Why You Need To STOP Blending.

[@Zumikito]

Awesome goblin miniatures are from today's sponsor - Emvicreative: bit.ly/3ku5D90

[@vasubalakrishnan3958]

My favorite color is "done"--and I think that's what you're getting at. I don't have the patience to really, really do beautiful blends and transitions, but I *do* have the patience to take the time to pick out detail, do some nice edge highlight, etc. And this is a good reminder that setting a target about how much time you are willing to spend and how nice you want anything to look is just a really great idea.

[@justarandomname420]

I'm just here for the beard and pompadore, minis are just a great bonus.

[@LongWarEnjoyer]

News flash, yer gay.

[@DDCRExposed]

I stumbled on this technique a few months ago and wow did it ever 1) improve my final results 2) saved me a bunch of time without going overboard 3) encouraged me to focus on painting more often Great to see you and others are using this type of technique as well.

[@pugnascotia]

This was exactly the video I needed. I was worried about improving my blending, but watching this made me realise I already knew how to blend to a decent level, I just needed to approach it a little more systematically. Thank you!

[@richarddanziger7733]

I've painted like this for many years. I've generally been too messy and my eyesight not good enough for slow blends and glazes. The nice thing about layering like this is being able to work on multiple minis at a time concentrating on one or two colours. Great video

[@whitecreamymilk8436]

You can always get a magnifier

[@Zorvax]

I'm here because I'm a simple man - I see a new Zumikito Miniatures video - I click watch. I do agree, I spend a ton of time on basic infantry units and I ask myself why constantly. I'm still trying to find a good balance haha. I've started using stippling a lot more and it does help get things done faster. Great video as always!

[@yosoyashep]

I remember an old post on Dr. Faust's blog from maybe 10-15 years ago in which he explained just the same ideas you say here. I mean It as a praise to you for advocating for this approach, like the great doctor did. Keep It up. I like your style and your thinking.

[@RuffStuff420]

I have been practicing my stippling and I have to be honest, I prefer that look to blending and feathering. One thing I have started doing as well with my feathering is doing a single layer of glaze over the stippling when I am finished with the stippling. I'll use the lightest of the shades I used in the area, make a very diluted glaze out of it, and do a single glaze coat over it. This, to my eyes, helps blend the stippling together so nice it's hard to tell it's not blended.

[@OldManRogers]

To me longer time spent demonstrates diminishing returns. For an army a few hours per model seems fine. EG: if I could get 90% of my best paint job in 1 hour it seems more sensible than spending 9 more hours for that +10%

[@RaketHond]

Thank you for this honest insight! It’s actually great advice to counter the ‘performance anxiety’/perfectionism that has been plaguing me after watching to many yt vids on how to paint better lol.

[@simonadams]

I think it really depends on what the value of painting is to you. If you were enjoying blending for hours and hours before, then continue. For me, I realised that i don't like painting that much and what I really like is completing projects and playing with painted miniatures, so now I try to keep to 1hour per mini. Sure, I can paint "better" with more time, but I just don't get the value.

[@cyberbum9688]

They should call you the pragmatic painter: 5 minute to the point videos, don't spend too long blending, you sir are awesome. How to spend your time efficiently. Thank you!

[@TheKitten]

I started painting miniatures at age 40 and am coming from a fine art and fantasy art background so the mini culture of smoothness is weird to me. This is a generalization but in fine arts is considered to be more skillful to use visible brush strokes correctly than to make perfect gradients. If the brushstroke is the correct color and placement it will fool the brain into blending. In 2D art it is comparatively easier to make smooth gradients either with oils or digitally, especially if you use photo reference. In 3D it is not really possible to copy a photo, and most people use acrylics for minis which are difficult to blend so I'm guessing that is why smoothness is more valued.

[@Voular]

I basically discovered this technique on my own after learning about glazing and randomly watching highly skilled painters paint "quicker" miniatures. I still struggle, but your tip about colours being "similar" helps - it is more forgiving and helps ease you into it.

[@EnchoMoskov]

Epic video, epic goblin, epic beard! Thanks,man!

[@edali131]

This video has taught me philosophy on painting more than technique. Great stuff!

[@Portlandhardstylers]

The video should be titled " Why you need to stop blending with acrylics and start using oils." A blend like we see on the example figures can be achieved in a few minutes with basic skills in oil painting/blending.

[@Zumikito]

Can you show me a reference pic of blend that smooth and with such a high contrast made with oils? Because I haven't seen it

[@reuterss306]

i am going even one step further just working with base tones, washes and some highlighting...when I got my last kickstarter boardgame and had like 100+ miniatures to paint I just realized that this gives good enough results for me and we could actually play with fully painted miniatures instead of waiting a year until I'm done. :D I only do little blends and feathering on big boss miniatures or important stuff like heroes etc. I can sleep WAY better now not worrying about the most perfect result for every miniature I am going to paint.

