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I have yet to find a comprehensive 'Painting Miniatures for Dummies' tutorial as of yet. I've learnt the basics from an intermediate painter, which I feel I have no problems with.

Now to take it from HERE. In my previous post of my First Miniatures (http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/488678.page) I received a tonne of great advice! Trying to digest it all was a task, and now I've got some questions, hopefully someone can help me out!

1) Based on earlier advice I've started to use a pallet to paint. I've managed to watered down the paint to a milk-like consistency. Hence the coats are really thin and require perhaps at least 2 coats (with some drying in between) to properly cover the model. Is this a correct method?

2) How does one obtain a consistent but thin base coat throughout the model? Some models look like they've been airbrushed in...

3) I've discovered a cheap (just over a dollar) but amazing nylon brush, that doesn't lose its shape and point no matter what! That's not wrong, is it? I bought some GW brushes to start off but I didn't really like them....

These are my humble questions for now. I'll post up shots of my progress soon!

1. Yes. I find I usually need 4-5 coats to get a complete layer. Most of the good painters do something like 5-10 unless they are speed painting. I think airbrushing is the only way to do a good job in 1-2 coats.

2. Airbrush or very thin coats.

3. Use whatever brush you like. People like expensive kolinsky sable brushes (the new GW brushes uses this hair too) because it has a good snap, meaning it bounces back into shape after the bristles bend from being brushed, it can be handmade to a sharp point, it has a good belly to hold more paint requiring less time going back to the palette, and the hair has good capillary action for thinned acrylics and watercolor so the water can travel in the bristles.

5-10 coats? Holy cow man! Time for me to get to work!

Thanks for the response!

Hope you don't mind me jumping in to ask you a few questions!

1. Are the paint's you watering down GW paints or a different make?
2. How are you watering your paints down? As in are you putting some paint into a container and adding small amounts of water till you get the correct consistency?

Many thanks in advance.

 Spuj wrote:
Hope you don't mind me jumping in to ask you a few questions!

1. Are the paint's you watering down GW paints or a different make?
2. How are you watering your paints down? As in are you putting some paint into a container and adding small amounts of water till you get the correct consistency?

Many thanks in advance.

Not at all mate!

1. So far I'm only using GW paints.
2. I drip a drop of paint on my pallet and I use one of my brushes to dip into water and then to mix into the paint!

Any suggestions on how to do this better?

dominiquekee wrote:

 Spuj wrote:
Hope you don't mind me jumping in to ask you a few questions!

1. Are the paint's you watering down GW paints or a different make?
2. How are you watering your paints down? As in are you putting some paint into a container and adding small amounts of water till you get the correct consistency?

Many thanks in advance.

Not at all mate!

1. So far I'm only using GW paints.
2. I drip a drop of paint on my pallet and I use one of my brushes to dip into water and then to mix into the paint!

Any suggestions on how to do this better?

You'll find that different paints require different amounts of water or medium depending on what your doing, require more or less to get the right constancy. I moved all of my old GW paints to dropper bottles a while back, and all my others as well.

I also have a dropper bottle full of water, and I know that my GW stuff is usualy 3 drops paint to 1 drop water. most of my Reaper stuff is 5 to 1 ect... give it time and you will know your ratio's

Hmm... my new workflow:-

My ratio is more like 1 drop paint:2-2.5 drops water. The consistency is slightly less thicker compared to milk.

This results in me having to put like 3-4 coats to prime, and another 3-5 coats for the base (in my case its Caliban Green).

Is this normal?

Sounds perfect to me, although I spray prime instead of brushing.

Are you happy with the evenness, texture, and quality of your base coat color after all the multiple coats?

I personally find the "milk rule" to be excessive in terms of every day mini painting...you should be able to cover large areas with paint that successively builds up from dark to light in only two or three coats per color...10 coats is WAY over the top and really, in my opinion, simply means that your paint is too frikken thin. If you are building up to your proper colors instead of just going for it with one light color such as yellow or red, then you wont have a problem using only a few coats.

Just my two cents. I've won a few local painting contests but I am by no means a golden daemon painter.

RayND wrote:Sounds perfect to me, although I spray prime instead of brushing.

Are you happy with the evenness, texture, and quality of your base coat color after all the multiple coats?

