Better Painting for Beginners: Undercoating your miniatures

It's often the basic things that help people paint better and more easily. In our rush to paint a shiny new miniature it's often tempting to skip those basic but rather tedious steps that give you a good foundation to work on. Today we're going to look at undercoating or priming your figures.

Whilst you can undercoat with a brush I think that most people tend to use spray paint. What could be easier I hear you ask? It's a spray can... Actually there's a bit of a knack to it if you want best results.  So here are my top tips gleaned from years of doing it wrong the first time....

1. Spray outside. Aerosol fumes are toxic and unpleasant and you don't want to breathe them in. Really.
2. Wear marigolds, you know, the gloves people wear when washing up.  Unless you really enjoy washing spray paint off your hands that is. If you wear gloves then you also have more choice about how to hold the figures because you're not fussed about getting paint on your hands.



Blue Tack is your friend when undercoating...

3. Mount you figures on a nice piece of wood about three feet long. Use some decent Blue Tack so that they stay on firmly and you can move them around without risk of them falling off.
4. If, like me, you live in the UK it's rare to get a day where there is no breeze at all. If possible try to find somewhere sheltered from the wind, otherwise take a moment to move around so you have the wind at your back. This stops the paint getting blown back at  you and away from the miniatures.
5. Hold the can about 30cm or 12" from the figures. If you get too close the paint will pool and obscure shallow details like on the miniature of the king.  If your spray from too far away you'll get a dusty look. This is because the paint starts drying before it hits the model and means the paint won't stick as well when you get down to the fun part of painting.  Neither of these are fatal if you're just painting up a few grunts for your army but they won't provide a good base if you want to paint the figures up nicely.



Oops, sprayed too close!

6. Start spraying just before the first figure and move along the row. Stop spraying just after the last figure. This should give you a nice even coat. You may need a couple of passes. That's fine, it's much better than doing one coat which is too heavy.

   

   Start spraying just before the first figure and move along the row.

7. Don't worry about getting the spray into every last area. Trust me, it isn't possible. Just touch up the areas you missed afterwards with a brush using a paint that covers well. If you missed a lot then reposition the miniatures and spray them again.
8. Leave the figures to dry before touching them. Ten minutes is long enough, although I think that half an hour is better - it gives the odour of the aerosol a bit longer to dissipate too! I've heard that professional painters leave them overnight but frankly at my level I don't think it would make much difference.

One neatly primed with grey paint and accepting
the paint well. :) Note that the crossbow needs a little
tidy up where the spray missed. Typical!

Finally a few things to avoid - you'll just wish you hadn't bothered and, yes, I have done all of them over the years!

• Don't undercoat in the dark or bad light. You'll miss loads.
• Don't try undercoating in the rain and juggling an umbrella. Picking up minis out of a puddle is not fun...
• Don't forget to check they are securely blue tacked.  Trying to find your minis in the bottom of a hedge is not fun either.

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