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Like MANY others, I jumped in on the awesome Reaper Bones Kickstarter and now have around 200 or so unpainted plastic Bones to paint in the near future. I'm very excited to get into this plastic mini painting hobby, but I'll need some expert advice :)
I've been reading up on various message boards but I have a few questions. I'll post each one separately so things can stay on topic. Please remember that I am ONLY interested in how these questions, answers and advice applies to the plastic Bones minis. I'm not interested in painting metal minis.
Onward!
I am really intrigued by this Dipping technique. I've tried to research it but I still don't quite get it. Do I have this right? You paint the mini and then either dip it in brown furniture stain OR you paint on brown furniture stain with a brush?
Can someone give me a basic step-by-step?
Thanks!
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Like MANY others, I jumped in on the awesome Reaper Bones Kickstarter and now have around 200 or so unpainted plastic Bones to paint in the near future. I'm very excited to get into this plastic mini painting hobby, but I'll need some expert advice :)
I've been reading up on various message boards but I have a few questions. I'll post each one separately so things can stay on topic. Please remember that I am ONLY interested in how these questions, answers and advice applies to the plastic Bones minis. I'm not interested in painting metal minis.
Onward!
I am really intrigued by this Dipping technique. I've tried to research it but I still don't quite get it. Do I have this right? You paint the mini and then either dip it in brown furniture stain OR you paint on brown furniture stain with a brush?
Can someone give me a basic step-by-step?
Thanks!
You've already got it. I brush it on as I have no convenient place to shake off the excess stain (I used Miniwax Golden Oak and Provincial stains (not on the same mini - GO for bright coloured minis, Prov for dark) - a small can won't run you more than $7 and will do hundreds of minis). I keep a second brush handy (dry) and mop up any excess rigth away. Then, if I can after an hour or so I check the mini again and mop up and big pools that have formed. I've used it on a few minis lately and I'm actually pretty happy with the result. Much, much faster than the old 'dark wash, highlight, screw up, strip, repeat' method I used to use :-)
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Army painter sells a thinned down version of the furniture stain - but it costs a lot more. You don't need to buy their brand of paint to get the same look.
http://www.thearmypainter.com/videogallery.php?videoid=2
http://www.thearmypainter.com/videogallery.php?videoid=3
They also have a 'painting guide' pdf on their website - it's mostly ads for their brushes and spray paint, but it shows how by sticking to three or so colours and then dipping, you can get pretty decent results - especially after about page 17 or so.
I've been reading up on various message boards but I have a few questions. I'll post each one separately so things can stay on topic. Please remember that I am ONLY interested in how these questions, answers and advice applies to the plastic Bones minis. I'm not interested in painting metal minis.
For the record, Marc, pretty much any advice offered for painting metal minis applies to painting plastics as well, and vice versa.
The only thing that makes Bones different from either metal minis or traditional plastics or resin is that they do not need to be primed.
I am really intrigued by this Dipping technique. I've tried to research it but I still don't quite get it. Do I have this right? You paint the mini and then either dip it in brown furniture stain OR you paint on brown furniture stain with a brush?Can someone give me a basic step-by-step?
Here is a video tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovPPAPQ5WSc
Googling "miniatures dipping" will also result in a plethora of techniques and advice.
I've been reading up on various message boards but I have a few questions. I'll post each one separately so things can stay on topic. Please remember that I am ONLY interested in how these questions, answers and advice applies to the plastic Bones minis. I'm not interested in painting metal minis.For the record, Marc, pretty much any advice offered for painting metal minis applies to painting plastics as well, and vice versa.
The only thing that makes Bones different from either metal minis or traditional plastics or resin is that they do not need to be primed.
And stripping. Do not try to strip plastic minis the same way. Many of the solvents will disolve plastic.
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And stripping. Do not try to strip plastic minis the same way. Many of the solvents will disolve plastic.
I've been reading up on various message boards but I have a few questions. I'll post each one separately so things can stay on topic. Please remember that I am ONLY interested in how these questions, answers and advice applies to the plastic Bones minis. I'm not interested in painting metal minis.For the record, Marc, pretty much any advice offered for painting metal minis applies to painting plastics as well, and vice versa.
