So, While I have been playing Epic since it came out, my paint jobs, while much better than when I was 14, still need help. I am going back over my other armies and seeing tons of detail covered by 3 layers of base coat and acrylics. I have started stripping some of them in brake fluid to test and it is working nicely.

Now, since I don't plan on any major repaint jobs in the future, I want to get it right this time, so any answers to my questions should help

1) When base coating, what is the best thing to use? airbrushed acrylic or high end spray can? (ie krylon or rustoleum)

2) Should I base coat white or use a close color (I have typically used a spray paint for base coating that was close to the color of the troops)

3) What are the best acrylics out there right now? Tamiya, Citadel, Craft-type or mix my own from artist acrylics and medium

4) What do folks use for ink washes these days?

TIA

Madmag

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Epic Tyranids

1) I mostly use GW Black or White sprays. Good quality and coverage. That said I used White Knights Black (might just be an aussie brand) previously too and that worked fine too.

2)Depends on the end shade/colour from my POV. If I want something bright and stand out I'd use white but mostly I like my paint jobs with a slightly darker hue so I use black. Black also aids with shading etc. Obviously each colour has a different effect on what you put over the top of them so a bit of testing on an old miniature can hep let you see what they'll tur out like.

3) It depends what you want to do with the acrylics IMO. Tamiya is good for air brushes etc but I find painting it on hasn't given me good results generally but it depends on the colour of Tamiya I find. You can't really go wrong with GW - so long as you can put up with their horrible drying-up rate. Plus they work wel together with their new washes beautifully. Vallejo are nice too with a good range of colours but you need to use water with them religiously as some of them can be quite pigmenty. This isn't a problem for me because I usually always use water with my paints when I am painting to thin them.

4)GW washes are Aces! Inks are harder to come by for me but I still have the original GW inks with the white lids I use so little of them.

Hope this helps. It's just my 2 cents though and there are much better painters out there who can probably come up with other views.

Things I've discovered that has really helped my painting:

Use a wet palette. This has really helped my painting as mixing a load of paint up and having it dry out in 30 seconds can get frustrating and knacker the brushes. A wet palette solves that by keeping the painting wet while you work. It also aids when mixing up highlights from the base colour. I hardly ever paint without using one these days.

Use a drying retarder (especially handy for wet blending)

Use an acrylic flow improver. It's especially handy for washes and shading as mixing that with some normal acrylic paint helps turn it into a nice smooth wash.

With priming, I use Halfords White primer, can't seem to find a black one so I stick with GW until I find a tougher one to use especially on FW Resin.

Other tools of the trade that I find handy are: Microscale Kristal Klear (Really helps with windows and gems), Johnsons Klear floor varnish - gives a tough near gloss finish, Airbrush, MiG pigments (though my experience with these is limited so far).

As for paints, I use all sorts; Vallejo Game and Model Colour, Coat D'Arms and Citadel paints, though the Citadel paints are 25+ years old! I mix and match paints of different companies all the time, so don't restrict yourself.

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1+2) GW white/black as appropriate here. I have used army painter black, but my latest new black can was GW again. Army Painter black is a different colour black to GW black (sort of more matt and dark charcoal compared to GWs more satin soot black? not sure how to explain). I have also just started spraying my new marines with The Army Painter dragon red spray, works well but i do not have an exact colour match in regular paint to touch up the undercoat .

3) Whatever citadel, coat d'arms, P3, depends who offers what colour and what that company's reputation for quality is in that colour area. With the new set of citadel paint lids i do not think that I will be buying regular colours from them any more apart from metallics.

4) Citadel washes

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1/2) A mix of White/Black/Army Painter. With Epic if I can find a suitable colored primer I'll go for that and save myself a 'wet brush' stage.

3) Citadel currently, but I'm at the point of trying something else as my pots dry out!

4) Citadel washes all the way.

1 and 2) Am I the only one who brush on the base coat? I prefer this method, always watering down the paint. It gives me a better feeling for the details and the miniature before the actual paint job.

3) A mix of new GW, old Citadel, Foundry and Vallejo Game Colour.

4) New GW washes are fantastic! I still use the old Citadel white lid inks as well, but am looking to new products, especially for weathering and rust effect (can't remember the product name).

EDIT: I use a wet palette also. And water down my paints. It gives a smother surface and cuts down drying time, although you might have to apply more layers. I almost never consider time as a factor when painting, only result and effort.