I'm thinking of going spray now for the convenience.

The texture, evenness and quality of my models have improved tremendously since I changed the work flow of my paint jobs. I'm sure thats a good sign that things are 'kinda' right. However, I have a problem - the spread of paint. Watery paint spread and bunches around nooks and crevices (like washes) which is fine, because I'm literally shading as I go along, until I get the tone I want.

However, in flatter areas, such as the armour leggings of the Space Marine, there seems to be this irregular pattern of dried paint. How do you think I can avoid this and produce an even coat of paint?

BrotherVord wrote:I personally find the "milk rule" to be excessive in terms of every day mini painting...you should be able to cover large areas with paint that successively builds up from dark to light in only two or three coats per color...10 coats is WAY over the top and really, in my opinion, simply means that your paint is too frikken thin. If you are building up to your proper colors instead of just going for it with one light color such as yellow or red, then you wont have a problem using only a few coats.

Just my two cents. I've won a few local painting contests but I am by no means a golden daemon painter.

Well, if it means anything, I only follow the so called milk rule for the primer and the base. The bits and details use considerably thicker paint... How do you go about it

dominiquekee wrote:
I have yet to find a comprehensive 'Painting Miniatures for Dummies' tutorial as of yet. I've learnt the basics from an intermediate painter, which I feel I have no problems with.

Now to take it from HERE. In my previous post of my First Miniatures (http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/488678.page) I received a tonne of great advice! Trying to digest it all was a task, and now I've got some questions, hopefully someone can help me out!

1) Based on earlier advice I've started to use a pallet to paint. I've managed to watered down the paint to a milk-like consistency. Hence the coats are really thin and require perhaps at least 2 coats (with some drying in between) to properly cover the model. Is this a correct method?

2) How does one obtain a consistent but thin base coat throughout the model? Some models look like they've been airbrushed in...

3) I've discovered a cheap (just over a dollar) but amazing nylon brush, that doesn't lose its shape and point no matter what! That's not wrong, is it? I bought some GW brushes to start off but I didn't really like them....

These are my humble questions for now. I'll post up shots of my progress soon!

1) Yes 2 or more layers is correct. You will notice that your paint will cover in a really smooth manner after it dries. If you have doubts please post a pic of your model here so we can see what's going on. I consider more than 5 layers a waste of time when it come to tabletop quality although I use an airbrush some time now.

2) Airbrush is nonetheless a tool that will greatly help to obtain the consistent thin coat you are talking about. After you learn to use an airbrush you can easily and most importantly really fast cover, a lot of models with their base color. If you don't own an airbrush you can use a primer that matches the base color of the models you are going to paint. For example use a red primer if you are going to paint blood angels or green if you are going to paint dark angels and so on. This will greatly reduce the time needed to obtain a smooth basecoat and if the primer is of good quality maybe you won't need to base coat at all. In the link you can see how eggroll uses a red primer to speed up the process and produce amazing results http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/313003.page

3) An expensive brush is expensive for a reason, actually for two reasons. The way it holds its tip and the way it holds paint. There is nothing wrong with a cheap nylon brush but as you level up your painting skills you will appreciate more a kolinsky brush for what it does.

Post some pics from your later works and if you have any more questions please ask.

It is kind of hard to find some comprehensive tutorials. I find that for me trial and error is the best way to learn, learning little things and working your way up.

1) Personally unless you are painting very high quality for a competition you don't need to water down so much your paint, I paint tabletop and looks nice or decent. I just water down the paint enough about 1:1 so that the paint doesn't hide any of the detail and try to spread well the paint over the miniature. The trick would be to get used to load properly and adjust the paint of your brush.

2) Consistent basecoats for tabletop unless it's a vehicle again I only use it 1:1 ratio paint to water. You only need to thin down paint further if you are painting very light colors such as white, pink, yellow or colors like that. When you don't thin them enough and you have to play around to get a good basecoat the paint dries and leaves paint crums all over, If you have that problem use flow improver to break the surface tension and let the paint flow easy. If you are painting light colors you have to paint several layers to get a good basecoat. Vehicles need to be painted with thin coats to get a similar effect as an airbrush or you'll leave brush marks.

