EASY Airbrush Secrets You Need To Know | Miniature Painting

Check out Witchsong Miniatures on my mini factory! bit.ly/3SALX2e
This week we are talking about the easiest airbrushing cheats to help you paint your miniatures better! Lets talk about how to use your airbrush, contrast paints / speed paints, creating better zenithal highlights / zenithal priming, using colored shadows, and more!
________________________________
Popular Videos:
Airbrush Miniature Painting Tips I WISH SOMEONE TOLD ME: • Airbrush Miniature Pai...
The Most BASIC Mini Painting Tips I WISH SOMEONE HAD TOLD ME!: • The Most BASIC Mini Pa...
Why You Aren't Miniature Painting (And How to Fix It): • Why You Aren't Miniatu...
________________________________
Instagram: bit.ly/2JJV4MM
Patreon: bit.ly/2LVP0Dn
My Tools: bit.ly/32xq4YI
Merch: bit.ly/3sC38n6
00:00 Intro
00:56 Colorful Zenithal Priming
03:00 Better Zenithal Priming
03:57 Contrast Paints
6:29 The Better Way To Blend
Lyla Mev The Mini Witch creates beginner miniature painting tutorials and easy-to-understand guides for Warhammer, dungeons & dragons, and more. My favorite things to paint are sisters of battle, display quality miniatures, and focusing on having fun.

[@LylaMev]

Airbrush yay, nay, or may? Check out Witchsong Miniatures on my mini factory! bit.ly/3SALX2e

[@funchick202]

ooooo. thats a cool model.

[@firmak2]

Wait so with the airbrush at the end you mix the highlight color and the base/ shadow color and to the area where the colors meet. Then you highlight with an even brighter color and then you mix a new batc with the new highlight color and the old one? Is this correct?

[@LylaMev]

Right!!

[@JakeDogg-RIP]

I love airbrush, I not very good at it tho, need to do more of practise 😉🥰🐶

[@MaskedRiderChris]

I'm none too good with the airbrush at this time, as well. But I need to force myself to use it more often, and this was an excellent video to give me incentive to do so. Especially since I'm dabbling in using alternate colors for shadows at this time, as it happens.

[@JM-qz4ik]

this video is a must see for people using the airbrush regardless of how proficient they are. The examples are crisp and clear. I love the demonstrations without the model that really help focus on the point and the cause. This video is an 11 out of 10.

[@LylaMev]

That means so much!

[@elmohead]

One tip with airbrush is to keep the trigger down and push/pull as needed. This means constant airflow and variable ink/paint flow.

[@TheScarletInfector]

I was gonna comment this. Her results are good and she is a better painter than me. But you don't stop air until you are done with a pass and away from the model. Air always on. Pull back more or less for paint/no paint. It is an airbrush not a spray can.

[@jimmyodinson9841]

@@TheScarletInfector plus if you do stop the air always start it again away from the model that way any spatter/speckles will be on the mat and not the model

[@jessicalawson1417]

Doing this also helps dry the paint on the object you are painting

[@jj-icejoe6642]

And burn your compressor

[@timmytom]

Brilliant. Learnt something today. Many thanks for sharing.

[@90sarcadefighter5]

Absolutely loving your content! Thank you

[@MartinODonnel]

Thank you for the tips!

[@mingrui1862]

Finally getting around to seriously beginning my path on miniatures painting. I found your channel and I have learned so much to keep in mind and apply. Thank you so much!

[@dspartan007]

lovely painting job, thanks Lyla.

[@LylaMev]

Thank you!

[@alexanderfoust6127]

I love your videos! Your use of silly putty to protect areas from over spray has been immensely helpful in building my confidence with my airbrush! Thank you!!!!!!

[@captnwinkle]

Silly putty? Interestinf. Guess for parts tape can't cover evenly?

[@saltykrug]

Knowing what colors to use for situations like shading is such a huge weak point in my knowledge base. It really makes me miss my Aunt Barbara, she was a retired interior decorator and she knew color relationships like a boss! The advice you gave to use blue for shadows when in doubt really blew my mind! I'll try that on my next mage or Lich I paint for something different and new. That made such great sense when you said it, real aha moment. Thanks for the great videos and channel buddy, your advice and help has really helped me improve my painting game since I came back to the hobby after a 35 year break. Thanks a ton!

[@yostaustin]

Great video!! Can really tell how much effort you put in on this one!!

