Getting Started With Painting

Priming Your Mini

     It is important to check the paints that you are planning to use before choosing a priming coat- some paints (for example Turbo Dork or Speed Paints) require a specific black or white colored primer for the paints to work best.  I personally find white, grey or black to be my go to primer colors. 

     The purpose of priming your mini is to give the miniature a layer of paint that the other layers that you put on can bond to. Some plastics are hard to paint with out that primer layer. For 3D printed models the primer is another layer to help fill in some cracks and layer lines a little more. Remember that priming your mini should be a very thin layer- we don’t want to take away details from the your miniature due to thick primer layers. 

     There are a variety of primers that you can pick and choose from based on your preference from paint with a paint brush to put on on, air brushing and aerosol spray cans.  The large name brands of miniature paints have primers to choose from and for the most part it’s all up to you. Large war painting projects you can use the color that matches their armor for a primer for ease of use (green primer for goblins, blue/black/red/ white/etc. for armor color). Primer is not your base coat but using a colored base to match your ascetic can help make certain paint layers on top pop. 

   Some minis come pre-primed and you don’t need to put on additional primer and are ready to paint out of the box. 

Adding Shadow Layer

      There are a few ways to add shadows to your miniature. The first option and sometimes the easiest option is the step in between your primer and base coat. You can choose to put black, grey or a darker version of your base coat color and paint that into the deep recesses and creases of your miniature. An example of this would be painting the shadow layer into the joint areas (behind knees, inside elbow creases), inside muscle areas (creases on arms, legs, abs), inside the areas where clothes would be naturally shadowed (in the valleys of “moving” cloth, in between toes, and any large or deep spots within the plastic or metal of your miniature.  

     If you are doing a dark colored paint, such as a dark blue of the ice troll, for a base coat you can choose to use black as your shadow layer. If you are using a lighter color you can choose an appropriate grey instead. 

     I personally use a darker version of the base coat when I do my shadow layer.  An example: I plan on using a red color for my Slaad, I will mix a dark red to use instead by putting one drop of my base coat and mix it with one drop of black paint to use as my  shadow paint. When you mix your base coat 1-to-1 with black paint you get a color that is more natural and blends well when you put the base coat over it. 

     The idea of the shadow layer is to give your miniature some natural looking shadows (just as if you are standing in the sun you have a shadow as well). This layer gets covered with the base coat once dried but with the darker pigment still showing through slightly even when covered. 

     Shadows can also be added to your miniature via a wash later or through detail work/dry brushing  if you do not want to do a shadow layer prior to base coat.