So which paints should I go with? I’ve never painted minis before and I have no idea which paints are the best.

Some questions:

brand names vs regular acrylic paint

which brand names?

which brushes?

and anything else you think of thats useful?

I use a mix of citadel and vallejo paint and $2 dollar store fine brush kits that suit me. All my priming is can spray.

extra tools i've found useful are brush holder with water reservoir, a cheap plastic paint palette and a water dropper.

I'm no pro, but it's more than enough to create high tabletop standards without breaking the bank. Always remember a good camera and background can make what you think is a crappy job pro quality

Edit: It should probably say something that Sorastro's vid use almost exclusively citadel. I'd highly suggest watching most of his relevant IA series and keeping an eye out for his upcoming rebel vids.

Some people will probably disagree with this, but for miniatures i can't stand "generic" craft acrylics or the like. Miniatures brands are made for purpose, and flow and mix better in my experience so i always use them where possible.

As for which brand, most of the "market leaders" are fairly on par these days, so i buy whichever colour i need from GW, Vallejo, P3 or others. Generally speaking i love Vallejo and Scale75 paints in particular however. Can't go too wrong with any of the big names these days though really.

Brushes....starting out, don't spend too much. Until you learn to get the most of them and more importantly take care of them, expect to go through a few. Once you do use them a lot and get used to it, i will swear by Winsor and Newton against all comers, but a lot is down to personal preference here. You'll learn what feels "right" to you over time, don't worry about getting "the best" or anything. Semi-decent brushes can be found super cheap online.

Ralgon mentioned most of the other useful starter kit, but i'd add:

- a handle, cork, piece of wood, old bottle...whatever. Blue-tac whatever you are painting to it and use it as a handle. It's enormously easier than holding a minis base to paint, and more stable. I learnt this after doing it the hard way for years.....

- Decent lighting. Don't kill your eyes in poor light. It's not worth the pain.

And the ultimate tip that will immediately make you better than 95% of new painters: ALWAYS THIN THE PAINT. it should be about the consistency of milk, and 2 thin layers are astronomically better than 1 thick one. Get used to this early, and it'll improve your painting life forever

You are going to get 101 answers. But thats ok. You'll put it together and find something to try first.

My personal preference is name brand as opposed to regular acrylic. Acrylics can tend to be thick and gloopy. I even water down my mini paint. Regular tube acrylics are great for terrain, but i stick with model paint for models.

I use Citadel Paints, but thats just years of experience using it. Start with the basic colors. Blue, red, yellow, black, white, and maybe brown or silver. You can mix anything from those. Brushes from a hobby store or online are recommended. A bad brush or large brush can be a hassle. That being said, even good brushes are inexpensive. Look for sizes around 2 to 0.

Other things..... spray primer. If you only get one color, get gray. Using a wet pallet (which you can make if you dont want to buy) made painting easier for me. You can keep mixed colors fresh instead of trying to mix a color again and make it remotely the same. But thats level 2 stuff.

3 minutes ago, Extropia said:

Some people will probably disagree with this, but for miniatures i can't stand "generic" craft acrylics or the like. Miniatures brands are made for purpose, and flow and mix better in my experience so i always use them where possible.

As for which brand, most of the "market leaders" are fairly on par these days, so i buy whichever colour i need from GW, Vallejo, P3 or others. Generally speaking i love Vallejo and Scale75 paints in particular however. Can't go too wrong with any of the big names these days though really.

Brushes....starting out, don't spend too much. Until you learn to get the most of them and more importantly take care of them, expect to go through a few. Once you do use them a lot and get used to it, i will swear by Winsor and Newton against all comers, but a lot is down to personal preference here. You'll learn what feels "right" to you over time, don't worry about getting "the best" or anything. Semi-decent brushes can be found super cheap online.

Ralgon mentioned most of the other useful starter kit, but i'd add:

- a handle, cork, piece of wood, old bottle...whatever. Blue-tac whatever you are painting to it and use it as a handle. It's enormously easier than holding a minis base to paint, and more stable. I learnt this after doing it the hard way for years.....

- Decent lighting. Don't kill your eyes in poor light. It's not worth the pain.