[@jonathandawson2962]

great vid and i will be testing out these techniques as ive been using my airbruch for basis undercoates and basecoates

[@OayzHozey]

Ok. Best advice on base color. Subscribed!!

[@Psilocybear]

very interesting video! lots of stuff I've never considered but I'm very interested to try now

[@CrimsonTemplar2]

I like your suggestion for airbrush blending. I think that’ll be a lot easier to master for a novice like myself.

[@benmiles00]

Zumikito Minaitures recommended this exact method a month ago. Hmm.

[@mandalorianknight7002]

Just began dabbling in underpainting with glazes myself, this is really good advice!

[@LylaMev]

I'm so happy to inspire you!

[@krzysztofmathews738]

Excellent demonstration. Kudos to you for doing the safe, smart thing and using a respirator setup when painting!

[@Crackparty803]

Am I going to die if I don't?

[@krzysztofmathews738]

@@Crackparty803 That, or suffer all sorts of other chronic health issues.. Bitsy little aerosolized plastic particulates are not things that human lungs do especially well with over time.

[@Crackparty803]

@@krzysztofmathews738 Oh shit

[@natelay7244]

So cool. So much food for thought... Thanks for the great vid!

[@LylaMev]

Thank you for your comment!

[@TurboYams]

Great easily digestible vid!

[@alexnewhouse3221]

Love the video, always come back to it when in my thinky phase for a new project - and I feel the white ink pain! So useful, but, can be unruly. I use Liquitex white ink and used to get a lot of spatter as well. Then, when experimenting with additives and pressure, I ditched thinners and used just flow improver at a relatively low pressure (20-25psi with a 0.2mm H+S brush). Instant improvement. I am a much happier zenithal and OSL painter now.

[@RadioTeal]

Greetings. Really like your channel and I am just getting into 3D printing of minitures and of course painting them. Thanks for the great information.

[@JakeDogg-RIP]

Good girl Lyla! 🥰 great tips! 🔥🔥🐶

[@6TypoS9]

awesome stuff

[@joanmarin3928]

Really nice video!

[@scweeeker1]

Great info, thx

[@LylaMev]

Yay!!

[@acrylicchemist1432]

Great tips! Removing the needle guard can also help when going in close for airbrushing thin glazes if you find your spray pattern is too big :)

[@LylaMev]

That's a good one!

[@NoirBeard]

I know that it wasn't the focus of the video, but that might be the clearest explanation of glazing i've seen on youtube. I'll have to give that paint brush then airbrush method a shot. and yeah, purple is awesome, I think dioxazine purple might be my favorite paint.

[@markgnepper5636]

Great stuff friend 👏 👍

[@proficyink2114]

I love that you get paint all over your hand. Im not a fan of gloves so I alway's have black, blue or purple spray paint on my hands. such a good look. happy painting mini which,

[@Treeslayer82]

Great video, thank you. Thing I struggle with most when airbrushing is dry tip on the needle

[@brianahawkins8124]

Oh my Spooks that is one awesome Scarecrow figurine!

[@LylaMev]

I wish I had printed the whole model!

[@DeCurtisProductions]

I would have loved to see how you did the glowing eyes and mouth effect!

[@szymonm.5045]

Very good video. Thanks! And regarding speckles - have you tried airbrush flow improver? Should help.

[@brianroma2042]

Thanks for your hard work on your channel. I am super new and these breakdowns help. I am curious if you tried purple ink for the shading step? Did purple paint give a different look or advantage?

[@beneisen6982]

That's a lot of cool stuff you can do with airbrushing. While I don't have one, the way you make it seem so intuitive does have me tempted to get one.

[@LylaMev]

I love my airbrush!

[@CAMSLAYER13]

Its almost worth it to not have to buy rattlecan primer any more

[@billcurran7210]

This is really helpful! I think I'm going to try this on an army of orcs I'm printing now.

[@nathanthom8176]

I have already been using a coloured primer for my zenithal before using translucent paint over it. For my Blood Angels, I prime with Vallejo German Red Brown and then zenithal highlight it with Vallejo Grey primer (it is a very, very light grey) then go over it with Bloody red speed paint (and then varnish to stop reactivation later).

[@genredegars]

Awesome tips and tricks thank you. The paintjob on the goblin boss is awesome. Can you please tell us (sorry if its another video) how did you manage to paint the fabric (each step) ?