The only thing that makes Bones different from either metal minis or traditional plastics or resin is that they do not need to be primed.
In the case of any miniature, metal or plastic, I always use Simple Green household cleaner. It does not hurt plastic and effectively removes paint from any miniature surface, and it is environmentally safe to dispose of straight down the sink (although don't stand right over it and breathe in a big lungful of the concentrate, or you'll be coughing for a good minute).
I know for metal minis people talk about crazy stuff like brake fluid and industrial strength oven cleaner, stuff that is toxic as hell and no one ever disposes of properly. I'd never go near it.
Simple Green does everything--I think it might take longer but I'm okay with that. I also use a brass brush to remove any stubborn bits if necessary.
Also, it's a great all purpose household cleaner. :)
And stripping. Do not try to strip plastic minis the same way. Many of the solvents will disolve plastic.
I've been reading up on various message boards but I have a few questions. I'll post each one separately so things can stay on topic. Please remember that I am ONLY interested in how these questions, answers and advice applies to the plastic Bones minis. I'm not interested in painting metal minis.For the record, Marc, pretty much any advice offered for painting metal minis applies to painting plastics as well, and vice versa.
The only thing that makes Bones different from either metal minis or traditional plastics or resin is that they do not need to be primed.
In the case of any miniature, metal or plastic, I always use Simple Green household cleaner. It does not hurt plastic and effectively removes paint from any miniature surface, and it is environmentally safe to dispose of straight down the sink (although don't stand right over it and breathe in a big lungful of the concentrate, or you'll be coughing for a good minute).
I know for metal minis people talk about crazy stuff like brake fluid and industrial strength oven cleaner, stuff that is toxic as hell and no one ever disposes of properly. I'd never go near it.
Simple Green does everything--I think it might take longer but I'm okay with that. I also use a brass brush to remove any stubborn bits if necessary.
Also, it's a great all purpose household cleaner. :)
And it's a desert topping!
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OK, so .... if we could get back on topic :)
For those of you that DO use this dipping method, just how shiny is the mini when your are done? How many people do the 'dull coat' thing? Is there maybe a particular brand and/or type of stain / furniture polish that does not leave the mini shiny so you don't need to dull it down?
Thanks for all the great tips and info by the way!
OK, so .... if we could get back on topic :)
For those of you that DO use this dipping method, just how shiny is the mini when your are done? How many people do the 'dull coat' thing? Is there maybe a particular brand and/or type of stain / furniture polish that does not leave the mini shiny so you don't need to dull it down?
Thanks for all the great tips and info by the way!
It is very shiny. I'm using Testors Dullcote on them but it is pretty expensive. I've only tried the regular Minwax stuff but picked up some 'Polyshade' Antique Walnut today to see how that works.
Ok the Polyshades version of Minwax is MUCH better than the regular stuff. It flows much more easily and provides better shading - at least right now - still have about 20 hours of drying time!!
I've done several hundred miniatures with the dip method. I was a bit too eager and ended up with too much pooling on the miniatures, so my advice would be to do a few and give them a day or so to completely dry before doing a whole bunch of them.
Still, overall, I was very pleased with the result and I use the miniatures regularly in my games. I needed some significant numbers of different armies for some battles I was doing so I did some quick two and three color paint jobs, then dipped in Minwax polyshade (I used both Walnut and Pecan each on different sets of minis) and within a week I had several hundred miniatures painted and usable.
I did a quick spray coating with a matte sealer to get rid of the shine. It was easy, fast and really brings out the detail on the miniatures.
I use Army Painter's quickshades for dipping and Citadel's spray matt varnish (local store was out of Army Painter's varnish) for getting rid of the shine. Army Painter's quickshade leaves the miniature VERY shiny. Those are pretty expensive products compared to other options, but they'll last a very long time for me, so I didn't think it was an issue. I let the miniature dry 24 hours after dipping before spraying the matt varnish. The matt spray dries in seconds rather than minutes.
