We use a combination of Citadel, Armory, and Reaper acrylic paints for the majority of my work.

Acrylics craft paints such as FolkArt, Apple Barrel, and Ceramcoat, have cheap prices and handy flip-top bottles make them attractive, but don't use this sort of paint except for terrain. (Hint: for bases and terrain pieces, match your Goblin Green, Shadow Grey, and so forth with a craft paint color; it's a fraction of the price of using Citadel or other hobby paints.) They have a high ratio of binders and fillers to pigment, and turn into a grainy mess when they are thin down to a working consistency; layering and blending with them can be tricky. However, they mix well with other paints, and can certainly be used straight for base coats and such.

Brush and Tools

If you are frustrated with how your painting turns out, and you've been using those brushes sold by Games Workshop...those brushes are almost certainly part of the problem. The one that comes with the paint set isn't that good for much more than mixing colors. Their larger brushes are just fine for applying color, but I personally do not care for their detail brushes, nor do I like using rounds for drybrushing. Use 'golden nylon', also called Taklon, synthetic brushes for your work--rounds for detailing, flats and 'acorn' or 'cat's-tongue' shapes for drybrushing and washes. Synthetic brushes may eventually curl at the tip after a few months to a year of regular use, depending on the grade of fiber. Poking and pushing with the brush, to get paint into recesses, will curl the points quickly.

Remember, though, that detail brushes are for details, and if you feel like it takes forever to paint a figure, you may be using a brushes that is too small for the majority of the work. Exceptionally tiny brushes with just a few hairs aren't useful; they hold so little paint that it is simpler to use a larger brush with a fine point.

You should clean synthetic brushes with dish detergent. Natural brushes really need a commercial brush cleaner with a conditioner, as they are a protein fiber and detergents, alcohol, and acetone will dry and degrade it. Use lukewarm water, reshape the point, and store upright.

Games Workshop Paint Bottles: To prevent those annoying Citadel paints from drying out just flip them upside down and store them on their lids. This will actually double the lifespan of the paint usually

Use Old Paint Bottles : Here's a use for old paint bottles. Put a dab of glue on the bottom of the paint bottle, and then place a miniature you are painting on the glue. This makes a perfect holder so you don't rub paint off. Once you're done painting the figure, lightly rock it back and forth and it should pop right off the bottle. The black caps of citadel paint bottles are just the right size to hold a 28mm round base as well. You can even leave figures glued on to spray varnish them - and for priming them.

Preparing Miniatures for Painting

First remove any flash, mold lines, etc. from the figure using a knife and needle files. These are usually sold in sets of ten or twelve, but the most useful are a half-round, a round, a flat blade, and a triangular one. The diamond-tipped ones last a bit longer and don't seem to clog with metal as quickly. Trying to paint over mold lines is annoying and ruins the look of the miniature.

Yes, there are many painters out there who never clean a miniature before priming it, and never seem to have a problem. However, any surface needs to be prepared to accept the paint, whether it's a miniature, a canvas, or the side of a house. A miniature fresh from the blister probably has some sort of mold powder or residue on it; it may be dusty; it may have skin oils from handling. If you ever pick up a miniature to find the primer loosening and peeling away, taking your lovingly blended paint job with it...well, you won't regret those few minutes spent removing the stuff that keeps the primer from adhering properly. Wash your miniatures with warm water and soap. Dish detergent works nicely. I give them a quick scrub with a toothbrush to get everything out of the recesses.

The use of GW white primer can bring out bright, rich colors. It's far easier for to basecoat an area on a figure in black by hand, if need be, than it is to try to work up to a light, clear color, such as a face, from a black undercoat. Primer should give complete coverage without obscuring detail. Two light coats are ideal. Lay the figures flat or turn them upside down, if necessary, to get all areas and angles. You should not prime no more than three or four figures at a time, to prevent a rough overspray hitting pieces in the back rank. Priming cuts the metallic glare of a bare miniature, and really defines the details of a figure. It's at this point that you should start to visualize how I'm going to paint it. It's also at this point that you will inevitably notice a mold line or miscast detail that I missed earlier. You can also mount the figure on its base and add any surface texture to the base before priming.

After priming, you can anchor the mini's base to an old bottle lid with a blob of blue poster putty. The lid will gives you something to grasp to, keeping you work free of fingers. Some people use hot glue, some superglue, for mounting to a base. Dowels and popsicle sticks are also popular--whatever works for you.

Stripping Paint

The best all-around solution for removing paint is a polyglycol-based brake fluid. It is safe on plastic as well as metal. keep a lidded glass jar half full and drop in miniatures that aren't turning out right. Twenty-four to thirty-six hours loosens the paint and primer nicely; most of it rinses right off, and the rest is easily removed with a small wire brush or toothbrush. Leaving miniatures in for more than a couple of days, may soften and loosen epoxy putty. This can be handy or incredibly annoying. After scrubbing off the residual paint, wash the miniatures with detergent and warm water.