[@jsonkody]

Wow thx. Su good advices that really make sense. I just feel how I get +3 levels in airbrushing and I did not use airbrush yet :D

[@RoofusKit]

I could be wrong because it's hard to tell from the video, but at one point it looked like you were releasing the whole trigger after every spray. If that's the case it may be where your speckles are coming from. With a dual action brush you want to keep the air flowing in between your short bursts of paint. So pull back the trigger quickly but keep the air valve pressed down so that paint doesn't collect at the tip. If you cut the air off at the same time as the paint you get drops forming on the nozzle tip.

[@SaturdayX818]

Omg XD I thought it was me beeing just to dump to understand how to not get speckles! Will try ur technique!

[@mastafoo886]

lots of awesome stuff in here! what is the material you are using to mask parts of the model as you airbrush? i need to get something like that

[@YanniCooper]

7:35 Testing elsewhere first is probably the most valuable airbrush tip ever!

[@lorenzopontoriero6034]

hello, congratulations for the video, really useful. One question, what do you use to mask the parts of the miniature that you don't want to get stained with color while using the airbrush? I can not understand. thanks for any reply :)

[@karmaq8462]

Yup I just tried this with osl , it works it's easier to out transparent paint on minis too , if you use inks to shape the tone on minis , this is how squidmar does his minis too , if you watch his videos.

[@CoryG1981]

really like the face of the pumpkin :D

[@crymric]

Good mini, good tips :) What's that golden thing what you are using for masking?

[@emceha]

If there is one thing I remembered from Jose DaVinci amazing videos it’s this, always add purple or dark blue to your shadows.

[@isisnmagic1812]

Great video, question what do you use to thin your paints to use the the airbrush?

[@LylaMev]

Airbrusher thinner! I Believe mine is from Vallejo

[@JakeDogg-RIP]

I think it Marco ear frisoni say shadows is best to use the “opposite” colour, on the colour wheel, so red and green, blue and orange etc, so whatever colour is ur main colour in the light area, u use the opposite colour to paint the shadows and it trick us eyes, I think that is a good way but it also possible to do same thing but using warm colours and cool colours, so if u do red armour u can do blue shadows, or purple or green etc, because red is warm u use cool colours for shadow, or if u do blue ultramarines u can do red shadows, or even use purple again but a warmer purple, probably why u like purple for shadow, it can be either warm of cool 🥰🐶

[@joshuaballard6649]

I'm Commander Ballard, and this is my favourite video on KZbin :)

[@Izzyspaintingworkshop]

Great video as always. I could stand some practice with my AB too, I still get speckles.

[@LylaMev]

The short bursts is a game changer!

[@Izzyspaintingworkshop]

@@LylaMev Totes. I think I may need to thin down my paints a bit more too

[@easterlingsminiatures]

What size nozzle and or needle do you recommend? I have a 0.3mm in mine at the moment but I was curious what others thought about different sized nozzles and needles. Thanks and great video by the way.

[@artistpoet5253]

5:22 I just use a bit of tinted card coated with a matte varnish. Most times its cut offs from masking or terrain making.

[@LylaMev]

I should try that!!

[@benmiles00]

4:20 - that exactly why I absolutely despise those GW pots. They could have changed them for the new range but why do that when they know people will inevitably knock them over. Chaching! 💰💰💰

[@bencoomer2000]

Purple is a great shadow. I do also like Payne's grey.

[@Mordraqq]

Love having an airbrush ,if its for base coating , shadows,highlights or whatever ,its a MUST HAVE for this hobby. I would NEVER use any spray cans for base coating ,for example.

[@robngraves3941]

do you still do primer over your models when doing darker colors first? and best primer?

[@jimhedberg8843]

Great stuff! When doing those thin glazes, do you only thint it down with medium glaze or any other things like water or flow improver? :)

[@LylaMev]

Honestly I use all of the above. Glaze medium is easier, but once you're skilled you can do all of the above

[@estusaddictedknight7084]

I love airbrushing, mixing oxide red and black makes a perfect allround shadow colour

[@IrocZIV]

I like the glow you managed with the eyes and mouth in Jack-o-lantern head.

[@MakillaGorilla3]

Great video. May I ask, what did you use to cover the blue of the shirt when you were airbrushing the jacket. Was that a type of sticky tack or putty?

[@LylaMev]

Blue poster tack!

[@758richy]

Maybe I'm just frugal and so scared to waste any paint, but whenever I see youtube videos on airbrushing I'm always stunned by how much paint is added to the hopper at a time 😂 I've base coated whole tanks with less paint than I've seen some people use for a single infantry model. That said, I'm far from good at airbrushing so maybe I'll find myself adding more as I get better at it!

