Basic Equipment

[wdmartin]

I pledged in the first Bones Kickstarter. And now I've pledged in the second Bones Kickstarter. So I have a ton of unpainted minis, and more on the way.

 

I never really wanted to learn to paint. I spend waaay too much time on the RPG hobby as it is. But I've reluctantly come to the conclusion that if I depend on the kindness of my friends, it will be decades before this vast backlog of minis gets painted. It's time to face reality: if I don't learn to paint, I'll be explaining that 90% of my monsters are albino, and that's why they're solid white. Including their, err, albino clothing and armor. And weapons. Yeah.

 

So I'm trying to figure out what supplies I should get, and thought I'd ask what you all would consider essential basic kit.

 

What colors of paint do you always keep in stock?

 

What sizes/brands of paint brush do you prefer?

 

What other tools will I really need? X-acto knife, sandpaper, etc?

 

I'm aware of Reaper's learn to paint kits, but I suspect that with literally hundreds of minis to paint, I'm going to need more paint in a wider variety of colors than those offer. It'd be nice if I could get the instructional booklet separately from the rest of it and just buy a bunch of paint.

[Girot]

Honestly? It really depends on how detailed you want your minis to be. At one point I had all my minis spray painted in a color scheme similiar to the old hero quest minis. Good guys in red, undead in bone, orcs/gobs in green, odd ball stuff in grey, and beasts in brown. Worked out just fine.

 

EDIT: just to clarify I am talking about a single color btw. in the case of bones I'd recommend the four-step process.

Edited November 20, 2013 by Girot

[MissMelons]

This is a long complicated question. If you're new to painting, going to try it out, I wouldn't suggest you buy the expensive brushes right away. For synthetics (just til you know if this is a hobby you want to do) I'd look at Masters series Golden Taklons or the Cotman winsor and newton water color brushes. Even with my expensive brushes, those taklons and cotmans still make decent 'go to' brushes for random things. Once you've decided on if miniature painting is your hobby of choice, then return and ask more questions!

 

The LTPK are great for getting large amounts of paints, 2 miniatures and 2 brushes for a very reasonable price. Paint's cost 3.50$ each, the kit is 25.95$ and you get 12 paints. Most of these paints will help you fill the Reaper Paint Triad, which is very handy to know if you aren't into mixing paints. (I'm into mixing paints so I don't make a big deal to know it, BUT it is helpful)

 

There's a "ROYBGIV" type of situation with paints that even I had to follow when I first wanted to get into it. It's not literally, Red, Orange, Yellow and etc, but is made up of primary colors that are either hard to mix or essential to painting. There was a list of them about a few days ago, laziness is kicking in and I can't find it. But such colors are "Black, Red, Yellow, White, Clear green, Orange, Purple, and Blue." You might be asking "Buy why not just the basic White, Black, Red, Blue, Yellow? You can make all the colors with those! We learned it in school!" Because making orange, purple and green is a pain in the bottom, that's why! Acrylic paints are nice to mix, but if you are starting out and don't know the proper mixing amount then it'll get you every single time and you will have wasted paint in a color you have absolutely no use for.

 

I stand by reaper paints but others like citadel, p3, vallejo, its all a matter of opinion. Some people use craft paints for stuff. I use craft metallics sometimes if I want something to just sparkle.

 

Tools: Xacto knife, diamond files or the cheapy needle files since you are starting out, pallet of some sort, wet or normal, I'd practice with a plain pallet til you are sure of what you want to do with this hobby.

 

There are numerous workshops on youtube that give handy tips and information on painting miniatures. No single person does it the same way. It's interesting to watch at least to see which ones will work for you.

 

But really, the cheapest route, if you are not sure if you'll even like painting miniatures is to just buy a LTPK, that way its 25$ down the drain if you hate it and not 50$ for brushes, files, paints, miniatures, gas and time wasted.

[Last Knight]

You should get the Learn To Paint Kits.

