CHOOSING (AND USING) THE RIGHT PAINTS: PART TWO

In Part One, we discussed why acrylic paint is the preferred choice for miniature painting, and what brands are best suited to the way we are doing it. Now that we know what kind of paint to get and which brands are ideal, you'll want to know what colors to get and what other products you will want to go along with it.


Step One: Start Simple
With all of the color choices out there, it's easy for a beginning painter to be intimidated by the wide array of paints available in the larger lines. If you include the auxiliary products, Citadel has 160 colors, AV Game Color has 128, and Formula P3 has a "mere" 72 to choose from!

If you have the means, it's tempting to buy the entire line of your chosen brand. It's what I did when AV Game Color came out, and if it makes you happy, I won't stop you. But let me share a couple of observations before you commit a few hundred dollars to buying paint:

First - You don't need all those colors!

If you buy an entire line, odds are there will be some colors you'll never even open, even after years of painting. That's money that could have been spent buying more miniatures to paint! That's something I've personally experienced, and the only reason I bought the set of AV paints is because I could not predict what colors I might need when doing commission work.

Also - don't commit to a single brand.
While you may find that a particular brand is more suitable for you, there's no law against buying colors from another brand for a particular purpose. Maybe you just love P3 paints for their ability to thin so well without losing color (and that's the best reason there is!), but since the other major lines have about twice as many colors, you may find that another range has just the perfect shade for what you are doing. That's perfectly fine, buy it too! The main thing is to have whatever colors you need to make your model look great - who cares which brand they are once they're on the finished product?

So, you know you don't need to buy them all, and you know you don't need to stick to just one brand - but which colors do you need to start out? The simple answer is: It depends on what you are painting. That's not a complete answer, but we'll go into further detail in a moment.

If you're painting a mini from Warhammer or 40K, or a mini from Warmachine or Hordes, this step becomes simpler as the manufacturers also have their own paint lines. You will usually find a key on the package letting you know what colors were used. If not, look at a picture of the finished product and see what colors seem to match.  You may discover that Citadel and Privateer name many of their colors after the intended use - for instance, Caliban Green is the obvious perfect shade for painting a Dark Angels Space Marine!  Most paint lines have a key showing which colors are used as a shade or highlight for the base colors - it's good to have those resources when making your selections. Here are a couple of examples for the P3 line:

Formula P3 Mixing Chart
Formula P3 Paint Reference Sheet

Citadel and Vallejo also have similar charts, which may be on display in the store where you're buying the paint. If not, ask someone! Most of the people in hobby and game stores know a lot about the products, because they are hobbyists themselves! If all else fails, politely ask another gamer which colors to use for your particular needs. Most will be happy to share their knowledge and welcome a new painter into the fold.


But you still haven't told me exactly which colors to buy!
Okay, fine - I apologize if we went off on a (necessary) tangent. Regardless of what you intend to paint (and especially if you haven't chosen what to paint yet), there are certain colors every painter should have in their paint box:

• Black (P3 Thamar Black is my preference, but you could use AV #51 Black or Citadel's Abaddon Black)
• White (P3 Morrow White, AV #01 Dead White or Citadel White Scar)
• A basic Red (Citadel's Mephiston Red is my favorite, but P3 Khador Red Base or AV #10 Bloody Red will do, too)
• A basic Blue (P3 Cygnar Base Blue, AV #21 Magic Blue, or Citadel Altdorf Guard Blue)
• A basic Yellow (P3 Cygnus Yellow, AV #05 Moon Yellow or Citadel Yriel Yellow)
• A basic Green (P3 Gnarls Green, AV #29 Sick Green or Citadel Warpstone Glow)
• A mid-range Brown (Citadel Mournfang Brown, P3 Bootstrap Leather, or AV #40 Leather)
• A flesh tone (P3 Midland Flesh, AV #36 Bronze Fleshtone or Citadel Kislev Flesh)
• A bare metal color (P3 Cold Steel, Citadel Runefang Steel or AV #53 Chainmail Silver)

When you are just starting out, you don't want to be worrying about mixing colors, so if you know you will need other specific colors, do not hesitate to pick them up.

Best of all, each line has a beginner's paint set available. These sets contain a good array of colors to meet your basic painting needs. If you don't find them on your store shelves, ask your retailer to order them, or buy online:
 AV Introduction paint set
Citadel Base Paint Set

Formula P3's paint sets are faction-specific, but I recommend the Iron Kingdoms Colors set to get most of your basics, and then the rest separately - or get the Khador, Cygnar and Skorne sets to round out what you need (you'll have an extra Thamar Black and Solid Gold if you get all 4 - don't worry, you'll surely use them eventually. they are the two colors I needed to replace most recently.)


SUMMARY
Now you know what colors to look for when getting started, and why it's not necessary to buy an entire line - or even to stick to a single line at all! You'll have selected your basic colors and probably spent around $50 total. You have all the colors you need to get started!

In the next article, we will discuss the auxiliary paint products you will want to have on hand to get the best results from your painting. Stay tuned!