I'm getting ready to buy my legion set and want to paint them right off the bat. I'm new at this though and wanted to get some help.
Does anyone have any suggestions for a good starter kit? I was also wondering if anyone had any experience with the "testors" brand. I've seen them a lot in some more mainstream hobby shops like Michael's but wasn't sure if anyone had experience with how they hold up.
I'm hoping to share pictures as I finish painting but wanted to get some tips before I start.
you want ACRYLIC paints...not enamel.
which faction are you painting?
Highly recommend looking at your local game store for paints...but if you don't have a local game store I would say pick up any of these brands: Army painter, Vallejo, or Citadel (i.e. GW).
Army painter make a GREAT basic set of paint brushes that usually sell for ~$10 and their paints sell for $3. Vallejo have a similar price point. GW paints have a higher point cost ($4-$8) but also have "technical" paints which might be useful for you.
if you are painting Imperials you just need: White Primer, a white paint, a black or off black paint, and a dark /black wash. (you will also need a red paint for Vader)
for Rebels you need a primer in a color that comes close to your primary color for the uniform (tan , brown or green is the usual color) and then grab one of Battlefront's Team Yankee paint sets + a flesh color and flesh wash and you are all set. (you will need a teal/blue/turquoise for the alien heads too.)
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=battlefront+paint+sets
Spray paint them with a black undercoat of regular black spray paint you get at the hardware store.
Buy a starter set of paints. Games Workshop is just fine. Get two brushes... a regular size, and a small one. Also get a bottle of Agrax Earthshade, which is a wash... like, a liquid you paint over regular paints with that settles in cracks and crevasses and emphasizes shadows.
When done, spray the whole thing with matte varnish. I recommend Testors.
Thats my basic guide:)
14 minutes ago, Lord Ashram said:Spray paint them with a black undercoat of regular black spray paint you get at the hardware store.
Buy a starter set of paints. Games Workshop is just fine. Get two brushes... a regular size, and a small one. Also get a bottle of Agrax Earthshade, which is a wash... like, a liquid you paint over regular paints with that settles in cracks and crevasses and emphasizes shadows.
When done, spray the whole thing with matte varnish. I recommend Testors.
Thats my basic guide:)
um...painting Stormtroopers with black primer is a BAD idea...the "starter set" from GW is a waste of money as he will unlikely use most of the paints in it. IF he is going to buy a "starter set" of paints there are much better choices at better price points (but don't...you need very few of the paints from a starter set to paint Stormtroopers or rebels).
Amsowers: It might help us if we knew what your local area was...we could point you to a store or gaming group that can help you more.
I'm in the Wake County Nc area
1 hour ago, Hidatom said:you want ACRYLIC paints...not enamel.
which faction are you painting?
Highly recommend looking at your local game store for paints...but if you don't have a local game store I would say pick up any of these brands: Army painter, Vallejo, or Citadel (i.e. GW).
Army painter make a GREAT basic set of paint brushes that usually sell for ~$10 and their paints sell for $3. Vallejo have a similar price point. GW paints have a higher point cost ($4-$8) but also have "technical" paints which might be useful for you.
if you are painting Imperials you just need: White Primer, a white paint, a black or off black paint, and a dark /black wash. (you will also need a red paint for Vader)
for Rebels you need a primer in a color that comes close to your primary color for the uniform (tan , brown or green is the usual color) and then grab one of Battlefront's Team Yankee paint sets + a flesh color and flesh wash and you are all set. (you will need a teal/blue/turquoise for the alien heads too.)
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=battlefront+paint+sets
White primer works equally well for the rebels, the end result should just be brighter than if you primed with a darker color (assuming everything actually gets painted over)
Yeah I'm planning on painting the rebels. I don't have a ton of interest in painting the imperials at least initially. Would Grey be better if I'm planning on doing a mix of light and dark or should I just go with white?
Yay I can reuse this write up from early today
Army Painter's Mega set 2017 can be found for under $80 in the US, and basically would set you up for all the colors, and basic washes you need and more for Legion. For some one starting out the that doesn't have anything the price point of $1.60 a color for 50 is hard to beat. Plus you get a good starting brush in the set.
