New painter

[Aricall]

So im going to take the plunge and finally start painting some minis....still need paint tho i was thinking reaper paints.
so what would be the basic colors i would need to pick up to start? something general i could do the most with till i can get more paint? its hard to choose with some many colors and so many different shades haha.
i was thinking 10-12 colors maybe?


any help would be a great help


thanks

 

[10 ball]

Welcome, well you could start with a set of paints that contain the basic range (around ten colours) or you could choose the mini you want to paint then pick the colour scheme for it and get the suitable colours and build up from there. Black and white are of course a must. Oh and make sure you get a few decent brushes, 2 good quality are much better that 10 crap ones.

 

[tomusannonymous]

the colours i use the most are probably: black, white, boltgun metal, chainmail, mithril silver, scorched brown, bestial brown, elf flesh, flesh base coat (gw foundation paint), codex grey, fortress grey, dark angels green, sunburst yellow, bleached bone, dwarf bronze, brazen brass, shining gold, royal blue, enchanted blue, knothide leather
(all gw paints, but u get the idea)

it depends what you're painting, but most human minis will have some coloured cloth, leather, steel, jewellery, skin and hair colours, if you can get enough paints to do each of these parts then youll be fine. also you will encounter painting rocks and soil so browns and grays are a must(you can mix black and white for greys but it's a pain)

 

[Einion]

The least number of colours you could reasonably paint with would be four - primaries + white - although having black would be very useful. 10-12 is a good realistic minimum though, since it'll help you not have to mix everything. It's hard to list what colours would be the most useful though, since this will depend partly on what you intend to paint and partly on personal taste: subdued colouring v. bright colours.

This is very generic but:
white,
black,
dark blue,
red,
magenta,
yellow,
dark violet,
dark green,
yellow ochre type colour,
reddish brown,
dark brown.

Plus some metallics and you'd be good to go. You could in theory paint with just this selection of colours for the rest of your life.

Einion

 

[Aricall]

Ok so here's a list of reaper paints I've picked so far.... All reaper paint.
Pure black,
Pure white,
Fire red,
Sunyellow,
Rust brown,
Mahogany brown,
Sapphire blue,
Nightshade purple,
Jungle moss,
Marigold yello,
w Polished silver,
Shadow stone,
Aged bone,

Anything i should switch out or add possibly?

 

[simeon6]

Dude, my advice for what its worth - don't be over concerned at this stage about choosing exact paint colours and/or ranges if you are starting out. Like 10 Ball said above, choose a model that inspires you from any one of the many great mini companies out there. Once you have made your choice, research the web (starting here on CMON) to see how others have approached the model, aske questions as to what colours they have used etc and go from there.

eg if you are going to be painting Orks for example, maybe better to get greens first time out etc.

Also, don't restrict yourself to just Reaper paints, try some Vallejo's and Citadel (Games Workshop), P3, etc see what you feel you like the best. For a beginner it will be easier, IMO, to go for the GW range as these are probably the most referenced paints you'll come across and are a solid set of paints.

Good Luck!

 

[Ordo Septenarius]

First off, Reaper Master Series (RMS) are an excellent paint choice. I am sure you will be happy.

I'd add a grey in there, too, for what it's worth, as I believe that shadow stone is quite dark and warm (I'd pick a "bluer" grey, that is).

What are you planning on painting/what will be your first endeavor?

 

[Einion]

Anything i should switch out or add possibly?

Yes, no, maybe. I'd see how you get along with these, if you run into a specific problem then think about what you might add in to help address it.

Remember, apart from anything the ideal number of colours to have is partly about how much mixing each person is okay with - the more colours you have, the less you need to mix and the fewer colours you have the more you need to mix obviously. If you enjoy mixing colours rather than reaching for the nearest pot I'd encourage you to stick to a smaller palette; apart from anything it's way cheaper.

Einion

 

[Aricall]

thanks for the help everyone....
as far as what im going to paint i have the reaper mini foo dog....also some night goblins i got with my Gw basic paint set i picked up on sale at a local shop....
also just got the castle ravenloft game in as well so i should have lots to paint......