Miniature painting can be an intimidating hobby to get into, and knowing where to start can be overwhelming. But with its growth in popularity, picking up miniature painting as a hobby has never been easier. In this article, I’m going to introduce you to the different paints and brushes you’ll be working with and the standard process that’ll get your miniatures game ready. We also have an upcoming article explaining how to actually start painting, so make sure to subscribe to our newsletter if that content interests you, or you want to keep up with all the latest tabletop hobby news!

Paint Brands

Let’s first look at different paint manufacturers. There are many to choose from and you won’t go wrong with whatever you pick. Miniature painting is a niche hobby, but there’s a passionate community and most brands you encounter will recognise that their audience prioritises quality. Your choice of brand will mostly come down to preference, so I recommend picking one or two paints from different brands that catch your eye and see what feels best for your approach. 

There are many great brands to choose from, but the three I want to highlight are the most common and popular: Citadel, Vallejo, and Army Painter. These three brands are titans in the world of miniature painting, and I have well-loved paints from each brand in my collection. Each has a vast range to choose from and, due to their wide popularity, has a large pool of community-made resources you can find. 

Citadel

Citadel is my personal go-to paint. Their range is produced by Games Workshop, the creators of Warhammer (which is arguably the franchise that gets people into miniature painting), and so much of their selection is designed with their miniatures in mind. This means there’s a large catalogue of tutorials out there, including colour guides and procedures for painting specific miniatures, as well as some really helpful starter kits. I love the flip lid pots the paints come in, as I find it helps me save a lot of paint when I can dip my brush directly into the pot. Citadel has an extensive range and is super easy to get your hands on.

Vallejo

Vallejo has a massive selection of standard paints as well as a very impressive collection of airbrush colours. While airbrushing is often considered a more advanced technique in the hobby, having a feel for the brand if you’re planning to try airbrushing in the future is a great move. I’m personally a big fan of their spray primers; they dry quick, work great, and I use them on just about every mini I work with. Vallejo have also released a range of Mecha paints which are designed to be used on Gundam and other model kits. These are designed with heavy-handed construction in mind so they can handle a little more wear and tear than your regular model paints. If you’re looking for versatility and great quality, Vallejo is a fantastic pick.

Army Painter

And thirdly is Army Painter. As the name suggests, Army Painter is great for painting large quantities of minis. If you’re planning on playing a wargame or are running a large scale battle in D&D and you want to avoid a sea of grey plastic, I highly encourage checking out their Quickshade range. Simply apply a base coat, dip the mini in the Quickshade pot, and it’s done. For large hordes of simple enemies (e.g. zombies or droids), this approach will save you time, effort, and resources, and will get you playing as soon as possible. Plus, Army Painter have a fantastic range of paints and sprays that are colour matched, which can be an absolute blessing for larger projects. 

These brands are the most common and popular and they’re all fantastic choices - but if none of them sound right to you, there’s plenty more to pick from. Below is a quick look at a few more that have crossed my workstation over the years:

• Scale75 (Scalecolor) – Beautiful, pigment dense, matte finish paints. Great range of themed sets (e.g. Flesh, Wood and Leather, Blood and Fire etc.)
• Nolzur’s – Official Dungeons & Dragons paint range, great for starter and guided kits that come with miniatures.
• Kimera – High quality sets of strongly pigmented colour, fantastic results but possibly a bit advanced for a beginner
• Ak Interactive – Specialise in historic models and have a vast selection that are colour matched to real vehicle and infantry colours

Paint Types

Now that you’ve got an idea of what brand you might try, let’s talk about different types of paint. Different brands will have their own names for the many paint variants, but these are the basics that you’ll always be able to reference. 