And the ultimate tip that will immediately make you better than 95% of new painters: ALWAYS THIN THE PAINT. it should be about the consistency of milk, and 2 thin layers are astronomically better than 1 thick one. Get used to this early, and it'll improve your painting life forever

When you say thin I assume you mean with water

3 minutes ago, Jabby said:

When you say thin I assume you mean with water

I do indeed (there's alternatives, but you really don't need to worry about those right now) . Just put some paint on the palette, then "load" the brush with a bit of water and mix it in. You'll soon get a feel for exactly how much, but "milK" is roughly what you're looking for.

3 hours ago, Jabby said:

So which paints should I go with? I’ve never painted minis before and I have no idea which paints are the best.

Some questions:

brand names vs regular acrylic paint

which brand names?

which brushes?

and anything else you think of thats useful?

I use mostly Vallejo game colour paint and rather generic brushes since I'm just a casual painter every now and then. With that said you should add agitator balls to your paint to stir them better. I use glas balls which are found with finger nail art supplies. And thin your paint, have good lighting and base coat with a primer can in fresh air at warm temperatures. And go to youtube, there you wll find ample amounts of guides, how to and even more opinions on what is best

Since no one has mentioned it, my favorite brand is Reaper. They come in a nice dropper bottle, so its easy to remember ratios when mixing paints. They are relatively cheap at about $3.00 a bottle (although the bottles are small). The colors come in "triads" where a set of 3 paints go together. It makes it easy for the base coat, shading, and highlighting if you don't want to bother mixing your own up. They also have tons of colors, including several shades of flesh tones.

The paint is fairly thin already, but does need to be thinned down a bit more.

I've been using P3 for paints the last several years. Except for metallic, where I use Vallejo Game Colors. The only P3 metallic that I like are their Radiant Platinum and Brass Balls.

For primer, I'm using brush on primer. There have been too many mixed results with sprays over the years. Vallejo makes some pretty good brush on primer. For models with a lot of fine detail, I've started using acrylic gesso, that you can find in any of the hobby stores painting sections. You just have to clean your miniatures well before using it.

Brushes, I use Winsor and Newton series 7. They are pretty much the gold standard. They are a little more expensive, but my first 3 have lasted several years now. Much longer than any of the cheaper brushes with the same level of care. I still have a selection of lower end brushes that I use for drybrushing.

If you think about getting into wet blending, then a wet palette is pretty much needed.

For clear coating, I use Testors Gloss, followed by Testors Lusterless Flat. The idea here is that if you start seeing shiny spots on your miniature, it's time to hit them with some flat again.

I love vallejo. Both game and model color. But when it comes to washes, citadel is the best choice.

5 minutes ago, devin.pike.1989 said:

I love vallejo. Both game and model color. But when it comes to washes, citadel is the best choice.

From my limited experience I second that

I use vallejo paints, i like GW metals and some of their washes, but i think wash wise army painter/secret weapon have some really nice options. For primer i've been using Tamiya's Fine Surface Primer it's a little pricey but it was recommended to me and i've never used anything since it's one of the best i've used.

For brushes I use Army Painter brushes and at$7 a pop very affordable. Get a basecoat, detail, and a drybrush. I use hobby store brands for basing and Terrain.

Paints I use Army Painter, but I am painting Runewars at this time, but will pick up some Vallejo for Legion.

Primers I use can, and get as close to the major color the model will be, saves time.

For practice, get a bag of armymen from the toy store.

Go to Youtube and look at the tutorials. This is a good one, he is real good and the techniques are explained.

Im looking at the citadel paint sets. Does anyone know if they’re good value for money?

@Jabby Generic paints are formulated to be put on to canvas not miniatures. They try hard to mimic oil paint and are far too gloppy for the detailed work miniatures require. Citadel paints are great but they are packaged horribly. Vallejo with their eye dropper packing is great and close enough in quality to be preferred. There are others that also use the eye dropper. I do like citadel washes though. A mixture of brands tends to be the norm so don't be shy about mixing paint brands and buying what suits your needs.

Brushes need not be super expensive but when it comes to fine detailed work quality tends to matter. I wouldn't spend $30 on a single brush but the $2 ones don't always cut it. There are some brushes sold just for miniatures, citadel has them, that won't break the bank and can be reserved for the fine details. Otherwise the $4 brushes at Michael's works.

