If anyone has listened to Episode 6 of The Screaming Heretic then you would have heard the Guys of Gaming (sorry theJen and SheSwizzy) talk about the hobby basics. And while they gave out some fantastic information I wanted to take the time to show talk a little more about this, and show some different sides of the painting world.
Brushes: If you are a beastly painter, and can afford to it, I suggest buying the Kolinsky Sable brushes, but if you’re new like me, then I suggest something a little more user friendly.
The brushes I use are a combination of the Army Painter brushes. They have both synthetic and natural hair brushes (the only one I dislike of theirs is the Wargamer: Regiment brush, a natural hair brush that just falls to pieces (I’m on my second one with hardly any use to either of them). The brushes are of a good quality, I use them for washes, dry brushing, detail, highlighting (when I can be bothered to do highlighting).
When first starting out, you want to get a good variety of brushes that will allow you to do the most basic things when just starting out, basecoats, washes, some basic highlighting and picking out of details. Now I don’t claim to be a master painter, but when looking to do this, and you don’t want to spend a lot of money, I suggest the following of the Army Painter brushes: Wargamer: Character, Wargamer: Monster, Hobby: Highlighting, and Hobby: Precise Detail. You don’t need all of those, but if you get the first three brushes, you can do the majority of the things you will need a brush for. They can drybrush, but its not recommended because it can ruin a brush. I use those for about 90% of my painting (with the last 10% being a small drybrush I have).
These brushes can be bought for about 20 bucks total, I know that Joe was talking about buying a 15 dollar brush for painting your miniatures
Cleaning Your Brushes: This is a quick one, I’ve used this for art classes, mini painting, anything that requires a brush: This is your savior. This brush soap is amazing, put a few drops of water, drag the brush through it and get it soaped up and rinse, do this several times (5-7 per brush) and it will help shape the brush and restore it to its former awesomeness. I use this after every painting session, and my brushes are almost as good as new (with the exception of my Wargamer: Regiment brush…).
Paints: I use mainly Vallejo paints, the dropper bottles help me control the levels of paint I want, and allow me to measure paint droplets for thinning. I recommend trying different brands, if you can get your hands on different brands of the same color (Like Blood Red is a good recommendation to test the variations). See what you type of paint bottles you want to use, some people like to paint from the pot, some people use a wet palette, it comes down to how you want to paint. I use a combination of all types, but mostly Vallejo and their droppers. I do suggest spending the money and getting Games Workshop’s foundation paints, they work amazingly well, and they’re the only GW paints I still buy. Careful here as you can spend several hundred dollars on paints alone.
Palettes: How you access your paint is all up to your personal preference as well. Many people will paint straight from the pot, but this dries out your paints, and can cause a big mess if you accidentally knock your paint bottle over.
Wet Palettes: I could never quite get this down, its useful… from what I’ve seen, there are better authorities on this idea
Painting from the Pot: This is the most basic way to get to your paint, just shake up the paint, and thin it with a little water, etc…
Palette: This is what I use, you can use a big fancy one from a painting/art store, or do what I did. I bought a 79 cent floor tile from the Home Depot, it can hold paints on it, I can mix them, I can do whatever I want, and I don’t have to worry about it, because I just take a razor blade and scrape it off when I’m done, no muss, no fuss. The downfall with this one is that my paints tend to dry out on the palette, but its okay, because I only mix small batches of paint at the same time.