I'm a very, very novice painter. I've spray painted Testor's primer on some Shapeways and Star Fleet battles miniatures in the past and that's about it. I recently tried to get into more detailed painting on ships using Testor's enamel paints (which are very cheap at Michael's), without any success.

However, I think I'd like to try to paint some of my IA minis. I bought a pre-painted core set from eBay, but have a few stray figures that I'd like to paint to match.

I know I found a thread on this a long time ago that listed what paints and brushes I'd need to actually do a decent job and I am pretty sure that the paints suggested were acryllic, which I've never used. I wish I could find that thread now, but I guess I will risk cluttering up the forum to just ask again.

What paints and supplies would I need to paint IA minis? I'm assuming (hoping) that they can be decently painted with just brushes, but what types and other things do people use? I know that Soroastro has an excellent tutorial, so what supplies would I need to try to duplicate his efforts, at least on stormtroopers and the easier generic Imperials (I might ultimately pay someone to paint uniques).

Sorastro conveniently lists the supplies used at the end of all his videos, right down the brush.

Obviously he has a sticky thread above that is full of information, but I know off hand he favors the Rosemary and Co. and Winsor and Newton sable brushes.

I haven't tried the Rosemary and Co. yet, but I do have a set of Winsor and Newton and they are incredible. They are the top end I believe so a bit more pricey, but they are the only set you will ever need. If you are brand new into painting and don't know proper brush care you MAY want to cut your teeth on a set of Rosemary and Co. first which are a bit more affordable and still ample quality.

He also uses Citadel and more recently Vallejo paints, each video lists what you will need for paints at the end as well.

Here is a link to the direct time in one of Sorastro's videos I am talking about:

So you can find the figures you want to paint in his video list on his youtube page here then figure out which colors he used, brushes, dull coat all that. Or there is a cheat sheet that KalEl814 runs in a google document but I can't find the link now that signatures are gone, anyone else help?

And of course I always plug his patreon because he is that good and deserves our support!

https://www.patreon.com/Sorastros/posts

Not sure how I missed that.

I do wish I could find that thread that had links to all the supplies. My local store does carry citadel paints, but they are extremely expensive.

Citadel is the top brand, but it isn't the top choice by many others on this forum. I am sure they will chime in soon with their suggestions. I know Vallejo is another popular choice, great quality but a cheaper price point. There is a conversion chart for that floating around as well.

There is only a few things u need to get started. paint. primer and brushes. It honestly depends on how much you want to invest into this. The supplies add up fast when you have nothing to start with.

Primer- (I highly advise priming plastic, it helps alot when you paint it)

Krylon spray - cheapest way pretty decent

Other modeling brands- All good but expensive and sometimes hard to find

Paints: (and washes)

vallejo is the way to go if you can find it. The paint and the bottle them come in is far superior. you jus need to add some weights into the bottle to help shake them up.

Army painter is also pretty good if you can find it.

Citadel is more readily available but its expensive and it does not store well. It does however have a wide range of colors for miniatures.

Tamiya- cheap and also readily available. color selection not great for mini thou. Is not good for dry brushing and does not thin well with water. You u need real thinner.

Cheap Dollar store crap - These paints can work but color selection is also limited.

Brushes (way tooo much crap so im jus gonna summarize)

Try not to use the crappy 1$ ones. At least go for the 3-4$ ones you will thank me later. Try to get synthetic. Nylon brushes are not great. You want size 0 and 1 with long hairs, you will prob use these most of the time. The small sizes will be for detail.

If you want the good stuff get kolinsky sable brushes. They are awesome but i dont recommend them for people who are jus starting out.

For starting out pick up some primary colours (Vallejo if you can find them, doesn't matter if it's their Game or Model color series) and mix them on a wet palette. If you make it out of a airtight container (tupperware) you can reuse the paint you mixed the next day. Obviously, if you are painting large groups in the same colour scheme - keep a notebook with your mix ratios.

As washes go, you should be fine with Black, Brown and Skintone for now. Thin the dark washes before applying them to lighter areas.

Later you might want to match the wash color to the part you are applying it to.

I have used the synthetic/nylon brushes and you will be miserable using them. The bristles will split and curl while you are painting. It drove me nuts while I was trying to paint the stormtroopers. My wife can confirm this. You can get vallejo paint from miniature markets website for around $2.80 a bottle and they do carry a few of their paint sets. I have just purchased the rosemary & co brushes and they imo are just as good or better than the Winsor newton brushes that I have picked up at pat catans. I have not purchased the series 7 because they are way too expensive for me.

www.miniaturemarket.com for vallejo, reaper, and army painter paint.

www.miniature-giant.com for reaper paint which is slightly cheaper than miniature market

www.rosemaryandco.com for kolinsky sable brushes. series 33 for round and series 56 for flats

www.acrylicosvallejo.com and go to the downloads to get the game color and model color pamphlets. They have conversion from citadel to vallejo colors. There is also one that is in the painting forum here. It is called Boomers paint page and conversion charts. He provides a list of each figures paints in both citadel and the colors in vallejo.

