Handpainted Workflow overview

Artist-directed texture passes that keep your palette and decisions in control.

Understand the six painting tools, their native Blockbench entry points, and the recommended pass order.

5 min read

Direct each paint pass while keeping the texture editable.

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Six connected painting tools

Surface Presets reuse material structure across painted colors.
Edge Presets place authored patterns on exposed edges and contact seams.
Shade Brush steps exact pixels through a selected Palette range.
Block Light & Shade paints broad exact-palette highlights and shadows from a movable sun.
Form Gradient directs an exact-palette blockout or smooth finish with two 3D points.
Ambient Occlusion derives local-color contact shadowing from visible geometry.

1
Base colors
Finish the model, UV layout, texture size, and flat local colors first.
2
Palette range
Select Shade Brush and drag across the useful Palette swatches in dark-to-light order.
3
Main light
Use Block Light & Shade to establish broad value structure on the selected paint layer.
4
Material and edges
Apply Surface and Edge Presets to that same ordinary paint layer.
5
Manual paint
Refine the result with Shade Brush and Blockbench's normal paint tools.
6
Generated passes
Add Form Gradient and AO when needed, then paint final corrections above them.

Handpainted Workflow does not invent a finished texture. It needs your UVs, palette, base colors, source presets, placement, and final corrections.