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How to Paint Warhammer: Expert Tips for Two Very Different Types of Painter

The Warhammer hobby attracts all sorts of people, enticed by the promise of gorgeously painted miniatures and vivid battles for supremacy. As a longtime member of the Warhammer Painting Team, Adam receives questions from very different kinds of painters – and soon picked up on some consistent themes in the queries that were coming his way. 

He’s now identified two particular types of painters – Last Minute Painters who just want to get their miniatures ready for the next game as fast and painlessly as possible, and Plan and Paint Painters who want to ensure consistency and high quality across every model. Whichever type you are, Adam has some top tips.

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Adam: There are by no means just two types of painters, but I found that I was getting asked a lot of advice from two types of people – those who wanted things done good and fast, and those who wanted things done to the highest standard possible. So it made sense to sort these tips into two groups…

Last Minute – Cut Out Decision Paralysis

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If you don’t have time to figure out the colours of your chosen faction or invent your own scheme, just check one of our official guides. The Citadel Colour videos and the Citadel Colour App are excellent places to get information quickly – both show you the exact paints needed and where to apply them.

Last Minute – Batch Paint to Victory

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Batch painting is a fantastic way to get an army painted fast. It's a personal choice as to how many models you’d want to batch paint at a time, but five is a good starting point. Pick the most prominent colour of the scheme, apply it to the first model, and then move on to the next. Once you’ve finished the fifth model, the first should be dry, and you can repeat the process with the next paint in the scheme. Do this until the models are complete – then repeat the process for the next batch. 

You can stop at whatever level you want to, and know that every model in that batch will all be at the same level.

Last Minute – Keep Things Simple

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Keep your palette as simple as possible. If you don’t have much time to get a single model complete or an army finished for a tournament, it might be worth it to use the same colours for multiple details. For example, not having various different browns for leather, but just employing Snakebite Leather to do all the leather details. Or using the same Mephiston Red for eye lenses, gun casings and purity seals. 

Reducing the need to switch between multiple paints will speed up the process of painting – and if you want to, you could always come back later, once you have more time. Use highlights and washes to add variations of tone and saturation to the same basic colour, and take your models to the next level.I think these three tips will help Last Minute Painters get their armies done to a standard they’re happy with, really quickly. Plan and Paint Painters tend to be a bit more methodical, and prefer to know in advance how an end result will look – so they’ll often want to plan each whole miniature, unit, or even their whole army in advance.

Plan and Paint – Test Your Colours

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A test miniature is your best asset here. A standalone model that doesn’t need to be ‘perfect’ or match anything else you’re painting will allow you to try out your colour schemes and recipes, to see what works and what doesn't before taking a paintbrush to your army. 

Don’t have a spare model on hand? Head down to your local Warhammer Store, where you can pick up a free Miniature of the Month! Even if the miniature isn’t from the army you’re planning on painting, you can still use it as a blank canvas to test your colours and see if they work well together.

Plan and Paint – Points of Reference

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Have as much reference imagery as possible. Keep a folder full of pictures of various schemes and concepts to help when it comes to deciding what to do with your own paint schemes. The more content that you have to refer to, the easier it will be to know what colours, textures, and combinations work for you, and what doesn’t. 

Codexes, battletomes, rulebooks, and campaign books are full of incredible photos and artwork that can help to inspire you. The creations of your fellow hobbyists in the wider Warhammer community can be a fantastic source of inspiration, as well.*

Plan and Paint – On the Record

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Write down all the paints that you will be using for your colour scheme, whether it’s an army or a single model. Think of it as a painter's journal – it’ll help you compare and keep track of what steps got you the best results, or return to a project after some time away without forgetting what paints and techniques you used. 

You can take this further by testing out which parts should be painted in which order for the best results and the least amount of time spent tidying up. Is it easier to start with the trim on your Rubric Marines, then block in the blue armour? Or did you get better results by picking out the trim afterwards? Record the order that you painted them in, and which worked best, for future reference.

Thanks so much for the tips, Adam. No matter what type of painter you are, we’re sure there is something there to help you. Remember that we have lots of painting tutorials available on the official Warhammer youtube page if you need some help or just want some inspiration.

* We routinely feature amazing miniatures from across the community right here, like these exceptional Space Marines and gorgeous Tyranids from the Leviathan box.