[@MufasaTheMan]

This is SUPER helpful! I am painting up the new 40k Ork box for my best friend's birthday and I will use this technique for sure!

[@operator9858]

Im a noob and have pals who are obsessed with blending, but im trying to go with as little as physically possible and so ive gone krieg. Dont even have any skin to paint :)

[@briangovernale2235]

A few days ago had the realization that I had reached a plataue in my novice painting skills , I felt pretty bummed out. But then I came across your videos spent an entire work day watching your videos went home and put what I learned into practice, not only did I reach a new level of painting but my minis look 10x better then they did. I just wanted to say thank you and keep on being fucking awesome

[@Zumikito]

Oh man, that truly means a lot to me! Thank you for your kind words and keep on rocking 👌

[@nickkirk6081]

you are hands down my favourite youtuber i love your content and youve helped me paint BEYOND my thoughts/abilities. thank you good sir

[@colinmelchior]

This is exactly how I'm trying to paint. I call it layer glazing. I'm not quite where I want to be with it yet...but practice makes better I guess. Great video.

[@SebLeCaribou]

Woaw your minis look amazing. As for the video itself, I agree a lot. Blending is fine and leads to very good looking minis. But truth is, if you are using your mini in a tabletop/wargaming/rpg context, focusing on contrast is going to be way more efficient...and less time consuming.

[@EL_Turo]

just going to say, you are the best youtube channel for learning how to paint miniatures. got that new warhammer + and im watching it thinking Zumikito explains it better than that!

[@arnaud3299]

Hi, as my visual acuity is getting worse, I’ve stoped blending 28mm detailled miniatures . Blending could still be effective for large pieces like 75mm. Since I’ve experimented stippling after seeing you tutorial everything has turned right now. Less time spend and a result enhanced for à miniature seen from 30 cm. Thanks again for your vids.

[@JasperXoR]

Excellent painting, I don't need to worry, I paint to a table ready standard and occasionally try a new technique here and there.

[@grimmriffer]

I've really taken layering to heart and enormously enjoyed doing a couple of orks like this. It also helps create really eye popping contrast if you layer up from black, but maybe not to everyone's taste. I'm struggling to get it to work for me on space marines though, which are less organic and grungy. 😔

[@ashclayton3273]

what you're essentially describing here is the necessity for the loaded brush technique. Thank you, Ben Komets.

[@DarthSid]

Good vid, thx! Quality and fastness/time seem to be two of the more important aspects in the current painting meta of Tabletop.

[@cyberbum9688]

Thanks!

[@shaunkhing]

Contrast over smoothness is great advice. You can definitely get a lot more mileage out of contrast than blending.

[@watermelonhelmet6854]

I've always thought about it like this: Tabletop Quality : Speed and efficiency are just as important as the final quality of the paint job Display Quality : Time is no longer a factor, you take as long as you need to get it to look exactly how you want it. Competition Quality : Same as display quality, but it's getting it to exactly how you want it to look under a microscope. Basically, if I'm painting an army I need for a game next weekend, I cut corners and trade final quality for speed. If I'm painting a display piece that might sit on my shelf for the next ten years, then it takes as long as it takes. 6 months from now I don't want to look at it and see everything I could have done better if I'd just invested the time.

[@Anail_Mhin]

I don´t care for tabletop or whatever game this is but I appreciate some talent! Looks really cool

[@cole8834]

This is what I've already been doing but it made me feel like an amatuer since I'd always hear people talk about blending.

[@terrydactyl2077]

To you new painters and you pros. I cannot stress enough that contrast is a zillion times more effective than anything else. Even without smooth blends. Not that I’ve painted anything in my life. I’ve just watched thousands of painting tutorials haha

[@ParlonsAstronomie]

It would have been awesome to paint the sime mini with blending so we can compare.

[@freakazoid5600]

Dude you and your beard are literally the best painting channel on youtube!

[@Zumikito]

Glad you think so! I am still far from the best pro painters though!

[@ralfhelbigslf]

Those goblins are great. Looks like fun to paint and they all reference some other legendary miniatures, movie- and/or game-characters^^ Smoothness is great on certain miniatures and some it's not needed. Skiped all this smoothness quite some time ago, because it's not worth it most of the time. You can even reduce this more by focusing on the important parts of the miniature and be even less smooth/precise on parts that aren't a focus point. Great video! Subscribed

[@Mordraqq]

Im glad, I learned how to paint with oils,some good sort of magic ,when it comes to blending.

