01The #1 mistake: washing over your highlights
On her very first miniature, The Pigmentum layered and blended her way to highlights she was happy with — then applied a wash over the top, and watched the wash pull every highlight back down toward the base colour.
“I started layering and mixing colors, making everything brighter and brighter... I decided to put a wash over it. And after the wash, it looked absolutely nothing like the shades I just had spent so much time putting on. Amazing.” — Episode 02
The fix is the order, not the technique: wash first to set the shading, let it dry, then paint highlights on top where the wash can't touch them again. The full breakdown — why it happens and what to do once it's already gone wrong — is on the paint-order page.
02Why edge highlights go wrong
A sharp edge highlight shows every slip, and the more edges a part has, the more places there are for one. On a Poxwalker's black horns, The Pigmentum based them black, tried a dark sea-blue edge highlight that barely showed, then tried again as a quick fix.
“So, I thought I'll just edge highlight them. Bad idea. Oh boy. That's when my pox worker turned into a children toy.” — Episode 05
She repeated the same mistake on black trousers with a grey-blue edge highlight, and afterwards wondered whether a softer method like wet blending would have hidden the slip better than a hard edge line does:
Her takeaway: the more edges a part has, the more a sharp edge highlight shows every slip. For the layering and blending alternatives to a hard edge line, see the full highlighting page.
03What if a colour comes out wrong?
It happens even past the first miniature. Painting Thrall, her first World of Warcraft character model, The Pigmentum got the skin tone wrong on the first pass.
“He looks like Shrek. We need to fix that.” — Episode 06
She repainted the skin rather than restarting the miniature — a wrong colour on one area doesn't mean starting over, it means fixing that area. The same episode had her try leather-ageing for the first time, a technique she said upfront could end up looking like "bottles of orange soda" — and attempted it on camera anyway, mistakes included.
04Fix it, or move on?
Not every mistake is worth the time to fix on a learning piece. On the Poxwalkers, The Pigmentum left some messy edges rather than spend another three hours on them:
“I sucked it up and moved on.”
And on the finished Thrall, after the skin fix and the leather-ageing attempt:
“Is he perfect? No. Does he look like Thrall? I think he kind of looks like vanilla Thrall.” — Episode 06
Her pattern across six episodes: fix a mistake when it's cheap (a wrong colour on one area), accept it when the fix costs more than it's worth (a few messy edges on a batch piece). Finished beats perfect when you're learning.
← The order that avoids the #1 mistake: wash before you highlight
Full page: how to highlight a miniature, including fixing a highlight that went wrong →
Back to the full beginner's guide: what to buy, assembly, thinning paint and the order to paint in →
FAQ
- What is the most common beginner miniature painting mistake?
- Washing over finished highlights instead of washing before them. A wash tints every surface it crosses, so highlights painted first get pulled back toward the base colour. The Pigmentum hit this on her very first miniature and it's the single most repeated lesson on her channel — wash first, highlight after.
- Why do edge highlights go wrong for beginners?
- A sharp edge highlight shows every slip, and the more edges a part has, the more places there are to slip. On a Poxwalker's black horns and trousers, The Pigmentum's edge highlights came out messy enough that she called the result "a children's toy" and wondered afterwards whether a softer technique like wet blending would have hidden the mistake better.
- What if a colour comes out wrong, like skin tone?
- Fix the specific area, not the whole model. Painting Thrall's skin for the first time, The Pigmentum got the tone wrong on the first pass — "he looks like Shrek, we need to fix that" — and repainted just that area rather than starting the miniature over.
- Should you fix every mistake or just move on?
- It depends on the cost of fixing it. The Pigmentum left some messy edges on her Poxwalkers rather than spend another three hours on them — "I sucked it up and moved on" — and called her finished Thrall "not perfect" but good enough to look like the character. A mistake worth hours of rework isn't automatically worth fixing on a learning piece.
- Is it normal to be nervous about trying a new technique?
- Yes. Before trying leather-ageing for the first time on Thrall, The Pigmentum said it could end up looking like "bottles of orange soda" — and tried it anyway, on camera, mistakes and all. A new technique going wrong once is part of learning it, not a sign it wasn't worth attempting.