We recently painted a mimic miniature and tracked the time across each step. The total came out to just over three hours for a tabletop result.

That number is useful, but it becomes clearer when you look at how the time is distributed across the process.

Time breakdown for this mini

Here is the full breakdown from this specific example:

1. Priming (with zenithal): 15 min + drying

2. Mouth base coat: 21 min

3. Chest base coat: 25 min

4. Non-Metallic Metal (practice): 28 min

5. Tongue: 7 min

6. Eyes: 15 min

7. Finishing touches: 33 min

8. Varnish: 4 min

9. Base (polymer clay + texture): 16 min + baking

   Total ~3h 4min

Looking at it this way, most of the time is not in one single step. It is spread across multiple stages, with basecoating and finishing work taking up a large portion of the total.

What this shows about painting time

The process moves through different types of work. Some steps are quick but precise, like painting the eyes. Others take longer because they involve building up layers or trying something new, like practicing Non-Metallic Metal.

There are also steps that are easy to overlook when estimating time, such as varnishing or building the base. These are part of the full process and contribute to the final result.

Painting time includes more than just applying paint. It also includes pauses, drying time, corrections, and adjustments between layers.

Time depends on the approach

There is no fixed time for painting a miniature. The same model can take very different amounts of time depending on how it is approached.

A useful way to think about this is by painting style rather than exact hours.

Common painting approaches

• Speed / Slap Chop: ~30 min to 1–2 hours, Fast contrast and strong readability for Board games and large batches

• Standard / Tabletop: A few hours to several sessions, Clean base and basic highlights/shadows for most everyday minis

• Practice / Technique-focused: Variable - often longer, Learning a specific skill (NMM, glazing, etc.) for skill building

• Display / Showcase: Many hours to days, High refinement and smooth transitions and detail work for display pieces, competitions

This reflects how different approaches naturally lead to different time investments.

Painting in sessions

Even though this example adds up to about three hours, it does not need to be done in one sitting.

Painting is often broken into sessions. Each session focuses on a part of the process, with natural pauses for drying and adjustments.

This makes the process easier to manage and allows each step to be done with more control.

How time changes over time

As experience builds, some steps become faster because they are more familiar. At the same time, exploring new techniques can increase the time spent on a miniature.

The total time does not always decrease. What changes is how controlled and predictable each step becomes.

If you want to explore this further

If you want a structured way to approach painting time and improve specific parts of the process, you can download the free mini painting guide.

We also share ongoing experiments and techniques on Discord. If you want to share your work or ask questions, you are welcome to join us there!

You can also see what painting tools are in our toolkit if you are still building yours.

We really enjoy making props and small furniture. Recently, we finally got balsa wood, which is really light and easy to cut. Most of our previous projects were made using dollar store stick sticks and popsicle sticks. It works fine but it's heavier and harder to cut.

🎥 The first project we made with it was 3 standard-size DnD tavern tables. You can see the video here.

We got a pack of 2mm, 3mm, and 4mm square dowels. We also finally got wood glue, which is more appropriate than hot glue.

🧰 You can see all the adhesive we use here and the speciality crafting material we use here.

📐 Here are the measurements for the 3 main parts:

• Tabletop: 3mm - 24 x 2" (Total: 3 tabletop of 2"x1")
• Legs: 4mm - 12 x 3/4"
• Support: 2mm - 6 x 1/2"

I assembled the 8 sticks for the tabletop using wood glue. I wipped off the excess with a paper towel. I made sure to trim the table ends with my hobby knife to even out everything and gave it a bit of a sanding. And then, through a bit of a painful process, I glued the 4 legs and a leg support between each pair.

To finish it all, I used red and green ink to paint the wood and preserve the texture. As ink is translucent, it acts more like a stain than paint cover up. I used red and green to get some variations in the brown mix I made. I used black ink to weather some areas further. I finished it all off with a white paint dry brushing.

🧰 Material

• Balsa wood 2mm, 3mm, 4mm sticks
• Wood glue
• Hobby knife
• Self-healing cutting mat
• Green, black, and red ink
• White paint
• Paintbrush and dry brush
  
• Paper towel
• Painter's tape
• Sanding paper

If you would like to share some of your own crafting projects or tips, join our Discord! We would love to learn from you and see what you are working on! ❤️

Many of you have been asking for the notes we use to learn airbrushing. Getting started with an airbrush can be intimidating and confusing. To simplify and organize the process, we watched a bunch of tutorials, created a playlist, and organized all our notes into 4 buckets:

• Tools
• Workflow
• Techniques
• Troubleshooting

Having these separated helped tackling one thing at a time and understanding some of the recurring problems.

