What main colors do you need starting out mini painting

[username1]

Already have some citadel, but what colors do I absolutely need?

[LordCdrMilitant]

Well.... whatever colors you want your little people to be.

That's not really a helpful answer, but it's kind of the best I got. It really depends on how far you want to go and what you want to do.

I use like 10 or so different colors on any given infantry model, though the set varies by color scheme.


Of note, even though a model may be dominated by only a few colors, you may wind up using a lot of colors for details like shell casings, tactical markings, pouches, belts, trim, hair, skin, etc. Not to mention the fact that you might have multiple shades of the same color for highlights, edging, etc. if you may chose to do that.

Also, I use black wash [Nuln Oil] on most of the metallic surfaces of my models, and some other surfaces. Some people I know use it on the entire model. A lot of things look good with a black wash.


If this works, here are some pictures:

Spoiler: I rarely pass up opportunities to share my models :P

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[Knaight]

If you're good at paint mixing you can get by with white, black, red, blue, and yellow.

[Erloas]

If you're good at paint mixing you can get by with white, black, red, blue, and yellow.

That's only true if they're pure colors. Most model paints aren't. Much to my ex's frustration when she was helping me clean learn, none of the mixes came out like she expected because everything had bits of other color already in it.


It really depends a lot on how much effort you want to put into it and the theme. I would say 10 is a reasonable starting number, which 10 would come down to your theme.

[Pelle]

Get some metallic paints as well.

[Wraith]

Here is how I learned to paint, and how I do some models when I'm feeling really lazy and just need them done to a reasonable standard that I can go back to later on:

Black or White
This is your basecoat; paint sticks to paint better than it sticks to plastic, so if you first rinse, dry and basecoat your model it's much easier to get the subsequent layers to go where you want without them flaking off or varying in shade.

Most of the time you should use Black, but if your Main Colour (see below) is quite pale, like yellow, then white will be easier to paint over and take less layers to cover.

<Main> Colour
Pick what colour your guys' uniform is going to be. If you're doing army fatigues, take a darkish shade of green, grey or beige, but if you're doing something more exotic (you mentioned citadel paints, so you might be doing Space Marines?) then pick whatever you like. Just make sure you like that colour and have a lot of it to hand, as it's going to be the predominant theme for your army from here onward.

<Shade> Colour
Whatever colour you picked for your Main Colour? Also pick up a pot of the next shade up from it. Citadel Paints have a huge list of complimentary colours so it's up to you to get the ones you like and get the next one; for example, if you have Kabalite Green, also grab Sybalite Green or Beil-Tan Green. Learn how to dry-brush and/or Edge your Main Colour with your Shade Colour and it's instant depth and detail for a very small investment.

(Darkish) Brown
Anything that should be leather, is brown. You can also mix it with black and grey to do hair, if you don't want someone's head to be identical to their boots, but starting out this is seldom an actual problem.

Grey
Anything not leather that also isn't your uniform, gets to be grey because white is a pain in the arse to keep clean and tidy. Belts, patches on clothes, the edges of shirts visible under the collar of their uniform... Also, a very faint layer on top of black is quite good at implying "plastic" for the knee and elbow joints in Space Marines and Robots. Grey goes with everything, just make sure it's black-grey and not pale blue-grey.

Flesh
I'm not necessarily going to say pinkish-beige, but starting out that's probably going to be the easiest to get hold of. Don't worry too much about diversity and tan-lines just yet, just pick one appropriate colour for skin and we can work on the details once you have the basics sorted.

Silver
Anything metal is silver. Guns, knives, belt-buckles, goggles, grenades, whatever - all silver. If you really want to, take some gold/bronze and you can use that to highlight things like medals, jewellery and the likes, but strictly speaking for the purpose of this essay that's a luxury.

Agrax Earthshade
The miracle paint. Buy three pots of this, and wash a thin layer of it over your entire model when you have finished all of the other colours - it's a near-transparent yet neutral colour that will instantly settle into the crevices and, for all intents and purposes, shade and highlight your model in one fell swoop. It's not as good as learning to shade and highlight professionally of course, but it's pretty damn good and will hide a lot of sins for next to no effort.

Getting started, that's pretty much it. Your models will be simple, but entirely servicable and they will be entirely uniform, which isn't always guaranteed if you're trying to mix your own paints. Once you're happy with these results, you can start buying other colours as you need them

[Felhammer]

If you are trying to paint a wide variety of models, you will want black spray paint to undercoat all of your models before painting them properly.

