How to Start Painting Your First Miniature

A simple Space Marine

If you’re interested in tabletop gaming, you’ve surely seen at least one well-painted miniature by now. Maybe you’ve spotted a lovingly painted army behind a store’s glass display case, or seen an incredibly detailed piece on someone’s instagram page. Either way, as long as something has sparked your curiosity in painting a model of your own, you’ve come to the right place!

In this article, we provide a guide for brand-new painters to get started. Once you have your first model on hand, you can paint your very first creation by following these simple steps.

And if you haven’t assembled a miniature yet, you can find out how in our assembly guide!

Setup

Before you can start painting, there are a handful of different things you’ll need to prepare:

Choose Your Colour Scheme

A Space Marine of the Ultramarines Chapter helping a Primaris Greysprue decide on his colour scheme

Whether you’re planning on starting your first army, or practicing on an individual model, you’ll want a consistent colour scheme. There are infinite variations to go for, so make sure you decide early on!

For example: if you’re painting a Space Marine from Warhammer 40k, there are various ‘Chapters’ that each have their own colours, markings, and unique lore to read up on. You’ll need to spend some time identifying the paint colours that you plan to use for your model/army. And if you’d like to come up with your own unique scheme from scratch, that’s all the more reason to plan ahead before getting started.

Obtain Your Paints and Tools

Select the colours you’ll need

Next up, you’ll want to acquire your tools. You’ll require:

• Paint brushes, preferably multiple in various sizes (a pointed brush for a base coat, a rounded brush for applying washes, and a flat, wide brush for drybrushing)
• A palette to store paint on
• A pot to wash your brush in
• Tissue or paper towels, to dry your brush with and wipe mistakes off your models

You can definitely find some of these supplies around your household and recycle them. However, some official products exist to make your painting journey easier. The Warhammer Water Pot, for example, comes with grooves that help scrape paint off your brush while shaping the point into a proper tip. Or you can get portable wet palettes that stop your paint from drying out before you use them.

Once your tools have been acquired, it’s time to get paint. The most useful colours for beginners are:

• The colours you’ve chosen for your main scheme
• Black, white, and grey
• Brown
• Gold and silver metallic paint
• A black or brown shade/wash

Now that your shopping is done, you need to set up your painting space.

Prepare Your Workstation

A basic painting workstation

When you sit down to paint, you’ll likely be spending multiple hours in the same spot. This makes it important to set up a comfortable workstation, with a bright light that allows you to see fine details, desk space to brace your arms and elbows against, and a chair that allows you to sit without bending your back.

All your items should be placed within arms reach, and you should ensure that nothing is in a position to be knocked over. Every painter will eventually spill a precious pot of paint and make a mess, so it’s best that you push that fate as far away as possible.

Once your workstation has been set up, it’s time to begin.

Step 1: Prime Your Miniature

Spray-priming from 20–40 cm away

Acrylic paint does not adhere well to bare plastic. You should never paint without a layer of primer, or you’ll find paint flaking off your model constantly. A primer is a type of paint that is thicker, stickier, and provides a surface for subsequent layers of paint to cling to. It most often comes in spray can form.

To begin, you’ll likely want to put on a pair of gloves and find a method of holding your model. Many people clip them to sticks, so that they can rotate them without touching the wet paint. Shake your spray can vigorously for at least two minutes before use, and if you’d like to take it a step further, you can place the bottom of the can in hot (not boiling) water before shaking.

Make sure you spray in a well-ventilated location, without excess wind, heat, or humidity. Hold your can about 20–40 cm away from your model, and sweep it across the surface as you spray. Make sure you never spray a single spot for an extended period of time, or you’ll end up clogging the details with paint. If you do it right, you’ll recognise the difference in color immediately.

A common mistake that even experienced painters make is priming from too far away, or priming in excessively hot weather. Doing this will cause the aerosolised paint to dry before it lands on the model, resulting in a rough, gritty texture.

A primed and ready model

Carefully rotate your model and spray from every angle until it’s fully coated. Give your model 15 minutes to dry, and if you’d like to be on the safe side, you can wait 24 hours for the primer to cure fully.

Now that the priming is done, you’ll have a model that paint will properly adhere to. Head back indoors, and you’re finally ready for painting!

If you’d like to avoid aerosol cans, you can also opt for brush-on primers, that allow you to carefully coat your miniature by hand.

Step 2: Apply a Thinned Base Coat

Applying thinned-down Macragge Blue paint to a model

Before applying paint, make sure it’s thinned down on your palette. You can mix it with either water or acrylic medium to achieve a milk-like consistency. You can test your paint texture out by lightly applying it to the back of your hand. If your brush leaves behind a glob of paint, it’s too thick, and if it leaves behind a puddle of pigmented water, you’ve diluted it too much.

