Understanding Underpainting

Learning how the paint colors that are underneath your paint colors will effect your paint colors (?) is an important step to getting better as a miniatures painter. In this video, Atom talks about his favorite ways to paint light colors over dark primers and he explains the mysteries and wonders of pre-shading.
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Chat, ask questions, and communicate with Atom

[@chelseylaster1465]

I absolutely love how you break everything down for those of us who are new to to the medium! Thanks a bunch! 😁

[@smackroscoe]

I demand a demonstration video of you painting a figure/vehicle/? with these under-painting concepts! And by demand, I mean PLEASE? I thank you for all that you do for us.

[@tabletopminions]

Hopefully I'll be able to do that at some point. Thanks for watching!

[@CronusandRhea]

I feel like I just attended an art class back in college. For the last two years I have been painting miniatures just for the enjoyment of painting. I really don't intend to play, giving life to the metal and plastic characters is just therapeutic for me. Gonna attempt under painting on Wulfrik the Wanderer after I finish the current mini. Thank you, I have subscribed and I don't subscribe to many people either :0)

[@tabletopminions]

+CronusandRhea ZeusandHera Thanks! I find that underpainting is underutilized by most people starting out in minis painting. It really helps with your colors coming out as you intended. Thanks for watching!

[@CronusandRhea]

No problem sensai.

[@discipleprojectoutreach]

You are the Bob Ross of miniature painting :)

[@tabletopminions]

That's a great compliment! Thank you, and thanks for watching!

[@CraftsAndMinis]

I just painted 151 various minis for DnD in 35 days using the method of priming in black then white from above and relying heavily on Daler Rowney Acrylic Artist Inks. This technique works. Thanks, Atom!

[@Mikeyb2k]

Way better tutorials than gw. Watched six in a row and loads of ideas!

[@maxlodge4668]

Love watching your vids, but would be nice to see what your talking about like the comparisons between hot and cold on models in a split screen style Other than that love the videos

[@LoftOfTheUniverse]

+ 1!

[@Pugh95Bear]

I've been binging your videos all day today, and I have to say that I am so glad I came across your channel. I'm just now getting into WH40K with my girlfriend (I'm T'au, she is Necrons), and we have been kinda scared to just jump into building and painting our Start Collecting sets and have been testing color schemes and techniques on some Space Marine and Ork units we got from a friend. You give fantastic advice and have boosted my morale with jumping into this. Thank you for the wonderful content.

[@dc37009]

Sir, You are a God !!! These are seriously prof'l tips. Thanks so much for sharing ! Also, the wet pallet one...

[@HarleyAssi]

Airbrush is Cheating! So is using Brushes! Fingerpainting is the real thing!

[@tabletopminions]

+Michael R. But I have really big fingers. Thanks for watching!

[@C861986]

Michael R. mine look like they've been finger painted....

[@HarleyAssi]

Kirk Bushell Ouuu.. Nice burn!

[@carbon1255]

nails only sculpting! must have produced material too! poop! Fingerpainting poop.

[@HarleyAssi]

Dang... U Artsy Gangster...

[@CatSamurai99]

I've been painting my own minis for over 25 years. I still learn new things from different people all the time. I just found your videos and look forward to seeing more of your technique.

[@tabletopminions]

+Cat Samurai I agree! I'm always learning new things, especially from KZbin. Thanks for watching!

[@darnutube1117]

Thank you, for the tips. I've been painting for past ten years. and have been trying push myself to next level of Miniature Painting. This video has given me some good ideas of how to do this.

[@7ninjasstudios808]

I can confirm exactly what you said about Secret Weapon Washes being intended for glazing and coloring over shades or each other.

[@rhettuk]

Superb tips there as always, many thanks. Just watching these makes me want to get my paint box out again.

[@DevyTanusukma]

Great video. I learn way more than just pre shading from this one video!

[@BB-pn2qv]

Wow, the old video and this mic has a real Bob Ross feel to it! I love it

[@lexzbuddy]

Light from above, Azimuth priming, very good. Listen to this fellow, he knows his stuff :) Another good video.

[@azuritet3]

i watched this video several times and showed it to a couple of friends who also paint. very good explanation. would give this video two thumbs up if i could.

[@tabletopminions]

+AzuriteT3 Glad it helped, and I hope it helped your friends, as well. Thanks for watching!

