Best Miniature Painting Tips And Tricks (Updated)

It is a common practice that you start with established norms in any field and work your way out of it. This is good to give you a smooth start that will turn it into many fruitful years and, hopefully, making you the thing in the field you wanted to be in the first place. Sometimes, it is the opposite. You are just stuck inside a cage with invisible but solid bars and you cannot find your way out.

In the world of painting, there is a recommendation that comes in handy. Beginners are better off priming their miniatures in black. This can be great to get a start, but if in the coming time, you just stick to it, you are missing out on many other great opportunities. There are many painters who suggest that you come out of black as soon as you get comfortable with the new medium. You will see radical changes in how you perceive images and draw them on the medium.

If using a red or yellow coat is too hard for you because it takes 3 to 4 layers of color, then there is a viable alternative.

Use white Or Grey!

In practice, you will find out that the details are easier to pick out in the white background. Overall, the small things in the picture are more pronounced.

After giving a hand to white/grey/brown (they go with all colors really well), try your skill on priming the medium with the color which is going to be the primary basecoat in your painting. From there, you can prime it whatever color you want!

In the course of painting, there are times when models are knocked over on the medium when you are applying spray over them. Or your sticky fingers leave marks on the freshly-painted surface that stays. If you are sick about this and looking for a way out, there is a simple, yet effective, solution to this.

Fix your models on the surface by using sticky tape or other material that can bind it for the time being as long as you are done with spraying. This results in two positive things:

• The models will not be knocked over on the base due to the force of the spray can.

• The models do not to be on the base in the course of being primed.

There is a two-fold benefit to it. Also, you do not have to worry about getting things right in the first place. There will a “clean” room for you to do the work and finish it with your signature style.

This will come off as a weird tip but this is beneficial to your work directly, so long as you do it right.

If you study your miniature army from an efficiency perspective, what elements require your most time? Which of the elements will give you the most value for the long hours that you put in your work?

In one word – Bases!

You can make a badly-painted army look marvelous on a well-done base. Contrary to this, your masterfully painted army has no chance of winning on a half-cooked base.

If you can recall, have you ever seen a truly remarkable army on bad bases? It is unlikely that the answer could be yes. So, go hard on your bases until they are finely done.

Everything you do on the medium is your work. So, you need to allocate time and resources accordingly to get the job done.

Pro Tip: As far as the detailing goes, you should focus on the faces and hands of miniatures. This what the eyes of beholders focus on whenever they lay eyes on them.

If you are a slow painter, you pay much time detailing the pictures. There are healthy chances that your paintings will never get finished. Most of the slow painters use the detailed brush for almost every aspect of the drawing.

There is an experiment that you can conduct on coloring a base. Check how big a brush you can use to color the basecoat, not the entire basecoat but the big areas, such as chest, back, legs, and other open areas. After doing it, check if you see a difference. There are some areas that you do not want to paint, but you are going to do it anyway. You will save a lot of time and sweat by getting the right tools.

Pro Tip: This goes true for all vocations. You need to use the right tool for the job at hand. You cannot do with a hammer what is done with pliers and vice versa.

While you are starting out, it is the fact that you do not know many things about painting, especially the things that you think you know. To learn how to paint, you need to study from the colors, not only how they live in isolation but also how they bid in the company.

Paint a lot and keep a log of how colors change by interacting with others. This will give you an idea about what to expect when you mix different colors. This the field that you can invent your signature without spending a lifetime. It is true. You can invent a hue, a shade that is best suited for the majority of your paintings and you use it widely. This will help you in distinguishing your work from the paintings of other artists by merely giving a look.

Invest some time in learning the color theory. You can prevent a number of mistakes and futile hours in the future by spending some time in the mix. Research and improve yourself as a painter as you go.

From the memes of pop culture to the teachings of the greatest masters, we know one immutable law of the painting – using a dry palette is as bad as painting goes. But even after knowing the importance of a wet palette, many people are hesitant to use for painting.

If painting is your “full-time” hobby, you should think about ways that can help you save time and money while still giving the best results.

If you are still in limbo on how to get a new wet palette from the market that will give you all the wiggle room to paint with ease, fret not. You can make your own at home. All it takes is a plastic household box, some cotton wool, water, and scraps of parchment papers, and you are ready to rock. This apparatus will cost you a couple of minutes and dollars to have your customized wet palette.

The small investment will give you much consistency in the painting. Combined with some other practical tips, you can get much more from your paint than you were getting already.

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