• 📸 You can download the original hand-written notes ↗️ image here.
• 🎥 If you wan to see some of the early learning process, you can watch this video: Learning Airbrush from Scratch. ↗️
• 📝 If you are just getting started with mini-paiting, you can get access to our free guide. ↗️

TOOLS

• Airbrush & its anatomy
• Compressor + PSI control
• Airbrushing booth
• Paint
• Paint thinner
• Flow improver
• Paint retarder
• Needle lubricant
• Airbrush cleaner
• Mask, gloves + ventilation
• Cleaning tools
• Masking putty
• Q-tips
• Squeeze water bottle
• Cleaning pot
• Mixing cups
• Silicon shaping tool
• Painting handle
• Airbrush holder
• Interdental brushes
• Scrap paper

WORKFLOW

1. Priming
2. Basecoat + colour transitions
   • 2–3 layers
   • Dark to light
   • Warm = midtones
3. Zenithal highlights (midtones)
4. Brush details & extra highlights
5. Airbrush blending with paint or ink (+masking putty)
6. Airbrush shadows with complementary colours (upward angle)
7. Basing

TECHNIQUES

• Trigger dual action: air → paint → air
• Cleaning during the session
• Cleaning after the session
• Paint thinning + consistency
• Air pressure (PSI) + distance
• Blow out → spray away first
• Thin layers
• Backflow mixing in the cup
• PRACTICE!!

ISSUES & TROUBLESHOOTING

Cleaning issues:

• Clogs – dried paint in the airbrush
• Dry tip – long session, thin paint, dual action, air pressure
• Bubbles in cup – clog in nozzle, buildup on needle, needle not pushed in

Needle and Chuck Adjustment Issues:

• No paint spraying – needle and chucking nut
• Paint sprays all the time and splatters – chucking nut not properly set

Paint consistency / air pressure:

• Grainy spray and spackles – paint too thick, not enough air pressure
• Spiders Webbing – paint too thin, too much pressure

We will soon release a complete mini painting guide detailing all this information. Become a free member to get notified when it will launch!

In the meantime, show-off your mini painting skills on our Discord. 😊

As usual, thank you for your support.

I wasn’t good enough to paint this Hill Giant… or at least, I thought I wasn’t. In this video, I show how slowing down and mastering the basics completely changed my miniature painting.

Thanks to  @AKInteractiveOfficial  for sending us awesome paints, paintbrushes, and terrain supplies for this project!

• 🎨 AK Human Flesh Tones Paint Set: (https://ak-interactive.com/product/human-flesh-tones)
• 🎨 AK Orcs and Green Models Paint Set: (https://ak-interactive.com/product/orcs-and-green-models)
• 🖌️ AK Synthetic Brush Round - 2: (https://ak-interactive.com/product/ak-synthetic-brush-round-2)
• 🟤 AK Terrains Muddy Ground: (https://ak-interactive.com/product/terrains-muddy-ground-250ml/)
• 🏝️ AK Desert Soil: (https://ak-interactive.com/product/desert-soil/)
• 💧 AK Puddles: (https://ak-interactive.com/product/puddles-60ml/) 

For the complete colour list and recipe as well as the process summary: (Painting the Hill Giant: Process Summary, Colour Table, and Material List) 

 @SquidmarMiniatures  Video - Fatal mistakes Warhammer painters make that keeps them from improving (https://youtu.be/0RVQOGxb0Ks?si=TGr3k-ZLJ1FSbxSd) 

For a long time, my minis looked flat, dirty, or lifeless—especially the skin. Heavy washes, rushed highlights, and skipping prep kept holding me back. Instead of repeating the same process over and over, I stepped away and focused on fixing mistakes I didn’t even know I was making. This video shows the full process that finally helped everything click—from prep to final details.

What you’ll see in this video:

• How I fixed muddy, lifeless skin 
• Why mastering basics matters more than speed 
• Purposeful layering and glazing (brushes only) 
• Zenithal dry brushing for better light placement 
• A full Hill Giant paint-through from start to finish 

First time assembling a mini and I went big. I built the huge dragon, Strakh - Nightmare Incarnate, from Squidmar Miniatures! It was my first time using plastic glue and plastic frame cutters. In this video, I show you how I built the mini and the material I used. I assembled this TTRPG dragon because I am learning airbrushing and my goal is to do a great paint job! Follow along to see me learn, improve and mess up along the way!

