I am going to use this thread to post stuff about learning to paint minis. I hope to have at least some idea by the time that my Reaper minis arrive. I currently have painted 0 times and have 0 experience.

Some links that I will be referring back to:
http://warmaster40k.com/category/tutorials/ (an internet friend's guide)
http://www.enworld.org/forum/media-loun ... l-way.html (the Greybrushing caught my eye)
http://www.michaels.com/c/082612-TLC,default,pg.html# (50% off one item at Michael's could mean brushes).

You guys could help by posting links to direct items you suggest purchasing and tutorials for beginners (simple videos would be wonderful).

The Army Painter Painting Guide a free download of painting, well, armies.

I have found it useful, and picked up at least one new trick from it myself - and I have been painting miniatures since 1974. (Like it says on the tin - 'auld'.) Going from the guide, and now from my own experience, epoxy putties and super glues are really good friends. The putty does a better job of filling, and the super glue causes it to cure both faster and harder.

I believe that Minwax Dips have already been mentioned. Army Painter has some prepared versions of same, though I like the old Future Dips better, if you can find any Future floor polish....

The Auld Grump

Future Floor wax is now "Pledge® Premium Finish with Future® " according to the SC Johnson website.
I haven't been painting as long as Grump, but just a couple of notes to help.
Thin your paints. Straight from the bottle, the paints are thick enough to obscure detail. Since the Reaper MSP's come in dropper bottles, this will be easier. Base coats should be at least 1:1 with water. There are several other things you could use instead of water (I use a water, future floor wax mix). But water is just fine to start. This works just fine on Bones mini's per my experiment yesterday.
Learn brush control, that is making sure paint only goes where you want it to go. This works out in practice to not too much paint on the brush so that it doesn't just flood the area you're painting. The means to do this are many and varied, but I just dab my paint loaded brush on a damp paper towel before painting.
Yesterday I painted some bones kobolds to see if the no priming story was true (it is) and everything worked just as I've come to expect. I also tried the min-wax dip on them and they turned out fine. Took about 1 hour to get the 6 of them ready. I expect another hour to finish the bases.
The Reaper boards are very supportive and helpful, more so than others I have visited.
Good luck, let us know how you are doing. I think there are some pics of my mini's in my gallery here, probably in the Dwarven kings section.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the help. I will try and keep you updated. I am still in research stage and am debating whether to jump to paintting yet. I may hold back, buy online and save some money.

I don't dip, and I've only been painting minis for a few months. Here's my advice:

Decide now to what standard you want to paint the minis. Me, I'm perfectly happy with "tabletop" quality, because that's where my minis will be used. I don't have any use for shelf after shelf of display pieces that can't be touched. I love LOOKING at display quality minis, don't get me wrong, but my minis need to be moved around on a map.

Make a wet palette. It's simple and easy to diy, and it will take a lot of the frustration out of having your blended paints dry up while you're using them.

Buy paint that's in dropper bottles OR decant your potted paints into bottles. SO. MUCH. BETTER.

As I said, I don't dip. I don't like the look of some dipped minis, and sometimes it's pretty obvious which have been dipped and which haven't. Other people, especially people with a hell of a lot more mini backlog than I have, find dipping to be a godsend because it gets the minis on the table. Fortunately, there's room in here for all of us! I may change my mind when I'm staring at a box of 200+ unpainted minis going "Well, what do I do now?"

Don't be afraid to strip a mini and start over if you don't like how the paint is coming out. I use a Simple Green soak on metal minis, no idea on how it would work for Bones vinyl, but the Shoatima I posed in the kickstarter thread has been stripped and started over because the first time the buff colored paint on his cheeks was distractingly thick. I'm much happier now for having done it.

Tabletop quality is all I am looking for at this point. Tight now, I would rather save some time and learn to paint in a minimal fashion. I can grow from there if I need to.

What are your thoughts about this product:
http://www.frpgames.com/cart.php?m=prod ... DpE7dZlTYV

I'm in a similar boat. I tried painting about a dozen years ago (still in the process of reviving some of my old Reaper Pro Paints), and wasn't terribly successful. But I also just dove in and didn't really do any studying. And I bought cheap paint brushes. This time I'm doing a lot more reading up front, and studying some of the techniques available and I'm approaching it from a longer-term view as a hobby.

