Painting Miniatures: Applying the Base coats of primer

This step is very important when it comes to miniature painting. You absolutely should apply several coats of primer to your miniatures before you start painting them. This is important because the primer will seal the miniature, make it very easy for the paint to adhere to it in an even fashion and keep your miniature looking great.

Primer usually comes in either white or gray and I prefer using the white but it doesn't matter much which type you use.

Apply at least 2-3 coats of primer to the miniature. It should be put on in extremely thin coats and each coat should be allowed to completely dry before the next coat is put on.

Start at one small part of the miniature and carefully work the area before moving on to the next area. You don't want to try to cover the whole miniature quickly because primer dries quickly and you will end up with an uneven coat and the primer will settle into and fill holes and gullies in the piece. You don't want holes to fill in with primer you want the all the surfaces covered with primer without losing the fine details.

One of the good things about primer is that it will be very easy for you to see where you have applied it unevenly to the surface of the miniature. It will be much thicker and darker in these areas and you should brush over them to make sure the whole surface is an even tint of color whether white or grey. And if you have a section that dried with uneven primer you can easily touch it up by applying more primer or by using a very tiny amount of water on a brush. This will dissolve the primer you applied and make it liquid so you can re-spread it.

Here is a picture of the War Horse we are doing in this tutorial. It has an exceptional amount of very fine detailing so I have only applied two coats of primer to it. I used two different sized brushes, white water based primer, and a little bit of water.

Don't forget to prime the base, and take a real good look at everything, particularly the bottom and undersides of the character you are working on. Use your magnifying glass!

Continue with tutorial - Let's Begin The Painting

Reaper Learn to Paint Kit - Intermediate Level Armor

The next step in the Learn To Paint series for Armor. This great kit includes a six pack of colors, (black, dark blue, medium brown, dark brown, peach, white) a bottle of Metallic New Gold, Metallic Antique Gold, Pearl White, Honed Steel, and Polished Silver. There are two miniatures to start with, (a male dwarf with large shield and battle axe, and a female warrior with full armor and a nasty looking spiked chain weapon) a brush, and detailed instructions on making them look their best!

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Table of Contents for this tutorial

1. Miniature Home
2. Miniature Painting intro & overview
3. Painting Miniatures Tutorial start
4. The Paints
5. Preparing the Miniature for painting
6. Priming the Miniature
7. What to paint first
8. More Painting and the details
9. Close-up of the completed Warhorse
10. Adding texture to the base for realism
11. Tips and hints for painting miniatures
12. Diorama and Miniature supply Store
13. New Painting Miniature Tutorial: A Spartan Warrior
14. VIDEO TUTORIAL: How to paint miniatures
15. Miniature Paints and kits at Amazon
16. Ral Partha Miniatures
17. Links and info about manufacturers of miniatures
18. Understanding Miniature Scale
19. How to Make Foam Terrain for wargaming or dioramas

Sculpting Fantasy Miniatures

NEW: How to sculpt fantasy miniatures

1. Part 1 - intro
2. Part 2 - Drawings
3. Part 3 - Making Wire Armatures
4. Part 4 - Your first miniature 6"
5. Part 5 - Make a 3" miniature
6. Part 6 - the musculature of the 3" miniature Viking Warrior
7. Part 7 - Our first Armor - we sculpt the viking helmet
8. Part 8 - Sculpting leather and chainmail
9. Part 9: Adding Belt, bracers and boots
10. Part 10:Painting the miniature
11. Part 11: 25mm Female Warrior
12. Part 12 : The basic shape of the mini
13. Part 13: Completing the body
14. Part 14: Adding the swords and doing detail
15. Part 15: Painting and finishing the miniature
16. Sculpting Fantasy Miniatures Video Tutorials
17. Sculpting miniatures store- all the supplies you need.
18. Sculpting tips

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