Blending - by Chris Middleton

Blending there are 2 ways I use to blend. the first is the hardest because you must be very fast, which in most cases I am not. so I found the second way which works for me 80% of the time.

The First This method is achieved by putting on your base coat colour and  before it dries to add the next lighter highlight shade on top allowing the 2 layers of wet paint to "blend" together. however as I said when doing a large area you must work fast or the first coat will dry before you can mix and apply the next layer. I do use this method on small area's such as gems or eye's on space marines where the area is small and all you are doing is adding a bit of white to the base colour to lighten it.

The Second This method is a little easier for myself, because if you want you can stop and let the layers of paint to dry. I find this works very well on large area's such as cloaks and robes. The first step is to lay down the darkest colour. This would be a darkened base colour , that will be the shaded recess's . I typically add some black to give me the dark colour, but with some colours adding a dark grey or brown will work better then black will. (only way to discover what you like or which works best is to experiment. So give it a try, the only thing you are wasting is some paint and time) Apply the first colour in 2 thin coats thinning your paint with water or FUTURE magic mix (future no wax floor shine mixed with water, it helps thin and allows the pigment in the paint to lay flat, it also brakes the surface tension of the paint allowing it to flow across the surface instead of forming droplets ). Now that you have the base coat on, you can start blending up to the lightest shade. Here is where patience is needed most. Take your base colour and mix in a lighter shade. I have found that  using a colour like GAMES WORKSHOP bleached bone will work better than white as it will have a tendency to not turn colour's like red to pink, but gives a more suttle lightening effect. Once you have the colour tinted to where you want it add some water or magic wash to thin the paint out so it is very watery. The reason for this is so when you apply it to the high points it will be almost transparent allowing the base colour to come through giving a blended look to it. After that just continue to lighten your paint and add more layers to bring the high points up to where you want. I recommend stopping between layers and holding your miniature up and looking at it from a distance then ask your self does it look good the way it is or do I want another layer to highlight it more?

A Few Other Tricks If you mixed up your base coat and painted it on, but after letting it dry it doesn't look as dark as you  want it to be, you can always use a thinned down wash of black ink or a dark ink similar to your base colour. This will darken the base colour a little more and the ink will flow into ridges and creases. Some times this real works really good to give a 3D look to somewhat flat surfaces. Another good use for inks is if you pause half way through blending and find that the paint is starting to look "chalky" from being thinned (some paints and colours have a tendency to do this when thinned) just apply thinned wash of the same colour ink to kind of glaze the surface. It will help get rid of the chalky look. For mixing your paint go to a dollar store or craft store and pickup a small hobby paint palette. The ones I buy are 8 inches round with a dozen wells around the edge to mix paint in, do not use your good brushes to mix paint! use a toothpick, a small piece of plastic spur or an old brush. When mixing paint sometimes you really got to stir it and if the paint gets up in the end of the bristles by the handle of the brush, it will dry there and ruin the brush as it will spread the bristles apart which will ruin the shape of the brush. A good rule of thumb is to not allow paint to go more than half way up the bristles. If it does clean it right away. The other thing for ease of use I have a premixed bottle of MAGIC WASH mixed up, it is a small squeeze bottle with only a pin hole in the top so I can add one drop of water at a time to paint when thinning. there is nothing worse than having your paint mixed to the perfect shade and having to add more paint because you thinned it too much.

With some patience and a little practice this can all add up to some fine looking miniatures, so have patience and experiment to find how it works best for you. Worst thing that can happen is you have to strip it and start again. for this reason I try to paint the blended or hardest parts first, so that if you don't like the end result and end up wanting to start over you are not stripping a mini you have 90% completed.

Drybrushing

Drybrushing should only be used on textured surfaces. The main use of drybrushing is for fur, hair, wood or other rough surfaces. Tanks can also be drybrushed since it helps to give them a well-worn look.

When drybrushing use the largest, preferably flat brush that you can get away with. The size mainly depends on the size of the surface being drybrushed. Drybrushing is hard on the bristles so you want to use older brushes that are too frayed for regular painting.

Dip the brush in your paint, then wipe the paint off on a rag or paper towel. Paper towels will quickly become saturated and make a mess. Wipe the brush back and forth until about 90% of the paint is out of the brush. When you think your ready to being, test the brush out on some scrap paper or the back of your hand. Lightly scrub the brush across the surface. The paint should be faintly visible after a few swipes. If you see any brushstrokes, you have too much paint in the brush. Remember that less is better when drybrushing. Its easier to build up from light drybrushing, but if there is too much paint in the brush and you accidentally get paint into the recesses, there is no way to fix it other than to repaint the area and start from scratch.