I use krylon colormaster primer because it goes on ultra flat. The covermaxx primer is good. It goes on flat but it takes a little bit longer to dry. I would avoid that primer. The colormaster primer dries in about 10 minutes where the other takes about 20 to dry. Plus it still feel a little sticky like the enamel primers do. I have been experimenting with a primer from badger called Stynylrez. It can be used both by an airbrush and regular brush. If you live in a part of the country where the weather is not always good for priming your miniatures you might want to look into this. Amazon has a deal on the grey, black, and white 4oz bottles as a set for around 18 dollars. I would try to get it when it is that price. Normally it cost around 30 when it is not on sale. If you want to patch up the gaps in the models you should also want to pick up some green stuff putty.

Hope that helps you in any way.

Thank you everyone.

I have some brushes I might try to use first. I think I will start with the stormtroopers. I've never mixed or used acrylic paints before so this will be quite an attempt.

The primer is my main concern at the moment. The Citadel primers are extremely expensive. If the Krylon works just as well, I'd like to try that.

Krylon is excellent as a primer! I also use the Krylon Flat clear coat to finish all minis (better value than Testors Dull coat) Those with glossy bits, I use Pledge Floor Care with Future. Brush two coats of that and they are nice and shinny, it heals over any surface evenly, water soluble and best of all, CHEAP. You will never run out!

It's interesting.

I use Pledge Future floor care to tighten up the joints on action figures for display.

On 2/4/2017 at 10:22 AM, jscott991 said:

Thank you everyone.

I have some brushes I might try to use first. I think I will start with the stormtroopers. I've never mixed or used acrylic paints before so this will be quite an attempt.

The primer is my main concern at the moment. The Citadel primers are extremely expensive. If the Krylon works just as well, I'd like to try that.

I found for me, going through Sorastro ’s videos in chronological order helped me learn immensely because the first video starts out with the basics and each video after offers more techniques that can be used on later episodes. He does an excellent job of teaching by progression. Going through the videos chronologically is the way to go! Another plus to doing it this way is the way you will build up your paint collection. You will build up the paints you need and by the later episodes you will find you only need to get only a few different colors for the next figure and so on.

I'm worried about my brushes. I have a lot of them from my failed attempt at ship miniature painting using enamels, but I'm not sure they are particularly good quality.

On the other hand, I'm probably not going to wait for hand made brushes to make it to Virginia from the UK.

5 minutes ago, jscott991 said:

I'm worried about my brushes. I have a lot of them from my failed attempt at ship miniature painting using enamels, but I'm not sure they are particularly good quality.

On the other hand, I'm probably not going to wait for hand made brushes to make it to Virginia from the UK.

I live in East Peoria IL and received my Rosemary & Co brushes in about a week or less

Well, I'm off and painting.

My first mini is a heavy stormtrooper from Twin Shadows. I immediately wish I had slightly steadier hands and better brushes. Painting the face of a stormtrooper is difficult.

I might start another thread with pics.

"Miniature painting is a hobby that both demands and rewards patience." -Sorastro

Best advice you can get.

I've used Army Painter brushes which are cheaper than Citadel ones but can still be rather expensive. A general store now sells some kolinsky brushes that don't have any brand labels but I've found them to be both cheap and good.

I have some Army Painter paints as well but I have a sort of mixed feelings about them. The Army Painter Platemail is very nice and even metallic paint with less sparkle than Citadel's Ironbreaker. But the two Army Painter reds I have, are very transparent. Perhaps the pigment is stuck to the bottom of the bottle or something. Army Painter paints are cheaper than Citadel which is a big plus.

I have some Vallejo paints as well and I've found them to be good. Their black is very shiny though but matte varnish will often remove the gloss. Still, I find Citadel's black to be better.

As for steadier hands. That will come with time. When I started, I struggled with everything and my shoulders would get very sore and stiff from an evening of painting. Not so much anymore.

Here's a pic of some of my Stormtroopers. The first one from left is the first ever figure I painted. As you can see, it's not very good. The second stormtrooper to the left is the last stormtrooper I painted (about 9 months after the first one. I painted some other figures before coming back to the stormtroopers) and the heavy stormtroopers were painted a year or year and a half after the first stormtrooper. None of them are perfect (that would be boring anyway) but I've improved. I still have ways to improve. You'll improve with time and practice as well.

Impressive improvement!