Guide: Painting Your Minis

So you have assembled your miniatures, the next step is of course painting. Painting can be stressful since it is the most important (and tedious) part. It may seem like a daunting task, but that’s all in your head. Worst case scenario you can strip the paint and try again.

Step 1

The first thing you should do is plan your colors. Maybe you want to paint them just like the box, or maybe you want to alter the colors, either way, you should figure out every color on your mini. The last thing you want is to get brown and green paints only to discover your mini has a black satchel. Acrylic is generally my go-to paint, but it’s up to you what type of paint you want.

Step 2

You may be tempted to dive straight in and start painting, but preparation is key. Make sure you have a cleared workspace and a wet palette. You can buy wet palettes on Amazon, but I recommend making them yourself. Find a Tupperware container, put a few sheets of paper towels in, you may need to cut them so they fit snuggly, then add enough water into the container so that all the towels are wet but no water pools at the bottom. then ad a sheet of wax paper to the top. The wet palette will preserve your paints and thin them out. Prepare a few small brushes, a cup of water, and a few paper towels.

Step 3

Now you can start painting. You may be tempted to paint the armor plates and jewels, but you should always start with the base. While the dull clothing colors might not seem very fun, it is essential to start with them. Painting base colors allow you to explore your mini and find details you hadn’t seen before, it is also less annoying if you accidentally paint over your base color. Make sure to use thinned-out paints, otherwise, your mini may look glossy and lose some of its details.

Step 4

Now that you’ve painted the base layer, you are going to want to work up from there, painting the more common colors before painting tiny details. The most important thing to remember is that painting should be fun. Make sure to take breaks, and remember that even if you mess up, everything is fixable. It won’t look like the box art, but it’s yours.