Oh, and if you use matt varnish spray, use it carefully! One little spray is enough for one side of the miniature (don't spray too close either). I just sprayed one Blood Bowl orc with too much spray and too close range, and it lost a LOT of contrast in colours...
OK, so .... if we could get back on topic :)
For those of you that DO use this dipping method, just how shiny is the mini when your are done? How many people do the 'dull coat' thing? Is there maybe a particular brand and/or type of stain / furniture polish that does not leave the mini shiny so you don't need to dull it down?
Thanks for all the great tips and info by the way!
All the dipped minis I've seen are super duper obnoxiously shiny. Remember it's furniture stain, it's meant to protect wood so it's going to have a gloss effect.
Now, for stuff for the table, you may not care. If you want to have stuff that looks show-off-able, you generally do not want shiny minis unless that's a specific effect you are going for (an ooze or swamp creature might be glossy, but a person's face or a fur coat should not be).
Anyway, if you want to de-shine your minis, this is the stuff you want.
Which is also valuable to use as a sealant on all your minis, dipped or not. It adds a very nice finishing touch.
Remember to shake it very well, use in a well-ventilated area, and do not use in places of high humidity.
You're going to want some type of matte sealant for any dipped miniature. the gold standard is Testors 1260 Dullcote. You can find it for $3.55 per 3oz can online.
I am a fan of Testors, but admit that it is horrendously expensive. there are some cheaper alternatives, though. My favorite alternate is Krylon 1311 Matte Sealer. You can find it for about $4.50 for an 11oz can online.
In the case of any aerosols, you'll have to deal with shipping being expensive, though, so finding a local source is often worthwhile. Failing that, try to get shipping discounts if you can.
I have had pretty solid results dipping in a brown wash instead of using furniture stain. Take dark brown paint, mix in some water and a little bit of dish soap to keep it thin dip in that. I recommend trying it on one mini at a time untill you get the mix right as it depends heavily on the paint. But basically you want to water down the paint to the point that it is quite runny and then just dip the mini in it. Keeps away the shiny finish wood stains give.
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I have had pretty solid results dipping in a brown wash instead of using furniture stain. Take dark brown paint, mix in some water and a little bit of dish soap to keep it thin dip in that. I recommend trying it on one mini at a time untill you get the mix right as it depends heavily on the paint. But basically you want to water down the paint to the point that it is quite runny and then just dip the mini in it. Keeps away the shiny finish wood stains give.
Likewise, adding a couple of drops of ink to some Future (now Pledge! With Future Shine) accomplishes the same effect as a dip/ink wash, is only slightly shiny, doesn't take 24 hours to dry, and cleans up easily.
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I have had pretty solid results dipping in a brown wash instead of using furniture stain. Take dark brown paint, mix in some water and a little bit of dish soap to keep it thin dip in that. I recommend trying it on one mini at a time untill you get the mix right as it depends heavily on the paint. But basically you want to water down the paint to the point that it is quite runny and then just dip the mini in it. Keeps away the shiny finish wood stains give.Likewise, adding a couple of drops of ink to some Future (now Pledge! With Future Shine) accomplishes the same effect as a dip/ink wash, is only slightly shiny, doesn't take 24 hours to dry, and cleans up easily.
Interesting! When you say ink, what exactly do you mean? Keep in mind I'm new to this!!!
Interesting! When you say ink, what exactly do you mean? Keep in mind I'm new to this!!!
When I do a Future dip like this, I use a couple of drops of Games Workshop washes (they come in the bottles with the black caps, are very very thin). Gryphonne Sepia mixed with future makes a great 'dip' alternative.
Also, for all dips I highly suggest brushing them on, not dipping. Dipping works, but it's messy and wasteful.
However, you can use pretty much ANY ink to get this effect, like actual 'bottle of ink for fancy pens'. You can also heavily thin normal paint with water and mix that in to the future.
Finally, you can do all of these things with clear poly, as well.
I think if you wanted to dip 100 miniatures identically, you'd want to go with a MinWax Polyshades or Army Painter can of dip, for consistency. If you want the dip effect with lots of variety and easier cleanup, go with Future and inks.
