How to Paint Miniatures with Acrylic: Beginner to Tabletop

Miniature painting rewards a specific way of handling acrylics: thin paint, small amounts and patience between layers. If you have painted canvases before, many habits need adjusting, because details on a 28–32 mm figure are measured in fractions of a millimeter and a single thick coat can bury them. Learning how to paint miniatures with acrylic is mostly about learning to control paint consistency.

This guide follows the order a miniature is actually painted, from preparation to varnish, with ratios, timings and fixes along the way. It suits tabletop gaming figures, historical models, board game pieces and display miniatures. For advice on choosing paint ranges and starter sets built for this scale, see our guide to acrylic paint sets for miniature painting.

The Miniature Painting Workflow at a Glance

Gaming-standard figures can skip or shorten the layering stage. Display figures may spend hours on it.

What You Need

• Miniature paints: finely ground acrylics designed for small-scale work, in dropper bottles or pots
• Primer: spray or brush-on primer in black, gray or white
• Brushes: a size 0 or 1 round for most work, a size 00 or 000 for eyes, an old flat or dedicated drybrush, and a larger round for washes
• Wet palette: keeps thin paint workable for hours
• Hobby knife and fine files: for removing mold lines
• Plastic glue or super glue: for assembly
• Washes or shades: pre-made, or mixed from paint and medium
• Two water pots: one for rinsing, one clean
• Handle: a cork, pill bottle or painting handle to hold the figure
• Matte varnish: spray or brush-on
• Good light: a daylight-balanced lamp, plus magnification if helpful

Can you use craft acrylics?

You can, especially for terrain, bases and drybrushing. Craft acrylics tend to have coarser pigment and more filler, so they can obscure fine detail and need more thinning. Many painters use craft paint for large, textured areas and dedicated miniature paint for the figures themselves.

Step 1: Prepare the Miniature

1. Remove from the sprue with flush clippers, leaving a small nub you can trim away.
2. Scrape mold lines. Run the back of a hobby knife blade along the faint ridge where mold halves met. Files help on curved areas.
3. Wash resin and metal figures in warm soapy water to remove mold release agents, then dry fully. Many plastic figures benefit too.
4. Assemble fully, or into subassemblies if some areas would be hard to reach once glued.
5. Mount on a handle with poster tack or a drop of glue so you never touch the figure while painting.

Step 2: Prime

Primer gives acrylic a uniform, slightly toothy surface to grip. Without it, paint beads up on plastic and rubs off metal.

• Spray primer: shake for a full minute, spray in short bursts from about 8–12 inches, and turn the model to reach all angles. Avoid cold or humid days, which can cause a grainy, fuzzy finish.
• Brush-on primer: slower but reliable indoors; apply thin coats so detail is not filled in.
• Color choice: black primer makes shadows easy and suits dark, metallic or grim schemes. White makes bright colors pop. Gray is a balanced middle ground.

Zenithal priming

Prime the whole figure black or dark gray, then spray white or light gray from directly above. Light catches upper surfaces and shadows remain in recesses, giving you a built-in map of where highlights and shadows belong.

Step 3: Thin Your Paints

The single most repeated advice in miniature painting is “thin your paints”, and for good reason. Thick paint clumps, leaves visible brush marks and fills in fine detail.

• Basecoat consistency: roughly like whole milk. Start with about 1 part paint to 1 part water and adjust by brand.
• Layering consistency: thinner, like skim milk, so each layer is slightly translucent.
• Glaze consistency: very thin, mostly water or medium, for tinting and smoothing transitions.

Check the paint on your brush by touching it to a paper towel. If a large wet ring spreads out, it is too thin; if it leaves a thick blob, it needs more water. The goal is paint that flows smoothly but stays where you put it.

Why a wet palette helps

Thinned acrylic dries on a dry palette within minutes. A wet palette, a shallow container holding a damp sponge topped with baking parchment or a membrane sheet, keeps paint moist for hours. You can make one from a plastic food container, a kitchen sponge or paper towels and baking parchment.

Step 4: Basecoat

1. Start with the largest area, often skin or cloth, and work outward to smaller areas.
2. Paint inner areas before outer layers. For example, paint skin before clothing that overlaps it.
3. Apply one thin coat and let it dry for a few minutes. It will look patchy.
4. Apply a second thin coat for solid, smooth coverage. Some colors, particularly yellows, reds and whites, may need a third.
5. Clean up mistakes with the color of the area you painted over, once dry.

Step 5: Wash and Shade

A wash is a very thin, darkly pigmented paint that flows into recesses and adds instant depth.