[@Walboro]

Awesome, super helpful tips Lyla as always. I’m not the best with an airbrush either but I love practicing. #NotificationSquad

[@LylaMev]

My favorite hashtag!

[@thewrongguy]

Whats a good buget airbrush kit and compressor for newbies

[@camcraft]

So good to see I'm not the only one who has had to pour spilt contrast paint back into the pot 😅

[@LylaMev]

Thank god it was on cardboard!

[@ogrokun]

Hey Lyla! Great video! I have been using different colors for shadows in my zenithal, and its working great! I also like using white ink instead of paint, as I found that it creates more smooth transitions, but the ink layer may easily break when you wet it again with more paint. How long do you leave the ink to dry until it is ready for a new layer on top?

[@LylaMev]

Just a few minutes! No more than 5

[@ogrokun]

@@LylaMev thanks!

[@zenzin7725]

I have a couple of potential fixes for your specalling through the airbrush. First and foremost make sure you pull the needle then remove nozzle cap and then the nozzle and clean the airbrush through the hole the needle goes through. The best tool to do this with is Dentek teeth cleaners (orange and white ones that have bristles) Also make sure to clean the nozzle but be very careful with it as it is easy to break it if you apply to much pressure so work gently. Also be very careful with the needle when it is removed and when you clean it as it is very easy to bend the tip and if that happens you have to buy a new one. Second tip is to just thin your paint more or increase air pressure but I am assuming you're doing this. Cleaning the airbrush is the single most common culprit for specs and spots when spraying

[@joesturn7740]

This is super helpful! I have one question about using purple for shadows. If you are using purple as your shadow like in your example, can you still use black as a color for the clothing on a model? For example, if the shadows on a Skaven plague monk are purple, is there a way to still have their robes black or to simulate black? Thank you!

[@LylaMev]

Totally! Painting black is more about using shades of gray than using actual black! Take a look at black fabric and you'll see that, while shadows are black, the midtones are mostly a dark gray and the highlights are also gray!

[@abcdodd]

Could you tell us where you got those magnificent acrylic paint shelves, please?

[@danteinferno6513]

Thank you Lyla for all your advices! You talked about scale 75 inktensity range, but tell me how do you make them translucent? I bought those inks to do exactly as you ( over white) but it was a real mess, my blue ink covered everything and it gave my mini a satin/horrible finish... So I gave up and took citadel constrast paint ( with a better result, thalassar blue is great for this method for example) . I 'd like to use my inktensity range well , so how do you use it?

[@LylaMev]

Those inks are VERY INTENSE. you definitely need to thin them with a thinner medium!

[@chrismallett5464]

A bit off the topic of this video, but I'd like to see what you can do with historical miniatures. I realise that fantasy gaming is a much bigger market and you do a really great job with colour schemes, I'd like to see what you do with the preset colour scheme of napoleonics or wwii figures

[@Rykrai]

I spilt my Blood Angels red contrast paint the other day, had the exact same response. haha

[@LylaMev]

Thank God it was on cardboard and I could dump it back in!

[@pauls3585]

I love the anti-zenith highlights cat 🤣👌

[@LylaMev]

Mochi was NOT HAPPY to participate.

[@thomasjones3221]

interested in hearing more about what you have to say about contrast paints.

[@LylaMev]

Honestly I'm still testing$

[@ray-ray_jackson3316]

What is that stuff you used to cover the middle part of the model? Some sort of painting putty?

[@Adrian-dt2oz]

Lyla I don’t think there’s a best color for shadows… all depends of everything. Might be good to use it with red in a certain mini. But what if you use purple to shadow a yellow area? 😅

[@Khornepop69]

What is the masking putty you used at 4:27?

[@alexwilliams4503]

Airbrush yay! How do you like the Iwata airbrush? Have you compared it to others?

[@robertoabbarchi7395]

Which kind of material do you use to mask while you are painting with the airbrush?

[@asuranshadow9491]

I use lined index cards for my opacity test when glazing - if you can see the line, thumbs up.

[@DeCurtisProductions]

Where did you get the Chandra bust?

[@B4MBI72]

White ink speckles... could be the ink itself. FW Ink was a nightmare for me, but Liquitex was perfect. Also got to giggle at KZbins captions for this video, never heard of Xenophobe priming before :-)

[@connorjensen9699]

The biggest thing for me with an airbrush trying to do glow effects was learning that different paint/pigment types will land very differently even with the same settings. I don't know if its the size of the ground, the actual material choice, or something else entirely. But some paints, such as most GW ones, will have a sort of dusty effect when compared to others like US Art supply brand. The latter offers a lot less opacity in one pass, but it makes a glow effect a lot more convincing. Modulating how much is only one part though, the actual finish looking dusty from the GW paints was really holding me back until I tried other brands that did it better.