I use a decent automotive undercoat spray primer (Halfords actually, as I'm in the UK).

The main differences between these and hobby sprays are that they contain more solvent and have a finer spray. That means that you lose less detail, and the models dry faster and more evenly. It also means that you are less likely to get a rough textured undercoat, and that you can do a second pass if you want to. If you undercoat resin models, the extra solvent helps the spray stick to the surface better and not flake too. Automotive undercoat spray primers are also much cheaper than hobby spray primers.

I can't comment on airbrushing though, as I've never used one. I've seen good results, but that could have been down to user skill rather then the method!


I usually prime in a mid grey, though sometimes I prime white if I'm after white, yellow or another very light colour.

I used to love black before I discovered that what I most disliked about painting was highlighting, and with black, every colour had to be built up gradually.

Nowadays, I tend to paint using many many washes of very thin watery paint. Effectively, I start with a colour close to the final highlight, and shade increasingly into the recesses of the model. It is much less effort that way, as the paint tends naturally towards the cracks and lower surfaces anyway - so why fight it? Why not take advantage of that and make it work for you?

I then add a couple of small highlights at the end, but the result is much faster than building up from black. Just make sure the paints are very thin and either take your time or use a small hairdryer to help things along.


'Best' is very subjective.

I find that GW is expensive and dries quickly. Also, it doesn't respond well to extreme thinning and the colours I like are often patchy to work with. It is very prevalent though, and their metals are rich and easy to work with. The Foundation range of paints was just a reaction to the superior coverage of other companies' paints, and the Citadel Washes are okay, but you can easily (and more cheaply) make your own. On the whole, their stuff's okay, but their competitors generally produce superior products in this area and offer better value too.

Vallejo is relatively cheap (generally for hobby acrylics), and comes in two main lines: Game Colour (VGC) and Model Colour (VMC). Vallejo paints all have much more pigment than GW paints, and the pigments are much more finely ground. This produces paints that are a bit thicker and cover well. They thin well, but can get a bit gritty if you thin them too much. They have a huge range of colours; the VGC tends towards brighter shades, and the VGC tends towards more natural shades. They both mix and match well with each other. Their inks and metals are lovely to work with. Vallejo paints come in dropper bottles too - which I prefer, but some people don't.

Privateer Press Paints (P3) are also quite good value for money (quantity:price at least), and have a good range of colours. The range is reasonably tight (around 76 colours) as the range was designed for people to mix colours rather than be exhaustive. They have a good mix of natural and vibrant tones. The big thing with P3 is that the pigments are liquid, so you can thin the paint all you want and it will always have the pigment distributed evenly through it. I put mine into empty Vallejo dropper bottles. Be warned that their metallics are garbage though, and are notoriously tricky to use!

Coat D'Arms are the old (white-lid) GW paints manufacturer, and also the manufacturer of P3. They do their own range which is basically the old (white-lid) GW catalogue. Their paints are thick, creamy and cover well. Decent value too. These are ground-pigment paints that come in flip-top bottles (again, just like the old white-lid GW ones). Because they still make the old GW colours, they are good if you want to find an old paint that you ran out of. They also do all the old inks and all the old coloured metallics.

Foundry and Reaper are two others I've heard good things about, but I have no personal experience with them. They both have a 'triad' system, in which you can buy paints in sets of three (shade-midtone-highlight) as well as singly. Reaper Master series are liquid pigments, and come in dropper bottles. Not sure about Reaper Pro or Foundry, but I think that the RP are in droppers too, and Foundry are in flip-top lid bottles.

I personally use P3 paints almost exclusively, but I have a wide range of Vallejo paints too, which I often use to fill in gaps or provide certain colours without needing to mix. I love Vallejo for basing work though, as their natural colours and good coverage allow me to produce some great-looking results. I also make extensive use of Vallejo's Matte Medium, Glaze Medium and Retarder. Art shops can supply you with these acrylic additives at better value, but the convenience and dropper bottles are worth it to me.


I use paints with liquid pigments, and then add water, Glaze Medium , Matte Medium and a dab of Retarder. That way I can make any colour I want and in any strength that I want. For more 'old-fashioned' style inks I use Vallejo Game Colour inks.

