Newb needing help with painting.

[Lastman]

I will add my 2 cents about brushes too even though I mostly echo smokingwreckage...

 

The price of one or two "expensive" brushes will be less than the amount you spend on a bunch of cheaper brushes which don't perform well and wear out more quickly.

 

A size 0 from Windsor & Newton, or Davinci, or Raphael is a good investment. Keep it clean and don't beat it up with drybrushing and you'll have a useful tool for many years.

[buglips*the*goblin]

If you want a good mixing brush, the Testors white handled medium synthetic is a durable cheap choice. You can find them pretty much anywhere, and they're extremely wear resistant.

[kericmason]

Ask around at your FLGS to see if there is anyone who paints miniatures. See if they would be willing to give you a lesson, or at least talk to you about painting. The local community should be reasonably welcoming, and have good info on what is available in your area.

 

My personal experience with craft paint was the stuff I tried was awful. Some people here have found stuff that works, but the stuff I bought was a complete waste of money. This is why I suggest talking to the locals, who will know what to avoid.

 

Next for the beginner on a budget, have a good think about colours. A limited pallet (i.e. group of colours) speeds up painting, and is cheaper. However you need to choose carefully to get a good looking result.

 

How limited you go is tough to say, but I find the following good:

 

2 metalics, generally a medium/dark steel colour, and either a bronze or gold as an accent metallic for decorations and jewelry

1 flesh colour

1 medium brown, for leather bits, I find this is better than black leather because black is hard to highlight/shade to give depth... Especially for a beginner.

1 yellowy brown or strong yellow, useful for skins (may need some added white depending on the colour), clothes, and mixing hair colours

1 or 2 additional colours you like for clothing, preferably lighter colours than darker colours

white and black for doing eyes, bone, and making grey things

 

So 9 to 10 pots will let you do pretty much anything.

 

Finally a paint based wash, ink, or dip. This should be a dark brown or blackish colour. If you picked a warm colour like red for clothes, then brown is suitable, but if you picked a cool colour like blue, then blackish would be more suitable. If you have both, then go with the latter.

 

Paint based washes will look fine once they dry. Inks can look very shiny when they dry, so you may want to apply a matte varnish like Testors Dullcote afterwards. Dips like Army Painter and the far cheaper Minwax Polyshades Varnish (available at hardware stores) will need a matte varnish when they dry to kill the shine. Without it they can look pretty dreadful.

 

Personally I have found the Minwax Polyshades Tudor colour to be the most versatile shading option if you go for a varnish based shade (it's not quite black, but it's close, and gives better results than black). It's looked good on both warm, and cool colours, but I have needed to touch up the skin on a couple models that looked a bit too blackened.

 

Your paint based washes, and inks are perfectly good options too, so don't feel that varnish based shading is the only option.

 

That will get you started as cheaply as possible while still having passable variety with your models' appearances. You can add more colours later if you want, of course, and you can explore highlighting, and other techniques once you've mastered base coating and shading, if you want.

 

If you just do base coats, and shading, then you can get by with 3 brushes easily. Two standard sized ones, one for metallics, and the other for colours (it helps prevent getting sparkly metallic flakes in your colours), and finally a tiny brush for eyes. When your standard brushes wear out, you can replace them, and use the old ones to explore "dry brushing". :)

 

Good luck,

 

Eric

[urloony]

So, am I required to buy special miniature paint? I pledged vampire for the bones KS, which was my first ever purchase of non-preprinted D&D minis. What do I need to paint these guys? I'm not looking for quality, just some color. Also, I'm looking for the cheapest deal I can get.

If you are serious about this hobby the answer is yes. You of course could use anything you want to paint your minis, but consider the fact that you just spent $100 or probably more on the Kickstarter and likely to spend a lot more in the future. Getting off on the right foot, so-to-speak, with quality products is the way to go.

Quality brushes deliver the paint better, more evenly and will last a long time. You don't need a ton of stuff to get started, but make sure you get started with high quality.

 

Basics

• Real sable hair brushes (getting 1 or 2 good brushes beats a 5 or 10 pack of crap). Do not buy nylon bristles. Or even use them if they are given to you.
  
• Get Reaper or Vallejo paints.
  
• Prime your metal minis with Tamiya primer spray or perhaps comparable lacquer paint. You are not trying to “paint” the mini here. Priming is not just painting it gray or black. You are providing a “tooth” for the top coats to adhere to. Using standard spray paint designed for thicker, heavier coverage will quite often, especially when used by noobs, fill in the fine details before you’ve even had a chance to get started.
  

A few reasons to avoid craft paint in favor of model branded paints.

1. Paint chip size. Quality paint has a smaller paint chip that will not gunk-up and fill in the details of your miniature. Craft paints are cheaper because larger paint chips are cheaper to manufacture.
   
2. Coverage. Craft paints tend to take several coats to cover well. The same can be true for Reaper or Vallejo, but the coats are thinner with modeling paint and do not fill in the important fine details of your figure.
   
3. Evenness. Craft paints will often show brush strokes and tend to dry unevenly. Model acrylic paints also have added flow-aid to prevent drying too quickly and allow brush strokes to be smooth.
   