3) Brushes are really important even though you can get virtually a good paintjob with most brushes, a good quality brush will help you a lot in your paint. Most of the struggle at this point that I have painting is because of bad paintbrushes and not anything else. You can use whatever makes you feel comfortable but myself I'm saving some money to get some Da vinci maestro miniaturists number 4, 2, 0 and triple 0. They are expensive about 10-12 dollars each, and require care but they make painting so much easier.

You can check out my channel. I know that I don't really get into techniques or tutorials for dummies, Most of my videos are timelapsed. But It may help. Check out the link on my signature if you are interested.

I hope I could help

dominiquekee wrote:

RayND wrote:

Well, if it means anything, I only follow the so called milk rule for the primer and the base. The bits and details use considerably thicker paint... How do you go about it

It depends on my base color, since I use spray primer most of the time (I paint mostly Black Templars, though currently am working on a red scheme on a Warhound Titan.

I also own small armies of Chaos, orks, imperial guard, and Necrons though, and for them I use the same general rule for their base coats...successively lighter colors with paint that is thin enough to not look bad, but also thick enough to give good coverage in just a few coats. I've been experimenting heavily with Vallejo's thinner medium lately to great results...it looks wonderful for wet blending and for conserving paint when I need to.

I always followed the basics of

- Clean your mould lines.
- Prime your model.
- Thin your paints (I always found milk-like to be a little too thin though that is my person preference)
- be patient. Use multiple thinner coats instead of just globing it on

Do that and you should get great at the least table top quality models.

Then follow up with cleaning ALL your tools and brushes, replace your pot water and keep your workspace clean (though that is just general for everything in life)

 Capamaru wrote:

dominiquekee wrote:
I have yet to find a comprehensive 'Painting Miniatures for Dummies' tutorial as of yet. I've learnt the basics from an intermediate painter, which I feel I have no problems with.

Now to take it from HERE. In my previous post of my First Miniatures (http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/488678.page) I received a tonne of great advice! Trying to digest it all was a task, and now I've got some questions, hopefully someone can help me out!

1) Based on earlier advice I've started to use a pallet to paint. I've managed to watered down the paint to a milk-like consistency. Hence the coats are really thin and require perhaps at least 2 coats (with some drying in between) to properly cover the model. Is this a correct method?

2) How does one obtain a consistent but thin base coat throughout the model? Some models look like they've been airbrushed in...

3) I've discovered a cheap (just over a dollar) but amazing nylon brush, that doesn't lose its shape and point no matter what! That's not wrong, is it? I bought some GW brushes to start off but I didn't really like them....

These are my humble questions for now. I'll post up shots of my progress soon!

1) Yes 2 or more layers is correct. You will notice that your paint will cover in a really smooth manner after it dries. If you have doubts please post a pic of your model here so we can see what's going on. I consider more than 5 layers a waste of time when it come to tabletop quality although I use an airbrush some time now.

2) Airbrush is nonetheless a tool that will greatly help to obtain the consistent thin coat you are talking about. After you learn to use an airbrush you can easily and most importantly really fast cover, a lot of models with their base color. If you don't own an airbrush you can use a primer that matches the base color of the models you are going to paint. For example use a red primer if you are going to paint blood angels or green if you are going to paint dark angels and so on. This will greatly reduce the time needed to obtain a smooth basecoat and if the primer is of good quality maybe you won't need to base coat at all. In the link you can see how eggroll uses a red primer to speed up the process and produce amazing results http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/313003.page

3) An expensive brush is expensive for a reason, actually for two reasons. The way it holds its tip and the way it holds paint. There is nothing wrong with a cheap nylon brush but as you level up your painting skills you will appreciate more a kolinsky brush for what it does.

Post some pics from your later works and if you have any more questions please ask.

Thank you for the advice Brother Capamaru!

I'm still working on fine-tuning my painting technique. I think its going along fine, perhaps better than I expected. Much to do, much to improve on.

I intend to post up pics of what I call the Beta Models (which are near completion). If you check my previous postings you can find I posted shots of the Alpha Models (6 generic Space Marines in Dark Angel colours) which were my first effort at painting, and the also show my tendency to overpaint the models. I have since rectified this in the latest Beta Models.

I've got a million questions! I'm thankful you, and most of the forumers are so helpful. I would know what to do without all that valuable advice!