Couple of quick notes on the mediums I use:

1) I find that the Vallejo retarder is too hard to use on its own. What I do is get an empty dropper bottle, and fill it 1/4 with the retarder. Then, I fill the bottle up to 3/4 with distilled water and shake it super-vigorously for five or six minutes with the lid on. The following day, I repeat the shaking to make sure it has mixed well. After that, the stuff stays mixed and I can add a single drop to my various mixes knowing that it will do its job without messing up the paint.

2) Matte medium is like 'blank' paint. In other words, it is very matte paint with no pigment. I normally add at least a tiny bit to most paint that I put on my palette just to ensure that it dries fully matte. However, it's main effect is to make normal paint more translucent and effectively cover less well. The advantage of this is that the paint still retains it usual work properties.

3) Glaze medium is both a flow release and an extender. I don't find it particularly matte (more satin actually), but I do find that it helps paint dry more evenly than just matte medium and water does if I happen to make a particularly thin paint mix.

I noted above that I have transferred all my P3 paints to Vallejo dropper bottles. I did this for two reasons; I like the dropper bottles more because I'm not dipping my brushes into the paint pot, and because the drops are the same size as the other paints and additives I use which makes the ratios easier to track.

I also noted that paint with thin watery layers of paint, so I thought I'd shed some light on what ratios I use:

A typical layering/blending mix (over a base coat for example) would be:
- 1 drop of diluted retarder (longer working time on the palette, but still dries reasonably fast on the model because I'm only painting a thin layer)
- 1 drop of paint (kinda obvious!)
- 1-2 drops of matte medium (depends on the natural coverage of the paint; more opaque paints mean I add a second drop)
- 1 drop of glaze medium (helps the flow and drying)
- 3 drops of clean water (keeps the paint nice and thin and with the retarder, it stays wet for a long time of the palette).

A typical glazing mix (for shading with for example) would be the same as above but with half the paint and maybe a fourth drop of water.

A single drop of ink can be substituted for paint in mixes above. If I use ink 'straight', I still add a drop of matte medium and a drop of water anyway. This gives me a better (matte) finish, and better control of the ink.

I find a small hairdryer is also handy; I can waft hot air across the model on a low fan setting to help the washes and glazes dry if I need to. Higher fan settings will blow the paint about if you've applied it thickly and you're not careful though, so watch out!

I also wanted to mention brushes on a final note. Many people think that to paint small models/details, you need a small brush. They then struggle to get a decent effect with a small brush. The real secret is that to paint small models and details you need a bigger brush with a very sharp point.
I like Windsor & Newton Series 7, and use a Size 1 for pretty much everything - even adding reflection highlights to 28mm models' pupils! They are more expensive than other brushes, but if you look after them (don't use them with metals, don't drybrush with them, and clean them with brush soap after each session), they can last you years. Places like Dick Blick's, Ken Bromley and Artifolk often have good prices and special deals on them though. Other people like other brands, but the common factor is that they are all high-quality fine art Kolinsky Sable brushes with a bigger barrel, naturally sharp point and a firm snap.

Right, that lot should keep you busy, and I hope it was helpsful to you as well! If you have more questions or want me to clarify something, please feel free to ask.

1) Normal GW white or black spray for me. Prefering white these days.
2) see 1.
3) citadel, coat'd'arms, vallejo all okay
4) I either use a citadel ink on thin down the colour I need

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Real quick, there are basically 2 parts to a paint - pigment and vehicle. The pigment is the coloring, of course. The vehicle is the liquid delivery system, e.g. acrylic or latex.


I recommend a primer made specifically for miniatures, but you need a bit of practice.

The pigments in mini primer are a finer grind than general purpose primers and they generally have a higher ratio of pigment-to-vehicle. The purpose of having more pigment is to get coverage without a lot of liquid, to avoid the paint flowing into recesses due to surface tension.

I'm going to take issue with Major Gilbear on this one. I don't believe the automotive or general purpose primers have finer spray. In fact, I've found that one of the problems with most mini primers is that the nozzles on the cans tend to gum up because they are designed to create a finer spray and the fine spray particles will stick and dry faster. He's correct that the non-mini primers do usually have higher solvent ratios which will keep them flowing smoothly longer.

Either can work, but you'll need slightly different techniques when it comes to spraying.

Mini primers need one, smooth full coverage coat. Too little, so you end up needing multiple coats, will sometimes develop a grainy texture. Too much will tend to obscure fine detail.

