How to Start Painting Miniatures: Part 3 – Types of Paints

Base, Layer, Shade, Wash, Technical, Contrast – are all these paint names making your head spin? We'll show you how to navigate them. Learn how to choose the right ones and what each type is used for.

What are the differences between manufacturers?

The key is to choose paints specifically designed for painting miniatures and models from trusted manufacturers. This way, you don't have to worry about ending up with low-quality or unsuitable paint. Some of the most well-known producers of high-quality acrylic paints include Games Workshop with their Citadel Colour line, as well as The Army Painter, the Spanish brand Vallejo, and Green Stuff World.

The naming conventions may vary between manufacturers (for example, Citadel Colour Shade is the same type of paint as The Army Painter Wash), but their purpose is similar and they work in essentially the same way.

What are the main types of paints?

The first paint you apply to a primed miniature (how does priming work?) is the base paint. For Citadel, these are Base paints; Army Painter has Warpaints and Metallics (for metal surfaces); and Vallejo offers Game Color. They are designed to provide a solid foundation for your miniature, which you can then layer, shade, or further refine using techniques like drybrushing.

For applying additional layers, Games Workshop offers a special range called Citadel Colour Layer. With Vallejo, you can use Inks for similar layering, which also work well for shading, or you can simply thin down some of your base paints. For Army Painter, thinned Warpaints are perfect for layering. All these paints are easily thinnable with water, though special thinning mediums also exist.

Once you've finished your color layers, you can add realistic shadows to your miniature. For shading, use Citadel Colour Shade paints. Vallejo and Army Painter use the term Wash for the same purpose. These liquid paints easily flow into crevices and recesses, giving you a beautiful shading effect in no time. You can then complement the contrast using the drybrush technique (what does drybrushing look like?).

Can you paint miniatures faster?

Of course! If you want quickly painted miniatures and don't need them finished to the finest detail, we have a solution for you. These are paints that you only need to apply once, and they provide both a base coat and a shading effect simultaneously. While the shading won't be as precise as with gradual layering, you'll still achieve a great result and save a ton of time. For Games Workshop, these magic paints are called Contrast; Army Painter has a series called Speedpaint; and Vallejo offers Xpress colors.

Want to learn more about paints? Check out our article for beginner modelers or watch the video with our experts.

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