers Chanel a few years back and it's a big reason I have been able to wade through my imperial gaurd printing.

[@Flamethrower1942]

I like the limited pallet gives the minature a more grounded gritty feel, I like that look.

[@johnkelley9877]

The figure looks fantastic and the subject of color is helpful! Thanks for sharing this.

[@moseth7606]

Your methods are so superb dude! It's amazing how some cam make the best look so easy and simple. Great job!

[@loupiscanis9449]

Thank you , Troy . 🐺

[@irishtom30]

Definitely going to have to try the stippled on metallics, especially on my tanks.

[@alessiodecarolis]

Another mini with a Steampunk vibe, it could pass for a soldier in an "Arcane"- inspired world! In WWI the german soldiers often removed the"pike" from their helmets, to avoid being shot, so it's logical that a veteran had his helmet modified. P.s., I just used your"Marine Juice" on a converted Stargrave mini (a SW pilot) and worked very well on the orange jumpsuit!👍

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Glad to see the juice out in the wild doing some good on other stuff! :D

[@euansmith3699]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio The Juice must flow! I wonder if GW will get around to releasing Marine Juice as an official colour.

[@nineel7395]

Hmm, all my mini's are generally 3 colours. Varying shades of those three, two that blend and one that pops, with maybe a supporting shade like a metallic. My skelator necrons are blue body, purple armour and a yellowy skull so I guess I've been painting with less colours already but I found this video enjoyable as always!

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

I figure it's probably something pretty common that most of us do, some without realising!

[@robisonwells1]

Really nice. I always hear about color theory, but I've never fully understood it. This helps. Thanks!

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

There's a lot of moving parts, but I've always found it useful to break it down to just complementary and harmonious as the easiest way to get paints off the rack and on to the miniature.

[@tylerdurden108]

yeeeah this art of video is super

[@donaldkelly9833]

Looks great

[@JohnMiller-yh2lj]

Happy belated birthday man. 🎊🎉🏺🎂

[@JZStudios2]

"Now I'm not an artist-" I'll stop you right there, as I say these words of a wise old painter I had when I was in college, "Anyone is a painter if they just like art." And I do think miniature painting is art, small and minuscule and we use it for a physical mean instead of just having it in a case or hanged on a wall.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Not a *trained* artist. I maintain there's still a difference, though I quite happily introduce myself as an artist when the locals ask "What is it you do?" ;D

[@furiousv775]

9:41 I would have used Agrax earthshade. Because thats the way painting was intended.

[@TheEccentricMan]

Nice informative tutorial, Colour Wheels are fun.

[@marcogomes1231]

That looks so good. Very informative too.

[@joshconfer209]

Extremely cool tiny toy and informative video.

[@multecoduri]

I'll take boring over how my paint job is usually called - like - "bad " or " ma'am , I have some bad news about your son's evaluation results "

[@stevepickering5978]

Well I think for a not trained artist you are Bloody Brilliant and I would love to be able to paint half as good as you Brilliant and easy on the ear when painting. Keep up the Brilliant work I am I think getting better thanks to you my Friend

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@SoulBoundRcs]

Great video, would love to see more like this

[@Thoadin]

dang, i wanted to see ur trick for the weathering

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Just a bit of scrubby drybrushing - nothing you haven't seen me do before! A grungy old brush and some of the paint worked off on your base will do the job.

[@Bluecho4]

I've been doing my (Fallen) Dark Angels with a limited palette. A primer of Black (followed by a drybrush of 50/50 White + Black), White, Red, and Army Painter Plate Mail Metal. A wash of 50/50 Dark Tone + Strong Tone. Highlighting the whites and reds with the same color, and highlighting the plate mail metal with Army Painter Shining Silver. The only deviance from this is Army Painter Greenskin for the eye lenses, and Army Painter Electric Blue for the plasma weapons.

[@MisterTroglodyte]

Correction: Blue and gold are NOT complimentary colors - blue and orange are, or purple and yellow are. They are only complimentary if they are directly across from one another on the color wheel (draw a line going through the center). When you mix the pigments of complimentary colors in proper proportions you will get a neutral grey. Though if the proportions are off a brownish grey is pretty easy to achieve as well (getting a true grey takes some practice/luck). If you were going for some sort of gold and some sort of blue as true compliments you’d want maybe a blue-ish purple and then a yellowish orange.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

I'm probably going to get this one a lot over the next couple of months - one of the downsides to not being able to update a video once it's gone live! Yes, in order to be true complementary colours it turns out that they need to be *directly* opposite on the colour wheel, which I hadn't realised was a strict rule.

