Seven years ago, I would meet with my friends and we would all paint minis together. Then, I went to grad school, didn't have time, and started investing in plastic minis.
Now I have time to paint again, problem is, I no longer know what the "best practices" are. I was hoping that you guys could shed some light on this including...
What should I use as my base? White or black? Water or oil-base?
For painting, water or oil base.
Clear coat when finished. Yes or no.
What other tips and advice do you have?
White or black is mostly a personal preference.
Black: It's harder to show bright colors on a black base, you'll need to paint more coats of it. If you miss painting a spot, it's probably under the arm and just looks like a shadow. It's harder to see details of what you're trying to paint.
White: It's bright enough that thinner paints will need several coats to cover the whiteness. If you miss painting a spot, it'll stand out very brightly and annoy you enough to fix it eventually. It's easier to see all the details of the mini.
I've even primed with gray (because I had no black or white) and brown (because I was demonstrating speed painting and brown is a good base for masses of minis wearing leather or bone).
Water or oil for the base?
Spraypaint. :)
Water or oil for the colors?
Almost all mini painters use acrylic (water-based) paints nowadays. They're easier and the quality is excellent. I can't recall anyone who uses oil, but I'm also not into the competition-level stuff so some of them may swear by it.
Clear coat?
Hell, yes, you don't want to damage your paint job. I dip mine in Future for a hard, nearly-indestructible seal, then spray them with DullCote to take off the shine.
Tips:
Drybrushes and washes are the easiest tools to make minis look nice.
To paint eyes, use a micro-point pen. Or paint the white, then paint the skin up to where you want the white to stop, then color the eye, then touch up the skin.
Paint recessed areas before you paint exposed areas ("in before out").
To extend your brush life, use it to make brush *strokes* like you'd paint a house... don't poke the brush at the mini, that'll make it fray ("it's a stroker, not a poker").
Look at the mini at arm's length now and then; if it looks good at that distance, don't worry if it looks a little weird right in four face.
Sit up straight, don't hunch over or you'll hurt your back. Steady your hands by putting your elbows on the table and painting with your hands at eye level ("forget your manners, elbows on the table").
Thanks Sean... that is all great advice, and a few new tricks that I didn't know seven years ago.
Sean Reynolds has some great advice. My advice just for another perspective:
What should I use as my base? White or black? Water or oil-base?
As Sean says, it's largely a matter of personal preference. I prefer black so the dark recesses of a mini are, well, dark, and I tend to paint up from dark to light. If I'm painting very bright colors (especially with somewhat translucent pigments like red or yellow), I will prime black and then drybrush the areas I want to be bright with white brush on primer.
As for what to use for primer
- If you go spraypaint, use basic matte flat primer like Krylon's. Do not buy Citadel's, it is Krylon with about $5 bucks added on for the Citadel label.
I personally dislike spraypaint for a number of reasons, some of which are circumstantial: 1) I live in a humid area. Spraypaint gunges up easily in humidity; I have ruined a model tank by trying to spray it in humid weather (and YES of course I shook it thoroughly before starting). 2) I live in a small apartment; you need good ventilation for spraying 3) I'm mostly painting one or two models at a time, not large models or whole army units. I find spraypaint is great for the latter, but for the former, I find it a bit of a waste.
For all these reasons, I use a brush on material called acrylic gesso. Gesso prepares surfaces to take acrylic paint--which is exactly what you are doing. You dab it on--it is slightly goopy and it's okay if it's a little thick--and it shrinks as it dries, revealing the detail nicely while having a nice, deep even undercoat. The tricky part with Gesso is while you do want it slightly thick, it is possible to put too much on. Also because it shrinks as it dries, an area with inadequate coverage may reveal small blotches, but that's easily touched up with more gesso or just paint (and when I spray paint, I usually have to touch up with a brush too). Overall I find it a nice, inexpensive, very useful product however.
For painting, water or oil base.
Water soluble acrylic. My personal favorite is Reaper Master Series for miniatures, but you can also get by with Apple Barrel and a good acrylic paint thinner (if you use regular craft paint, make sure you thin it!)
Citadel foundation is good for quick basecoats and terrain but it's a bit thick.
Clear coat when finished. Yes or no.
It's not necessary, especially if it's a mini you're not using a lot and are storing safely. However, protection is always nice and a good matte varnish also helps "naturalize" your highlights and shadows on your model. I use Testor's Dullcote too (well shaken on a dry day, and I have to leave the apartment for awhile after I use it...).
What other tips and advice do you have?
Start slow, work with thin paint and build up layer by layer.
There's some great articles at Dr. Faust's painting clinic, Reaper, and Games Workshop. I used to recommend Brushthralls but I find their current site absolutely impossible to navigate. Note most articles are "for pros by pros" with some complex techniques but they're still full of good ideas (just don't let them overwhelm you!).
USE GOOD BRUSHES. I cannot emphasize this enough. (The exception is the shoddy old brush you'll use for drybrushing.) Buy yourself at least one good size 2 round kolinsky sable watercolor brush from an art store (incl. places like Michael's and Plaza Art where you'll often get good discounts; online places like Dick Blick's have great discounts). I use Windsor and Newton Artist's Watercolor. They will be more expensive than maybe the synthetic brushes you're tempted to buy, but they will last three times as long--ultimately, saving you money. Buy a cheap cake of Master's brush soap or other brush cleaner. Wash your brushes according to the instructions after each use and store upright in a cup, brush tips toward the ceiling.