[@MechanicalFrog]

Great advice in this one. I'm going to try it.

[@amanofnoreputation2164]

Foregoing glazing really just gives you a kind of cell-shaded effect, which can often look _better_ than hyper-smooth transitions.

[@LimgraveFootSoldier]

The reason I'm here is that I just watched a video telling me I needed to start blending, and this was on the recommended tab. It's been a cycle. >Find video about technique >Follow up with a video telling to ABUSE that technique >"Hey, but have you considered that you need to STOP USING IT????" :')

[@philsayer2447]

Thumbs up for the amen break coming in when you start soft layering

[@kingoftherollers2918]

Great video again, thanks. Would love to see a video from you to explain how best to assemble, clean up remove mould lines, etc and your recommendations on the best products to use...

[@darksoul1381]

Will it blend?

[@Zumikito]

That is the question!

[@frannyfranfrancis]

Nice short cut, didnt know it was a real technique. I kinda of do this because already. But now I know how to refine my version for better quicker results. It really comes down to are you satisfied with the end results.

[@kevinhayes517]

Thanks very much for the informative tutorial, appreciate the work you did and the explanations of how to use this alternative method.

[@NatesMiniatures]

I will take option C, I am here for the beard!

[@lordbaconbane6145]

One trick I have found to faster blends is using GW contrast paints. I find I can get really smoot and quick transitions by using those and the contrast medium. That being said, I typically try to avoid doing too many blends because of time constraints.

[@trollpatsch.]

I'm here because I bingend most of your content and need more...

[@petertumminaro4528]

love to see you work with complimentary colors for cloaks etc. I used blue to create transitions and shadows for an orange cloak and it turned out very nice. The shadows seemed darker than using other oranges or black which grays the orange.

[@Xaltotun]

I like to layer with 2 different thicknesses on my palette. Then I can use the thinner layer mix to apply in bigger areas and then use the less diluted mix for the highlights, or where I want better coverage.

[@politenonparticipant4859]

I'm still pretty early in developing my mini-painting skills, only about 28 in, and am only just really starting to appreciate the importance of layers.

[@Zir0w...]

That's my way of painting mini for 2 to 3 years! It's the best between quality and time consumer! =)

[@Rich-in6ds]

I tried this technique but the more watered down layer had some challenging properties. Sometimes it tried to run into recesses and sometimes the pigment even separated from the binder and pushed around on the model like a puddle

[@nicholassinnett2958]

I'm cool with the time it takes to blend, I don't really enjoy tabletop painting much anyway (read: my standard for my own tabletop painting is veeeery high, since that's what I enjoy). It's part of why I stopped trying to collect full armies and play. But if you're painting for tabletop, yeah, you really shouldn't be spending that much time per mini, unless it's for a game with a really low model count or something. The techniques you showed help, but I'd say the result's definitely still above most peoples' tabletop standard.

[@neilbrown2451]

I was also thinking loaded brush might be a good way to achieve a quick blend. Good video. Starting to be a big fan of texture. Stippling and little scratches (mainly to hide my incompetence!!) 🤟🏼

[@Zumikito]

These days I don't mind a little texture as well - even if the mini is supposed to be super smooth! I would rather save time and move to other projects than worry about small inconsistency. Thank you buddy!

[@kyussinchains]

This video is excellent and your result on the goblin is superb!!

[@Zumikito]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@patriciaolsen7816]

Your a great painter I like watching your videos I learn a lot keep up the great work happy painting you have a great day be safe

[@Zumikito]

Thank you so much for your kind words!

[@willgegg8601]

I do really respect the extreme detail some model makers do, but I like DnD and Warhammer figures made for the table. I just watched Adam Savage talk about movie set-piece models and how little detail needs to go into the process to make a good prop. I'll go into detail for my big boss monsters and the chapel stained glass window of my main town, but for the most part I make props.

[@gachacaspa]

Yeah been thinking about all this. What is your opinion on using shades? And airbrush for tinting? Would it work quite well with painting like this hmmm

[@spacendeman]

Great videocas always! Clear explanations!

[@WatchItPaintIt]

Fantastic video sir :) We love your work over here at WiPi. I agree that blending should be saved for competitions - you'll burn yourself out pretty quick trying to get smooth creamy blends on every model in an army :)

[@Michael-dj6pd]

Funny I just today realised that I didn't know I was not glazing, but layering. I heard about push blending and am trying to figure out what it is.

[@D00M3R-SK8]

you can use a second brush to aid in feathering. the second brush just damp to pull the paint into the area you want the blend. you probably already know this though. ha ha.