1. Load a larger brush with wash and apply it over a basecoated area.
2. Guide it into recesses and wick away pools on flat areas with a slightly damp brush, to avoid tide marks.
3. Let it dry completely, ideally 20–30 minutes, before painting over it.

Pin washing, applying wash only into recesses with a fine brush, gives a cleaner result on smooth armor and vehicles. A wash can also be made by mixing paint with water and a little matte medium; some painters add a tiny drop of flow improver to help it settle into recesses.

Step 6: Layer and Highlight

After shading, the raised surfaces will look too dark. Layering rebuilds the midtone and adds lighter tones to areas that catch the light.

1. Re-apply the basecoat to raised areas, leaving the wash showing in recesses.
2. Mix a highlight by adding a lighter color to the base, such as base plus white, bone or a lighter related color.
3. Apply to upper surfaces, covering a smaller area than the previous layer.
4. Edge highlight: paint a fine line of the lightest tone along sharp edges using the side of the brush tip.
5. Glaze between layers with very thin paint to smooth harsh transitions if needed.

Drybrushing: the fast highlight

Load an old flat brush with a light color, wipe most of it off on a paper towel until barely any comes off, then flick lightly across the raised texture. Paint catches only the highest points. It is ideal for fur, chainmail, rocks and bases, and gives fast, effective results.

Step 7: Details

• Eyes: paint a small off-white almond shape, then a dark dot in the center, and tidy around it with skin color. Brace both hands together for stability.
• Metallics: keep them in a separate water pot if possible, since metallic flakes contaminate other colors.
• Gems: paint dark at the top, light at the bottom, and add a tiny white dot at the top for a reflection.
• Weathering: sponge dark brown or silver on edges for chipped paint or worn metal.

Painting Common Materials

Skin

Basecoat a midtone flesh color, wash with a warm brown or reddish shade, then layer the midtone back onto the forehead, nose, cheekbones and chin. Highlight the very top of those areas with the midtone plus a little bone or pale flesh. A thin glaze of red on cheeks and knuckles adds life.

Cloth

Cloth folds create natural highlights on the ridges and shadows in the valleys. After the wash, layer lighter tones along the tops of folds with the side of the brush, keeping each layer narrower than the last.

Metal

Basecoat with a dark metallic such as gunmetal, wash with black or brown, then drybrush or edge highlight with a bright silver. Steel looks cleaner with a black wash; bronze and brass look richer with a brown wash.

Leather

Use a mid-brown basecoat, a dark brown wash and a few scratches of a lighter tan along edges to suggest wear.

Step 8: Base the Figure

1. Apply PVA glue to the base and dip into sand, fine grit or texture paste.
2. Once dry, paint it a dark brown or gray.
3. Drybrush with progressively lighter tones.
4. Add static grass, tufts or small stones.
5. Paint the base rim a neat solid color, often black or brown.

Step 9: Varnish

Handling figures during games wears paint, especially on edges. A matte varnish protects them and evens out sheen differences between colors. Spray in light passes on a dry, mild day, or brush on a thin coat. Gloss varnish can be applied selectively afterward to eyes, gems and wet-look areas for contrast.

Troubleshooting Common Problems

Brush Care for Miniature Painting

• Keep paint on the front two-thirds of the bristles, away from the ferrule.
• Rinse frequently and never stand brushes bristle-down in water.
• Clean with brush soap after each session and reshape the point.
• Reserve your best brush for detail work; use older brushes for drybrushing, washes and metallics.

Speed Painting vs Display Painting

FAQs

What acrylic paint is best for miniatures?

Paints designed for miniatures are finely ground, flow well when thinned and keep detail crisp. Craft acrylics can work for terrain and bases but are usually coarser.

Do you need to prime miniatures before painting with acrylic?

Yes. Primer gives the paint a surface to grip and prevents it from beading up or rubbing off plastic and metal.

How much should I thin acrylic paint for miniatures?

A good starting point is about 1:1 paint to water for basecoats, aiming for whole-milk consistency. Layers and glazes are thinner. Adjust by brand.

What size brush do I need for miniatures?

A size 0 or 1 round with a sharp point handles most work. Smaller sizes help with eyes, while larger brushes speed up washes and basecoats.

Should I varnish painted miniatures?

For gaming pieces that are handled often, yes. A matte varnish protects paint and unifies sheen.

How long does it take to paint a miniature?

A tabletop-standard infantry figure might take one to two hours. Display-quality characters can take many hours or several sessions.

Next Step

Pick one figure, prime it, thin your paint and work through the stages without rushing. Even a simple basecoat, wash and drybrush will look far better than expected. When you are ready to build a dependable palette, compare paint ranges and starter sets in our roundup of the best acrylic paints for detailed miniatures.