I have some more links on my iPad I can dig up, but here are some links that I have handy on this machine:

General painting/tips:
http://www.paintingclinic.com/MainClinic.dwt.htm
http://hot-lead.org/start/paint_guide_main.htm
http://www.reapermini.com/TheCraft
-- a good link from here on starting materials: http://www.reapermini.com/TheCraft/32

Info on dipping:
http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/43744 ... ainting-mi
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~beattie/dip.html


I've seen this guide, dunno if its good or not:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/ultim ... -link.html


Also, I picked up the first two Reaper Learn-to-Paint kits, just for some paint, brushes and tips (plus a few minis) for a decent price tag. They came Friday and have a nice poster step-by-step, which is useful. I got mine at CCGArmory for less than this cost, FWIW:
http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/L ... s/sku-down


My initial shopping list (purchased so far) has been:

Reaper Learn to Paint Kits 1&2
Xuron clippers
5 piece File set
Elmer's Tack Putty (for sticking minis to bases)
Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable brushes, sizes 2, 0 & 000
Winsor & Newton flow improver
Krylon Matte Clear Acrylic Coating spray
Krylon Gray spray primer (for metals)
Rustoleum White spray primer (for metals)
Minwax Polyshade (small cans for dip testing)
Minwax Clear Satin polyurethane (to mix with ink for my own washes)
Masters paint soap
Empty 1 oz dropper bottles (for mixes, washes, water, etc)
Empty 3 oz dropper bottles (for mixes, washes, water, etc)
Cheap white plastic palette (rectangle, lots of deep mix slots)
Badass 2 level tool box for paints/sundries (I'm a sucker for tool boxes, so I always spend extra for these)
Pledge Future*** not purchased yet, but on my list


I also have:
Empty paint pots (from dead paints) - for mounting minis in progress
Empty dice cubes - for mounting minis in progress
A horde of cheap brushes - I'll use these for drybrushing and Minwax shading
Another cheap white plastic palette (round)



Also, obviously, there are paints. I have some 40x Reaper Pro paints (in paint pots, not the droppers) from my last attempt. I'm going through each one of these and seeing which are still viable. So far I've only had to toss 1 in 10, mostly through really bad care of the paint pots - after more reading, paint dries especially quickly if you let it get in the threads of the pots. I've considered moving them all to droppers, but the droppers are like a buck a pop, so that seems silly. I'll just use what I can of the old stuff, and then buy new ones to replace them.

I also got a bunch of the new Reaper Master Series paints (in the 1/2 oz dropper) with the Learn to Paint kits, plus I'm probably going to spring for the full 72 from the Kickstarter. I also picked up a few new colors yesterday to try out.

A note on dipping - I read lots and lots of pros/cons of dipping. Because of my relative lack of skill I thought I'd try it (although likely with a brush, not a true dip), but I got the little 8 oz cans of Minwax to give it a shot.


Anyways, hope all that helps. I'll be following your progress.

Wow, that is an awesome set of resources for me to pour through. Thanks!

I just watched these this video and feel slightly more informed about brushes:
http://youtu.be/eACqcAQdw2U

Since about 85 I have had a love hate relationship with painting minis. Could be that I paint ten or twenty minis at a time. Then, I will walk away from painting for quite awhile. My style is more of a tabletop quality, though maybe I could paint better if I didn't just arrive at a finished good enough for tabletop paint job.

One thing one will eventually learn is that you can't help but touch the mini as you are painting them. In the old days I would slide a mini onto a Popsicle stick with a drop of Elmer's on it. That works better for 6mm than 28/32mm. A new trick is to stick the mini to a large nail, 16 penny nail works well. Then, drill holes into a 2x4 with enough space so they don't touch when you stick the nails into the holes so they stand up. Makes it easy to grab them and allows them to dry. The large nail makes it easy to hold and turn to face the brush.

Another thing, a good brush can be the difference between a good/great paint job, and a mess. A good brush will hold a point where a cheap one will curl, twist, split, or fray. Can't paint with that kind of brush and expect anything but disaster. I have brushes that I bought while in middle school around what, 1969. They still work well. But then, I don't load my brush up to
the band that holds the bristles to the handle.

If tabletop quality is what you're aiming for, I would recommend Apple Barrel paints found at Walmart and craft stores. I is very inexpensive, covers well, blends well, and has a great variety of colors. I do a great amount of commission work and most of my paints are Apple Barrel.

I am thinking that a Skype or Google Hangout for painting minis is in order. I will work out the details as we go, but it will most likely be impromptu scheduling.

Hey Talae,

I didn't see it mentioned, and it has been a long time since I did any serious painting, but there is a local group of painters near me that still has a blog/website with a ton of painting tutorials and descriptions and articles:

http://blog.brushthralls.com/

The forums are probably not as active as it used to be, but the tutorials and articles look like they are still there

I

Not sure if you like or dislike the non-uniform bases, but you may want to consider re-basing (or adding a base to) the minis as well.

I for one am not a fan of their bases (for the medium-sized creatures, at least). I will be trying to squeeze onto a base what I can and rebasing what I cannot.

For the Bones style minis, I think washers would work VERY well. Use them and some clay or textured gel medium and it should be pretty simple.

Who has used spray primers? What do you suggest? I have heard everything from cheap Wal-Mart paint to official miniature primers like army painter to airbrush compressors.

What is best looking? What is easiest? What is the best bang for the buck?

