Bring tiny worlds to life with precision brushes and vibrant colors.
Reviewed May 18, 2026
Getting started
Buy a starter miniature and beginner paint set
Citadel, Vallejo, or Army Painter starter sets include the core colours, a brush, and a miniature. A primer (spray or brush-on) is essential — paint won't adhere to bare plastic reliably.
Learn the three-stage process: basecoat, wash, drybrush
Basecoat (solid colour coverage), wash (diluted dark paint flowed into recesses for depth), drybrush (light colour dragged across raised areas for highlights) — these three steps paint a tabletop-quality miniature in 30–45 minutes.
Complete your first miniature end to end
Primer, basecoat, wash, drybrush, and basing — finishing any miniature to completion matters more than getting the technique perfect on the first attempt.
Community and mastery
Enter a painting competition
Golden Demon, Crystal Brush, or local Games Workshop store competitions provide judged feedback against objective criteria at different skill tiers.
Paint a complete army to a coherent standard
A full army (40–100+ miniatures) painted consistently with a unified colour scheme, basing, and finish is a project that takes months and develops discipline that individual showpiece painting never requires.
Take a beginner Painting Miniatures course
A structured course is the fastest way past the awkward beginner stage. Browse highly-rated painting miniatures classes for beginners.
Take the free quiz to rank the full catalog by your time, motivation, and setup — about five minutes.
5 stages · 20 milestones
Tick off milestones as you go — from first session to confident practitioner. Progress saves to your account so you can pick up where you left off.
Buy a starter miniature and beginner paint set
Citadel, Vallejo, or Army Painter starter sets include the core colours, a brush, and a miniature. A primer (spray or brush-on) is essential — paint won't adhere to bare plastic reliably.
Find gearLearn the three-stage process: basecoat, wash, drybrush
Basecoat (solid colour coverage), wash (diluted dark paint flowed into recesses for depth), drybrush (light colour dragged across raised areas for highlights) — these three steps paint a tabletop-quality miniature in 30–45 minutes.
Complete your first miniature end to end
Primer, basecoat, wash, drybrush, and basing — finishing any miniature to completion matters more than getting the technique perfect on the first attempt.
Join the miniature painting community
r/minipainting is the most active English-language community. YouTube channels (Squidmar, Vince Venturella, Duncan Rhodes) cover every technique from beginner to advanced for free.
Join r/minipainting~$190
Core gear to get going. Estimates from curated picks; actual spend varies.
+~$145
Nice-to-have upgrades once you know you are sticking with it.
Links open Amazon with your affiliate tag. Prices are ballpark catalog values.
Shop starter kits on Amazon