I'd add a good quality smaller brush something in the #0 size ($8) , some brush soap ($6), plus add a can of Testors matte dullcoat or other matte sealant ($6), and what ever you want as a primer color, and for just about $100 you would be setup to paint a ton of stuff.
Cheaper option, if you're looking to just dip a toe in the water
Reaper's Learn to Paint set 08906 at $31 (Amazon) gets you 11 basic colors ( 9030-Leather Brown, 9037-Pure Black, 9429-Dragon White, 9452-Blade Steel, 9054-Polished Silver, 9433-Mountain Stone, 9200-Harvest Brown, 9413-Naga Green, 9432-Desert Sand, 9408-Candlelight Yellow, 29815-Dragon Blue) and 2 starter brushes, and 3 minis with an i nstruction guide to practice on. Add a pot of dark wash (Game workshop's nuln oil is great) for about $3-4 dollars and again a dullcoat ($6) and what ever you want as a primer color. For around $40 you can see if you like painting.
Edited by Skyguard
2 hours ago, Hidatom said:um...painting Stormtroopers with black primer is a BAD idea...the "starter set" from GW is a waste of money as he will unlikely use most of the paints in it. IF he is going to buy a "starter set" of paints there are much better choices at better price points (but don't...you need very few of the paints from a starter set to paint Stormtroopers or rebels).
Amsowers: It might help us if we knew what your local area was...we could point you to a store or gaming group that can help you more.
Sorry, yes, stormtroopers are best undercoated in white. Good general rule though is underpaint black... it allows for a lot more mistakes than white, which shines from any missed spot.
As for the rest... recommend away. Personally I think it is best to start with a basic paint set if he has never painted miniatures before; he might want to play with a few basic colors. And GW is just so easy to find and buy... very user friendly. Something like this does the job just fine as a start.
12 minutes ago, Lord Ashram said:Sorry, yes, stormtroopers are best undercoated in white. Good general rule though is underpaint black... it allows for a lot more mistakes than white, which shines from any missed spot.
As for the rest... recommend away. Personally I think it is best to start with a basic paint set if he has never painted miniatures before; he might want to play with a few basic colors. And GW is just so easy to find and buy... very user friendly. Something like this does the job just fine as a start.
I just don't think the GW starter is good value all the pots are 3ml vs the normal 12ml normal for GW paints or 17ml for the all other major paint companies, and it cost more.
If your just getting into painting there are much better starter sets from Reaper, Army painter or Vallejo priced lower then the GW one with more paint.
Gotcha. Didn’t know they were smaller pots of paint! That’s why they look funny? Sure, I get your point.
https://www.youtube.com/user/tabletopminions
This guy has good tips.
I wished I would have watch some tutorials instead of just listening to the store clerk.
keep your paints wet, I highly recommend a wet palette. make one or buy one.
get one of these...
take it from there....take your time!
If you're painting the rebels I also like to undercoat black first. Then sometimes I'll take gray in my airbrush and do something called a zenithal highlight basically shoot the paint straight down on the model so that the places that natural sunlight would hit are gray and places of natural shadow are still black. You could easily do this with a spray paint just go very light. It will help you to see where to shade and highlight as you work.
For skin I like reaper miniatures color triads... they have fair skin, medium skin, dark skin and they come with the shade color, which gets painted first, then highlighted up with the skin tone, and then finally use the included highlight to hit the highest raised areas. Reaper also has color triads for hair colors too, the blonde and red hair triads are particularly nice...
Sorry for the long winded response, but watch as many videos as you can it will really help you out
Just now, RickyBobby17b said:If you're painting the rebels I also like to undercoat black first. Then sometimes I'll take gray in my airbrush and do something called a zenithal highlight basically shoot the paint straight down on the model so that the places that natural sunlight would hit are gray and places of natural shadow are still black. You could easily do this with a spray paint just go very light. It will help you to see where to shade and highlight as you work.
For skin I like reaper miniatures color triads... they have fair skin, medium skin, dark skin and they come with the shade color, which gets painted first, then highlighted up with the skin tone, and then finally use the included highlight to hit the highest raised areas. Reaper also has color triads for hair colors too, the blonde and red hair triads are particularly nice...