 

Yes, I read what you said - but you get a stupidly good amount of paint, decent (not spectacular, but a good start) brushes, plus instructions that give you a solid foundation on how to paint that pile of' minis. They really are the best first step for this hobby. Everything I did before I had them was mere futzing around; I didn't actually paint until I got my LTPKs.

 

If you are insistent on going it on your own, there are some very good articles on getting started in The Craft. I'll add a link in a second.

[Last Knight]

A beginning mini painter's shopping list, part one - http://www.reapermini.com/Thecraft/32

 

And part two - http://www.reapermini.com/TheCraft/37

 

These are aimed more for metal minis, since they predate Bones, but should help.

[MissMelons]

A beginning mini painter's shopping list, part one - http://www.reapermini.com/Thecraft/32

 

And part two - http://www.reapermini.com/TheCraft/37

 

These are aimed more for metal minis, since they predate Bones, but should help.

 

 

See, Last Knight is a link ninja.

[ub3r_n3rd]

Yep, I was going to suggest those two links from The Craft that LK linked, he really is a linking ninja!

[Last Knight]

 

 

A beginning mini painter's shopping list, part one - http://www.reapermini.com/Thecraft/32

 

And part two - http://www.reapermini.com/TheCraft/37

 

These are aimed more for metal minis, since they predate Bones, but should help.

 

See, Last Knight is a link ninja.

Had 'em bookmarked. Would have dropped them into my first post, but I'm on my cell...

[MissMelons]

Had 'em bookmarked. Would have dropped them into my first post, but I'm on my cell...

 

 

See, I'm on a computer and they're bookmarked and I STILL couldn't find them. Link Ninja, You are.

[Sabith]

Do the LTPK's actually come with full 1/2 oz dropper bottles?

[Last Knight]

Do the LTPK's actually come with full 1/2 oz dropper bottles?

YES.

 

...if you get newer stock, which is why I encourage people to buy from Reaper directly where possible.

 

Now that I've scooped ub3r_n3rd, I can add an explanation; the sample strips were more expensive than just supplying full droppers of paint, believe it or not. Reaper said screw it and just use full bottles now, but for whatever reason don't advertise that fact. The kit costs less than the paint you get with it, by itself.

Edited November 20, 2013 by Last Knight

[ub3r_n3rd]

@ Sabith - Yes

[Sabith]

Man, I must have been looking at old pictures. The little cups that I saw pictured were the only reason I didn't buy them. If I'd known I was getting full droppers I'd have gotten into them a long time ago!

 

<--- Craft-paint user. I've decided I like the hobby and pretty soon I'm gonna have to buy my paints all over again. If you start with LTPK's, you won't have to deal with the situation I'm currently in.

[Last Knight]

Man, I must have been looking at old pictures. The little cups that I saw pictured were the only reason I didn't buy them. If I'd known I was getting full droppers I'd have gotten into them a long time ago!

 

<--- Craft-paint user. I've decided I like the hobby and pretty soon I'm gonna have to buy my paints all over again. If you start with LTPK's, you won't have to deal with the situation I'm currently in.

Yeah, like I said, they haven't updated their pictures on the site. It's the worst kept Reaper secret, because we tell everyone who holds still for half a second - there are half a dozen threads or more on the topic - but it keeps catching newbies.

 

It's also one of the reasons a lot of people don't recommend craft paint to start with - sure, they're cheaper, but if you can't use them for something else (terrain, ferex) than it's like an additional "newbie tax" when you go to trade up. Still, you don't have to try to buy everything at once - those little dropper bottles last a while, and you don't need every colour to start with.

 

There are some good threads on starting paint choices here on the board. I'll dig them up when I get back to a real connection, unless someone beats me to it.

[ub3r_n3rd]

My collection consists of the first three LTPK's, 3 of the paint kits from the first Bones KS (I wish I would've gotten the 4th kit too now), and a few paints I ordered a while back when I got a couple of pewter figures from the store.

 

I'd highly recommend adding a little bit to the pledge manager (when it's open) if you've backed KS 2 in order to get those paint sets for 50% off, that's just a great deal.