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I have been seriously considering miniature painting. I would like to have miniatures that are difficult to destroy (many of the blades and hammers of my past have been crippled if not ripped off). Additionally, I need information on what paint to buy. After painting is there a spray on material I can use to protect the paint from chipping without becoming too glossy? As for the paint, I assume water-based would work if I had a spray over top?
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If you are just getting started, check out reaper miniature's Bones line. It's very slightly bendy white PVC plastic material. They are also super cheap. (there is a blurb on reaper's site: https://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/Bones -> click on the 'more information' button)
Bones miniatures don't need to be primed, just washed with soap and water. Any mold lines can be dealt with with an emery board and a sharp exacto knife.
Paint wise you want water based acrylics, reaper, games workshop, privateer press, vallejo model colour, army painter all make decent paints. You can also go with cheap artists acrylics if you are on a budget.
For sealing miniatures, testor's dullcote spray is the top of the line. Reaper's Brush On matte sealer is a good alternative (its what I use).
For an all in one package - https://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/Learn%20To%20Paint%20Kits/latest/089 02 You get two metal minis, some paint, and a beginner brush for 25 dollars, with free shipping to the US / Canada.
At some point they will be switching the metal minis in the learn to paint kits over for bones ones, but they haven't done it yet.
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Do they still make pewter?
My desire is to have heavy miniatures but do not break.
Is the plastic they use heavy or light like the stuff used in Axis and Allies and other board games?
I do not want someone to be able to blow them over so if someone bumps the table and the miniatures fall over, they pretty much stay right where they fell.
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When I started this was extremely useful:
A Beginning Mini Painter's Shopping List
I prime miniatures with a cheap black spray paint from Wal-Mart. It cost $.89. I seal them with three coats of spray matte sealer by Krylon (also cheap). I used testor's dull coat in the past but to be honest I couldn't really see a difference. I mainly use Reaper paints but I have a few from Coat'd Arms and Citadel. They are much thinner than the craft acrylic paints and they seem to work better for miniatures.
Faces are the hard part. I bought a lot of mage knight miniatures and redid their faces for practice.
Brushes matter. I would invest in Kolinsky Sable brushes. Just take care of them and they will last. You can get a couple online for a good price.
I started my miniature painting with an el cheapo Hobby Lobby acrylic paint set which had about ten colors and a couple brushes for a couple of bucks. I painted well over fifty miniatures with those paints.
Since then I have been purchasing craft acrylic paints from Hobby Lobby in the primary colors and mix my own paint.
Of course I paint them to play them, I don't make any pretense to be an artist or enter my results in any contests. Every now and then, just for fun, I'll try something special just to see what I can do.
I make pretty liberal use of the "wash" and "dip" techniques to make the end result seem more "professional" without spending a ton of time painting.
The mini painter's shopping list is a good start. But you don't need everything on their list to begin (as they say, but they don't do a good job of saying "this is needed, this is sorta optional"). So some additional suggestions are:
1. It is usually easier (and less dangerous) to remove flashing from your miniatures using a small round hobby file instead of an exacto knife.
2. You don't need all the fancy miniature colors that miniature painting companies sell. They might be nice, they might be a step up and may improve your results, but they are also expensive and if you are just starting you may not want to invest that much money in paints just to discover that the hobby is more frustrating than relaxing. So I would suggest starting with just a few basic colors, which will also force you to learn how to mix colors anyway.
3. PRIME YOUR MINIS. This is usually not an optional step. Like Asphere, I use cheap flat black spraypaint to prime most of my minis. (As I have gotten more and more into the painting process I've learned that certain minis benefit from gray or white priming, but that's getting more into it than you need to start.)
4. Everyone will tell you "don't skimp on brushes!" Which is true, but you also don't need the most expensive brush set. You really only need one GOOD brush to start. You won't want to use a good brush for certain techniques like dry-brushing or stippling anyway. So get some cheap ones too.
5. A desk mounted magnifying glass is nice. (I have one, I used it to tie flies before I picked up the mini painting hobby so I didn't need to buy one.) However, I also found that a cheap pair of reading glasses is extremely helpful for detailed work since I sometimes want to hold the mini in a place I can move it around freely, and doing that under a big magnifying glass can be a bit of a pain.
6. It is far easier to paint a mini that you have mounted on a cork or some other means of manipulating it than it is to paint one that you have put on a desk or are trying to hold by itself without messing up what you've already painted.
Have fun!
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Thanks for your responses so far. I did purchase some paints and they were in the forum of all primary and secondary colors, plus white, black, and brown - I sneaked in a metallic gray as well.
I was unable to find a rounded hobby knife. I will keep your comment of it being more dangerous removing flash with the exacto. Thanks for the heads up.
I went with both pewter and plastic. I will likely use the plastic for my monster case, which I assume will reach the 100s if not 1000s near the end, and pewter for the PCs.
I bought black primer.
