Miniature Painting

By Travis Perkins

Last time we looked at the basics for getting started painting, this time around let’s look at brushes, palettes, and some other painting products that might be useful for you.

Starting with Pallets:

I would one hundred percent recommend a wet pallet over a dry pallet for miniature painting and there is a plethora of options available for purchase. Personally, I make my own using a tuber ware container with some wet paper towel on the bottom then putting a piece of parchment paper over it. Having a wet pallet does a couple of things, the first being stopping your paint from drying out quickly. Having that cool wet layer underneath your paint causes it to dry (in the pallet) much slower than without it so rather than having to dip into the pot more frequently you can use what you put out. It also adds a nice space to mix paints if you decide to explore mixing colors or wet blending. (More on blending later). Be sure to change out the paper towels frequently though as with any sort of paper product that you leave water on it can get moldy.

Brushes:

Brushes are a tricky one in that there are so many flavors of brushes out there you really need to find the ones that work best for you. Some golden daemon painters have won using brushes that cost less than 15 cents apiece, while others swear by some expensive brushes that can last you years with proper care. I land somewhere in the middle and generally like to have 3 or 4 brushes that I can consistently rely on. My favorite is an army painter regiment brush that will run you 7-8 bucks but is your work horse. I use this brush for 80-90% of the models I paint because I am most comfortable with it, and I think it gives you good coverage without sacrificing too much in terms of fine detail. My second favorite brush is a good shade brush and for that I like the citadel medium shade brush that is just shy of 10 dollars. I use a lot of shades, washes, and contrast paints and this brush absorbs the thinner paints well and lets you spread it all over. Coming in third is not a single brush but rather a packet of makeup brushes (the cheaper the better) the stiffer though the better. I use these for dry brushing, and I try and dry brush as much as possible especially on larger pieces as it is quick and easy and usually produces good results. My final brush I like a good small, tipped brush like a Windsor newton 00 or extra small citadel brush, I only use this brush for very small details like very fine edge highlighting or dotting eyes etc. Find one you like and matches a price point you’re ok with and use it sparingly.

Other Tools:

There is a variety of other tools you can purchase for painting your little grey friends, but these are the three that I have found most useful. First is a snake light with magnifying glass. I might be dating myself by calling it a snake light (let’s go radio shack) but having a small mobile light that you can basically take anywhere is very useful. Add in the fact that if you want you can magnify something you’re painting like an eyeball, and it is very helpful in almost any instance. My second tool is one that I would not have normally bought but won in a raffle and I love it. It’s a refillable water pot, the one I use is from green stuff world, and it has refreshing water that you can clear out in between colors. It also has a nice groove that lets you kind of scrape the brush against to clear off any paint or pigment from something like dry brushing. It’s not something you need, and I never would have bought one myself, but man is this thing awesome, and I can’t see going to back to a regular water cup. Finally, I recommended getting a jar of paint brush soap and following the instructions on the jar of cleaning your brushes properly after every use. This little jar will add loads of life to your paint brushes, especially if you are using more expensive ones. If you are using 15 cent brushes and just tossing them after every session though you can skip it.

This is part 2 of my painting miniatures for people who have no idea how to paint miniatures guide, next time I am going to do a brief description on how to do wet blending, edge highlighting, dry brushing, and glazing which should give you a good start to your painting journey.