Hiya, folks! I've taken a hiatus from painting minatures for a while because I burned myself out relentlessly painting Chainmail and Mage Knight miniatures for like 6 months straight. Well, that and being unemployed. But now I'm about to get a job or two and some really sweet products are coming out, so I'm getting back into it. Now, I know some of you out there
are alraedy miniature painters and have mad skilss, but for you out there who've thought of giving it a shot or have tinkered with it, here's a little run-down of how to get started.
The most important step is to pick something to paint! I know you're saying "well, duh" but let me assure you that the minatures market is large. Trying out a new game or just want something to tinker with? Well, if you want to get something just to learn, you probably want to go cheap in case you screw up horribly. The Warhammer and Warhammer 40K are an okay starting
point, but they usually require a good bit gluing. They are customiszable, though. If you feel bold, start with one. If price is a concern (the Wahammer figs run arount 6-8 bucks starting), then you might give Reaper minis a shot. They're usually around 4 bucks and look really cool. Or if you just find an old metal fig like old-school Ral Partha figs, they're good to learn on. Mage Knight Pinter's Edition isn't too bad either because they're cheap, already primered, and come in booster packs of 5 figures. They are random in the booster, though, so you never know what you'll get.
Next you need supplies. Paints, paints, paints. Pick hat you'll think will make your fig look cool and go for the paints you wanna try out. Wal-Mart has the cheap Apple Barrel and Plaid paints, which are good to begin with. I use mine a lot. The Citadel paiints are way sweet but cost more. They are good, though, but if price is a concern, start with the cheap stuff.
They aren't too bad anyway. I use the Citadel paints for specific colors and metal colors because they tend to look prettier, but they aren't a necessity. I like to stick with water-based acryllic paints because they're easier to mix and tinker with and are also easier to clean up. I'm clumsy, so this is a good thing.
You will also need primer. This is the base coat of paint to prep the figure so taht the paint sticks to it better. Gray, black, or white are the most common colors of primer, and you can pick according to how you want the paint on the figure to stand out. Light primer makes lighter colors show up more and so on. If you wanna go cheap, go for Krylon or whatever spray
paint you can find at Wal-Mart. Just be sure to grab the flat colors instead of the glossy colors. These work as well as anything. If you wanna go bolder, Citadel puts out nice primers in an array of colors. I like to use Floquil miniature primer, but it runs about 5 bucks for a reltively small can. It and the Citadel primer are made for figures, tough.
Now for hardware. You'll need glue for the figure to at least glue it on its base unless you're using Reaper or some Ral Partha figs. Super Glue is the way to go. The liquidy stuff works best. Once again, Citadel makes a more expensive figure glue, but it's good stuff. Jet brand modeling super glue is a good choice too, but it's expensive and basically the same as the
stuff at Wal-Mart. All super glue is basically the same, so just pick one and go with it.
Brushes are a vital necessity unless you want to finger paint your figs or paint them with Q-Tips (I think the older sets of Mage Knight were painted this way). Once again, cost is an option. The more expensive the brush, the longer it's gonna last. I prefer the Wal-Mart ones unless I'm looking for a very fine-tip or specific tipped brush. If you go for that, you'll have to look at a hobby shop. Just go for smaller tipped brushes and get as fine a tip as you want depending on how much detail you want to attempt. If you go cheap, be warned that some cheap brushes are crap. The red-handled brushes at Wally World are good, but the blue-handled ones are poop on a stick.
If you feel exceedingly bold and adventurous, you can try customizing the sculpt on your figure, but I'd suggest trying this later when you got some experience under your belt. If you try it, be warned that some of the modeling compunds are a bit pricy at times. Sculpy is pretty good, but you have to bake it in the oven to harden it if you use larger quantities (small bits of sculpy can be hardened with a dryer set on high). Floquil makes a really good putty made specifically for figures, but that crap is like 10 bucks for a small amount. The best, in my opinion, for figure customization is Epoxy Putty. You can get this stuff at places like Lowe's or any other hardware store. It's also sold by Games Workshop as Green Stuff because most epoxy putty is green when mixed. Epoxy putty has to be mixed in two equal proportions and is usally tow colors like yellow and blue so you can tell when it's totally mixed together. It's the best for your money.
Now you're ready to start painting. But that's another lesson entirely.