Just wanted to help people that are new to painting stuff like this. I have been painting fantasy battles for about 30 years. So I wanted pass on a few tips.

1. The undead can be painted 3x as fast as the Humans and will look much better if you are new. So If you aren't sure which faction go with the undead unless your sold completely on the humans.

2. Prime first, then paint the base color 2x as bright as the final color will be.

3. avoid the color scheme on the boxes and make your own. That way you and others wont be constantly mentally comparing them to the originals.

4. Paint bright, washes darken things a lot.

5. Don't judge you mini till the next day. Paint looks way differant after it sets a few days.

Here is a quick guide for a good table top level skellie unit.

1. Double side tape on one side of a paint stir stick from a hardware store or a ruler.

2. Stick about 6 skeletons in the tape 2 inches apart

3. Hold them upside down and prime them white from below. Then flip them over and hit the tops stay very light with the paint.

4. spray a second coat of white because the first should still be showing grey through it was so light.

5. paint all the straps belts pouches etc. In tans, browns and greys. Paint metal in a medium silver. and a very dark gold or bronze.

6. pick a color for your cloth something that still looks good dirty. Blue, red, green, purple

7. Wash the whole miniature with a 50/50 mix of black and brown shade. Use the brush to remove puddles.

8. Use the original colors to touch up areas.

Here is a speed painted example I did last night to teach a friend. following these steps. Primed then one color painted, shade and touch up its nothing fancy but looks great in a 24 man unit.

#3 is entirely subjective. Some people rather like using official color schemes and they're often a good starting point for new painters since they often have many guides done on them.

6 minutes ago, Tvayumat said:

#3 is entirely subjective. Some people rather like using official color schemes and they're often a good starting point for new painters since they often have many guides done on them.

And watch the Sorastro guides

The image from OP is not loading for me. Nevertheless - great points + remember about Sorastro's channel on Youtube, there's nothing better that's aimed at beginner painter.

I don't have many years of experience in painting miniatures ( only 1.5 years ) but if you are going to just start painting with acrylics do yourself a favor and buy a Wet pallet and to inspire those are about to start ill attach some of my miniatures i painted and with all honestly i never thought i can do it and paint but i did take a look

Yes number 3 is very subjective, just my personal feeling. So are several of the others like choosing the undead because they paint faster.

Sorastro is absolutely amazing. I just wish he had a speed painting guide. Also a brand new painter guide, about how to get the best results with very little highlighting. It was the highlights and finishing touches where I always ruined minis when I was new. Painting the eyes still haunts me.

Best advice: go to Sorastro's YouTube channel

That link should get you there. Learn all the basics and different techniques you can. Jumped my painting skills to 11.

Sorastro is a good start, or even a good place for mid level or returning painters.

Following his work through IA and adding my own embellishments and flairs made me a measurably better painter.

The War Gamer is another youtube channel that does a great job.

Sorastro's production quality and mentoring abilities are unmatched, he's also incredibly interactive with his patreons. I really can't recommend him enough, he's like the (former) President Obama of mini painting, all class and incredible at his job. So support him now because if we were to ever lose him, also like (former) President Obama we wouldn't realize what we had until it was gone!!

I made a wet pallet out of the clear plastic housing that a large base x wing ship comes with, jut add wet paper towel and a layer of parchment paper, I recommend army painter brand stuff to start, as a new painter I like their brushes and paint consistency, i purchased the mega set and have had no trouble matching sorastros colors close enough for the table quality level, I'm very exited to paint runewars with the skills I learned on my imperial assault minis

I purchased a Privateer Press plastic snap-tight wet pallet kit about 2 years ago. It tripled the quality of my final painted results. You can buy replacement sheets for cheap from them too.

It is so air-tight that paint on paper lasts about 4 days at least. I rarely go longer between paint sessions but would be interesting to find out. Often I just add a bit more water to the sponge pad underneath, maybe a bit more paint on the top sheet, and the previous slightly wet amount is good to go again. If I take a break, clean some brushes or whatever, I can often go immediately back to work even after several hours.

Thinning your paints is extremely important to avoid horrid frustration and ruined minis, especially as a new hobbyist. I now own 4 of these palettes, because my Girlfriend and her daughters come over for paint nights and we each love having one.

If you are short on time to fix up your own, or terrible at making things DIY like me, you cannot go wrong with one of the PP Wet Palettes.

Curious, what do you like best between using a wet pallete and just watering down your paints in a regular pallete?
I used one a few times and I found that the paints were very runny, and would run off the paper. And if I just kept trying to mix in water as I went the consistency was different between highlights. I must have been doing something wrong?

Thinning your paints is hands down the best tip I got from Sorastro though, it gives you so much more control of the contrast you are trying to create.

1 hour ago, Shrapnelsmile said:

Thinning your paints is extremely important to avoid horrid frustration and ruined minis, especially as a new hobbyist.