[@strawberryturtle8978]

+AzuriteT3 You can give it two thumbs up. Just log in with another youtube account and slam that thumbs up again.

[@think4urself139]

So, so helpful. So, so standard, easy language to understand for us non-art people. Thanks!

[@tabletopminions]

Thanks! I always try to explain things in a way that make sense to me, so I'm glad when other people tell me that they get it, too. Thanks for watching!

[@Morec0]

This is enlightening! Gonna have to think a bit more before I start painting my necrons purple over their black base.

[@BTRedDawg]

This is something ive wondered about for a long time. thank you so much for explaining it.

[@kahldris1228]

Your tips are very informative, heres to my first attempt at miniature painting since I was a kid going well!

[@jacobhope6164]

Exactly the video I needed to watch. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.

[@a-blivvy-yus]

This reminds me of a friend whose "hero" characters were always primed and undercoated in gunmetal or silver paint. It made the character sort of seem to glow, and really helped them stand out a bit more on the table. Also did it with a Necron army before painting normal colours over them, and they came out still looking mostly metallic even though there wasn't a single metallic paint used on the top layer of the model.

[@philipvlummens]

Only discovered this video today. Wonderful insight which I didn't know. Love your channel!

[@hunggarrebel2801]

One of the best and most informative videos for hobbyist painting. Thanks mate!

[@tabletopminions]

+k rad Thanks for the high praise, and thanks for watching!

[@add2ndedition663]

So wait you are talking about contrast paints but how they work and prior to 2019 ... And this is why I am subbed because you understand colour theory more than the GW chemists.

[@searose6192]

It makes sense that you preshade models to get correct and realistic lighting effects, after all that is a classic oil painting technique for portraits (start with full greyscale shading of people then topped with layers and glazed layers of thin translucent skin tones), it’s what gives oil paintings their beautiful depth and realism.

[@ondaderthad7139]

This reminded me of a course I took some years ago about the Flemish Old Masters techniques. The main reason was that back then colour pigments were very expensive (sme made from ground gemstones). So they first painted a monochrome picture using just Burnt Umber and White. (both cheap pigments) using about 5 or 6 different shades. The result was a realistic Sepia picture. They then applied the precious colours as glazes and washes over the top. For an example look for "The Girl with a Pearl Eari9ng" by Vermeer. The same applies here and you could paint a full 3d looking miniature using only black and grey o Brown and white and finish as you stated in the video.

[@thecollectorfive]

Thank you very much, this is just what I was needing.

[@cloverncross]

Great vid Atom! Your Av video level is fantastic man. Merry Christmas!

[@elviraKEB]

"I am priming in black, almost always" Glad to see that it is just not me then!

[@Psittac20]

I have just started painting miniatures and would love it if you did a video on some basics, simply putting down thin layers. I can't seam to do it without leaving obvious brush mark's. My friends taught me how to dry brush, however now that I am starting in the hobby I am starting to look at glazes and more of a wet brush. I enjoy your attitude towards the hobby, keep the video's coming.

[@airsoftfreak11]

thank you for these videos i have been painting models for a few years and your videos have shown me the way to becoming a little bit better.

[@tabletopminions]

Every little bit helps. Thanks for watching!

[@Eesoteric43]

Great job as per usual, I'd like to suggest folks to refer to the blood rage box set tutorials (search blood rage painting guide) on KZbin. The painter does a very good job of showing step by step how you take a model and shade and highlight the models, then use thin paints to expose quick gradients...

[@EowynCloud]

My daemons of Nurgle are primed white because the base colour I use is 6 layers of shade put over one another (2x camo, 2x green, 2x yellow). This I can only do if I use white primer, I tried with Death Guard Green primer but it's just not the same. So I depend on the base color for my entire colour scheme to work. Great video that most certainly clarifies how to properly use base layers!

[@M0U53B41T]

Very cool and informative! I'd not gotten that far along into thinking about these sorts of things and you already cleared up a great deal :D

[@wezab]

If you are like me you almost certainly will have spare figures from kits you bought. I use these for experimenting with colour schemes. So here is an exercise for inexperienced painters to get a feel about what Uncle Atom is saying. Get 3 figures in the same pose, (I have a bunch of DE for this). Then undercoat one in black, one in grey and one in white. Then paint all 3 figures with the same colour on top. Red is a really good colour for this exercise as it is really hard to get it to show at all on black and shines like a Christmas decoration on white. If you don't want to do it on figures just use some cardboard. There wont be the same shadow effect of a raised surface but you will still see the impact of each undercoat.

