The Mini Painting Beginner Guide: Everything we learned so far
(🏷️ 75% off for supporters)
There is always something new to learn about mini painting and we continue learning every day, but we wanted to share our experience gathered so far in this 195-page comprehensive PDF guide* to answer all the questions we had when starting.
*This guide is also available as an online interactive version, available through the Supporter membership.
Is this guide for you?
This guide is made for people starting from zero. You do not need painting experience or an art background. If you have never picked up a brush before or do not know what D&D is, this is for you.
It also works as a reset for people who have already tried mini painting but feel like things are not coming out the way they want.
What you will be able to do by the end
The guide takes you through the full beginner process, one step at a time:
- Walk into a hobby store and understand what you are looking at
- Navigate the tools section and the paint racks without feeling overwhelmed by the brands and terminology
- Select your first mini, your essential tools, and a small set of paints
- Sit down at your workspace and paint your first mini from start to finish
- Recognize when something is going wrong and know how to troubleshoot it
- Paint with a brush or an airbrush and have a finished mini you are proud of
We are not promising you will paint for competition. Our goal is to give you with a solid foundation to get started and keep going.
What is inside
Covered in this guide:
- What mini painting is, including a bit of history and a breakdown of key concepts
- The tools and setup you need to get started
- Basic colour and lighting theory
- The full painting process, step-by-step (no airbrush required)
- Common mistakes and how to fix them
- Airbrushing as an additional skill
- Cheat sheets and mini painting lingo
Not covered in this guide:
- Enamel paints or oils
- Vehicle models like planes and tanks
- How to play tabletop games
- How to design or 3D print models
- Advanced competition-level painting
Format
This document is a 11 x 8.5 PDF file (50 MB) for you to download and use at your own pace. It includes plenty of images, but also external links to videos and tools on our website.
Not included:
There is also an online interactive version included with supporter membership. The same content, but includes additional videos, searchability, and image zoom, designed to use in the moment at your workstation, at the hobby store, mid-session when you need to look something up fast.
A note from us
This guide exists because we love creating board games for our nieces and nephews at Christmas. That is what brought us to mini painting in the first place. We fell in love with it, and we wanted to pay forward the help we received from the hobby community when we were starting out.
To everyone who answered our questions, pointed us toward the right tools, and never made us feel silly for not knowing beginner concepts, thank you.
This is a digital product. The PDF is available for personal use only and may not be redistributed or resold. Interactive guide access requires an active membership on Fourthwall or Patreon.
