Workbench Guides · Painting
How to Use Washes and Shades on Miniatures
A wash is the quickest way to add depth to a miniature. One thin coat runs into the recesses and suddenly every fold, rivet and buckle stands out. Here's how to choose between an all-over and a pin wash, match the colour and avoid tide marks.
You've basecoated your miniature and it looks, well, a bit flat. That's completely normal. Every colour is one even tone, so the detail doesn't stand out yet. A wash fixes that in minutes.
Washes, sometimes called shades, are thin, see-through paints that flow into the recesses and dry darker there. They're forgiving, quick and work on almost everything, from armour and cloth to skin and fur. The trick is using the right amount, the right colour and a bit of patience.
What you need
- A basecoated miniature, fully dry.
- A wash or two to match your colours.
- A medium brush for all-over washes and a fine one for pin washes.
- A clean, damp brush or kitchen roll for soaking up extra.
Washes come ready to use. Shake the pot well and you're off.
What a wash actually does
Thin, dark and runny. It goes where the shadows are.
A wash is a very thin, partly transparent paint. Brush it over a basecoat and it runs off the raised parts and collects in the recesses: between armour plates, in the folds of a cloak, around rivets and under belts. When it dries, those recesses are darker and the raised parts keep most of their original colour.
That's shading, done for you. It also softens the colours a little and ties the whole miniature together, which is why so many painters wash nearly everything.
Tap the diagram to open it full size.
Where the wash goes. It leaves a light tint on the raised detail and settles thickly in the recesses, so the detail stands out.
Washes and contrast paints are cousins. A wash goes over a basecoat, while a contrast paint goes straight over primer. Our contrast paints guide covers the other side of the family.
All-over wash or pin wash
Two ways to use the same pot. Pick by how clean you want the flat areas.
An all-over wash goes over a whole area with a medium brush. It's quick, it shades everything at once and it's perfect for textured areas like chainmail, fur and cloth. It does darken the whole area slightly, so plan your basecoat a shade lighter than the finish you want.
A pin wash goes only into the recesses, using the tip of a fine brush. Touch the brush into a line between two armour plates and the wash runs along it by itself. The flat panels stay clean and bright, which suits smooth armour, vehicles and anything with crisp panel lines.
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Same knight, two washes. All-over shades and darkens the whole model. A pin wash puts wash only in the lines, so the flat armour stays clean.
Use all-over for
Chainmail, fur, hair, cloth folds, textured bases and anything with lots of small detail.
Use a pin wash for
Smooth armour plates, shields, vehicles and bright colours you don't want to dull down.
Mix and match
Plenty of painters do both on one miniature: all-over on the cloak, pin wash on the armour.
Avoid tide marks
Don't flood it. Wick off the extra. That's the whole secret.
A tide mark is the hard, dark ring a wash leaves when it dries in a puddle. The pigment gets pushed to the edge of the puddle as the water evaporates, just like a coffee ring on a table. They're most common on flat, smooth areas where the wash has nowhere to run.
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Load a little less
Dab the brush on the side of the pot so it's wet but not dripping.
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Spread it thin
Brush the wash out over the area rather than dropping a blob and leaving it.
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Look for shiny puddles
Turn the miniature under your lamp. A puddle catches the light, a thin coat doesn't.
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Wick off the excess
Touch the puddle with a clean, damp brush or the corner of some kitchen roll. It drinks up the extra.
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Two endings for the same puddle. Leave it and it dries with a hard ring. Wick off the excess and you get soft shading with no line.
Already got a tide mark? Once it's fully dry, paint over it with the original basecoat on the raised areas, leaving the wash in the recesses. Nobody will ever know.
Match the wash to the colour
A darker version of the same colour family looks natural. Black isn't always the answer.
A wash shades whatever is under it, so pick one that suits the colour. A brown wash makes leather look worn and warm. A blue wash over blue cloth keeps it rich and deep. A black wash over a bright red can make it look muddy.
As a rule of thumb, use a darker version of the base colour, or a warm brown for anything natural. Black works best on metals and things that are already dark. For more on painting metals, see our metals guide.
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Six pairings that always work. Brown over leather and gold, black over steel, blue over blue, reddish brown over skin and sepia over bone.
Let it dry fully
Hands off while it dries. The wait is part of the technique.
A wash keeps moving as it dries, settling deeper into the recesses. If you poke at it while it's half dry, the brush lifts the pigment and leaves pale streaks. Leave it alone until it's completely dry, at least as long as the bottle suggests, before you touch it or paint over it.
Washes look darker and shinier when wet, so don't judge the result too early. Once it's dry you can tidy the raised areas with your basecoat, add highlights, or carry on with the drybrushing and edge highlighting stage.
Tap the diagram to open it full size.
Wet, half dry, fully dry. Wet is fine, fully dry is fine. It's the half dry bit in the middle where a brush does the damage.
Workbench guide
Shading done. Now the light.
A drybrush and a few edge highlights after your wash make the detail pop. Our highlighting guide shows how to load the brush and where the light goes.
Read the highlighting guide
Ready to wash?
- Basecoat fully dry?
- Wash colour matched to the base colour?
- All-over or pin wash chosen for each area?
- Brush wet but not dripping?
- Shiny puddles wicked off before they dry?
- Left alone until completely dry?
Never do this
Dunk the whole miniature
It's a wash, not a bath. Your knight does not need to go swimming in brown, however muddy the campaign.
Leave puddles to dry
Every puddle becomes a little coffee ring. Unless your knight is a coaster, wick it off.
Poke it while it's half dry
The wash is busy settling in. Interrupting it is how pale streaks happen. Go and admire something else for a bit.
Black wash on everything
Your sunny yellow banner did not sign up to be a rainy Tuesday. Match the wash to the colour.
Judge it while it's wet
Wet wash always looks too dark and too shiny. Wait until it's dry before you panic.
Wash a wet basecoat
The two mix into a murky soup. Let the basecoat dry first, then wash.
Quick answers
The short version
Thin, matched and dry
A wash is thin, see-through paint that settles in the recesses and shades your miniature for you. Use an all-over wash for texture and a pin wash for smooth armour. Don't flood it, wick off any puddles before they dry, match the wash to the colour underneath and leave it alone until it's completely dry.
That's how to use washes and shades on miniatures. One pot, a few minutes and a lot more depth.
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