By the way, Future is a must have. You can use it to thin craft paints into high quality miniature paints, use it as a mixing base to make colors more transparent, add inks to it to make glazes, dip finished miniatures into it to seal them, etc etc. It's really magical stuff. I should probably start a thread on all the possible uses for this stuff.
What MJ said. Whether it's official miniatures ink (from Reaper, Games Workshop, or whatever), calligraphy ink, or block-printing ink, it's all about the same for this purpose.
Ink is water with a colorant dissolved in it. Acrylic paint is water with a colorant suspended (but not dissolved) in it. It's the difference between stirring sugar in a glass of water and stirring sand in a glass of water: the sugar dissolves into the water, the sand just gets carried around but remains discretely sand. That's why you have to stir or shake paints, but you shouldn't have to stir inks. That settling is why diluted paint doesn't work as well for this purpose as actual ink (when you dilute the paint it can be uneven).
I have several bottles of colored Reaper ink, and a couple of tubes of (paste-like) printer's ink (which are designed that you mix them with water to the strength you want). A $5 tube of black printer's ink will create a LOT of liquid ink, I've probably only used about 1 cubic centimeter of the travel-toothpaste-sized tube I bought a few years ago.
But if you're just getting started, it's okay to try this out with diluted paint instead of actual ink. :)
Sean is right, ink is a better choice for non-varnish dipping. Though water soluable paint works rather well if you dilute it to the point of solution.
Really its a matter of experimenting and finding what works for you. You would be surpised how easy it is to get a descent quality of paint on a gaming mini. I can almost gaurantee anyone physically able to hold a brush can achieve a quality of painting equal to the old wizards dnd prepainteds with a little effort and practice.
And the wonderful thing is with this kickstarter you have a bunch of rats and such to try out your dipping/painting methods on if you got one of the higher levels in it. I am really looking forward to painting these minis when they get here. March cant come soon enough!
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There is a fairly in depth discussion about making washes / using inks over here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/261541.page
You'll have to ignore the small business politics stuff :)
I personally would like to not have to matte coat after using brushed on "dipping", which results in a shiny mini. Does this mean Future plus some reaper paint mixed it is the better choice?
It is very shiny. I'm using Testors Dullcote on them but it is pretty expensive. I've only tried the regular Minwax stuff but picked up some 'Polyshade' Antique Walnut today to see how that works.OK, so .... if we could get back on topic :)
For those of you that DO use this dipping method, just how shiny is the mini when your are done? How many people do the 'dull coat' thing? Is there maybe a particular brand and/or type of stain / furniture polish that does not leave the mini shiny so you don't need to dull it down?
Thanks for all the great tips and info by the way!
Testors is the most popular, but lately I've been finding Vallejo's Matte Varnish is an excellent alternative. It comes in large or smaller, dropper bottles. In fact, I like the Vallejo much more. Vallejo also has a Matte Medium that is excellent as a brush-on after a coat of 'Ardcoat or other shinier sealer, and it completely dulls the brighter sealer without losing any definition or clogging.
Dotting.
I personally would like to not have to matte coat after using brushed on "dipping", which results in a shiny mini. Does this mean Future plus some reaper paint mixed it is the better choice?
Future plus paint mixed in is definitely less shiny than PolyShades or other polyurethane. That said, you're still using as your base material something that is designed to be shiny!
PolyShades dips end up with a 'High Gloss' effect. Future is somewhere between 'Gloss' and 'Satin'. If you are looking for Flat/Matte, you're going to need to hit it with some type of matte sealant, be it Testors, Krylon, Vallejo, or other solution.
I use ink for dipping when I don't use the Mniwax. I see them as performing slightly different functions. The Minwax I think provides some smoothing of edges of my paint jobs where the ink was seems to highlight the edges of the paint.
I did an ink wash dip last night for a bunch of Hirst block terrain. The ink wash is really good with plasters because it soaks in better, which tends to reduce the problem of chipping showing bright white spots.
I use both.
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I'm new to this dipping method, and haven't painted minis in like 10 years or so, but man this stuff makes things quick and easy! I spent propably two hours on four Blood Bowl Orcs, only spraying a grey primer, painting the base colours and then dipping them. I'm quite pleased with the result compared to time used for them.
