Painting Miniatures: Applying the Base coats of primer

This step is very important when it comes to miniature painting. You absolutely should apply several coats of primer to your miniatures before you start painting them. This is important because the primer will seal the miniature, make it very easy for the paint to adhere to it in an even fashion and keep your miniature looking great.

Primer usually comes in either white or gray and I prefer using the white but it doesn't matter much which type you use.

Apply at least 2-3 coats of primer to the miniature. It should be put on in extremely thin coats and each coat should be allowed to completely dry before the next coat is put on.

Start at one small part of the miniature and carefully work the area before moving on to the next area. You don't want to try to cover the whole miniature quickly because primer dries quickly and you will end up with an uneven coat and the primer will settle into and fill holes and gullies in the piece. You don't want holes to fill in with primer you want the all the surfaces covered with primer without losing the fine details.

One of the good things about primer is that it will be very easy for you to see where you have applied it unevenly to the surface of the miniature. It will be much thicker and darker in these areas and you should brush over them to make sure the whole surface is an even tint of color whether white or grey. And if you have a section that dried with uneven primer you can easily touch it up by applying more primer or by using a very tiny amount of water on a brush. This will dissolve the primer you applied and make it liquid so you can re-spread it.

Here is a picture of the War Horse we are doing in this tutorial. It has an exceptional amount of very fine detailing so I have only applied two coats of primer to it. I used two different sized brushes, white water based primer, and a little bit of water.

Don't forget to prime the base, and take a real good look at everything, particularly the bottom and undersides of the character you are working on. Use your magnifying glass!

Continue with tutorial - Let's Begin The Painting

This is a Storm The Castle Project

Table of Contents for this tutorial

1. Miniature Home
2. Painting Miniatures Tutorial start
3. The Paints
4. Preparing the Miniature for painting
5. Priming the Miniature
6. What to paint first
7. More Painting and the details
8. Close-up of the completed Warhorse
9. Adding texture to the base for realism
10. Tips and hints for painting miniatures
11. Diorama and Miniature supply Store

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