Any important mixtures with the colors I made that you found appealing?
Thanks for your responses so far. I did purchase some paints and they were in the forum of all primary and secondary colors, plus white, black, and brown - I sneaked in a metallic gray as well.
I was unable to find a rounded hobby knife. I will keep your comment of it being more dangerous removing flash with the exacto. Thanks for the heads up.
I went with both pewter and plastic. I will likely use the plastic for my monster case, which I assume will reach the 100s if not 1000s near the end, and pewter for the PCs.
I bought black primer.
Any important mixtures with the colors I made that you found appealing?
Most hobby shops I've been in have a collection of dirt cheap hobby files of several styles including round, flat, semicircle, curved, etc., usually for just a buck or two each. I've also seen them in Hobby Lobby and Michaels. The ones I have look like this.
Helaman, I haunt dollar stores, thrift shops and hobby stores like some sort of hoarding wraith. I'm fairly certain I visit some of those stores so frequently they recognize me on sight.
I find some cool stuff though. For a buck each I picked up a couple Spiderman lizard minis that are quite impressive sculpts and very well painted. I intend to use them as large lizardfolk.
That is also where I typically buy my foam core posterboard and my foam sheets. Their foam core posterboard is not nearly as high quality as what you find at Hobby Lobby (at five times the cost) but it works fine for making small structures or terrain.
This site was the most helpful one I found when I started painting miniatures.
It's a little dated. But the information on it is still good.
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If I were to assemble a hobby kit to get someone started in miniatures, this is what I would put in it:
- An Xacto knife
- A set of fine grain needle files (you only need a few)
- A set of sprue cutters or wire clippers
- A bottle of superglue (cyanoacrylate), such as Zap-A-Gap CA+
- A Windsor and Newton Size 2 Round Kolinsky sable brush, at least from Artist Series, or similar quality brush, for most painting
- A size 4 round soft brush, does not have to be as fancy for basecoating/large applications of paint
- An old, trimmed, or stiff brush for dry brushing
- A cake of Master's brush soap or other brush cleaner
- A set of Reaper Master's Series paint which included white, black, grey, blue-grey, all the main "rainbow colors," dark brown, medium brown, "flesh tone," metallic gold, and metallic silver, and black ink.
- A bottle of Citadel Agrax Earthshade and a bottle of Citadel whatever the heck they now call their flesh wash.
- A bottle of white and/or black brush on primer (I prefer black, but many prefer white)
- A palette
- A cup for holding brushes and tools
- A box to put most of this in.
You additionally need a well-lit workspace covered in newspaper or that you don't care about messing up the surface. Preferably the table should be at a height that you can comfortably rest your elbow on the table and hold the miniature up at eye level while you paint, to minimize neck and wrist strain.
Not all of the items in the list are strictly necessary, but they are the minimum of what I want to have on hand, and when I got started myself, many of them are similar to what items hobbyists gave me when I got going and I was very grateful for them.
The Reaper Master's Series paint is my preference because they are formulated for minis painting with some additives already mixed in; all you need to get going is thin them with water in your palette if needed. Moreover if you paint the Bones Robert Hawkshaw suggested, they don't need primer IF you use RMS paint. YMMV with other paints, some don't stick as well to Bones, based on Bones tutorials on Youtube. (I'm sure if I'm wrong Bryan Stiltz will pop his head in and correct me as he often does.)
If you want to go on the cheap, you can use craft acrylics but be sure to mix them with some paint thinner and such.
Some of the other items are YMMV, but if I was to say ONE item from that list that I would say you really need to honest to god get, it is the good Kolinsky sable brush. This is the one item beginners who've asked me for advice ignore at first and then say to me later, "WHY DIDN'T I LISTEN TO YOU?"
For the love of God, GET THE GOOD BRUSH. It will save you lots of time and agony because they apply paint smoothly and keep their tip, which is SO important when you are painting something 28 mm tall. A good brush MAKES PAINTING EASIER. It won't give you magic talent, but it will make things easier for you, I promise. It will actually also save you money because while they are expensive up front, if you take care of the brush, it will outlast a cheaper brush by far--you will end up ultimately spending more by constantly replacing cheap brushes that waste your time.
Those are my two cents. And again, get the good brush.
I will agree with DeathQuaker...Never go cheap on the brush, but I have to add that also never go cheap on the brush cleaner. The cake of brush soap, or you can get a good liquid at most craft stores...this might seem silly when most people have plenty of cleaning supplies around the house...but trust me left over soap is the quickest way to have your paint flake off.
Get gaming paints, there are many good products out there...stay away from craft and model paints. Please stay away from the dollar stores... this may be a bit off putting, but the paints that are made for fabric or aircraft/car kits are good at what they are supposed to do...not always good when scaled down to a 28mm miniature.
Lastly, if you have a bit of a budget to spend....I would suggest getting a small "swing arm" light, or if you can spend a bit you can even get one with a mag lens in the middle.