How to... ( miniatures)?

[Stegger]

Hi,
a friend and myself are going to get started on painting miniatures for our future d&d games. Now, we dont have any experience at all; I dont know whether to by plastid or metal ( metal seems "nicer"), what paint to use, what pencils etc, what company makes the best ones and also of course how to paint them!?!?!?
Do you have any experience to share on how to get started, any links to homepages, some tricks to share, some companies to recommend or stay away from, or where to bye the miniatures and painting equipment.
In essence, how to..... with miniatures!
Thank you very much for your replies
Stegger

 

[Aaron2]

Hi,
a friend and myself are going to get started on painting miniatures for our future d&d games. Now, we dont have any experience at all; I dont know whether to by plastid or metal ( metal seems "nicer"), what paint to use, what pencils etc, what company makes the best ones and also of course how to paint them!?!?!?

Here's my advice for starting out...

First start with plastic minis, you don't feel bad when you screw them up. Second, use white spray paint to paint them completely white. Third, go to your local Micheals or craft store and buy the big tubes of acrylic paint; pick white, black, red and a few other basic colors. Finally, when you paint, thin the paint with water before you use it. Experiment with various thinesses.

Practice for a while until you realize that most of what I've told you is wrong. Then you'll know what to do.


Aaron

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

You need to prime the miniatures before painting. Spray primer is the best for this, it comes in gray or black versions. I prefer black - it helps mask any areas you miss, especially in hard to get at areas.

You can use any acrylic paints. I wouldn't go for BIG tubes - Michael's (a crafts store) has tubes of Acrylic craft paints for under $1 a bottle. They come in little squeeze bottles, 2 ounces each, and I still haven't run out of the first ones I bought quite some time ago. The nice thing about cheap paints is you can buy lots of them for very little money. I have something like 25-30 bottles, and I'm not much of a painter.

I's go for metal miniatures. You'll want something to cut off flashing, and a file to smooth any rough edges out.

Lastly, you'll want a spray sealer to use once you're done painting.

 

[Arravis]

I've been painting since 1980, but the best piece of advice I can give you is to go to Doc Faust's :
http://www.paintingclinic.com/

For a new painter, especially:
http://www.paintingclinic.com/clinic/clinic.htm

Dr. Faust also has links to a number of sites that will help as well . The most depressing of which is: http://www.wegotgame.net/jen/main.html (because I know I'll never be anywhere as kick ass as Jen is, hehe)

Anyway, I hope that helps

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Here are some links to several good mini painting pages. I'm not trying to overload you, but there are some good painting techniques and basic painting guides & tips.

http://www.paintingclinic.com
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/games/miniatures/painting-faq/
http://miniature-painting.net/index.html
http://hot-lead.org/
http://www.discounthobby.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=DIS
http://www.100kingdoms.com/index.cfm
http://www.reapermini.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/pp/pp20010607a
http://www.ironwindmetals.com/
http://www.brookhursthobbies.com/
http://www.rackham-store.com/boutique_us/liste_rayons.cfm?code_lg=lg_us
http://www.coolminiornot.com/
http://www.albinorhino.com/hobby/
http://theminiaturespage.com/

 

[BiggusGeekus@Work]

I also prefer black primer to white. If you're just starting you'll miss a bunch of spots and black primer hides it better. White primer makes the colors stand out more, but if you're just starting with minis you aren't as concerned about that.

Citadel has a great line of paints. They are a notch overpriced, but you'll have the luxury of just being able to grab Citadel stuff and not have to worry if its good for minis.

Start with plastic minis. You're going to screw up a lot and plastic is cheap. I also like plastic minis because I can afford more of them so I buy more. A huge horde of painted goblins is pretty cool to look at.

I've found that cheap nail files work just fine for sanding down the molding lines on plastic minis. Don't bother with the expensive metal files just yet.

A good product to check out is the Warhammer Starter Paint Set. Again, you could probably find slightly cheaper stuff if you looked around. But this set includes a nice variety of paints, a brush, and four human archers (which you'll probably need sooner or later for your game). It should be around US$20-25.

Finally, remember, no one looks at minis from three inches away. Minis are usually viewed from a few feet away so if you mess up small details no one will notice. Just sit back and enjoy painting.

 

[Stegger]

thanks, I will have a look at those pages.
Any other opinions or ideas?

 

[KnowTheToe]

White primer.

It is easier to see the details of the mini when using white primer.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

BTW, a couple of the links in my post above are actually for companies that produce miniatures, or online stores. But I included them as I find them helpful when looking for individual miniatures I want to buy, or to get painting ideas.

 

[Keith]

There are some nice sites on painting miniatures, that is for sure. I’ll throw in my own basic advice here, though.
First of all, whether you buy metal or plastic (and I don’t think that makes a huge difference; buy the figures you like regardless of this factor, I would say), clean them and remove flashing with a sharp craft knife (so you will need one of those), and if you get a metal one file the bottom of it flat (so, a cheap file for that).
Then, spray prime in a well ventilated area. Painting without priming is, at best, very difficult, and also pretty pointless. Priming only takes a few minutes and makes all the difference. There are a variety of colors available, but I agree that in most cases black is far better. Particularly armored figures; spray black, dry-brush with metal…pretty close to finished. Brush on primer tends to obscure more detail.

For beginners, I would recommend doing skin areas with a dark tone dry-brushed with a light tone, and not try to paint facial features (depending on what scale you are using). My other advice is make liberal use of dry-brushing: paint an area with one shade, then dry-brush over it to pick out highlights. This doesn’t require much skill, and can really make a nice difference in appearance (quickly, too). To dry-brush, put some paint on the brush, and then run the brush back and forth on a paper towel or the like until there is seemingly little or no paint wet on the brush. Then draw the brush lightly over the area you want to highlight. This process is hard on brushes, so use the same one for it, and buy a cheaper one for this purpose to start with. Keep your other brushes in better shape at the tip. Another nice and easy technique is washing some areas with diluted artists’ ink.

My only other advice is to get some flocking and take the bother of gluing some on the base of each figure. Again, it is not skilled work, and can make things look much nicer than say just a flat painted base.

My last comment is that you can get decent at painting pretty quickly, but at the same time, you may always be stunned by what more experienced people can do (I know I am). Use bright light and maybe magnifying glasses to help out. Be patient, but finish things at your own pace and be happy with what you can do.

Have fun!