Once you have a consistency that you’re satisfied with, load your brush with paint. The paint should flow into the ‘belly’ of the brush and wick into the tip once you apply it to the model. Be careful not to dip the entire brush deep into the paint pot, as it might damage the bristles.

Aim to leave behind smooth layers when making brushstrokes. It’s better to use too little paint in one application than too much. A common piece of advice is to apply two thin coats to an area you’re painting, but you may require more if your paint has poor coverage and transparency. Take care not to touch wet paint with your brush, or you’ll end up creating streak marks and rough textures.

A Space Marine with a finished base coat

For this example, we’ve coated a black-primed model in blue paint to demonstrate how a smooth coat will look. It often takes at least two layers of paint to achieve an opaque finish. Many painters opt to use their primer colour as their base coat to save time. If you intend to paint a red, blue or black Space Marine, you can quicken the process by purchasing a primer in that color and using it as your first layer, instead of fully replacing the initial layer of paint.

Once you’ve applied this base coat to your entire model, you’ll notice an immediate difference. You’re now ready to start filling in the secondary details!

Step 3: Blocking in the Rest of the Colours

Applying Balthasar Gold paint to a Space Marine’s Pyreblaster

The next step is to block in the main colours. Many new painters end up overwhelmed by the sheer details they see on finished models, so in order to build confidence, you may want to dive in right away. A vital skill to learn when painting is ‘reading’ the model. This involves identifying the different parts that have been sculpted on the miniature, and figuring out what they represent. It can help you visualise the model better if you identify three main locations and fill them out with different colours first.

For example, this Space Marine has first been based in blue. The black basecoat has then been left alone, and lastly, the tip of his flamethrower has been painted gold. These are the three largest regions of differing colours. Although the model is incomplete, it now looks like it’s holding a distinct weapon.

Next up, you can move on to the smaller details. This flamethrower has numerous buttons and dials, which would stand out more if they were painted metallic grey. The Space Marine may have a pouch on his hip, which would look good if you painted it with a leathery brown.

Having a good reference image will help you identify these portions while you’re still unfamiliar with a model. Once you’ve managed to get a good grasp of the details, thin down your paint and get to work on applying it.

Most details have been added to the model

After you’ve figured out where every color is meant to go, your model will have made yet another transformation! At this stage, it’s already presentable enough for the tabletop — but you may want to push it even further and make it stand out more.

Step 4: Shade With a Wash for Contrast

Ideal locations to apply black shade washes

Many painters are a fan of shade washes, which are extremely thinned-down paints that add deeper shadows to a miniature. As you apply shade paints, they flow into the recesses and create depth in your paint job. These aren’t compulsory, but can greatly enhance the look of a model. Make sure you either dilute it slightly, or control the droplets with your brush, or it may leave large stains behind.

There are usually ideal spots to use shades on. Deeper sections are easier to shade than wide, flat panels, like the grille on the Marine’s face, or the multiple holes on the weapon. The emblem on this model’s chest will also look more distinct if you allow shade paint to naturally flow in between each individual feather.

Step 5: Highlight Raised Portions

Highlighting the raised edges

While washes are used to deepen the darkest portions of the model, highlights are used to add that final splash of contrast. You can either use a pot of lighter paint, or mix your own by adding white to the original colour on your palette. Make sure you use a brush with a sharp tip, and lightly drag the side of the brush against the highest, most angular surfaces of your model.

This process creates edge highlights that help to break up the silhouette of your colour scheme and make areas look distinct even from a distance.

Another fundamental technique is drybrushing, where you wipe off the majority of the paint on a brush, then lightly dust your model with the leftover pigments. This creates a natural-looking effect on the surface, and helps add contrast to your model.

Paint Your First Miniature at HammerHouse!

An unpainted model, a battle-ready model, and a parade-ready model

With that, you’re done! In just a few hours, you’ve gone from bare grey plastic to a basic colour scheme that’ll look perfectly at home on a display shelf! Take a moment to admire your first piece of work. It’s a long-standing tradition in the painting world to preserve your first miniature so you can observe your progress down the line, but if you’re not satisfied with the details, you can always come back to it later for round two.

If you’re interested in learning more, you can find a plethora of painting guides and resources online. There are countless YouTube channels that provide painting tips and tutorials, covering everything from the basic steps to advanced techniques.

And if you want to put this advice into practice, we hold regular painting demos here at HammerHouse! Click here to sign up today, and learn how to start painting with guidance from our helpful staff!