Primer

Many miniatures will come pre-primed so be sure to check the packaging, but I always like to prime mine, just in case. Miniatures can come in a wide variety of materials and aren’t always great surfaces to paint on, which is an issue that primers solve. A primer will help the paint stick to the mini and stop it from flaking or rubbing off. I generally prefer spray primers. They do a good job of getting into all the nooks and crannies and save a lot of time, plus you can prime multiple minis in one go. I typically go with a black primer so if I miss or struggle to reach any spots with my painting, they just look like shadows, but you can go with any colour, which can add some interesting effects. White can be good to make bright colours pop, or you can pick a colour that’s very prominent in the look you’re going for, to hopefully cut back on how much painting you have to do. 

Base and Layer

Base and Layer paints are typically thick and strongly pigmented. They’re used for blocking in colour and building up details on your mini. You’ll often want to water these ones down a bit and apply them in thin coats to make sure all the details of the mini itself are still visible. Thinner coats also help to hide brushstrokes and will give cleaner lines. Always thin your paints!

Contrasts/Shades/Washes

While each of these are commonly used in slightly different ways, they’re generally pretty similar to one another. These paints tend to be quite thin and are applied lightly to tint the layers below. When they settle into crevices, they add depth. These types of paints work wonders in bringing a mini together. They help to add shadow and contrast and are great for making a piece look grounded.

Dry

Dry paints are used for a specific technique called dry-brushing, which I’ll touch on shortly. While dry-brushing can be done using base and layer paints, and that’s often how I do it myself, using ‘dry’ paints does have its benefits. I find using these ones tends to waste less paint than if you use a base or layer and they often come in shades designed specifically for use with this technique. Don’t be concerned by the odd, marshmallowy texture. It’s supposed to look like that. 

Airbrush

Technical

Technical paints are my favourite. Citadel releases cool new ones regularly and I’m always so excited to see what the next will be. Technical paints come in all different colours and consistencies, and are designed to fulfill some kind of unique effect. My favourite is ‘Blood for the Blood God’ which stays looking like wet, fresh blood after it dries - perfect for zombies, ghouls, and vampires. ‘Mordant Earth’ is a black paint that cracks to reveal whatever paint was below it (great for lava effects). 'Nihilakh Oxide' creates an amazing teal oxidation effect, and 'Tesseract Glow' is a bright neon green that seems to cast light.

There are many more awesome technical paints out there with most brands having their own unique ranges. I highly recommend browsing some shelves and seeing what technicals you can get your hands on. They’re a fantastic way to add some extra interest to your mini.

Brush Types

I personally don’t tend to use any specific brush for specific tasks. You can buy brushes designed specifically for basing mini’s or specifically for applying shades, but make sure you have a decent range of sizes to work with and apply detail.

I usually use a medium sized brush for basing (with a head about as big as a sunflower seed). I want it to be reasonably dense and pointed, so I have plenty of control and can get into crevices but can still cover a lot of surface area in a reasonable amount of time. 

For details I tend to pick a brush that’s a similar size to the area I’m covering. These usually range from the size of a grain of rice to nearly a single bristle. I know that sounds absolutely tiny (and it is) but if you want to paint an iris on something that’s only a few centimetres tall, little else will do. Generally, the thing to look out for is a good point. If bristles start sticking out in different directions, you’ll lose that fine control you need, and it’s tough to bring a brush back from that. 

I mostly use fluffy brushes for dry brushing. A brush that flares out like a cone where the bristles don’t sit too tightly together will work well. You’ll likely want these to be slightly larger than your other brushes, say the size of a corn kernel, enough to just graze the most pronounced spots on your mini.

Those are the main types of brushes I have in my arsenal, usually covering a slight range of sizes and density of bristles depending on the size of the mini or section I’m working on. But play it by ear! If a brush isn’t giving you as much control as you need, maybe you need one with tougher bristles, or one that’s smaller. See what works for you.

Also, look after your brushes! Once they start going wonky, they won’t paint nearly as well and mini brushes can be pricey to replace regularly. Don’t sit them in cups of water bristle down and make sure to always clean them after use.