Also for the new hoobyist: if you ever feel a paint job has gotten away from you don't just add layers upon layers of acrylic to fix it. Adding too many layers can obscure the sculpt, and if you find yourself to be on that situation give the mini a bath in CLR.

Don't use anything that melts plastic, that's why CLR. CLR will strip acrylic, but not melt the plastic FFG (and most mini game companies) use. It may take a scrub of a gentle toothbrush as well, but you'll get that mini back down to plastic and you can start fresh from there.

I got a half inch thick piece of glass that covers my workspace. Works great as a constant, flat gluing surface and as a palet / paint space. I have as much room as I want to mix and blend. I can add paper towel or cardboard to dry brush and if I wait til the next day I can run a glass scraper over the surface and be weight back to my starting point without as much cleaning time or loss of supplies

1 hour ago, FrogTrigger said:

Curious, what do you like best between using a wet pallete and just watering down your paints in a regular pallete?
I used one a few times and I found that the paints were very runny, and would run off the paper. And if I just kept trying to mix in water as I went the consistency was different between highlights. I must have been doing something wrong?

Thinning your paints is hands down the best tip I got from Sorastro though, it gives you so much more control of the contrast you are trying to create.

I generally use a medium to thin my paints if I am trying to get to a glaze consistency. Using too much water will flood the paint and you will get too much separation of your pigments, leaving each application very blotchy. When you are glazing, you will be dabbing your paint brush between each application, think of leaving a very small amount of paint on the brush very similar to a dry brush technique. Glazing is generally reserved for smaller areas at a time with minimal paint application. You want to build layers over 6-12 applications (more if you really want to strain your eyes). If you are painting a large surface, more paint on the brush works because you can push the fluid droplet around, but ultimately ending with a very thin application of paint.

Hope that made sense.

For tabletop standard, I would recommend mixing your paint with a general 2:1 water to paint mixture and your base coats will be totally fine after 2 layers (avoid glazing for tabletop standard because it will triple your paint time). Get all your base coating down, wash with shade, selective/minimal highlighting, paint your base and good to go. You have a good looking miniature for the game.

The best thing about wet pallet for me is i can cover the pallet with press and seal wrap and save the paint on the pallet for days, especially helpful if you have mixed a custom color. If the pad under the parchment paper is properly saturated i think you will need to add less water for thinning. I also agree in using medium and not water, and if you use water go for the distilled

On 3/19/2017 at 2:54 PM, FrogTrigger said:

Curious, what do you like best between using a wet pallete and just watering down your paints in a regular pallete?

I made my own using a "tupperware" sandwich holder I got at Walmart for like a buck. The nice thing about it is it's quite large so I can put a number of different paints on it and use it to mix, plus when I close it it's air tight enough that the paint will last for a week or more. I may have to spritz a little water on it, but I was able to paint my whole bloodbowl human team over the course of like 2 or so weeks like that.

So the biggest advantage is just being able to seal things up. Although a friend of mine who's an amazing painter, he has his stuff used as the finished examples on the reaper catalog... He would just cover his palette with a plastic cover and spritz water over it before he sealed it, and that seemed to do much the same thing.

There is maybe no one single thing you can do to improve your painting more than using a wet palette.

50 minutes ago, VanorDM said:

I made my own using a "tupperware" sandwich holder I got at Walmart for like a buck. The nice thing about it is it's quite large so I can put a number of different paints on it and use it to mix, plus when I close it it's air tight enough that the paint will last for a week or more. I may have to spritz a little water on it, but I was able to paint my whole bloodbowl human team over the course of like 2 or so weeks like that.

So the biggest advantage is just being able to seal things up. Although a friend of mine who's an amazing painter, he has his stuff used as the finished examples on the reaper catalog... He would just cover his palette with a plastic cover and spritz water over it before he sealed it, and that seemed to do much the same thing.

There is maybe no one single thing you can do to improve your painting more than using a wet palette.

Interesting. Right now I just use a regular pallette with tin foil over top so I can mix and match lots of different paints as I go. I definitely waste a lot of paint though, but I find I need to mix 4 or 5 brush fulls just to get the right consistency, even if only 1 brush full would be enough. Does the wet pallette fix this? Are there any videos you could recommend on how to properly use one? I had tried one at one point and I just used a piece of paper towel underneath parchment paper in a smaller ziploc container.

I've got a baby coming in a few months so being able to walk away from my paints at any time and come back hours later will be key.

Here's the video I watched that showed me how to make one.

On 3/24/2017 at 1:49 PM, VanorDM said:

Here's the video I watched that showed me how to make one.

I did this after it was first posted in these forums and am very happy with the results, though I am no trying to figure out the right amount of water for it...and if I should replace the towels with some foam I have lying around from when I was making foam trays for mini storage...

I have been using a small single compartment storage box which works a treat.