I will be so bold as to say that painting miniatures is not “arts and crafts.” This is a hobby with tools designed specifically for it for a reason. Spending $18 for 12 reaper paints and $20 on two brushes beats the same dollar amount for twice as many craft paints and Wal-Mart brushes. Spend a little more for higher quality products and you will definitely get better results and most importantly, it will be easier for you especially as a beginner, and more enjoyable.

[Qwyksilver]

If you are totally new, investing in a bunch of expensive tools and materials may not be the best bet because you may find you hate it. Buy the best supplies you can comfortably afford . See if you like the painting aspect.

 

Know if you get the cheaper supplies the results may not be as great and regardless don't expect competition pieces out of the gate. Practice and your skills will improve. Eventually your skills may surpass the cheaper supplies and you will plateau.

 

As you can afford it, upgrade your materials. I'd start with the brushes first. They are great stocking stuffers. You will find your results improve because your tools will be better.

 

I found a huge jump when I switched from golden taklon brushes from Michael's to my series 7.

 

All that being said the basic starter set of MSP in the KS is an awesome deal. Those bottles will last a long time unless you're wasteful. The color selection gives you tons of flexibility with mixing.

 

If I was starting now is probably get the paint set now. 12 bottles retail is $42. You're saving $24. If kaladrax is going to be $10 now. Unless he is $34+ retail in the future you will save more money. And you can get and use the paints now yo practice while you wait for your stuff to arrive in March.

[Sanael]

While I agree with all the statements about using the best tools possible, I agree more with Qwyk's post above: get what you can afford to get, without skimping.

 

When I started, it was with two specific minis that caught my eye and the five specific paints I thought I'd need for them, plus a few cheap brushes. It wasn't the most efficient way to start, since the colors I bought weren't particularly versatile, but it was the easiest way for me to find out for sure if I enjoyed the hobby without breaking the bank. Once it took off for me, I spent ridiculous sums on large paint sets to have all the colors evar. Eventually I started spending $10-25, each, on brushes.

 

That's my experience. For you...well, what do I mean by "without skimping?" I think it's important that at least two of the three things you need to paint minis be of good quality. You're getting bones, so your minis are good. So you need either good paint or good brushes. Economically, you'll get more mileage out of paint (one high-quality brush will cost the same as three or four bottles of MSP, or more), so I'd start there (I'd also say that, starting from skill level zero, a good brush will not make learning painting skills easier, but good paint will).

 

All this is to say, I also echo the recommendation to buy one of the basic paint sets, probably set 1. Then go to Michaels or Hobby Lobby or wherever and pick up some cheap taklon brushes (my preference would be for sizes 1, 0 and 000. For really big things, eventually I'd add a 2) to start. For bones, you don't need the primer (but you'll want it if you want to paint Sophie!).

 

If you can find the funds by the time the pledge manager goes live, I'd strongly suggest Paint Set 3 as well. The metallics are nice, the colors useful, and the washes and sealer are brilliant. If you can't do that, then I'd pick up a bottle of the Walnut Brown. I've gone through nearly three bottles of Walnut Brown before I went through one bottle of any other color.

[Doug Sundseth]

Economically, you'll get more mileage out of paint (one high-quality brush will cost the same as three or four bottles of MSP, or more), so I'd start there (I'd also say that, starting from skill level zero, a good brush will not make learning painting skills easier, but good paint will).

 

Disagree categorically.

 

A good brush (Winsor & Newton, da Vinci, or Rafael Kolinsky Sable in size 0 - 2) will help your painting a great deal more than dedicated miniatures paint. More, since you have to buy some sort of brush, spending $5 on a brush that will last for days instead of $12 for a brush that will last for years is silly. As someone who resisted that advice for a long time (and who has been painting since the late '70s) I have extensive experience on both sides of this issue.

 

Cheap brushes have lousy points, don't hold the little point they have, and make it much more difficult to paint. Cheap brushes are both painful to use and more expensive, even in the short run, than expensive brushes. Never buy cheap brushes.

[Talae]

What about starting out with a painting kit? It seems like that would be a good place to start for $20-25 and then you could branch out from there. It is what I did and now I have three kits and a few miscellaneous other things while waiting for Reaper MSP from the Kickstarter. I did buy a decent brush (Winsor & Newton) but haven't opened it yet in fear of screwing it up. I have only been painting a week or two, but am about ready to switch brushes from the starter pack ones to the nice one.

[buglips*the*goblin]

I agree with Doug. I was a Kolinsky Resister for a long time, despite Anne's many patient attempts to nicely tell me I was wrong.

 

One day I bought a Kolinsky by accident because I wasn't really looking when I grabbed one the right size. As it happened, when it got rung in it was more expensive than I expected but there was rather a long line behind me. So I paid for it to save the hassle.

 

When I got home, I tried it, and it was magical the difference was so great. It was a +2 Paintbrush, forged by elven magicks.

 

Skip the cheapo brushes, it's cheaper and better to go Kolinsky straight off. If you don't like the hobby, you're out an extra 5 bucks. But if you do? That'll save you easily $30 in cheapo brushes in your first year. Probably double that.

