How To Base Paint Miniatures

Whether you’re painting your first Space Marine or building a full Orruk waaagh, learning how to base paint miniatures is one of the most important steps in painting. It’s the stage where your models go from flat primer to vibrant, recognisable warriors – setting the stage for everything that follows. Get your base coats right, and you’ll find shading, highlighting, and detailing much easier.

In this guide, we’ll walk through exactly what base paint is, how it differs from priming, and how to get clean, consistent results whether you’re painting one miniature or an entire army.

Primer vs Base Paint: What’s The Difference?

A common beginner mistake is confusing priming and base painting. They’re both key steps to a quality finish, and there is some cross over, but they do serve different purposes:

• Priming is the first layer of paint you apply to a miniature. This layer sticks to the plastic, resin, or metal surface and gives your other paints something to grip giving you a better finish. Primers are usually white, black, grey, or bone, and come in sprays or brush-on formulas. You can find out more in our .
  
• Base painting comes after priming. This is where you apply your first proper colours – blocking out the different areas of the model, like armour, skin, and weapons. Base paints are high pigment and formulated to provide solid coverage. They give you a foundation for further painting steps to complete your colour scheme.

While there are specific ways to prime a miniature to get optimal results from a other stages, and base painting can be step one of a complex scheme you slowly build up you can also break the rules when it comes to priming vs base painting. Many paint ranges offer coloured sprays for priming your miniatures, and if your paint scheme revolves around one major colour you can kill two birds with one stone. Painting a Necron army with a metallic spray will prime and base paint your models, allowing you to just revisit the parts that aren’t metallic afterwards. The same with Space Marines – a blood angel can be quickly finished with a Mephiston Red spray, a wash and some highlighting and detailing.

How To Base Paint A Miniature (Step-by-Step)

1. Prime the model – Make sure your miniature is fully primed with a smooth, even coat. Let it dry completely before applying base paint.
2. Plan your colour zones – Identify in advance which areas will be which colours. Plan for armour, cloth, skin, weapons. Having a plan helps you paint faster and more cleanly.
3. Thin your paints slightly – Base paints (like Citadel Base range or Vallejo Model Color) are designed for coverage, but still benefit from a drop of water or medium for smoother application and avoiding losing detail.
4. Use the right brush size – Medium brushes work well for most base coats. Use larger brushes to cover bigger areas (like armour panels) and smaller brushes for tight details or corrections.
5. Apply with steady, even strokes – Avoid flooding the area. Two thin coats are better than one thick one.
6. Let each layer dry – Rushing this stage can ruin your model’s finish. Let your first layer dry before adding your second, and let everything dry before starting to add your next colours.
7. Touch up mistakes – Don’t stress over small slips. Just let them dry, then fix with the correct colour or primer tone.

Contrast Or Speed Paints

Painting miniatures can get very complicated and very technical. Besides learning how to base paint your miniatures, you can quickly fall down a hole of learning advanced techniques that can make painting a bit overwhelming. While they don’t remove all the complexity, contrast paints (otherwise called speed paints) can drastically increase the pace at which you can paint models to a solid standard.

Contrast paints are specially formulated to flow over models and pool in the recessed areas while remaining lighter on the raised areas. This results in natural highlighting and shading with one application of paint, which you can enhance with techniques such as zenithal priming prior to adding the contrast paint.

While more advanced painters will still use techniques such as glazing and wet blending to achieve incredible finishes, most hobby painters will now use contrast paints to colour block their models and start adding depth, which they then improve with washes and highlights. You can still follow the steps above, but can be a bit more liberal when applying the contrast paints. Don’t go overboard and ruin detail, but you want good coverage that flows into the recessed areas.

Tips and Tricks

• Use a wet palette. This keeps your paints from drying out and helps you control consistency.
• For skin, fur, or cloth, slight streaks in the base coat can actually enhance texture – don’t overwork it!
• Tackle one colour at a time across multiple models – using batch painting techniques makes painting whole squads more efficient.

Spray vs Brush vs Airbrush: What’s Best For Base Painting?

Each method has its strengths, and choosing the right one depends on your goals, the number of models you’re painting, and your available tools.

Spray Cans

Best for: Large armies or models that only need one main base colour.

• Pros:
  • Fast application across many models.
  • Smooth, even coverage when done correctly.
  • Often doubles as both primer and base coat (e.g., Citadel Colour Sprays).
• Cons:
  • Limited range of colours.
  • Can obscure fine details if sprayed too thickly.
  • Weather-sensitive – humidity and wind can cause issues.
  • Offers the least control on application.

Brush Painting

Best for: Plenty of control, detailed models, or models with lots of different colours.

• Pros:
  • Total control over where the paint goes.
  • Vast choice of colours from any brand.
  • No special equipment needed.
• Cons:
  • Slower process, especially for large batches.
  • Can leave brush strokes if paint is too thick.
  • Requires significantly more labour than sprays or airbrushes.

Airbrushing

Best for: Smooth, high-quality base coats, subtle blends, and batch painting.

• Pros:
  • Fast and consistent, especially across squads or large surfaces.
  • Allows for smooth gradients and blending.
  • Wide range of compatible paints.
• Cons:
  • Requires more setup and maintenance (compressor, cleaning, etc.).
  • Initial cost for equipment can be high.
  • Learning curve involved for beginners.

Brushes give you the best control straight off the bat, and would be the easiest option for a beginner. If you’re painting dozens of troops in the same colour then careful use of spray cans can speed things up. An airbrush can speed things up and give you incredible finishes, but requires quite an investment and a bit of a learning curve.

Common Base Painting Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them)

• Painting over unprimed plastic: Your paint won’t adhere as well, and you can be left with uneven coverage. Use a spray primer to give your base coat or contrast paint a foundation.
• Using too much paint: This will obscure the model’s detail. Thin your paint and build up colour gradually.
• Trying to cover in one pass: Always better to do two thin coats than one gloopy one.
• Not letting paint dry: Damp paint can spoil or mix with the next layer.

Learning how to base paint miniatures may not be the flashiest part of painting, but it’s absolutely essential. A solid, smooth base layer makes everything that comes after easier – from shading and layering to glazing and edge highlights.

Take your time, work cleanly, and remember: even the best painters start with the basics.

Got any tips for how to base paint miniatures? Any advice for new painters wanting to up their game? Let us know in the comments below!

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