Painting miniatures is a skill that can be learnt. Of course it helps if you have an artistic flair, but it is one of those skills that CAN be learnt, and learning how to do it well takes a different amount of time for everyone.
One of the
main stumbling blocks that I myself came across was paintbrushes, and
which one to use and when. I have been through many brushes of
almost every size, and have come to the conclusion that I need 3, no
more and no less. I think this will apply to most people who just
paint for the tabletop and themselves. If you are painting for
competition or display purposes, all the sizes will have a purpose,
but for the average gamer/painter, I believe that you only need 3.
So which
ones? Well, I have a size 000, for detailing, a size 1 for everything
else, and a old Games Workshop large dry-brush for, well,
dry-brushing. I paint everything from large aircraft to the smallest
Grot with these brushes.
The size 1
I use for just about everything. Get a brush that will always come to
a good point (personally I use Winsor and Newton, expensive granted,
but ALWAYS come back to a point.) With a brush with a good point, no
matter what size it is, you will always be able to do detail, and be
able to switch in and out of doing large areas, such as armour, back
into doing wristbands and necklaces with ease.
The 000 is
used for those hard to reach areas and other things, like eyes and
gun scopes. That’s all that’s used for, don’t even think to use
one of these for flat surfaces, you will get brush marks and be there
painting for a long time.
The large
dry brush I use is defiantly at the end of its useful life. Any large
stiff bristle brush will do the job for dry brushing though, even
other brushes that don’t keep the tip can be used for dry brushing,
as it kills brushes fast.
The most
important aspect however, I practising with a size 1 brush. The size
of it at first may seem prohibitive, making you think that it could
never be used for detail, but when you get used to using just the tip
of the brush with different pressures, you will be amazed at what can
be achieved with such a large brush.
Practice,
practice, practice. Paint to your best standard you can, and other
times just go out and buy a cheap model and just paint. Don’t care
too much what you do to this model, keep it fun. Get good brush
control and the rest will come.
