Steps to Being a Better Miniature Painter – Part 4

Section 2) Painting/Choosing Foundation Colours For Your Miniatures

Ok, so let me begin by defining “Foundation Colours”. When I use this term, I am referring to the first colour that you are painting for each section of your miniature.  However, GW has made a terrific (and I mean absolutely AMAZING) line of paints, coincidentally with the title The Foundation Series.  Please allow me to digress for a moment.  In the last few years, GW has released two types of paint which I recommend for every single miniature painter to use: The Foundation Series and The Washes.  Both of these products are amazing, and I highly recommend using both when painting miniatures.  So, rule number 1) USE FOUNDATION PAINTS, especially if you are using black primer.  For those of you who have never used these paints, you would not believe how easy they are to use. Literally a single coat of foundation paint will go over solid black, and will not need a second coat. However, it is up to you.  You can use any type of paint to begin with your paint job.  Even the normal range of paints are great for covering up the primer, though you may require a couple of coats to get the shade that you like.

Remember, when choosing a foundation colour, first determine what colour you would like the finished model to be.  Then, choose a foundation colour darker then that final colour.  That way, you can work up layers of lighter colours, finishing with highlights of the colour you wanted to finish with.  I know this sounds weird, but let me use an example.  Let’s say that you wanted a section of your miniature to be white, but you used black primer (as most of the model is dark colours; refer to my previous post on primers).  The most straightforward approach is to layer up coats of white, upon white, upon white, until the desired brightness. However, this may take many, many coats and take up a lot of your precious painting time.  Therefore, a better approach would be to use a foundation colour such as Grey, then do a couple quick coats of white (building up highlights).  The end result will also be a white section of the miniature, in a fraction of the time.  Plus, the grey will provide much needed shading in any of the crevices and grooves in the model.   For those who paint orks, GW even makes a colour titled Ork Hide Shade.  Can it be any easier to choose a colour.  In fact, they offer several AWESOME shades of green that you can use with washes to produce a plethora of skin tones for your Orks.  Please note that I will be putting up my first painting tutorial up soon, showing how I paint a deff skulls Ork Nob. You will see how easily and quickly the model is painted using foundation paints. 

So, to summarize, use Foundation paints and build up layers of colour, working from the darkest to the lightest.  That is my blog post for the day. Hope you enjoyed it and I will post another one soon.

Sincerely,

J