All of these paints are expense and are not a good value. The best you can do is find a big paint set on sale.

I am about to start painting and still know nothing, but I have researched. I would recommend the Reaper Learn to Paint kit. It's $30-40 and comes with 11 paint pots, 2 brushes, 3 minis to paint and detailed instructions for each step of painting the 3 minis. Stick with Citadel, Vallejo, Reaper, Army Painter for brands - from my research each one has pros/cons and each is about $3-4 per bottle. Other things to have are good light, poster tack and item to place mini on (pill bottle, wine cork, whatever works for you) and magnification if you need it. Talk to your FLGS and see if they offer paint classes or if they have someone to talk to, watch as many YouTube videos as you can, find someone you like and watch their stuff, Sorastro is incredible and very active on the FFG forums. The best advise I have received, is your going to suck, don't worry about it, just paint some more and you will suck less each time; this is one of my biggest hurdles, I will see everything wrong with whatever I do.

I have heard some of the Citadel starter sets don't come regular sized bottles.

19 minutes ago, Cusm said:

I have heard some of the Citadel starter sets don't come regular sized bottles.

true. check descriptions, the mini bottles they use aren't worth the starter money they ask

Ill pitch in saying that a "wet pallet" had meant the biggest advance and joy for me in my painting. You can easily make one yourself with some tissue paper, baking paper (or what its called, the semi transparent paper you use in ovens) and a small plastic box.

It really helps by keeping the paint from drying too quickly and allows you to paint without dipping into the pot all the time, and it makes it much easier to thin paint with water. All in all it makes painting much more joyful and will give you better results!

Second biggest change and advance in my painting came with the airbrush. Not that im good with it technically but it allows me to prime with great result indoors, all year round!

For white, go P3, Reaper, Vallejo, or Citadel... Black is black and it doesn't really matter.

Stay away from generic acrylics.

Apart from that, what you decide to use is pretty much all up to your personal preference. Each of the big brands (Vallejo, Citadel, Reaper, P3) all have their pros and cons and you should experiment with each, funds and time allowing, to find your personal favorite because they are NOT equal. You're going to get different ranges of colors and consistencies and workability and so on. For example, Reaper paints have a huge range of colors and are (to my knowledge) the cheapest of the listed brands. They dry extremely matte, which you may or may not find desirable, and they mix well. On the other hand, I sometimes find that their paints have poor coverage.

Miniature painting brushes are a good bet for fine details, and you don't need to get the really expensive sets to get good results on your minis. Brushes marketed as wargaming paint brushes are Citadel and Army Painter, however I know that many expert artists prefer the more expensive Windsor & Newton series brushes. Again, this is down to preference. Many painters I know swear up and down by natural-hair sable brushes whereas I personally prefer synthetic bristles because I like stiff brushes.

You mentioned that you're looking at Citadel paints - this is the most expensive brand for the amount of paint you get per pot and in my opinion their paint pot is terribly designed. Out of the brands listed here your Citadel paints will have the shortest shelf life. That said, many people find their Layer system easy to use and I personally like the vibrant look that the Citadel colors have when dry. Citadel has the best washes by far. They also provide a few decent low-effort basing options with their Technical series.

The last thing I can recommend is that you get a wet palette. It's just an amazing tool for painting. It provides great control over your paints which will come in useful down the line as you become more experienced. Additionally, as a new painter you will likely be spending a bit more time putting brush to plastic and the wet palette's ability to greatly extend the working life of your paints will be invaluable.

Hope I answered your questions well enough.

It currently reads that the trend for some figures in this forum/community is to utilise White Knight. This is a well-known brand that could be useful to base coat sculpts such as stormies and snow troopers. Apparently it is cheap, easy and popular and does not require too much thought. https://www.bunnings.com.au/our-range/brands/w/white-knight

2 minutes ago, Darth Light said:

It currently reads that the trend for some figures in this forum/community is to utilise White Knight. This is a well-known brand that could be useful to base coat sculpts such as stormies and snow troopers. Apparently it is cheap, easy and popular and does not require too much thought. https://www.bunnings.com.au/our-range/brands/w/white-knight

Didn't want to go there yet but i heard this and have been experimenting with the matt black on my 3d printed terrain. Early signs are promising