General purpose primers need to avoid a heavy coat because you'll end up with the liquid being drawn down into the crevasses of the mini by surface tension. Personally, I've found they are worse about obscuring detail than mini primers if you go too heavy. If you spray a light coat (a "mist coat" or a "dust coat"), it's relatively easy to cover it up with a second coat. It's less likely to become grainy.

Overall, I think mini primers give a better result, but the general purpose primers tend to be more forgiving.


Everyone else has addressed this - white gives brighter colors, black helps with shading.

I use colors for quick, table-top quality stuff when you have a force with a single, dominant color. For example, my Thousand Sons were done with GW's Ultramarine Blue primer, inked with blue ink to give the blue a brighter jewel tone, in addition to the normal darkening and shading. All that leaves is some quick trim work and flocking and the models are table-top quality.


I'd go for Citadel or Vallejo. They are made for minis. Mini paints should have finely ground pigments and a vehicle that's either thin on its own or that works well when thinned down. Any reputable mini-specific paints should work, though, so shop around.

Craft acrylics are fine for scenery or maybe bases. They are way too thick for minis. If you thin them enough to use on a mini, the vehicle doesn't work very well because they aren't made to be thinned down that much and the pigment grind looks chalky. I highly recommend against using them in minis without a lot of experimentation and testing.

Tamiya is okay, but they are made for airbrushing. They are acrylic, but the solvent in their vehicle is a mix of water and alcohol rather than the traditional water-based paints used for minis. They are only so-so if you use straight water to thin them. That said, the Tamiya clear colors are highly versatile for washing and inking.


I mostly use old GW/Citadel because they have fairly high pigment content and therefore last a long time because you only use a little bit at a time. They do, however, tend to be a bit shiny. Typically, I'll mix in a tiny bit of normal paint, thinned with water, to take the shine off them, especially if I'm using them as a sort of semi-base coat, like I talked about with the Thousand Sons above.

However, I think Tamiya clear paints can do some cool things. With the combined water/alcohol solvent mix, you can then them with either (or even get their thinner if you like). If you want a true wash in order to tint as well as shade, you can mix them thick and use water to take advantage of the higher surface tension so it sticks to the mini. If you want it to be more ink-like you can thin it with alcohol. That gives it a lower surface tension so it is more quickly drawn into the recesses and doesn't stick to the flat surfaces.

My roommate in college used to use oil paints and paint thinner. Thinned down, their surface tension was so low that as long as you were careful you could really shade recesses strongly with minimal "leakage" onto the adjoining area. It can give some pretty dramatic "blacklining" effects even at moderate skill levels. The downsides are that you are adding in a whole different set of paints and solvents and the oil-based stuff is more toxic (and probably more damaging if you spill).

Another option is "dipping" with a stain product. Basically, you thin down a woodstain (like a walnut tone) and after painting your basecoat and colors, dip the entire mini, shake it off and let it dry for instant shading. It has similar downsides to using oil paint washes but it is very quick. My understanding is it is popular in historical circles for table-top quality mass production. I've just started testing it. I have a feral ork army ready to dip and I've done my test pieces to determine the mix of stain/solvent with pretty good success. I just haven't had time to dip and dry a couple hundred models yet. There are some pics on here of other people's dipping experiments and projects if you look around.

I've been using armory white primer mostly with the occassional use of armory black. GW is $20 a can, Armory is $6 and I don't see any discernable difference in quality. I dislike the new GW cans because they spray at too high a pressures and toss smaller bits around. I'll also use Krylon Gray from time to time for my IG.



Totally up to you. If the finished model is dark I use black, if it's light or the paint I'm using has poor coverage (yellow) I use white.


Doesn't really matter outside of not using the craft type. Citidel, p3, and Tamiya are all workable.


GW washes are nice but you have to work them quick to get nice even coverage. If you are too slow it'll dry and leave and edge.

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You folks are amazing!

Thank you for the reads so far and I am always open to more advice!

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MadMagician
Epic Tyranids

On painting in general:
Thin your paint. You can this with more professional adjectives being added to the paint or just with normal water (like I do) but no matter how just make sure it is thinned down.

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I use enamels for base paint metals & resin, and water-based for everything else ... I like G/W Foundation too and their new washes. Use Vallejo inks too ... Use Testor's Dull Coat for clear flat spray once models are complete. I like Polly's S for all their Military colors, but use some Vallejo and even G/W for some colors as well as some basic water base paints from the craft store. I like Krylon Fusion for resin and even metal. As well as various other spray colors from the craft store ...

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