Starting out with painting can be daunting in the beginning. But stress not! With a few basic tips you can start painting up a storm in no time.
Good Lighting
First and foremost you need good lighting. Ensure that you have ample light (natural or LED/Daylight Globes work like a charm). Most desk lamps will do the trick.
Comfortable Chair
Once the bug bites you will be sitting for hours. Its very important that you have good seating so that you don’t hurt your back or strain anything. Having a good chair will help you through this process and will make the hours melt away as you paint up your miniatures.
Brushes
Some of you might have some older brushes lying around and will be thinking “I can use these”. You can , but to get the most detail (not to mention not make mistakes) I will highly recommend that you invest into one or two good brushes. Army Painter and Vajello make some really quality brushes. They are on the pricy side, but they will last you a lifetime and the results will speak for itself. If you have an abundance of older brushes lying around, you can use them for dry brushing.
Paints
Getting your hands on quality paints these days are very easy. Some top brands you can keep an eye out for will be Gamesworkshop, Vajello, Army Painter, Scale75. My advice is to grab a starter set of paints (most of the ranges I listed have these sets). Alternatively I can recommend that you start with your base colours and add from there. Base coating (spray paint) your miniatures is one of the first steps you will take. You can get a variety of options from hobby or hardware stores. Just ensure you get the matt versions (DO NOT BUY GLOSS!).
Just grab a white and black rattle can and you are good to go. Lastly I want to Segway into washes. This pigment is one of the most essential items you can own as a miniature painter. Just apply this onto your miniature after you have painted the basics and you will see the detail pop right out. If you have some plain looking board game pieces, why not wash them and see the mini come to life right in front of you.
Youtube
I cannot recommend this enough. Youtube is an amazing resource for painters as there are many tutorials that you can view to get a better understating on how to paint up your mini’s. As an example I found the following link very helpful as I started out my painting journey. There are many more like this and I encourage that you view them as you go along
I hope that you will find some of the above tips and suggestions helpful!
Happy painting!