[Sanael]

Economically, you'll get more mileage out of paint (one high-quality brush will cost the same as three or four bottles of MSP, or more), so I'd start there (I'd also say that, starting from skill level zero, a good brush will not make learning painting skills easier, but good paint will).

 

Disagree categorically.

 

A good brush (Winsor & Newton, da Vinci, or Rafael Kolinsky Sable in size 0 - 2) will help your painting a great deal more than dedicated miniatures paint. More, since you have to buy some sort of brush, spending $5 on a brush that will last for days instead of $12 for a brush that will last for years is silly. As someone who resisted that advice for a long time (and who has been painting since the late '70s) I have extensive experience on both sides of this issue.

 

Cheap brushes have lousy points, don't hold the little point they have, and make it much more difficult to paint. Cheap brushes are both painful to use and more expensive, even in the short run, than expensive brushes. Never buy cheap brushes.

 

All fair points, and I agree with all of them in the long view. I haven't even bought a synthetic-hair drybrush in years.

 

My point was more to the immediate economy of the situation: if I only have $20 to spend right now, based on my experience with both craft paint and taklon brushes, I'd rather get two or three brushes at a couple bucks each and a good selection of four or five paints at three-fifty each. Not much you can paint with one good brush and only one color of paint. Then, when I had the funds to make another supplies purchase, I'd buy good brushes and use the old cheapies for mixing, drybrushing, etc.

 

Which is a statement based on my personal experience of not living in a magicalchristmasland where I can buy Series 7s in person for less than $15. Even with my I'm-a-member-of-the-art-museum discount. And I've had too many poor experiences with mail-order brushes, even from reputable places like Dick Blick. If I only had $20, and could get a #0 or #1 Series 7 or DaVinci for $10 from a local shop, I'd go that route in a heartbeat.

 

But I'd also try to scrounge the extra eight bucks to get that snazzy-nice brush and one of the KS paint sets.

[vutpakdi]

As a side note, all the major brands make different grades of kolisnky sable brushes. There may be a vast difference between the different grades. For example, in my experience, the Winsor & Newton Cirrus brush (low end) is very soft and is terrible at holding a point compared to the Series 7 (high end). I believe that W&N makes the citadel brushes. The one that I tried fell in between the Cirrus and the Series 7.

 

Ron

[thatguywiththeface]

I've tried vallejo, P3, and Games Workshop.

 

They all work pretty well, in my experience. I prefer Vallejo, of the three, just because you get more product, the pigmentation is about the same as the new GW paints, and the dropper bottles make mixing easy as popcorn. (I would say "easy as pie," but pie is exacting and requires skill)

 

MSP are cheaper though, and have the same dropper bottles that make mixing so easy.

 

tips:

have separate brushes for shading/washes, basecoating, detail work and drybrushing.

mount the miniature to be painted on a bottle cap or similar, to avoid messing up the paint with your fingers. If you're just painting plastics, use sticky tack. If you're painting metals, well, I actually don't know D;

load only the very tip of your brush.

rinse your brushes well after each use.

don't leave your brushes sitting in water, as this will warp and ruin the bristles.

 

for drybrushing, you can get games workshop dry compounds, or you can do it the old-fashioned way, which is to load your brush with the desired color (probably a shade lighter than what you're drybrushing) and gently rub it into a napkin or paper towel until it becomes much less voluminous and moist, and to apply the compound you've made, in swift, yet controlled, strokes to the desired area.

 

for washes/shading, you can get games workshop shade paints, or you can do it the old-fashioned way, and take the desired color and thin it out with water. More water reduces opacity and viscosity, so be careful when adding it. You don't want to end up with a wash that's too light and too runny.

[smokingwreckage]

MSP's are a bit smoother, a bit more flowable, and don't dry quite as fast as Vallejo Model Colour (VMC). I like VMC but usually prefer and would recommend MSPs. ESPECIALLY to a beginner. I haven't used Vallejo Game Colour though.

[Lastman]

A thought about dropper bottles and regular screw-top paint jars and toothpicks:

 

I don't mix paints with a brush because I like to preserve whatever brushes I have and conserve paint.

 

Instead I use a toothpick, which is easy to scrape clean on my palette so it wastes less paint. Toothpicks are cheaper than brushes, and it doesn't matter if the paint is in a jar, because you can still get a very precise amount out of the jar without a dropper bottle.

 

 

P.S.

I also use Golden artist acrylics which are high quality paints that come in large bottles that are cheaper per ounce than any paint designed for miniature market.

 

I think Eric Louchard uses Liquitex artist acrylics and he gets amazing results (because he's a brilliant artist).

[Qwyksilver]

I first started painting minis with Windsor & Newton tube acrylics. I didn't even know there were paints for minis at the time other than old Testors Enamels. I asked my art major friends for acrylic paint recommendations. You just have to thin them a little more...but boy do those tubes last. And cost a lot. And if you think carrying around all the MSPs are heavy...try lugging around a full line of artist tube acrylics.

Edited September 10, 2012 by Qwyksilver