I personally would like to not have to matte coat after using brushed on "dipping", which results in a shiny mini. Does this mean Future plus some reaper paint mixed it is the better choice?Future plus paint mixed in is definitely less shiny than PolyShades or other polyurethane. That said, you're still using as your base material something that is designed to be shiny!
PolyShades dips end up with a 'High Gloss' effect. Future is somewhere between 'Gloss' and 'Satin'. If you are looking for Flat/Matte, you're going to need to hit it with some type of matte sealant, be it Testors, Krylon, Vallejo, or other solution.
Well crap. We need a one step matte finish dip method!
I use ink for dipping when I don't use the Mniwax. I see them as performing slightly different functions. The Minwax I think provides some smoothing of edges of my paint jobs where the ink was seems to highlight the edges of the paint.
I did an ink wash dip last night for a bunch of Hirst block terrain. The ink wash is really good with plasters because it soaks in better, which tends to reduce the problem of chipping showing bright white spots.
I use both.
Can you explain this? Do you create a diluted wash with paint and water and then use the dip method? Does this result in a matte finish, or would it with a matte paint?
Well crap. We need a one step matte finish dip method!I personally would like to not have to matte coat after using brushed on "dipping", which results in a shiny mini. Does this mean Future plus some reaper paint mixed it is the better choice?Future plus paint mixed in is definitely less shiny than PolyShades or other polyurethane. That said, you're still using as your base material something that is designed to be shiny!
PolyShades dips end up with a 'High Gloss' effect. Future is somewhere between 'Gloss' and 'Satin'. If you are looking for Flat/Matte, you're going to need to hit it with some type of matte sealant, be it Testors, Krylon, Vallejo, or other solution.
For matte finish, the best thing I can think of is to use Citadel's washes. Because they come in small amounts, you can't do mass dipping like you can with a big can of polyurethane or a bucket of inkified magic wash.
But you can still with a big brush slather it all over a mini pretty quickly and let dry. The washes dry matte, which is very nice. I recommend whatever the hell they call Devlan Mud these days. I think it's been renamed to Agrax Earthshade -- it's a neutral brown that basically can make almost any mini look good with a coat or two. **Mind, since they recently reformulated their paint line that may have changed but as far as I know it's still the case.
For matte finish, the best thing I can think of is to use Citadel's washes. Because they come in small amounts, you can't do mass dipping like you can with a big can of polyurethane or a bucket of inkified magic wash.But you can still with a big brush slather it all over a mini pretty quickly and let dry. The washes dry matte, which is very nice. I recommend whatever the hell they call Devlan Mud these days. I think it's been renamed to Agrax Earthshade -- it's a neutral brown that basically can make almost any mini look good with a coat or two. **Mind, since they recently reformulated their paint line that may have changed but as far as I know it's still the case.
One thing to note here, that while I totally agree that a wash of Devlan Mud/Agrax Earthshade/Armour Wash/Gryphonne Sepia/etc etc will give you some really nice effects and a flat finish, what it does NOT do is give you the two primary benefits of the dip method... the smoothing/natural blending that a poly or acylic dip provides, OR the ridiculous armor coating that they leave on your mini. A mini that is basecoated and washed looks great, you have much more control over shading, but it is NOT sealed, and the oils from your fingers will be enough to cause paint to flake and rub off over time, and throwing the minis into a box will obliterate the paint job.
So if you're going for a mini that you don't want to spray with a sealant and want 'looks great!' then stick with washes, but if you want 'magically fix my painting missteps and make my mini nearly impervious to minor damage' you're going to want to use a future or polyshades.
There's all sorts of tradeoffs here. I think from a budget standpoint you'd be best served by mixing your own future dip with Future and Ink, and then spraying the resultant miniatures with Krylon 1311 Matte. Future is cheaper than MinWax and lets you control colors, Krylon is crazy cheap compared to Dullcote as well. And, the matte spray can be done to a ton of minis at once since you aren't so much trying to get them properly sealed as you are just hitting them to cut the shine.
