Workbench Guides · Painting
How to Paint Your First Miniature
Never painted a miniature before? Good, this one's for you. Here's how to paint your first miniature in five simple stages: prime, basecoat, wash, drybrush and highlight, then the details, the base and a coat of varnish. Six paints and an evening or two is all it takes.
Everyone's first miniature is a bit wobbly, and that's exactly how it should be. The aim isn't a masterpiece. It's to get from grey plastic-looking resin to something with colour, shade and a bit of shine, and to enjoy the evening while you do it.
This guide follows Bob, our knight, through each stage. Every step is simple on its own, and each one builds on the last, so even if one goes a little wrong, the next one usually tidies it up. Take your time, put the kettle on and don't worry about the box art.
What you need
- A miniature and a good quality primer.
- Six paints: silver, red, blue, brown, off-white and a dark wash.
- A medium brush, a small detail brush and an old scruffy one.
- A palette, even an old plate, and a pot of water.
- Kitchen roll for wiping your brush.
Swap the colours for your own scheme. The method stays the same.
Prime, and see the plan
One coat of primer, then five stages from grey to finished.
Primer gives your paint something to grip, and it turns the whole miniature one even colour. Our miniatures arrive ready for primer, so there's no washing or soaking to do first. Our prep guide covers checking for the odd micro support, choosing a primer colour and priming with a spray can or a brush.
For a first miniature, grey primer is a good choice. It's easy to see the detail on, and it works under almost any colour. Once it's dry, here's the plan.
Tap the diagram to open it full size.
Five stages, one knight. Primer, flat basecoats, a wash for shade, a drybrush to lift the raised areas, then highlights on the edges. Each stage takes the last one a step further.
Hold it on a handle
Stick the miniature to a cork or old pot with a little poster putty, so you can hold it without touching the paint.
Good light
Paint near a window or under a daylight lamp. It's much easier to see what you're doing.
Brace your hands
Rest your wrists together or on the table edge. Steady hands make neat lines.
Basecoat
Flat, neat colours in the right places. The foundation for everything else.
Basecoating means painting each area its main colour: silver armour, a red cloak, a blue shield, brown for leather and the base. It doesn't need to look exciting yet. It just needs to be smooth and in the right places.
The secret is thin paint. Put a little paint on your palette, add a touch of water and mix it until it flows like milk. Two thin coats look far better than one thick one, which hides the detail and dries lumpy. Our thinning guide shows you how.
Tap the diagram to open it full size.
Six paints, one knight. Four main colours, an off-white for mixing highlights and a dark wash for shading. That's the whole palette.
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Biggest areas first
Start with the colour that covers the most, here the silver armour. Don't worry if you go over the edges a little.
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Work from the inside out
Paint the parts deepest in the miniature first and the parts on top last. Mistakes on the inner layers get covered as you go.
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Two thin coats
Let the first coat dry. It'll look patchy, and that's normal. The second coat evens it out.
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Tidy up as you go
Slipped onto the cloak? Let it dry, then paint over it with the right colour. Nothing is ever ruined.
Wash
The magic step. A thin, dark paint that does the shading for you.
A wash is a very thin, dark paint. Brush it over an area and it runs off the raised parts and settles in the recesses, between the armour plates, in the folds of the cloak and around every rivet. In one coat, your flat basecoat suddenly has depth.
Use a medium brush and be generous, but don't let it pool in big puddles. Then leave it alone until it's completely dry. Dabbing at it while it dries leaves tide marks. Our washes guide goes into more detail.
Tap the diagram to open it full size.
Where the wash goes. It goes on everywhere, then gravity does the rest. As it dries, it runs into the gaps and leaves the raised tops light.
One wash can do the whole miniature. A dark brown wash works over silver, red, blue and brown alike. You can buy specific washes for each colour later, if you get hooked.
Drybrush and highlight
Bring the light back to the places it would naturally land.
The wash made everything a little darker. Now you bring the light back. Imagine a lamp right above the miniature. The light hits the top of the helmet, the shoulders and the top edge of the shield first, and never reaches underneath the shield or arms. That's where your highlights go. Our drybrushing and edge highlighting guide has more on both techniques.
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Think light from above. Highlights go where the light lands first: helmet, shoulders, the top of the shield, knees and folds. Underneath stays in shadow.
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Drybrush the textured areas
Load the old scruffy brush with the base colour mixed with a little off-white, wipe almost all of it off on kitchen roll, then flick it lightly across the armour. The raised detail catches the paint and the recesses stay dark.
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Mix a highlight colour
For each area, mix the basecoat with some off-white on the palette. A little lighter is enough.
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Paint the top edges
With the small brush, run the lighter colour along the top edges and the most raised parts: cloak folds, shield rim, the top of the helmet.
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Less is more
Highlights work because they're small. If you cover the whole area, you've just painted a new basecoat.
Details, base and varnish
The finishing touches that turn a painted miniature into a finished one.
Details
Gems, buckles, belt straps and trims go on last, with your smallest brush and a steady hand. A dot of gold or a spot of colour on a gem gives the eye somewhere to land. If your miniature has a face, our faces guide covers eyes and skin, and our metals guide has more on armour and blades.
Base
A little sand, brown paint, a wash and a light drybrush, and Bob is standing on real ground. Finish with a neat rim in black or brown. Our basing guide walks you through it.
Varnish
A coat of matt varnish protects the paint from fingers and knocks and evens out the shine. Our varnish guide covers spray and brush-on.
Tap the diagram to open it full size.
The last four jobs. Details, the base, the rim and a coat of varnish. Then step back and have a proper look at what you've made.
Workbench guide
Paint looking lumpy?
Nine times out of ten it's paint straight from the pot. Our thinning guide shows you the right consistency and how to get it on the palette.
Read the thinning guide
How's your first miniature?
- Primed and fully dry?
- Basecoats on in two thin coats?
- Wash left to dry without dabbing?
- Highlights only on the top edges?
- Details, base and rim done?
- Varnished, and on the shelf where everyone can see it?
Never do this
Rinse your brush in your tea
It happens to everyone exactly once. Keep the water pot and the mug at opposite ends of the table.
Paint straight from the pot
Bob is a knight, not a cake. Paint on the palette, a touch of water, then the miniature.
Dunk the brush up to the handle
Paint up in the metal bit dries there and splays your brush for good. Just the tip, please.
Poke the wash while it dries
It looks wrong when it's wet. It always looks wrong when it's wet. Walk away, make a sandwich, come back.
Start with the giant dragon
Learn on a knight. The dragon will still be there next month, and it'll get a much better paint job.
Compare it to the box art
That was painted by someone with twenty years and a magnifying lamp. Compare it to your next one instead.
Quick answers
The short version
Five stages, one evening
Prime in grey, then basecoat each area in thin, flat coats. Brush a dark wash over everything and let it dry, then drybrush the textured parts and paint small highlights on the top edges, where the light would land. Finish with the details, a textured base with a neat rim and a coat of varnish.
That's how to paint your first miniature. It won't be perfect, and it doesn't need to be. Your second one will be better, and your tenth will surprise you.
Back to the painting table
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