[@garthantash]

I discovered your channel last week when I was looking for videos to put on while painting my new Emperor's Children Kill Team. Since then I have been binging on your back catalogue. :) I was thinking which video to comment on to tell you that I am really enjoying your channel and thought to post on this one since for the first time in the 20+ years (with long breaks during that time) that I have been painting minis, I am finally understanding the under layers of paint and getting great effects from it. Sure, it takes 3 different shades of gold over Army Painter Plate Mail to get something to "look gold" but that is the effort I need to put in and the different shades I need to buy to get the effect I am finally happy with. The much younger, frugal me didn't understand that idea very well.

[@tabletopminions]

I'm glad you're enjoying them, and I'm glad they've helped. Thanks for watching!

[@DavidBrunsII]

First video I've seen by you and I'm brand new to miniatures but that was a solid and in-depth video. (I subscribed) Thanks!

[@johnkelley9877]

I like your idea of airbrushing over a black primer with a light color. I will try that on my next model. Thanks!

[@tabletopminions]

I didn't come up with the concept, I learned it somewhere else. I just wanted to teach more people about it. Thanks for watching!

[@MacAttack001]

Preshading or zenithal highlighting is a great way to cut down painting time. The difference between a rattle can and an airbrush is pretty much night and day though. Once a person gets the hang of it, they can crank out a finished fig in a little over an hour!

[@tabletopminions]

It's true, airbrush is usually better than rattlecan, but you can get some pretty interesting effects even with rattlecan. This spring (if it ever gets warm again) I'll try to remember to make a video about quick and easy rattlecan techniques. Thanks for watching!

[@MacAttack001]

I hope my comment didn't come off as being some airbrush snob. Really enjoy your videos and look forward to seeing more!

[@tabletopminions]

Don't worry, I love my airbrush, but rattlecan effects are pretty interesting, too. Thanks for watching!

[@jonanjello]

Very informative. Thanks for making this useful video.

[@EvilDrWang]

To paint white on black, I like to put a coat of silver over the black. I find silver is opaque and covers completely with a thin layer. White on silver comes out as a nice bright white.

[@matthewsheppard4120]

Solid explanation of techniques more people should know about.

[@smackroscoe]

Thank you for sharing your wisdom.

[@mazdamundi85]

Great vid mate very informative! keep up the good work and a merry christmas to you

[@justing2324]

Another method I have been using for pre-shading is to prime the figure black, then dry-brush white. Use a small amount of paint in the brush and you can usually get all the proper highlights set with two or three passes with the white.

[@tabletopminions]

Yeah, I could see that working well. Thanks for watching!

[@faidbot1199]

This is the best of the best concerning this subject :)

[@timesup5105]

Thanks for your contribution to us painters. Really appreciate it.

[@tabletopminions]

I appreciate your appreciation. Thanks for watching!

[@yarlzxmyrsh]

Thank you thank you thank you!!! I normally paint using the first technique you mention, but I decided to try the shading on my Shadow Captain Korvydae model and I honestly think it's one of the best I've done.

[@tabletopminions]

Pre-shading is a great technique and can be a heck of a time saver, as well. Thanks for watching!

[@JWK1101]

Thanks for the tips. I stumbled onto the first type of underpainting for lighter flesh tones and (to a limited degree) metallics in my early painting days, but without any understanding of the underlying theory. I'd never thought of using grey to underpaint white though, and I'm definitely going to try it the next time I paint white.

[@tabletopminions]

Glad to help. Thanks for watching!

[@VictorQues]

Good explanation, there are good advises in that video to improve the painting. Merry Christmas!

[@bloodnivel70]

I dont even play warhammer but I like your voice, it's relaxing.

[@Fissi0nChips]

Just catching up on some of your old videos. I think the term you are looking for might be zenithal highlighting (Instead of pre-shading). Where you base all in black, then 45 degree in gray, then white from the top. Then paint thinly over those bases so the highlights and shadows can still show through. Sort of quick and dirty highlighting.

[@auto1nfanticid3]

do you know of any other good videos about this? I need to see more examples to wrap my head around it.