[@LylaMev]

The thinner the paint, the less air pressure you need!

[@connorjensen9699]

@@LylaMev very true, but thats not the only thing at play - some paints genuinely land more dusty than others, even when the resulting flow is the same

[@frenzymodexd]

What brand of paints were you using at the beginning, for the purple and green zenithal? Never seen them before

[@LylaMev]

Those were kimera!

[@joe9433]

What is the putty u are using to protect already painted areas while airbrushing

[@LylaMev]

Silly putty!

[@SweenyMarc]

On coloured shading, check out GRG Miniatures - he's done a long series on the concept and really explored some interesting options. I'm really interested in trying out inks and translucent paints, looks like it adds a ton of visual impact.

[@yandamanwithdaplan]

woohoo 1st comment! Great tips as always Lyla!

[@LylaMev]

Congrats!!

[@TheoLeinad.]

what is that thing in front of the chest at the end, is it play doh? Or what do you use/recommend to cover parts you don't want to paint ? Thanks :)

[@LylaMev]

Silly putty!

[@PilgrimofMatter]

Lol. KZbin's speech to text is not perfect. "xenophil highlights" Xenophil looks like something from an H. R. Giger-inspired monster. Great video, Lyla. :)

[@Phil-pu9iy]

When you undercoat with let's say purple and put a zenithal on top to then spray the model with translucent paints - do you cover the whole model with that contrast/ink or just the highlight/zenithal areas? I'm afraid of covering up the shadow color.

[@LylaMev]

I only spray the transparent paint from the top to try to hit those same areas I hit with my white! You can go from below a little bit if it is looking unnatural, but I try to keep it to the zenithalled areas.

[@Phil-pu9iy]

@@LylaMev Cheers! I think I'm going to do some test runs with some boardgame minis to see waht I like. I can't really imagine spraying a green translucent ink on top of a purple/zenithal undercoat and not end up with a purple/green model when I want a green one with a nice, popping contrast.

[@ReiDunamis]

Your work is impressive, but I wonder, what is this brown pasty thing you put to protect areas you want to protect in the video ?

[@LylaMev]

Just cardboard!

[@gregorde]

For shadows one trick is to use the complement color of your main color, especially for things like marines. Look across the color wheel and pick a dark shade. I think I learned that from Vince V’s videos. It works.

[@captnwinkle]

Is complement color the one opposite on the wheel?

[@gregorde]

@@captnwinkle yeah. Maybe complementary color is the bette term. So like green - red. It’s weird but works. Or a brown tending towards that color.

[@captnwinkle]

@@gregorde but when do you use them? For highlights?!

[@gregorde]

@@captnwinkle as the shadows. A dark shade of the complementary color as a shadow, recess, etc. For example, if you’re painting ultramarines, you can under shade from The bottom with a dark orange brown. Or black line the armor recesses. It creates a high contrast. Color theory makes my head hurt and I don’t understand why it works.

[@TheRobowski]

So I should buy one

[@LylaMev]

I mean. **I** Think so.

[@lennyt92]

Hey, do you use paint thinner when using citadel paints or do you use water ,oooor do you use nothing and put it straight into the airbrush..nooby question i know😅

[@LylaMev]

contrast paints go straight in!

[@lennyt92]

​@@LylaMev thanks for the reply , ill try it with army painters speed paints and see how it turns out :)

[@vidarthorsby2052]

Dumb question given the name of the video. How can I get these effects without and airbrush? I was eyeing thousand sons and/or chaos demons. They have a lot of fun details in their sculpts. Advice is appreciated.

[@Umbraldancer]

instead of smashing 3 pots of kimera together have you not tried the Molotow Inks as an undercoat?

[@tebusan6217]

My wife is getting me a airbrush set up and compressor do u have any suggestions? I’m looking for a compressor that doesn’t req oil and isn’t too loud if possible . Can u pls help me

[@tebusan6217]

@@BTCRATES that’s for just the compressor? What about airbrush set up u recommend?

[@jeffstjean9184]

Flow improver, not thinner or water, to the ink to get rid of the speckles

[@Dude_Slick]

4:11 The spill looks like Ireland.