This is true. The dip method to PROTECT minis is unlike any other. But then that goes back to folks spraying their minis with sealant anyway. Either you're spraying it with matte varnish to seal and protect it, or you're spraying it with matte varnish to de-gloss it.
Tangentially, I wonder how durable unsealed paint jobs remain on Bones. Especially since you don't need to prime Bones. Guess I'll see (if I don't seal some minis, anyway...).
Can you explain this? Do you create a diluted wash with paint and water and then use the dip method? Does this result in a matte finish, or would it with a matte paint?I use ink for dipping when I don't use the Mniwax. I see them as performing slightly different functions. The Minwax I think provides some smoothing of edges of my paint jobs where the ink was seems to highlight the edges of the paint.
I did an ink wash dip last night for a bunch of Hirst block terrain. The ink wash is really good with plasters because it soaks in better, which tends to reduce the problem of chipping showing bright white spots.
I use both.
I am insanely unpredictable when I paint miniatures or terrain. I literally have no idea what I am going to do until I start. In this case I was creating an underground cave and I happened to have a bunch of already painted cavern floor tiles. I also had a bin full of cavern wall blocks that were unpainted. At first I was just going to paint them the same as the floor tiles, but I was in a sort of a hurry and I had wanted to try a new technique for awhile. So what I did was...
I filled a plastic drinking cup with about half a cup of water. Then I squirted in a dollop of brown paint. Finally I put in about a dozen drops of black india ink. Then I mixed it all up and started dipping the blocks in the mix. (It turns out that I ended up mixing poorly and most of the brown paint did not mix with the water, so in the end it was only a small amount of brown paint that was used).
These blocks have some with ruined broken marble columns, so I mixed up some white, yellow and brown paint and painted the columns separately. Then I did two quick drybrushes, one with a tan (brown and white) mix and one with a very light gray mix.
Also, in case it isn't clear from the photos, the finish is very much matte. But I will be using a matte sealer over the whole piece when I'm through with it.
Wow, they look great!
Can you provide details on how you dipped? Did you use furniture stain, ink etc? Did you dip or paint the dip on?
They don't look too shiny - did yoh use some sort of dull coat or sealer?
Give more info! :)
I sprayed them with Army Painter's Grey primer, then painted the base colours. No washing, no drybrushing the highlights, just the base colours. Then I dipped them to Army Painter's strong tone quickshade. And really dipped them, not painting the dip on. Vigorous shaking and left them to dry for 12 hours. Then I sprayed Citadel's matt varnish on and that's it. I'm still amazed how easy and quick this can be =).
Of course I had some not so good results with this method. When actually dipping the miniature in varnish, the varnish can get "pooled" easily. Like with these human Blood Bowl miniatures, you can see how the varnish has gathered in the shoulder pads of the miniatures. I tried to get rid of the excess varnish with a brush, but when I left them to dry, the varnish just flowed back to the pads... I quess I should've watched them longer, brushing the excessive varnish of until it stopped flowing...
But as a silver lining, I tried to dip some of my old Heroquest minis. I had a mummy and a skeleton. Sprayed them both with white primer, and painted some brown and silver in skeleton's scythe. Only painting that the mummy saw was some gray to his face. Then I dipped them, sprayed with matt sealer and they were ready. This was like two minutes of work (not counting the drying time). And I think they are quite ready to be used in gaming! (some basing for all of these is still required though)
Salama, remember also that you're looking at these minis close up (your pics are larger than the actual minis). Put them on a tabletop at arm's length and you're not going to notice the little "flaws" like the dip pooling on the shoulder pads (which even in the picture I don't think is a big deal).
Yeah, you're absolutely right. These are indeed more than adequate for an evening's game of Blood Bowl =). I'm just so excited for this dipping method, that I try to get the best result I can get before dipping some of the most awesome Bones minis, like the Pathfinder goblins =).
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I'll just repost what I wrote on one of the Paizo blog posts about the Bones deal (including an extra link):
I can understand the confusion among some here, as terms are flying all around and to anyone who hasn't done any painting before, these terms aren't self-explanatory.