[@TakronRust]

I find with any metallic, if you undercoat with silver first, it gives you a very bright and very metallic finish

[@ignitedxblaze]

Trying to get into the hobby, I always thought washes/shades are the last thing to do! Thanks for the insight!

[@tabletopminions]

+ignitedxblaze Glad to help. Thanks for watching!

[@redding_oliver]

Hi. I've recently tried using warm/cool light/dark colours at the pre-shading stage rather than straight up black and white. I've found a chocolate brown base and burnt orange zenithal highlights underneath lead or pewter drybrush finished with silver edging can make for quite a convincing rusted steel.

[@tabletopminions]

I usually sponge-paint my rust effects over my metallics, but both ways work. Thanks for watching!

[@auto1nfanticid3]

you should do an update of this video and expand on these ideas and what youve learned about them

[@aquadonkey.]

Helped me very much with my men of numenor with the gold on black

[@TheAurgelmir]

I find that most of GWs base coat paints go rather well onto most other colors with maybe two layers. But for their layer paints then you definitely need an undercoat of something else to get the right shade.

[@tabletopminions]

+Magnus Ludvigsen (TheAurgelmir) I've never compared the densities of the base colors to the layer colors that GW makes. I should look into it. Thanks for watching!

[@rekakristo986]

I found these tips very useful, thanks!

[@ablorg239]

I just got my first Warhammer 40k model (Chaos Terminator Lord). I've mostly been doing 1-3 piece models but not this one is much more complex, probably around 15 pieces. I'm having trouble deciding if I should put it all together then prime and paint or do it in sections. From the video it looks like you put it all together, base and all, and prime it and paint it. Love the channel, learned so much from you.

[@tabletopminions]

+Lambtron I rarely paint my models in parts. I usually put them all together and even do the texture basing before I prime the model for painting. The only time I paint models in parts is if they have big shields (if you've seen my recent Chaos Warriors or Varanguard models) then I paint those separately and glue them after they're all done. Thanks for watching!

[@kariechaos5382]

there are things such as cool toned red, or warm toned green. Depends on how much blue or yellow pigment is in said colour. Makeup teaches a lot about warm, cool and neutral tones in colour. colour is fun.

[@GregHMacLean]

I'm going to try this for sure. Particularly now that the GW white primer is more of a light grey.

[@tabletopminions]

It's a great technique, I think. Good luck. Thanks for watching!

[@jerryvanakkeren4750]

Nice video. Really made me understand basic build up colouring

[@renj81]

Great tips, thanks for the video.

[@StarsWithScars]

Thank you for sharing!

[@potatius6421]

I usually start with a white undercoat, proceed to a heavy wash followed by a heavy drybrush. After that I'll proceed adding extremely thinned down colors (underpaint, highlight and white)...It's pretty efficient and my minis tend to look better than those of the people I play against.

[@tabletopminions]

Nice. You should hop on the Tabletop Minions Paint Showcase Club on Facebook and show off your work. Thanks for watching!

[@johnc9725]

Nice vid, thanks for sharing!

[@joshponco]

The content that you put up in your videos are amazing! I'm sure I'm not the only one who appreciates the personal input before you even present the subject you want to show. Great great great! +++

[@tabletopminions]

+Joshua Ponco Thanks, I try to add a bit of personality into what can sometimes be a dry subject. Thanks for watching!

[@droppod101]

Great vid, very informative!

[@username12120]

Really glad I found your channel, you got some great ideas I haven't really explored before that I now hope to try out soon.

[@tabletopminions]

Glad I could help, and thanks for watching!

[@jessehammil3897]

Just started painting... I was struggling so much with black primer! painting leather over it never worked. Going to try this. Thank you!

[@tabletopminions]

I hope it helps. Thanks for watching!

[@TheTriforcemonk]

You just improved my painting ten fold

[@tabletopminions]

Glad to have helped. Thanks for watching!

[@Hushai1979]

You are professional, thanks for teaching me... So helpful... Your fan .. Upstate New york

[@tabletopminions]

Glad to hear it. Thanks for watching!

[@rsreston]

I'd love to see your comparison between these Secret Weapon Washes and GW's new Contrast paints.

[@xxdankmormonkushmasterxx9953]

Love the video. I alwase paint my orks whight and just use gw camo shade wash for the skin. If they need it i also dry brush niblet green with a nother shade of earth shade

[@GirlPainting]

good explenation :)

[@questingadventurer7158]

GirlPainting no problem thanks for watching!