Painting Fleshtones - by Chris Middleton

The basics of painting flesh are much like any other part of your mini. You shade the dark creases and highlight the flat surfaces or raised areas. The hard part is finding what combinations of colours work well. The eyes and lips can be a little tricky so lets talk about them first.

Eyes: I have found 2 ways that both work for me. Which one I use depends on the mini and circumstances. The first method I use on dark or bronzed coloured flesh. Before painting any flesh I paint the eyes and surrounding area black. Then I paint the flesh on the face leaving the eyes black but bringing the paint right up to the eyelids. After painting the flesh, the last thing I do is put a small dot of white in the center to represent the eyeball. Then with the smallest brush I have which is a 10/0 I put a even smaller dot of black in the center. This works well but if using a light skin tone, it is hard to cover the black and will leave a raccoon looking shadow effect on the face. The second method is for light skinned faces it works just as well but requires a steadier hand and best not done at 3:00 AM after 2 pots of coffee and a dozen cola's ( however the best looking mini's always seem to be the ones that get finished at that time ) Ok so paint the base colour on the entire face and highlight and shade it all to finished ( I finish the hair too ) Then when it has dried I mix up some black ink 50:50 with water take a small brush a 00 or 000 load the brush with the ink mix then gently touch it to a tissue to remove most of the ink from the brush. this is so you don't flood the area, but only apply a small amount of ink. After doing this dab a little ink into the eye sockets. if you get too much the easiest way to fix it is to very quickly dry your brush ( or grab a different one that is dry ) and use it to draw the excess ink out, leaving just a little behind to create the effect you want. Mostly you just want a black outline of the eye.( I also do the hair line with black ink on most mini's to leave a fine outline on black to show where the hairline is and make hair stand out ) After the ink has dried a white dot and even smaller black one and you are done. To make eyes different colours just substitute the colour you want for the white. the most important part is to hold the mini up and look at the face when you put the black dots on or you can end up with a mini that is cross eyed or one eye that is not inline with the other.

Lips: I always do these last. They are easy to do. Just add a little pink or red to the last highlight colour you applied, then carefully paint the lips. When that has dried, I use the same black ink to darken the seem between the lips. For mouths that are open I fill the mouth first with black ink, paint any teeth or tongue and then do lips.

Flesh: As I said before painting the flesh is just like painting any other part of your mini. You need to shade the low parts and highlight the raised area's. Sometimes I stand the mini on my desk and put my desk light right over it to help me find what areas I want to shade. The light will really show the shadows on the primer. the hardest part I found was what combinations of colours to use, so I will list the colours I have found work best for me.

ELF or PALE SKIN: This one is easy I paint the skin with Games Workshop (GW) elf flesh. I then mix some flesh wash ink 1 part ink to 5 parts water. I then coat the entire face with the ink allowing it to soak into the recess's and details. After the ink has dried, I thin out some elf flesh very thin and lightly start to cover the raised or highlighted areas. For the final step I will highlight it once more with a bit of white added to the elf flesh.

BRONZED FLESH: start with GW bronzed flesh base coat, mix ink 50:50 with water,1st highlight bronzed flesh thinned, 2nd highlight bronzed flesh mixed with some elf flesh, lastly elf flesh on it's own,

DARK FLESH: I use a mix of GW snake bite leather and bestial brown sometimes with a bit of black. Thrown in a wash with thinned black ink, highlight by adding a little GW bleached bone to the base colour to bring it up to where you want it.

RAW FLESH: start with elf flesh, add just a touch of GW Scab red, wash with very thin red ink, highlight with elf flesh on its own, adding white for more highlights.

WEIRD FLESH: you can do some weird blue or green pasty looking flesh or green for orks and goblins. the options are endless experiment with the colours and the try to wash and highlight the same as others. The possibility's are only limited by your imagination and colour palette.

Applying Transfers - by Chris Middleton

I have learned a few tricks that really make transfers turn out very nice. There are a few big problems with just applying transfers to a model that bother me. The first is the clear film that always appears around the outside of the transfer, I have found a 2 tricks that all but eliminate this, the first thing is I apply a coat of gloss finish to the area of the model where the transfer is to be placed. this allows the clear shinny surface of the transfer to blend into the back ground. When it has dried, I spray the model with dull coat. I think you will find this does a very nice job of hiding that shinny area outlining the transfer.

The second trick is to take a very sharp X-ACTO knife and trim as much of the excess from around the transfer, I do this before putting the transfer in water I cut only the transfer itself by scribing it with the knife and not cutting through the backing paper. This does two things it helps eliminate the outline and the smaller the transfer the better able it is to from to the surface. Especially when putting transfers on shoulder pads of space marines.