Sorry for the long winded response, but watch as many videos as you can it will really help you out
Seven sentences is hardly long winded:)
After glueing my entire core set and wave one rebels and then painting them, I highly suggest painting them before you glue them together. It would have made it so much easier and saved me some time with touch ups.
4 hours ago, Patteous said:After glueing my entire core set and wave one rebels and then painting them, I highly suggest painting them before you glue them together. It would have made it so much easier and saved me some time with touch ups.
That is a decision you should make on a model by model basis. Glueing them together after painting is a bit of a paint, often, so do as much assembly as you can before priming and only leave off parts that particularly get in the way.
So I've just gotten back into painting, and I'm using almost exclusively Testors paints. In fact, most are enamels. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them. Testors even has an acrylic line, which is quite good. (I do find the acrylics to be two or three coat coverage, even on a white primer, wheras their enamels are one or two coat, especially when thinned.) Don't let everyone tell you that you HAVE to have Citadel, or Army Painter, or whatever, to do this hobby. There are no game shops within an hour of me, but just down the road is a hobby shop where I've been getting paint, models, and supplies for more than 20 years. (Caveat: the Army Painter wash set has been a great investment. If you can only get one starter set, get this one.)
Edited by SaBeall
I would steer people away from enamels as a regular paint source. It has it's uses (Vader's helmet would look great in enamel) but the problems with enamel are the gloss they create and the difficulty to fix mistakes (as they are oil based).
YMMV but that is my experience of painting for ~30 years.
50 minutes ago, SaBeall said:...(I do find the acrylics to be two or three coat coverage, even on a white primer, wheras their enamels are one or two coat, especially when thinned.)...
how do you thin enamel paints?
2 hours ago, Hidatom said:I would steer people away from enamels as a regular paint source. It has it's uses (Vader's helmet would look great in enamel) but the problems with enamel are the gloss they create and the difficulty to fix mistakes (as they are oil based).
YMMV but that is my experience of painting for ~30 years.
Have to agree with this. There are a number of companies that make VERY easy to use, easy to thin, easy to clean acrylics. I wouldn't go near Testors and those other enamels.
1 hour ago, Lord Ashram said:
Have to agree with this. There are a number of companies that make VERY easy to use, easy to thin, easy to clean acrylics. I wouldn't go near Testors and those other enamels.
I was looking in the store the other day and saw a section of Testors acrylics in addition to the enamels. I was referring to those and wasn't sure if they were decent
4 hours ago, The_Weatherman said:how do you thin enamel paints?
I fill a well on my palette and add one or two drops of enamel thinner.
25 minutes ago, amsowers said:I was looking in the store the other day and saw a section of Testors acrylics in addition to the enamels. I was referring to those and wasn't sure if they were decent
The Testors acrylics are quite good. You can use them neat or thinned, just like any other paint. Building up thin coats is what you want, especially for more vibrant colors.
4 hours ago, Hidatom said:but the problems with enamel are the gloss they create and the difficulty to fix mistakes
Never had this problem using matte enamels. Mistakes are no harder to fix than acrylics, in my experience. Also, they're just as easy to thin and clean up.
Like I said before, I'm using a mix of types on current projects. It all depends on what color I need. Not available in the acrylic line? Enamel it is. (And these are all readily available in my area.)
Ultimately a new painter will have to decide for themselves.
Fellow novice painter .... go with an acrylic. Vallejo or Army Painter droppers perfect. You can thin with water. You can buy a thinning medium. Very simple.
I tinkered with enamels and oils, as part of a learning process the past few months.
Being at your peer level of experience I suggest basic acrylics and, if possible, Vallejo or Army Painter due to qualify and, then, the dropper bottles.
what brand of primer do you guys use? I picked up a can of white primer from the local hardware store and it dried super grainy. Not sure how to fix that. I'm not using it anymore and want to get something better.
Isn't the largest issue with enamels their drying time, which makes painting armies a difficult process you need to plan out a lot better instead of following your "hobby butterfly"?