[@micahwerdel8711]

GirlPainting So what under paint should I use with green painted over gold? What should be between both? I want to make the green pop out well. :)

[@mr.hamtastic]

thanks for the information!

[@dreadnaught3258]

BRILLIANT!!!!

[@ZainNL]

If only I had known this sooner.. Ulthuan Gray (GW*) on Celestra gray (base) takes ages as well and it's near impossible to get it right. Good video :)

[@SecretWeaponMiniatures]

You're right about the washes -- also thank you for the bump :)

[@tabletopminions]

No problem, I love those washes. I swear, I'm doing a 'The Real Use for Secret Weapon Washes' video soon. Thanks for watching!

[@RoozyyK]

This is actually hilarious. I watched a lot of videos you talking about mini tabletop paining, but actually never seen you actually paint.

[@tabletopminions]

I do paint in some of my videos, but I feel it’s usually better to explain a technique and then get the viewer to try it - the viewer learns more by trying than by watching. It seems to have been working over the last six and a half years. Thanks for watching!

[@onatgz]

this may be your best vid.

[@babakimchak5099]

great video! thx

[@spartanival]

Great video. I am just about to star using airbrush and this was quite eye-opening. thanks!

[@tabletopminions]

I'm glad I was able to help. Thanks for watching!

[@MisterMannIndy]

Adam ... relatively new painter here (2 yrs). I have never done the underpainting technique, but just read about it online and then found this video. I am very intrigued. I happen to have some black primed figures that I haven't started painting my traditional way (building up layers of paint, washing, highlighting, etc.) that will make excellent candidates to try this out. If I go with glazes for color (which is what you called a wash, I think), I think I'll get very similar results to what you're talking about in the video. Fortunately I have an airbrush so this won't be hard to try. Thanks! BTW, maybe an excellent tutorial for Sam as part of your pro painting series. I'd love to see a step by step here. :)

[@tabletopminions]

+MisterMannIndy It's a great technique, I use it almost all the time. If you look at the post-Apocalyptic figures in the cover image for my KZbin channel, they were all done that way, too. Thanks for watching!

[@MisterMannIndy]

+Tabletop Minions Adam - personally, I'd love to see how you do this in a video. In case you're looking for video topics :). Once you get the miniature underpainted, you just "paint as normal" but use a glaze instead of a full on coat of color? I am going to give this a shot. I suspect this means a bunch of very thin coats, eh? How many coats of glaze do you normally apply?

[@tabletopminions]

+MisterMannIndy I generally go by eye, but it's frequently a few. It depends on the look and tone I'm going for. Thanks for watching!

[@AKARazorback]

Nice video, thanks! Do you also have tutorials on preshading vehicles? I also use this technique for my mini's

[@eriknilsson7787]

Thanks for a good tip.

[@michaelriley6774]

Thanks for the tips love your videos they're so helpful :)

[@tabletopminions]

Glad to help. Thanks for watching!

[@dan_zehner]

This is going to be a game changer for my painting! Thanks! Have you ever tried pre-shading a black model (ie. Blood Angels Death Company)? How about shading/highlighting with colors other than black or white before laying down a basecoat or wash?

[@tabletopminions]

When I painted my Black Templar, I primed black and then dusted from above with dark grey. Then I added a brown wash over that, which was very subtle. It worked out well. Thanks for watching!

[@a.mackrous7664]

Thank you.

[@SamuraiJACsr]

This is great

[@jessebbaker3]

Love the videos! I am trying your gold underpainting technique, but would you still use the sephia wash on something as small as the shoulder pad trim of a Plague Marine? It seems like a really small area for a wash. Any advice?

[@tabletopminions]

I would. It’s a small area, but the metallic will make it draw the eye. Plus, Plague Marines should never have clean-looking anything. Thanks for watching!

[@shananphilip]

Very good tip thanks

[@supercuttlefish1]

"Preshading" reminds me of ambient occlusion in 3d modeling

[@google2938]

That Nurgle demon prince at 7:53 is awesome.

[@JohnLouisCruciTushingham]

So if I was looking to prime in a lighter colour, would you recommend priming with a light grey and using white to give the pre-shading? Or is there another preferred approach when dealing with a light primer?

[@erperejildo]

Really amazing info. Thanks for that. Subscribed

[@tabletopminions]

Glad to help. Thanks for watching!