So, this is the easy guide to getting very presentable miniatures that anyone can do, even if they haven't painted a miniature before in their lives.
There are more "complicated" methods if you want to learn to "paint for real" but I'll skip those and you can find tons of tutorials out there on the net and you can buy books about it too (and even DVDs, Robert Hawkshaw has mentioned a couple of them above - the major companies like Games Workshop and some miniature sellers, like MiniWarGaming.com, also have DVDs available).
The easy method to getting quite good painted miniatures, also known as "dipping":
You have an adventurer-type miniature you'd like to paint.
These are the steps you'll go through:
1) Prime the miniature (can probably be skipped for the Bones miniatures).
2) Put down a base coat of appropriate colours.
3) Dip or wash the miniatures and allow to dry
4) Spray them to get rid of the shine and/or to protect them from wear and tear.
That's it.
A more in-depth explanation:
1) First you would take a white spray primer and spray it to get a solid foundation for the paint to sit on. This step can apparently be skipped with the Bones miniatures, since they take the paint better than e.g. metal miniatures.
If you do prime them, I'd recommend using a white primer, since we want the miniature to be as bright as possible and some colours can be difficult to paint over a black primer. Prime the miniature with light dustings instead of a thick full on blast, which might obscure details on the miniature (there are tutorials out there on how to prime correctly, again, it's quite simple)
Another option is to use a coloured primer, e.g. one from Army Painter, if you have a miniature that's mostly one colour. For instance, you could use a green primer if you have a bunch of orcs with lots of skin showing. Or a green troll. Or maybe a blue or red dragon.
2) Now you put on the base coat of colours. If you can colour within the lines of a colouring book, you can do this step. :-)
I think it's also the step that most people are "afraid" of, since this is where you put the actual coloured paint on them.
So, this is very basic. You put flesh coloured paint on the skin areas (e.g. face, hands, arms etc.), maybe a red colour on the cloak, a leather colour on the boots and any belts, pouches etc. and a silver metallic colour on weapon blades and other metal objects.
Since we're doing the dipping method here, it's important to not choose too dark colours. So e.g. the red for the cloak should be just a tad bit brighter red than you would like the end result. This is because the dipping itself darkens the colours a bit.
Make sure you have all the areas covered and tidy up any place where you might have splashed a different colour in the wrong area.
Some colours, particularly reds and yellows, can be a bit transparent, so you might have to go over those areas twice to get a consistent covering.
If the miniature has areas that you'd like to keep white, just leave them be with the undercoat (if it's even enough).
3) Now for the actual "dipping" part.
You have two options here. You can go with a "dip" or a wash. The results might vary a bit, but as far as technique, they are pretty similar.
A wash is a thinned down paint-type product. I think all the major brands of miniature paints have them in their product lines. Some examples are Devlan Mud, Gryphonne Sepia and Dheneb Stone from Games Workshop (I think they've replaces those with others now, haven't kept up), Army Painter Strong Tone ink wash etc.
A "dip" product is a tinted varnish, either one of the Army Painter Shades or a floor wax like the Minwax Polyshade Mahogany Dip.
Both types of products come in various strengths of darkness and even in various colours (this is especially true of the washes, so you can get blue washes or green washes - the green washes might be suitable for a troll miniature or a sickly green zombie etc.)
Both types of products will flow into the recesses of the miniature and produce shading and even a slight transition from the shaded area to the "highlighted" area (i.e. the most natural light exposed area).
You apply both types of products liberally with a brush so all areas are covered. For the dip products, use an old slightly larger and cheaper brush since it's a varnish product and you'll have to clean the brush afterwards in e.g. turpentine.
You CAN dip the entire miniature (provided it's small enough) into the can of dip and then shake the miniature vigorously to get rid of any excess dip, but you have more control if you apply it with a brush.
Allow the dipped miniatures to dry at least 24 hours before handling them, to let them fully dry and avoid making fingerprints on them.
4) If you do use a dip product the result will be a very shiny miniature (because they are varnishes) so you'll have to spray them with a matte sealer, like the one from Army Painter or a product like Testors Dullcote.
