Painting Miniatures

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Painting Miniatures for Beginners: Guide, Gear & How to Start

Painting Miniatures

Bring tiny figures to life with a fine brush and a steady hand.

Games & Strategy Drawing & Painting quiet messy gets you dirty done alone

~$76Cost to start

ModerateDifficulty

1–3 hrTime / session

2 setup steps, ~$76 all in. Nothing to buy until you say so.

Is it you?

Nobody has scored this against your answers yet. 1–3 hr at a time, $76 to find out whether it sticks.

MessMessySpaceSmall corner

What you need4 things

The honest floor, taking the cheapest option in each$76

Full cost breakdown →

The path14 quests

ASetting up2 things to sort, in any order$70

Get paints, two brushes and a can of primer
Thin your paints, and prime outdoors

Then the quests

Prime the mini
Base-coat the main areas
Wash it to bring out the detail

11 more, revealed as you go

More on Painting Miniatures

Everything else we have written about it. Free to read, no account needed.

Guides1

How to Thin Your Paints for Miniatures Without Losing the DetailIf you have painted a mini and it came out gloopy, streaky, or somehow blurry in the fine detail, the culprit is almost always paint that went on too thick, straight from the pot. Thinning your paint is the single most repeated piece of advice in this hobby, and for good reason. Here is what it actually means, how to get the consistency right, and the mistakes that quietly ruin an otherwise good paint job.

What to buy1

Best Miniature Paint Set for Beginners (2026): 3 Picks That Actually WorkThe paint set is the heart of miniature painting, and the beginner trap is buying random craft acrylics that go on thick and hide all the detail. A proper miniature paint set is finely pigmented, flows off the brush, and is built to layer. Here are three good ones, from a loaded all-in-one kit to a pro-grade range.

From the blog1

Winter Hobbies: 20 Activities to Pick Up When It Gets ColdThe hobbies that work in winter are the ones that either take advantage of the cold (skiing, ice skating, photography in snow) or that thrive specifically because you're indoors more (baking, board games, model-making, knitting). The mistake is trying to do summer hobbies in winter and getting frustrated.

Learn it with a course

Recommended course

ZBrush: Beginner to Advanced Course on Three Miniatures

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Same shape of evening, different thing to hold at the end. Or follow a tag sideways.

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