[@SunoSa1yan]

I didn't, wo thank you sir

[@woodendforager3240]

Hi new to your channel, great to see another beard. I like the bit where you say something to the effect of 'if you're already good at glazing, maybe it feels more like grind' Im pretty new to painting..well i had a 20 year break...I am now enjoying taking my time and learning the different processes. But I also feel the models I'm working on (from 20 years ago) are not really deserving of 30 hours work and that time would be better spent on something more special. It is hard to train myself not to obsess about smooth blends though.

[@Zumikito]

oh man, I am the same way! Preferable I would love to have everything in the best standard possible, but that's impossible. Perfection kills productivity

[@ianpettman7482]

Another helpful video. Thanks mate.

[@JesusProtects]

This depends on the purpose of the miniature (display or play) and how much people enjoy painting itself, but yeah, if you just want to play and decent/good looking minis the faster the better.

[@dlmdlm7685]

You can do feathering with thinner paint like the in between layer glaze to glaze consistently. I call it layering that the best way to layer. And if I thin it a little more but not to glaze is fat glazing. Meaning one stroke gives you a filter instead of multiple stroke with a true glaze. And btw I never thin any paint with water it's a solvent not thinner. You can have unlimited lahmian or thinner medium just buy getting a bottle of liquitex matte medium and flow aid. If you go 2 parts medium to 8 parts water it's thinner medium then if you do half medium quarter flow aid quarter distilled water it's exactly the same as vallejo glaze medium. I came into this from the art world and day 1 your taught to make and use "mixing" mediums and never just water. Using water is like using mineral spirits to thin oils and the wondering why you painting with paint that runs right off the canvas. Not alot of miniature painter incorporate classical painting techniques and knowledge. It's more about getting a simple recipe and not try to learn to just paint. Be alot better experience for everyone because we all like a quality painted minature.

[@0l1vers22]

Thank you so much for work with these videos. It‘s so much fun to watch your beard…. I mean paintjob 🙌

[@Zumikito]

My pleasure!

[@BjornKuma]

It's not just the time taken. I think high fidelity cameras have thrown things out of balance a bit. I've been told by multiple optometrists that I have near vision that borders on super human, and as beautiful as those minis are in the photos, most folks are likely only able to see about 2/3's of your detail work unaided, and even less on the table. Especially at 28-32mm. Which means, their brains are doing what they would be doing had you used perfect blends or not... Filling in the gaps they can't actually make out. They'll know it looks amazing in their hand, but will be surprised by some details when it gets blown up or magnified. Which means they couldn't really see them. If you're painting for comp, go all out. If not, you're honestly wasting a ton of time. You can have an uber-epic looking army without needing a single wet or two brush blend. They're cool techniques, but slightly overrated IMO and better utilized at larger scales.

[@the.nikkoman]

I arrived at this video after watching all your blending videos

[@dawarrior76]

Hey bro, thanks for the tips and tricks…I’ve been trying to learn glazing and layering for quite some time, and it seems like for me to get a good result it still takes endless time. I’ll definitelly try your method and also look into the goblin miniatures you are sponsoring.

[@Piggysl8er]

That explains why you only had 5 minutes for your videos before :D Love your videos!

[@thomaspostgate1222]

I enjoyed the single 808 drum in my left ear at 4:45

[@lucasszymanski114]

Looks blending looks beautiful! But very very tedious :-) Great work!

[@seanmeert2594]

do you need to achieve full opacity with each color before switching to a lighter one?

[@andreagavazzi8276]

Great video! I’ll try this asap! Annoying question… which colors did you use for the green skin?

[@Zumikito]

Not annoying at all! I went for the classic eavy metal recipe with some upgrade - start caliban green + vallejo turquise, then added skarsnik green, ten nurgling green and finally krieg green

[@shinkage6949]

Very nice video about soft layering and as always beautiful paint job man, I think you shoul edit more complete painting videos as you’ve done for the sister in past, those are very useful to see how you blend or layer, even if they’re very long it’s good to se your blending or layering methods in real time with no cuts

[@Zumikito]

Thank you! Unfortunately people don't seem to like these long unedited videos. Miniac once said, that noone wants to watch other people paint minis on screen for too long! I will have unedited footage on my Patreon (when I get to start it), so that might be a solution

[@shinkage6949]

@@Zumikito Thanks for your reply but I don’t agree with Miniac, a beginner modeler has to watch the full process, japanese tubers like Yumikon models and many others edit full videos, it’s important

[@Zumikito]

@@shinkage6949 sure, but I know that people like it more when video is edited - it simply reaches more viewers and they watch it for longer rather than skip it (which I can see in analytics) . When I dedicate my time to something, I would like it to be seen by as many people as possible and unedited videos don't do so well.

