Miniatures Painting Guide

Get into the right frame of mind

Okay, the very first thing you have to do is get yourself into the right frame of mind. This is very important for me because if I'm not in the right mood to be painting miniatures, then I'm not going to do a good job. Remember, painting should be fun. It should never feel like a chore. I learned this lesson fairly early.

Tools you will need

Games Workshop makes virtually all the tools you will need to start painting great looking miniatures. The only things they don't make that I like to use are "exacto-knives", glue and clamps. Yeah, I know they really do make these things, but not great ones.

I usually do all my modelling next to a window, not only does this help ventilate the glue fumes but it also gives me plenty of light. In my experience a model painted in natural sunlight looks better than a model painted under a light bulb or lamp.

Paint - I like to use Games Workshop Paint, mostly because it's water soluble and they have a good color selection. Their colors, even the daker ones usually have a bright look to them, which really makes the models look better in the end. Although I must complain that their new paints dry out far to quickly. You can solve this by adding a little water. Just a drop or two is all it takes really.

Brushes - It doesn't really matter what kind of brushes you use, but you'll need at least 2 big ones, 1 medium and one really small one. Since you're using water soluble paint, it is fairly easy to take proper care of your brushes so they last. Just one thing to remember . . . . . When cleaning your brush, never drive it down to the bottom of the cup and spin to try and clean the bristles better. There is no faster way to ruin your brushes. Just swish 'em around a lot, the paint will come off.

Models - This is pretty obvious, but you have to make sure it's a model you really like. Even if this is your first one, make it a good one. Don't worry about ruining it becase if you follow this guide, it'll come out looking great.

Glue - This is important. There are hundreds of different types of glue out there. I use Superglue for metal miniatures, and Contacta polystrene cement for plastic miniatures.

Modelling Knife - This is needed when cleaning up your models before you paint them. Scraping away flash, etc. Please be careful with your knives, it's a lot harder to paint your miniatures with missing fingers. Any type of modelling knife will work although I use an exacto-knife.

Water - A small cup or jar are fine. What is important, is that you replace the water often, especially if you are using light colours.

Newspaper - Even if you have a special table you use for painting, laying newspaper down is always a good idea. If you spill paint or glue while you're painting you have something to catch the mess for easy clean-up later.

Sprue Cutters - These are like wire cutters except they are a little smaller. I have never known them by any other name. Even though you can just break plastic models off the sprues, it's better to use a sprue cutter so that the model is easier to clean up later. Plus, they cut the big pieces of flash off metal models easier than a modelling knife.

Step One

These first few steps are among the most important in order to make your figure look as good as possible, so take heed! First, make very sure to trim all the little bits of excess material (called "flash") from your figure with an Xacto knife.

In case you don't know, flash is the extra pieces of plastic or metal that hangs off the pieces that doesn't belong there. This stuff is created during the molding process and ends up on almost every miniature. Usually your modelling knife will do the trick, but for really big pieces the "sprue cutter" works best. Sometimes you'll want to use small jeweller's files to smooth small imperfections out.

Be careful when you're cleaning up plastic miniatures in order not to cut big chunks into the model. On tanks this is no big deal as you can make it look like battle damage later, but on regular troops it can be unsightly. AGAIN! - BE CAREFUL WHEN USING A MODELLING KNIFE!

This part is fun, especially with the new models that are being released because you get to decide what pose you want to put the miniature in. For characters, which are usually all metal and pre-posed, it's usually pretty easy, just glue the model to the base and your done. The base will be the best way to grip most figures while you paint them, in order to preserve and protect your paint-job, as the oils in your skin can wreak havoc with an un-sealed miniature.

When gluing the models into place use a very little amount of glue. A small amount always holds better than a great big puddle. It also dries faster and makes your model look cleaner when completed. Also make sure that the glue you are using works on the material. There are glues made for plastics that will never hold a metal model together and visa versa. Refer to the tools list above.

Now that the model is attached to its base, and the glue has dried, take the model and give it a light but thorough coat of primer.

There are a variety of good primers on the market, and your local hobby store can hook you up. If you simply can't find the stuff, you can use non-sandable auto primer, but try to get the real stuff if you can. Choose the primer sort in accordance with what you are painting. For miniatures you will paint in bright or light colors, use a white primer. If you will be painting darker, duller, or predominantly metallic figures, use a black primer. If you are painting Blood Angels, use a red primer. If you are painting a predominantly green Orc army, try a green primer. Be very careful not to overdo your primer coat and fill in surface detail on the figure. After spraying the miniature, use thinned paint of the same colour and a brush to cover the recessed areas the spray missed, like the areas under his chin and armpits. As these areas won't be touched during play, a truly adhesive primer is not as important, but beware of just painting on an acrylic base-coat without a primer. It won't adhere strongly to the metal, and fingers will wear and flake it away rapidly!

Step Two

All right, now we're on to the second step, and the first brushwork. This is the "base coat" of the figure. Areas that will eventually be metallic, very dark, or need to be sharply delineated ought to be painted black (pistols, cables, swoords, battle axes, hilts, eye-sockets) and other large areas of color must be blocked in, like holsters and belts, which are are given a medium-brown base coat. All paints in this and later steps are acrylic figure paints produced for that use by Games Workshop and Ral Partha. You can try other craft paints, but be warned that not all work very well! You get what you pay for, often.

Step Three

Step three will involve a little work, but is still pretty fast. You'll be drybrushing a lighter shade on top of your base coated areas. To drybrush, get a LITTLE bit of the appropriate color on your brush, wipe the brush nearly clean on a rag, and lightly brush over the area to be highlit. Use a color lighter than the base coat by a fair bit. Be warned: This chews up brushes fast, so use an old one. If I were to ink-wash the sunken areas of a figure I'd do it now with a darker ink.

Step Four

The miniature's details, gems, rings, buckles, eyes and other fiddly little bits are added. The best miniatures seem to have an infinite number of fiddly bits, so I generally just hit the major ones, so the figure doesn't degenerate into a mish-mash of tiny details. An additional, lighter colour is best dry-brushed on hilight (most protruding) areas of the miniature, as well, just to liven the figure more. A thin coat of glue is now applied to the top of the base, and then dipped in blended turf flock while wet to give a nice grassy effect. Finally, and VERY importantly, you need to spray the figure with a good sealer to protect all the work you just did. I tend to use Armory or Citadel spray sealer. If you are applying a decal to a model seat it well with plenty of water, dab away excess, and then, before it's fully dry, give it a light coat of thinned clear gloss acrylic sealer to stick it down firmly and protect it against chipping or peeling. The acrylic gloss varnish is often called "gloss medium" or "acrylic medium" at art stores. Games Workshop and Ral Partha both sell it in their paint lines as well, as "brush-on varnish".

Following the above steps, will result in what I generally think of as a "play quality" figure, with a good, but not great paintjob. If you are really going for competetion-level painting, you'll have to spend a lot more time doing careful ink-washes and multiple drybrush color-blendings to get that "super" look.