This will also protect the washed miniatures if you expect them to be handled a bit roughly.
Now for some examples.
Here's an example of different models which have been dipped, pay particular attention to the post mid-way down the page (the bottom picture also shows the result of putting a matte varnish on a shiny dipped miniature). Heck, that post mid-way down the page also contains instructions on how to do it.
This page and the next 3 pages, contains pictures of a small dwarven army which has been dipped (he uses the "shake vigorously" method first, which can be quite messy).
Same guy and pictures, just gathered in one post on another forum.
Loooots of pictures of different kinds of dipped miniatures.
Jawaballs is one of the guys who has a painting channel on YouTube and here he shows the whole process (be sure to watch all 3 videos of this).
Last tip!
If unsure about this method, try it out on something you're not worried about getting messed up. Heck, you can even try it out on some cheap plastic army men from the toy store.
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Just another video of some great dipping results.
Extra info:
Testors DullCote is indeed a very good product. It is also crazily expensive compared to the amount you get and it's not available everywhere outside the US.
Here's a video comparison of DullCote vs. Army Painter Anti-shine
I've been painting for 9 years (200+ painted minis) or so but have never heard of dipping. Fascinating.
DOT
Reaper Miniatures
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I have had pretty solid results dipping in a brown wash instead of using furniture stain. Take dark brown paint, mix in some water and a little bit of dish soap to keep it thin dip in that. I recommend trying it on one mini at a time untill you get the mix right as it depends heavily on the paint. But basically you want to water down the paint to the point that it is quite runny and then just dip the mini in it. Keeps away the shiny finish wood stains give.Likewise, adding a couple of drops of ink to some Future (now Pledge! With Future Shine) accomplishes the same effect as a dip/ink wash, is only slightly shiny, doesn't take 24 hours to dry, and cleans up easily.
Be aware - Future Floor Wax does not play well with Reaper Master Series Paints. It's a Floor Wax, not a paint additive. It may be useful in some applications, but is not a panacea. I have a customer service nightmare story of a fan that bought the full set of 216 MSP colors (Over $700) and then added Future directly to every bottle, ruining most of them. He tried to insist it was our "fault" for making a "defective product" that didn't blend well with FLOOR WAX.
Not that I'm bitter.
Anyway - Bottom Line: Be cautious when using non-Paint additives, like wax, eurethanes, or sealers not marketed for Paint, as not all of them behave well in conjunction with paints. Try one first, ideally on a figure you do not care much about, before dipping all 250+ Bones, and potentially damaging them.
For matte finish, the best thing I can think of is to use Citadel's washes. Because they come in small amounts, you can't do mass dipping like you can with a big can of polyurethane or a bucket of inkified magic wash.But you can still with a big brush slather it all over a mini pretty quickly and let dry. The washes dry matte, which is very nice. I recommend whatever the hell they call Devlan Mud these days. I think it's been renamed to Agrax Earthshade -- it's a neutral brown that basically can make almost any mini look good with a coat or two. **Mind, since they recently reformulated their paint line that may have changed but as far as I know it's still the case.
They renamed Devlan Mud?!? Is it still the same? That was my boomstick. I still have some.
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Be aware - Future Floor Wax does not play well with Reaper Master Series Paints. It's a Floor Wax, not a paint additive. It may be useful in some applications, but is not a panacea. I have a customer service nightmare story of a fan that bought the full set of 216 MSP colors (Over $700) and then added Future directly to every bottle, ruining most of them. He tried to insist it was our "fault" for making a "defective product" that didn't blend well with FLOOR WAX.
Interesting. I guess I'll have to experiment with some of Jodi's Master Series paints to see if this is the case (I'm still using the last of my Pro Paints).
Though I dip my minis in Future AFTER the paint has dried, I don't mix the Future directly with the wet paint (either in the pot or on the mini), so maybe that's the difference.
(I remember I had an older pot of GW paint that was still liquid but had gone a little stinky, like it had mold in it. I mixed rubbing alcohol into the pot to kill anything growing in it. The next day it had completely hardened in the pot. Never did that again...)