[@shinkage6949]

@@Zumikito from the content creator perspective you’re right but from true modeler apprentice it would be nice to see full process, maybe not completely unedited but with longer sessions for layering and glazing and this kind of thing. However it’s just my point of view and you absolutely don’t have to modify your stile for this comment

[@nurbil3033]

I like the idea of enjoying painting if you take long that's fine it so happens that spending 45 hours on a mini is what makes it feel special for you sure if you are doing an army sure you might want to cut back time but you can always go back to the minature later, it is a hobby after all

[@kajkun1384]

How did you make the NMM faster? What did you cut short of your nmm process?

[@13Robzilla]

So true, so good!

[@Zumikito]

Thank you buddy!

[@listeningtopaintdry]

Great video! Super helpful.

[@blaarghwee]

Hey Zumikito, do you know a good source for orcs or goblins? Not too overly armoured. And no guns. See I find a lot of Crayfish pincers on my walks. (small freshwater lobsters) I want to build a diorama, a stronghold or something, with these pincers lining the walls. Perhaps some totems. Still looking for the right inhabitants for this scene. Thanks.

[@snarkymcsnarkface1863]

I gave up on butter blending game pieces and non show miniatures a long ago. I basically run a clock general troop 30 minutes to an hour. I normally batch paint ten and get them done in 8 hours without the airbrush. 5 hours with the air brush. A leader model gets max 2 hours and a character is lucky if they get 3 hours. I have a bad habit if picking horde armies... so the air brush and the time saving are key. But I will tell us there is nothing more satisfying that getting butter smooth blends with a brush... I just don't have time for that and frankly very few people notice it outside of other hobbyist with a gaming problem. Gamers just like the fact you got painted minis.

[@daringdarius5686]

#2 here, never seen your channel before, let's see how this goes!

[@Splitt3r007]

What brush do you recommend?

[@GDSMiniatures]

All this time i thought i was glazing, turns out i'm just applying a layer somewhere between a glaze and a layer consistency.

[@Zumikito]

Good for you not going even thinner, glazing can be such a grind at times

[@Barnesofthenorth]

Here for the curiousness, but staying for the tips as I've finished base coating my first models in like 25 years (collected as a kid) and I've been putting off layer and blending in general as I keep hearing how long it takes, and while I want them to look good Im not intending to go for competition standards.

[@Zumikito]

If you shade all the recesses and highlight all the egdes, your mini will look great anyway, even if you don't paint any gradients

[@MWSculpts]

Awesome thank you

[@JakeDogg-RIP]

Great video! 🥰🐶

[@amanofnoreputation2164]

"Give it up -- you've never match the beauty and convenience of my blood-blended, drybrushed, speedpainted, airbru -- " "Consecutive normal layers."

[@philparis796]

May i offer you a challenge? What is the very best you could paint in just an hour? This would require you to find as many shortcuts as possible to achieve something close to your usual impressive standard, you could learn a lot of tricks, it would be useful to painters like myself who want the best quality in the shortest time and it would make for a solid clickbait thumbnail ;) Do yee accept this challenge or do i have to buy a gauntlet to throw down?

[@Zumikito]

That's a very good challange that I already done in the past! What should the title be for the maximum clickbait? 😂 I will add this to my list of topics

[@philparis796]

@@Zumikito i didnt see that video, my bad 😂. Maybe call it "Gone Wild! Painting Kraven in 1 HOUR!!! 😱😱😱 (RAID: SHADOW LEGENDS)"

[@Zumikito]

@@philparis796 oh no, I didn't record it haha!

[@rovosunny1687]

I'm just starting painting miniatures and I cant seem to get the smooth look on clothing what I do is add all the highlight layers and blend it with a wash of the colour I want it to be but still doesn't look smooth enough what should I be doing?

[@Chu466]

Heeyyy that is pretty similar to NRM style :) I love it

[@IdahoZombieHunter]

I do like this, but to me painting is an escape from the everyday noise, so taking my time is kinda what I like about it. And I'm not disagreeing with you at all. I really do see your points here.

[@astronaughtee]

You paint amazing brugh.. Wow

[@smnb6652]

Zumikiti you should try out oil paints. Why waste 30 hours blending with acrylics when you can get the same result in a 10th of the time with oils. Just slap on a light base colour with acrylics, apply a dark colour with opaque oils (remove most of it, except the darkest recesses) and start blending with Transparant oils afterwards. You can always do the highest highlights afterwards with acrylics again. Join the light side, join the linseed family! ;)