Material used in this video:

• Squidmar Miniatures Strakh - Nightmare Incarnate Dragon Miniature  @SquidmarMiniatures  (https://www.squidmar.com/shop-int/p/strakh-nightmare-incarnate-dragon)
• The Army Painter Plastic Frame Cutter
• Warhammer Citadel - Plastic Glue
• Sanding Sticks
• Nitrile Gloves
• 3M Half-Face Respirator
• Vevor Airbrushing Booth (Ventilation)

2024 throwback! We made our first miniature medieval house for our massive tabletop game. We made a magic shop using XPS foam, wooden sticks and cardboard. After crafting rocks, trees, and nature dioramas, we tackled our first architectural building. This store can also be reused as a medieval tavern for other ttrpg games.

In this post, I will share with you main basic painting process, all the colours I used to paint the hill giant, as well as a material list, and my improvement journey.

I really wanted to paint my D&D hill giant but my miniature painting skills were really not strong enough. And on top of it, painting properly shaded skin on minis can be very challenging. Using a wash can help, but it mainly makes it look dirty. So for a long time, I ended up painting skin just using a flat colour, not knowing what to do to make it look better. I embarked on a miniature painting improvement journey, focusing on key skills I would need, especially painting skin.

You can watch the whole journey here!

For 2 months, I practiced the miniature painting basics. You can check out the detailed painting miniature basics list here.

Finally, after a few months of practice, I decided to jump in and tackle the giant. I took the time to study the mini, which details I wanted to focus on, and how the light was hitting it. I was mainly looking forward to painting the skin folds.

You can watch the full painting process on YouTube.

Before you ask, we got this hill giant from a local hobby store, but you can find it in your local hobby stores or online if you search for “D&D Nolzurs Marvelous Miniatures: Wave 17: Hill Giant”.

Painting Materials

We were super lucky! AK Interactive sent us paint, paint brushing and terrain material for this project! Below, you can find the material list we used for this giant:

• AK Interactive 3rd Gen Acrylic Paints
  • Human Flesh Tone Set
  • Orcs and Green Models Set
• AK Fine Detailed Round Brush Synthetic Size 1 and 2
• AK Interactive Rust Basecoat Spray Primer
• AK Puddles
• AK Desert Sand
• AK Muddy Ground
• AK Tufts
• Old Paint brush for base coat
• Dry brush (Or make up brush)
• Wet Palette
• Paper Towel
• Water Cup
• Metal Pin for painting the pupils
• Putty for minis and models
• Hubby Knife
• Silicon tools and old paint brush for basing and putty
• Sanding sticks
• White Glue or Basing Glue

Hill Giant AK Interactive Paint Colour List

I made a chart with the colours I used for each part and each layer. You can download a PDF of the table right here.

Hill Giant Painting Process — Step-by-Step Summary

Preparation

1. Study the miniature to understand forms and details.

2. Sand away mold lines, joints, and imperfections.

3. Fill joints with putty using silicone sculpting tools.

4. Sand the putty smooth once cured.

Priming & Initial Light Map

1. Prime the model with a “smart” color (e.g., dark rust as the skin base).

2. Apply a zenithal dry brush with off-white to establish light direction.

Skin Painting

1. Apply the skin base coat in ultra-thin layers and glazes, working from dark to light following the zenithal map.

2. First pass with an old brush.

3. Layering with a high-quality size-2 round brush.

4. Offload paint on a paper towel before applying.

5. After initial layers, refine the skin with mid-tones to blend missed spots, tone down overly dark areas, and reinforce highlights.

Clothing (Shorts)

1. Base coat with a mid-tone color.

2. Mix in darker tones to shade the recesses.

3. Build highlights with progressively lighter mixes to achieve the desired hue.

4. Add edge highlights with the brightest green.

5. Light dry brushing on the shorts with luminous green (backed off before it became too muddy).

Accessories & Details

1. Switch to a size-1 brush for small features (strap metal rings, etc.).

2. Base coat the straps.
3. Shade and highlight all straps.

4. Shade and highlight the ankle warmers.

Backpack Work

1. Base coat the backpack. Painted the whole area first to set a foundation—detail work on ropes comes later.

2. Shade the backpack with a heavily diluted mix of dark brown and black.

3. Paint and shade the patches.

4. Layer and edge-highlight the backpack.

5. Lightly dry brush to pick up texture without muddying the surface.

6. Base coat the net and ropes.

Natural Elements (Club, Rocks, Branch)

• Base coat the branch and rock.

• Highlight the branch.

• Shade the rock.

• Paint club ropes and highlight the ropes.

• Highlight and lightly dry brush the rock.

Metal & Final Details

• Base coat metal rings in black.

• Add metal highlights.

• Paint final details (feathers, patch touch-ups, toenails, base rock, etc.).

• Paint the pupils using black and a metal spike for precision.

Basing

• Build the base using muddy ground texture, desert soil, puddles, and grass tufts.

I hope this was helpful! Thank you for supporting us and for reading!