The 3 Paint Method for Tabletop-Ready Minis in One Evening
, by Waterfront News, 1 min reading time
Base, wash, drybrush. Three paints, one brush, one evening. This is how everyone should paint their first miniature.
Your first miniature doesn't need to win awards. It just needs to be finished. The three-paint method suggested by Warhammer gets a figure from bare plastic to looking great at arm's length in a single sitting, and it teaches the three skills every painter uses forever.
Step 1: Prime it
A quick coat of spray primer gives the paint something to grip. Black hides mistakes, white makes colours pop, grey is a safe middle. Two light passes beat one heavy one.
Step 2: Base coat
Pick one Base paint per area: skin, cloth, metal, leather. Thin it slightly with water (it should flow like milk, not yoghurt) and put on two thin coats rather than one thick one. Neat edges matter more than fancy colours.
Step 3: Wash
This is the magic step. Brush a Shade over the whole model and let it pool in the cracks. It adds instant shadow and depth, and it makes your base coat look ten times better. Let it dry completely, and it will look chalky while wet, that's normal.
Step 4: Drybrush
Dip a flat brush in a lighter colour, wipe almost all of it off on a paper towel, then flick it lightly across the raised areas. Dry paints are made for this. Suddenly every edge catches the light.
Shortcut: Contrast paints
Contrast paints do the base and wash in one coat over a light primer. They're brilliant for armies, cloaks and monsters. Purists sniff at them. Purists are wrong.
What you actually need
One spray primer, three to five Base paints, one Shade (Agrax Earthshade or Nuln Oil covers 90% of everything), one Dry paint and a decent size 1 brush. Less than the cost of a takeaway for two and it'll paint twenty miniatures.
Stuck on colour choices? Bring the mini into the shop and we'll set you up with the exact five pots.