Yes, cheap spraypaint will work, but the miniature primer is much finer grain and less likely to cover detail in my experience. HOWEVER, remember that this is meant to PRIME the figure, not COAT it. One even, thin layer over most of the surface is all that is needed. Not every surface need be a uniform color. Took a class with Secret Weapon and everyone was shocked when he explained that...I sure didn't know.

Talae, because you're looking to paint the Bones minis, I thought I'd mention that by all reports by Reaper *and by people on the forums* if you are using the Reaper paints on the minis, no primer is needed, and in fact some primers give worse performance than just straight paint. Additionally, when you put your basecoat on the Bones mini (again, assuming Reaper paint), then you do not want to thin the paint like you would for additional coats, or else it will bead up and not adhere to the vinyl.

See this thread: http://www.reapermini.com/forum/index.p ... lity-test/

Having said that, if you find out you like miniature painting and you want to move to painting more than just Bones minis, I use the Tamiya Fine Surface Primer in white on my white metal minis and I like it. If you hold the primer too far away from the mini, you may experience a situation where the primer dries in the air, leaving the mini looking "grainy" after painting, so pay attention to your spray distances. Also, shake that can (or any spray) for a LONG time ... two minutes is what the manufacturers recommend.

For a sealant, I've been using a few thin coats of Testor's Dullcote, but I'm considering swapping to a brush-on varnish followed by a coat of Dullcote to knock the shine down instead.

With the Bones kobolds I painted this weekend I used Valejo Game color thined 1:1 with water and no adhesion problems with the un-primed mini. When I do metal, however, I use Krylon flat white primer or an automotive sandable primer. $3-5 a can depending on when and where.
The Tamiya primer is awesome, but fairly expensive.

First step when I paint minis is to clean off the mold lines. Almost every minis is off at least a bit, and if it is not fixed you will notice it. Some times running a knife backwards up the line is enough to knock off the edge. Sometimes I need to file and then smooth.

Next, a bath and a bit of cleaning with mild dish soap and a cold bath or two in clear water. Dry on a soft lint free towel, maybe even in the sun if you need, Colorado with it's lack of humidity will dry a mini in moments in many cases.

Then I like to batch prime my minis. I will take a group of minis outside. Some times twenty, thirty, or even forty minis will be lined up in rows on a board or cardboard sheet placed on my trusty Homer Bucket so I can rotate it, or if not I will prime from all for edges. Twelve inches from the minis can be too close, eighteen inches can be too far away. As SunRaven mentioned, too far away from the minis the primer will dry in air and will give your minis a rough fuzzy coat, too close and your details will be covered. Either case really ruins the minis.

As for the color of primer, I use white, gray, brown, yellow, and black. When you are going to paint the minis bright colors I like to use the white as it helps make whites, yellows and blues pop. When I am going to paint my bad guys, monsters and stuff like the uriki (sp) or lizard people, I like to use black and use a dry brush. Wow! They look really good with almost no work. Different primers for different paint jobs. Gotta think ahead and realize the under coat effects the over coats.

Not at all fond of Apple Barrel, myself - the pigment is very grany, and the greens and browns in particular can be very streaky.

For cheap craft paints I recommend Americana - a much better quality, in my estimation, particularly for the greens and browns. You can get it at Micheal's, and likely at other craft stores as well.

The Auld Grump

I tend to prime black, dry brush, wash, then redry brush. Its the best I can do with my eyes going.

Here's some Cryx with pinky waiting to show you some love. (The Leviathan on the Right is my favorite... I just love posing minis more than anything else.)


This is the official Leviathan;
http://privateerpress.com/files/product ... an_WEB.jpg

Here's some Trenchers

I was able to get some mini painting in today/tonight. I finished a half dozen or so minis. I will try and take some pictures tomorrow to see what you guys have to say.

I rediscovered the joys of drybrushing tonight at the Reaper booth at PAX. The giant worm from the Bones line painted up REALLY nicely with a single color, drybrush, then wash. My friends always tried to tell me that layering turns out so much better. I'm sure it does if you are good at it, but I've never been able to get very good at it. Will post a picture of my worm soon...

I found my way to this WIP thread and enjoyed reading it: http://www.reapermini.com/forum/index.p ... ntry624075

Anyone interested in painting on Google Hangout or Skype? I am getting ready to paint.

When I get my Reaper minis...

actually, I have some to paint, but it will probably take me a while to get my station set up.

All of what I have done so far is from two boxes I have from a thrift store purchase as a kid (Warhammer Quest/Warhammer) or the start pack elves I bought. The lighting could have been better and these were taken with my phone. Anyway, here are my first few minis:

hey! I have some of those minis! Good jobs.

http://www.reapermini.com/forum/index.p ... ekickflip/

and

http://www.reapermini.com/TheCraft/12

Both of which are more advanced techniques, but your brush control is already very good, Talae, so you're not far off from being ready for these!