Painting Miniatures: Base Coats, Washes & Drybrush
Quick answer: four steps paint a table-ready miniature: prime, base-coat the three largest colors, wash for shadow, drybrush the highlights. One figure takes about 45 minutes of active time - most of it drying.
Unpainted miniatures and unpainted resin sets land on tables looking like grey ghosts. The standard method below is what the majority of painters use: it is forgiving, fast, and the result reads clearly from three feet away - which is the only distance that matters in play.
The four-step method
- Prime - thin black or grey primer; skip it and paint flakes off the first transport
- Base coat - block in the three biggest color areas, inside out (skin before armour)
- Wash - an all-over dark wash (shade paint) settles into recesses and creates shadows instantly
- Drybrush - a lighter tone skimmed over raised edges restores the highlight the wash darkened
The five paints that cover most jobs
Black primer, a mid-brown, a mid-grey, a metallic silver or gold, and one wash pot. Skin, cloth and metal all resolve from these five; more paints are for accents after the method works.
Time and batch logic
Paint in batches of five, not one at a time - each drying pause covers the whole batch. A party of five can be table-ready in a weekend this way, whereas perfect single-figure painting can swallow a month.
The five-step baseline (works for every figure)
- Prime - gray or black spray, 20cm distance, two light passes; never one heavy coat
- Base coat - block each major color inside the lines; expect it to look flat and wrong
- Wash - one dark thinned shade over everything; this step alone doubles realism
- Layer - repaint raised areas with the base color slightly lightened, leaving the wash in recesses
- Drybrush - barely-loaded brush across edges for final highlights
Order matters more than skill: base-wash-layer-drybrush is the whole method, and it's the same sequence whether the figure is a goblin or a dragon. Starter paints and brushes come from any hobby shop - pair the wash color to your dice ink as above.
Palette choices by monster type
| Figure | Base | Wash | Highlight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orc/goblin | Green | Dark brown | Yellow-green |
| Undead | Bone white | Gray-purple | Pure white |
| Armor | Lead gray | Black | Silver edge |
| Cloth robe | Deep red/blue | Matching dark | Lightened base |
| Leather | Tan | Brown | Bone |
Five recipes cover 80% of a D&D collection - memorize these before buying twenty paints. Coordination with dice palettes is a real consideration too: many players match their PC mini's robe color to their dice set.
Speed painting for a full campaign
Batch method: prime ten figures, base all ten of one color across the group, then the next color - assembly-line order cuts time roughly in half versus figure-by-figure. Twenty minutes per figure is a good target for table-ready quality; an hour doubles the polish but not the table-distance readability. At 3 feet (normal viewing distance), the wash step does nearly all the visible work.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an airbrush?
No for a campaign's worth of minis; airbrushes earn their keep at 50+ figure batches.
Primer color choice?
Black for dark subjects (shadows free), gray for general, white for bright/pastel - or zenithal (black then light gray from above) for both.
Paint rubbing off in play?
A matte varnish coat after painting fixes handling wear - spray outdoors, two light coats.
Pairing minis with my dice?
Match the wash color to your dice ink for a cohesive table look - popular combos in mixed sets.
Varnish, basing, and finishing for play
Paint job done, three finishing steps separate a display piece from a play piece. Varnish: matte spray outdoors, two light coats a minute apart - this is what stops paint rubbing off shoulders and weapons during table handling and transport, and it also kills the plastic sheen that makes cheap primer obvious. Base: texture paint or PVA plus fine sand on the base, painted over with the same wash - a based figure reads as finished even when the paint job is average, and it stabilizes top-heavy poses. Edge: a thin black line around the base rim frames the whole miniature like a picture. Total time: fifteen minutes for all three, per figure or batched across a whole session's worth. Transport next: a foam tray or a lit-matchbox-per-creature system beats a loose box, since chipped paint is almost always transit damage rather than handling. Full workflow from primer to tray is the five-step baseline above; store finished figures in a padded box between sessions.
Displaying finished work (and photographing it)
Once painted, a miniature deserves better than a storage tray. Three display tiers by effort: (1) clear acrylic risers on a shelf - instant museum feel, cheap, and the figure stays handled; (2) a shadow box with the campaign's name etched on the frame - the retiring character's final home; (3) a lit display case for a full party, which works as a permanent table centerpiece between sessions. Photography for any of them follows the same rules as elsewhere in this guide: diffused light from above-left, matte varnish to kill specular hotspots, dark or neutral background, and a low camera angle that matches how the figure looks at the table. Phone camera at table height with the figure on slate or felt gets you 90% of portfolio quality. Shoot before varnish if you want glossy eyes and wet-look metals; shoot after for the unified matte finish most painters prefer. Display furniture: risers, shadow boxes, or a lit case all work.
Frequently asked questions (part 2)
How many paints to start?
Six: black, white, one brown wash, and three base colors matching your character - everything else mixes.
Airbrush worth it for one PC?
No - it earns its cost at 20+ figures; for a single hero, brush work gets better detail on faces anyway.
Paint matching a specific dice set?
Bring the dice to the store, match ink color to paint pots directly - most hobby shops will line them up for you.
Minimum time for tabletop-ready?
Twenty minutes with the five-step baseline; the difference between 20 and 60 minutes only shows at 6-inch viewing distance.
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FAQ
Do I need an airbrush?
No - the four-step method is brush-only and the majority of table armies are painted this way.
What about metal miniatures?
Same steps, but scuff the metal lightly before priming so the primer grips.