Miniature Painting
Miniature painting involves a specific process that a painter follows. Not only does miniature painting involve a process, but it also requires extreme patience and a lot of time. In order to paint miniatures you will need certain materials to start the painting process. The few materials that are needed include; at least 2 different size brushes, a modeling knife, strong super-glue, a paint cup, primer, gloss, and most importantly a nice variety of different colored paints. All of these materials will be explained later.
First, you must make sure that the miniature(s) you are working on are fully assembled and properly glued together. To assemble the miniatures simply take the modeling knife and carefully cut it out of the plastic sprue. A sprue includes all the parts of the miniature such as, the head, torso, legs, arms, weapons, and whatever other accessories that happen to come with it. The first time I showed my brother how to assemble a miniature, he sliced one of the plastic arms right in half with the modeling knife. After the miniature is cut out of the sprue it must then be glued together. One important thing to remember is that not all miniatures are plastic. Many of the miniatures are made of pewter mixed with a couple other metals. Therefore, if your miniature is not plastic simply just skip this step and go directly to the priming process. After the glue has dried, evenly spray the undercoat or primer to the miniature.
Make sure that when you are priming the miniature to do it in an open space like the backyard. The fumes from the primer can be dangerous so make sure that you use the primer in a well-ventilated area.
Next, when the miniature has finished drying it will be time to actually start painting. Apply a thin coat of base colors to the miniature. You can always go back and but another coat on if the first coat was too thin. Depending on what type of miniature you are painting will indicate what the base colors you will need. Afterward, the miniature will then be ready to be either “washed” or “dry brushed”. Washing is a relatively simple process. Take a little cup and pure a couple drops of water in it. Then take whatever color paint you want to wash the miniature with and pour that into the cup as well. Mix them together and apply it to the desired position on the miniature. According to a Games Workshop article, darker colors usually add more depth to the model when washed onto the desired spot on the miniature. Washes tend to sink right into the cracks and crevices of the model. (3) Many people mix up the terms “washing” and “dry brushing”. There are absolutely no similarities between these two terms. “Dry brushing” is when you take a desired color and brush it over the particular area that is being painted. This is done with a dry brush, which means that the brush can not be wet at all. For example, if my miniature had a skull somewhere on his body, I would paint the skull brown first. Then I would dry brush an off-white color on it to make the skull appear to look real.
Finally, after the miniature has either been “washed” or “dry brushed”, it will soon be time to work on the small details of the miniature. All miniatures need detail work because, they all have markings, insignia’s, or other features located on them that may have been missed when the base colors were applied. For instance, my miniature has a necklace of skulls around his neck that I didn’t paint when the base colors were first applied to the miniature. Therefore, I would just paint the necklace whatever colors I wanted and the detail work would be complete. Then at last, the miniature is ready to be glossed. Gloss is virtually the same thing as primer, except gloss is put on after the miniature has been completed. Once, I grabbed the wrong bottle of spray paint and instead of glossing my miniature as I intended; I primed it. I was so angry that I didn’t repaint the miniature until the next day. Don’t rush to try and get it done. Look and think about what you are grabbing to determine the right spray for the job. Again, when you are glossing your miniatures it is a good idea to spray them outside, so you do not inhale the fumes from the spray can.
All in all, painting is supposed to be a fun hobby, so don’t rush into finishing the model right away. If you rush, you may miss important steps and the miniature won’t look good. Miniature painting does require a lot of patience, but in the end all of the hard work and patience will pay off.
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