[@BassToby2111]

That's an awesome scheme. Love the helmet/metal details. But I'm having a hard time finding the colour. Is it Vallejo Model Air Black Metal? The description and video tell me otherwise?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

It depends a little on how local stores list them for sale. If you search 'Model Air Metallic Black,' you'll find what you need.

[@biovoro]

Magnificent video, could you tell me how you have done the mud effects of the coat?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Just drybrushing with the dregs of the colour while applying paint to the base, real quick and easy as you're down to the last bits of paint on your brush.

[@j.e1334]

How would you go about adding more vibrant color to a color scheme that uses dark grey (the color I used previously was as the primary base color and a saturated red as a complementary color? The obvious color harmony is white, but I'm painting a SM chapter, so I'm reserving that for the Veteran equivalents. I recently did a more colorful CSM (Night Lords) for a gift to a friend and had my mind blown by how more color I could use. I don't think this will be seen, but it's worth a shot.

[@SimonTrimby]

Has anyone made a Marine Juice equivalent using cheaper paints like Vallejo or Army Painter? What recipes did you use?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

For something similar, Mid Brown from Army Painter is a very similar colour. The ratio of medium to add to it though would need a little experimentation, but that wouldn't take a lot of work!

[@Lets_Get_Gaming]

Really love your notes on color theory in this video. Also worth noting is the complement in color between the red on the model and the green tuft. Speaking of the tuft, in the video you mention going to varnish the miniature while the tuft is already on the base. Does that work ok? I've never tried it. Always put my tufts on last.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Ordinarily I would have left the tuft off until the miniature had been varnished. I think you can see a little frosting in the final image where varnish has caught in the bristles of the tuft and gone a little funny, but for the sake of showing off a 'finished' base on that first stage paintjob, I don't think it's a big difference.

[@richardrussell7082]

Looking at the Marine plasma pistol, have you considered using inverted shading for plasma guns? What I mean is brighter in the recesses (closer to the energy core) and darker on the surface.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Never really given it much thought, honestly. The coils being the bit that gets hot, I imagine they'd be what glows, but it's a made-up space gun so anything goes!

[@richardrussell7082]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio I wasn't criticising, just that I saw someone else do it the other way and was just wondering if you had considered it at all 😉👍

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

@@richardrussell7082 It's all good! I didn't take it as a critique - it's honestly just something that's never really come to mind to consider before. As long as I've been painting them, plasma coils have always been lighter on the high points; I've just been doing what I always do. 😂

[@alwoo1295]

Curious how you like the new shades. Any impact on Aly's Brown Liquid or Mark's Marine Juice? I'm finding folks are rushing out to buy up a future supply of the old Agrax,

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

I've no idea, myself. I went and got a stockpile of the old stuff so my shades would keep working the way I like. 😅

[@stefan020290]

Yellow and red are also complimentary colours (gold is just the metallic variation of yellow, if it is really bright). Harmonious would be to have green and blue, yellow and orange or red and purple. Edit: so you were kinda wrong in your video as you said custodes have a harmonious colour composition. If you look at space marine chapters, a lot of them have complimentary colours schemes because they are really striking, Imperial fists, salamanders and heresy emperor's children come to mind.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Fair enough, I'd thought of gold being more orange-yellow depending on how it's painted, which leans closer to harmonious. Probably goes to show I don't ordinarily put too much thought into painting walloping great golden bois. 😂

[@blackehartrc395]

awesome work! what are you using as a matte varnish?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Vallejo Matt Spray. Always does the job for me!

[@greyt00th]

Any idea if marine juice works with Ultramarines?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

It certainly does!

[@s.scottstaten1852]

Just a comment, Blue and Yellow are not compliments to each other. Yellow compliments purple and blue to Orange.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

I'm going to hear this a lot... 😂 I hadn't realised that something had to be directly opposite on the colour wheel to count as complementary. I did point out I'm not a trained artist!

[@oliverizzard8751]

Isn't purple the complementary of yellow?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

I'm going to hear this a lot... 😂 I hadn't realised that something had to be directly opposite on the colour wheel to count as complementary. I did point out I'm not a trained artist!

[@lobbinskij]

What brushes do you use?

[@morc-at-arms8903]

Looks great! Very Austrian ;P

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

I guess! Do you think it'll get people to stop asking how I'd paint Austrians? 😜

[@morc-at-arms8903]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio 😆

[@ml6158]

Limited pallette are definitly faster to paint.