The Noob Way Of How To Paint Miniatures

I am so shy to tag this as a tutorial, much more put it up with a banner on my tutorial page, I do hope a younger miniature or a less experienced miniature painter finds this helpful though.

My very first painted miniature was back in 2012. I painted a Trollbloods Madrak Ironhide metal model from Privateer Press. I got hooked painting minis back then, until I eventually went into hobby hiatus. I am starting to enjoy painting Privateer Press miniatures again these days. Although I still mainly work on my Gundam commissioned works and I plan to join GBWC 2015 at the end of the year, I really find hand painting minis so much more relaxing.

I just want to share how I paint my minis.

1. Zenithal Priming

I start by priming them and doing Zenithal White painting that would serve as my base coat. The Zenithal painting exaggerates the shadows and highlights of the model. I shoot 90 degrees on top of the model with white paint. This technique brings out the details of the model effortlessly. 

2. Black Ink Wash

I use Black Game Ink highly diluted with Glaze Medium. The wash further brings out the details of the model. The Glaze Medium helps increase the flow of the ink and will flow through the crevices of the details of the model. Now you are ready to paint the base colors.

3. Paint the Base Colors

I am still learning on how to blend colors in hand painting. I used to use distilled water in thing my paints. I now know that mediums are way better than distilled water in thinning paints. Distilled water will expand and weaken the binder once dry. The paint will dry a bit more brittle than desired. Mediums are basically the same components as the paint minus the colored pigments. It will keep the elasticity of the paint and will not weaken the cured paint. Chemistry aside, using mediums for blending is like magic! It dries a bit slower than using distilled water thus you could do wet to wet technique a lot easier.

I also hand paint a thin layer of Retarder Medium over the model before painting the base color. The retarder will further retard the drying time and wait until you paint the highlights or lighter colors and shadows.

4. Paint the Details and Highlights

The photo below does not show the highlights and details yet. I shot a Matt Coat over the model to see how the main colors are blending. I will try to finish this model tonight and will update this blog post. :)

I also sometimes shoot the main color of the model with an airbrush. This is the quickest way to paint the base color. However I do not do this often ( except for naked models like the Dire Troll Blitzer below ) as I feel black and white is still the best base color for my minis.

The Khador Wardog is shaping up nicely. I think I am slowly but steadily learning how to blend colors in hand painting. I highly recommend mediums in thinning your Vallejo paints for hand painting! The mediums work like magic!