Making Minis Gorgeous With Underpainting

Use this tried and tested fine art technique to take your mini painting to a new level.
With just one red ink and handful of paints, we can transform these Primaris Space Marines into just about any shade of red you can imagine, and add a level of richness and depth to our colours that would take hours of glazing and blending otherwise.
No Airbrush? No Problem! -- • Fast, smooth blends wi...
More on inks over metallics: • Speed Paint Psychedeli...
Hi-res images: www.grgminiatu...
Paints Used
All: Liquitex Pyrrole Red Ink
Red/Yellow: Molotow Burgandy & Zinc Yellow
Green/Beige: Molotow Mister Green & Beige Sand
Blue: Molotow Petrol & True Blue/Signal White 50:50 mix
Purple/Pink: Molotow Violet Dark & Vallejo Squid Pink
Shiny: Vallejo Air Color Gunmetal & Silver
Website: www.grgminiatu...
Instagram: / grgminiatures
Music: "Valentine" by Wintergatan
This track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergaten.net
Free License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergaten.net
😮 / grgminiatures
#warhammer40k #paintingminiatures #tutorial #tabletopgaming #tabletopgames #wargaming #spacemarines #bloodangels #worldeaters #wordbearers

[@flumpet38]

Purple underpaint is definitely my favorite as well, followed by blue. I would 100% watch a video series that explored more colors like this. I'm gearing up to paint some of the new Aeldari and trying to sort out how to get a light blue as interesting as the red you've got with some of these.

[@GRGMiniatures]

I’m gearing up for some Eldar too! (Soooo hyped!) I just finished filming ‘yellow’ today, so consider the series underway :D

[@johnmarshall3175]

Absolutely love this! More more more please!

[@ryanswarner1915]

I'd actually really like to see you redo red with what you've learned. I think you'd get some really great results.

[@philipjabalaia4551]

You sir, will lead my hobby renaissance I'm so in love with your video format and way of explaining. I recently had my eyes opened to working with coulour. And with colour theory, I'm still learning but this is amazing. Amazing work, amazing channel and amazing colours

[@GRGMiniatures]

Thank you Philip! Welcome back to the hobby!

[@KameradArktis]

Just the video i needed when planning my green shinny Alpha Legion

[@GRGMiniatures]

Glad you found the Harlequin vid 😁

[@Ammonitemare1711]

This looks like a lot of fun, having color depth like this adds so much to a mini. I really like the blue and violet ones and I’ll be thinking about this video next time I paint some red robes on my admech army

[@GRGMiniatures]

If you’re on insta, do tag me with the results 😁

[@yegorkhorushko479]

Color Wheel - yes, please!

[@GRGMiniatures]

That little wheel is going to be making many more appearances from now on I think...

[@harleyuk322]

Just happened across your channel and you have some excellent content. You explain things in a very detailed yet concise and easy to understand way. Really looking forward to binge watching your content 😀

[@GRGMiniatures]

Thank you so much, Harvey!

[@matthewrayner571]

You put out some really great stuff! For a relatively new chanel, you are improving the quality at an astonishing rate! It started off good, but this is top-tier. As for the models, I was about to type up my thoughts when you started saying exactly what was going through my mind. the violet one is nice, but I don't think I love it as much as you for rank-and-file troops. If I was to do a whole army, it would either be the green or the ultra-thematic blue. Thanks again for another great video.

[@GRGMiniatures]

Super kind if you to say, Matthew! I know what you mean about rank and file - I think the purple guy would only work for a custom chapter maybe.

[@surtrpicks]

Great vid man!

[@GRGMiniatures]

Thank you!

[@And-c7n]

Colour wheel exploration sounds good. I wonder what you can achieve with a stormtrooper from star wars Legion which is white?

[@GRGMiniatures]

I really want to have a go at some of the Star Wars stuff! I have a video using a Tau model exploring white a little bit, but there's a bigger set of experiments in the works, so stay tuned!

[@bettsdn]

Fantastic vid. Would love to see more from you about color like you mentioned. Also: we got to get you some more subs!

[@GRGMiniatures]

That’s very kind of you to say, Daniel! Feel free to share the vid far and wide 😇😁

[@beningham9782]

Great video - one question, you talk about how mixing paint on the pallete desaturates - why doesnt it do the same thing when you're essentially using the same paint on a miniature?

[@benjimlem1284]

I wonder how well a transparent paint like tamiya clear paints would work here as the top coat...

[@christopherwiezorek1480]

Could you maybe explain how you might apply this theory to a predominantly black force like Iron Hands, Black Templars or Black Legion? I’ve been thinking about approaching Black Legion in a way that would give them more variation, maybe even nodding to their original Sons of Horus colors. Great work!

[@GRGMiniatures]

Hi Christopher! Thank you for the kind words. I plan on moving all the way round the colour wheel and tackling 'special cases' like black and metallics. In the meantime, it could be fun to run some experiments by underpainting the SoH turquoise, then slowly layering up black ink, but instead of concentrating on top down, spray from below, leaving your highlights an ambiguous turquoise-grey. I haven't tried anything like that, but in theory it should work! I also have a vid on speed painting black Krieg, but that's a little more generic and maybe not what you're looking for. Sorry for the mini essay! TL;DR I will get to black in the underpainting series, but if you get to experiment first, let me know how it goes!

[@christopherwiezorek1480]

@@GRGMiniatures this is quite helpful! I will have to try out some recipes and see what works best! I have a handful of ideas, but the theory application you provide in the video makes me think there is probably an easy way to think through the process before I start trying it out on the minis.

[@wingzero595]

I like the violet. Just wondering does this method transfer easy to larger models?

[@GRGMiniatures]

Hi David. Yup! I've done similar things on dreads and tanks -- you can see them in the Salamanders and Night Lords vids :)

[@Rich-in6ds]

This was awesome! Thanks for sharing. Two questions, if you don’t mind: Do you have any tips for working with paint that’s as heavily thinned as you did there with the red, without it spidering on the model? I like the idea of the blue/purple undertone for a night time model but then wouldn’t the blue from the moonlight be the highlight, not the shadow? Maybe I’m getting that wrong?

[@GRGMiniatures]

Brush control applies as much to airbrushes as it does to regular brushes! I sometime practice with pure water in the brush, just to get a sense of how thin you can go. Short, soft bursts, never linger on a single spot for more than a micro-second. Regarding the colours -- in reality red becomes basically black at night (this is more to do with how our eyes work than the 'colour' of moonlight, but that's a tale for another time), but ultimately it's about mood, not reality. If something feels right, it's right!

[@SPARTANTROOPER]

I've tried underpainting a few times but always end up wiping out the undercoat when applying my base colour. I think maybe I'm going to thick or heavy.

[@tychoMX]

"there's a bit of thinking involved". Well, that'd explain my lackluster results and constant re-working :)

[@GRGMiniatures]

Haha - don’t put yourself down, I’m sure you’re doing just fine ;)

[@tychoMX]

@@GRGMiniatures heh. Well some improvement in skills, some bars have been lowered. But now I want to experiment undershading. I put a bit of magenta ink in the shadows of BA, but not enough.

[@GRGMiniatures]

Magenta under shading is great! Good luck with the minis :)

[@shanewalker3427]

Underpainting gold metallic works better than silver for red from what I've tried.

[@GRGMiniatures]

I can definitely imagine so. The warmth will really support the red.