Another problem with transfers as I just stated is getting them to conform to the surface of the model. To combat this I have 2 more tricks. The first is when I am cutting the outline or edge of transfer I make a few small cuts in places where I fear the transfer might wrinkle or want to fold. This allows the transfer to lay flat instead of folding or creasing on the surface. If the cut is visible after the transfer dries a small amount of paint can be used touch it up and hide the cut.

The second thing and most important thing to successful transfers is a wonderful product called SOLVASET. It can be found at most hobby stores and definitely any that deal in model railroad supplies. This stuff comes in a small bottle with a brush attached to the lid for application. I will explain how I use. After cutting out the transfer and putting it in water I put a small droplet of the Solvaset on the surface where you want the transfer. I find it works best if applied first for two reason's, it allows the transfer to float on the surface easier allowing you to slide the transfer around with the tip of a small paint brush allowing you to get perfect placement of the transfer, but the main purpose of Solvaset is actually a mild solvent that allows the transfer to flex and stretch. It almost melts the transfer and softens it to allow it to conform to the surface it is being applied to. The only bad part is that it extends the dry time of the transfer, which in some cases is a good thing in itself. This effect I have found works best if you apply the solvaset first. Which kind of gets under it between transfer and surface allowing it to work it's magic. So now you have transfer floating on a puddle of this stuff. Shift it around gently with the tip of a brush until it is just prefect, then very gently take the corner of a tissue and use it to soak up any excess solvaset allowing the transfer to settle into place. Allow a good long dry time and then touch up the transfer with paint if needed. For a final step spray dull coat on the whole model to seal the transfer and the rest of the model. In some cases it is best to apply transfers to models before doing any weathering or if you plan to dry brush on some dirt or blood this will not leave you with a clean transfer on a dirty model.

Basing Miniatures

Reaper figures look better mounted on a standard round or square bases. They can be removed from the solid base with a jeweler's saw or wire cutters and hobby knife. If you like just glue the solid base on top of the plastic base and fill in the 'step' between the two with a little epoxy putty. The extra dimension also lends itself well to embellishment with gravel, rocks, etc. Its better to apply basic ground texture (gravel, rocks) to the base before the miniature is primed, then paint it and add grass or flock after the miniature is finished.

Cornmeal, applied with CA glue, makes a great basic gravelly texture when painted and drybrushed. It's durable and very inexpensive. The sand sold by Games Workshop and other hobby suppliers has a finer texture and often looks good unpainted.

Mustard and Poppy Seeds can be used as a substitute for gravel and sand. Poppy seeds are almost ideal as they are perfectly round and just the right scale to represent small stones. Combined with the equally round mustard seeds they are great for representing a dried up streambed or river. Another food fit for terrain are small beans and split peas, the latter of which make great boulders. Use dried parsley flakes, to simulate leaves. but you will need to drybrush the flakes with brown after they have dried, as fallen leaves aren't green.

Rocks, boulders, and outcroppings can be made with modeling clay or epoxy putty, but they are most easily created with...rocks. A single bag of aquarium gravel can supply you with basing material for years. The inexpensive crushed field stone type is great; there's a good range of shapes and sizes, and you can pick out a rock with the characteristics that you need for a particular base. you should always paint and drybrush any stones on a base, rather than leaving them in their natural state.

Static grass is another basing option. Should be apply in patches rather than solidly over a base. Games Workshop, Woodland Scenics, and several other companies produce it. There are a few different ways to apply it to get it to stand up, but here is a good way to apply the grass:

Keep the grass in a plastic bag or container, and shake it before use to charge the fibers with static. Apply superglue (CA glue) to the base. Sprinkle the grass over the glue rather thickly, then turn the mini upside down and shake off the excess rather vigorously. Hold it up above eye level and blow up from beneath the base. All little grass particles should be on end by now.

After the glue is dry you can drybrush the grass, loading a drybrush and dragging it lightly across the top of the stems. This also creates different shades of grass from the same bag of fibre.

Ground cover: The spice rack offers many possibilities. There's a wide variety of texture and color. There are different dried herbs that can be used for forest litter or dead leaves on bases (savory and oregano are used below), and it can be mixed with regular basing flock for a different look. It's incredibly cheap by the ounce at the local supermarket's bulk dry goods bins, and the stuff that's been in the back of a kitchen cabinet so long it has lost any flavor is perfect. Applied with superglue and sealed with a resin finish with the rest of the miniature, it's quite durable.

Cobblestones: Start with a very thick layer of white or PVA glue on your base. Then liberally dump mustards seeds, on top of this glue. It will then be necessary to push down the seeds and gently arrange them so that there are few, if any, spaces in between . Give this plenty of time to dry. Once dry, give it a base coat of dark brown. After this, drybrush up to a light brown. To finish your base off, randomly paint a few stones in a slighty darker brown color, and a few others in a red-brown.

Got some tips and tricks of your own? Post them below!