You will then want to buy a pot of black, white and a medium gray paint. You will also want a flesh-colored paint. After that, you will likely want some kind of silver color, for metal parts (very common in fantasy models). You will also want a medium brown, which is also very commonly used in fantasy miniatures.

After that, you will want to buy pots of paint for all of your main colors (like say I was painting a Wizard and I would want him to have red robes, a gold staff and a blue hat, so I would need to buy a pot of red, a pot of gold and a pot of blue paint).

You will also want to pick up some washes (also called shades or inks), as they will really make your models "pop". Usually the best washes for fantasy models will be medium browns or blacks. The washes go into the crevices of the model, and darken them, which adds a lot of depth to to model for very little effort.

You may also want to be brighter version of your main colors, for highlights (or you can also just mix your main color with white to make a brighter version (the mixing is great if you are painting a model, it is less ideal if you are painting armies of models (as it can sometimes be difficult to replicate the exact mix ratio of paint between paint sessions)).

You will also want to think about a Varnish, which will help ensure that the model is scratch resistant.

[Jophiel]

Just buy whichever 12-16 paint starter set strikes your fancy. It'll have your white, black, metallic and basic colors. Make sure it has a flesh tone and, if not, pick up some standard fleshy pink (assuming your dudes will be fleshy pink). You can start out washing with watered down black or dark grey/brown/blue depending.

I like Vallejo paints. I also like Citadel but they're expensive and I dislike the pots versus a dropper. Army Painter is constantly watery in my experience and I've read about people putting ball bearings into the bottles to try and mix the pigment like a rattle can -- I'd rather just buy paint that works with minimal extra fuss. I haven't tried Reaper paints but heard good things.

If you're really pressed for money, I've heard people say they do just fine with the cheap Apple Barrel paints from Walmart or craft stores. Others say it doesn't have much pigment so you might have to add extra layers. I haven't tried it myself.

If you have a dollar store nearby, you can get a small plastic tray, some sponges and some uncoated cooking parchment/butcher paper for about $3 total and make a wet palette. If you drop by the floral aisle, you can also sometimes find basing materials like moss or colored sand/fine gravel for cheap.

[Lemmy]

Some sort of greenish purple yellow colour...

[Felhammer]

If you're really pressed for money, I've heard people say they do just fine with the cheap Apple Barrel paints from Walmart or craft stores. Others say it doesn't have much pigment so you might have to add extra layers. I haven't tried it myself.

They are inferior paints for miniatures because they do, indeed, have less pigment. The lack of pigment means you need many more layers of paint to achieve what just two or three can do with P3, Vallejo, Citadel, Reaper, Army Painter, etc. paints. The additional layers needed to make a model look correct, often is very burdensome for beginner painters.

But they do work.

It is just a question of what you have more of - time or money.

[Pauly]

For undercoating I prefer Tamiya’s primer, it’s a neutral grey and it is very rough which helps grab onto the topcoats.

I will assume you’re using 25mm figures. I will also assume you are using acrylic paint.

There are 2 different ways of achieving ‘depth’ in the painting of the figure.
1: Washes. You paint the area in a basic color and then paint it again with a diluted mix of a darker color.
You can buy washes or you can make them yourself. I prefer washes because I can choose the color for the wash myself. To make a wash you use 1 part paint to roughly 5 parts thinner. Some people use water but I have always gotten superior results using thinner

2: Shading. You paint the area a base color. Then in the recesses and deep areas you paint a darker shade, and on the raised surfaces you paint a lighter shade.
Basic shading will use the base plus one shadow shade and one light shade, but as you get getter you can blend with more degrees of shading.

The basic difference is washes tend to give more drab, dirty, worn effects. Shading tends to give brighter effects. Often people will use washes for equipment and armor and shading for clothes.
Washes are generally much quicker to paint.
If I’m painting a lot of figures I will wash the faces/skin with light brown to give depth, if I’m painting a centerpiece figure I will use use shading on the face/skin.

The third main technique, which is used for deailing is drybrushing. Using an old flat brush and brush off most of the paint until the brush is nearly dry. Then lightly flick the brush over the area.
This technique is used to:
Add dust/dirt to figures
Add highlights to hair/fur
Add highlights to metals.