Painting your first miniature is far less daunting than it looks. A simple, reliable process - basecoat, wash, highlight - gets a great-looking model with almost no skill, and everything beyond that is refinement. Here is the whole beginner workflow.
Before you start: the kit
You need surprisingly little. A starter paint set, a couple of brushes, primer, and a wash will do everything below. See the full miniature painting starter kit for the checklist.
Step 1: Assemble and clean
Clip the model from its sprue, trim the mould lines with a hobby knife, and give it a quick wash in soapy water to remove the release agent that stops paint sticking. Glue it together (or leave sub-assemblies separate if it's easier to reach).
Step 2: Prime
Spray or brush on a thin coat of primer - black, grey or white. Primer gives the paint something to grip. White or a zenithal prime (black up to white from above) makes colours brighter and is ideal for contrast paints.
Step 3: Basecoat
Apply your main colours in thin coats - two thin coats always beat one thick one. Don't worry about neatness inside the recesses; the wash hides a lot.
Step 4: Wash (the magic step)
Apply a wash or shade over the basecoats. It flows into the recesses and instantly adds shadow and definition. This single step does more than any other to make a model look painted.
Step 5: Highlight
Once the wash is dry, paint the raised edges with a slightly lighter colour (edge highlighting) or a quick drybrush over texture. This brings the model back to life after the wash darkens it.
Step 6: Base it
A simple textured base and a painted rim is the final 5% that makes a model look finished.
Next steps
That's a complete model. To pick a colour scheme with an exact paint recipe, try the scheme generator, or follow a faction guide for your army.
Tips
- Thin your paints - the number one beginner fix.
- Don't aim for perfect - your tenth model will be far better than your first, so just start.
- The wash carries you - basecoat, wash, highlight is a complete, great-looking process on its own.