Get paint, brushes, and a good light for your painting area (natural light is best, but a simple and relatively cheap LED desk lamp works great too and is what I use).
Bones are great to start with, in my opinion, because you don't need to prime them - you can just put whatever base coat color you were wanting on the mini and it holds well so long as you don't thin the paint and have made sure your mini is clean and dry before painting.
You really want a good primer then put your base coat on the miniatures. If you can then you want to create secondary base coat with a build up of your main palette, then fine detail the strokes and perhaps a dry brush over some areas.
You want a good clean workstation, with natural light being my preference. A few clean brushes, and a few spare brushes at hand.
Try to work from dark to light or light to dark. (mostly people work from dark to light as its easier for minis) but its worth exploring this some more in detail.
You'll also want to look at what sort of bases you want to use. Are you going to use normal square bases, round bases, special terrain bases (I've seen and purchased some really great ones) and if you are going to add some flock?
Well those are a few things to consider. Obviously there is a ocean of advice and tutorials out there on the internet as its a large and fun hobby.
I spent hours on youtube watching how people paint miniatures before I tried my hand on them. Even then it looked like the poor miniature got swallowed by my cat and regurgitated out. I guess practice makes perfect?
It may seem slightly off topic, but Warhammer do a lot of good tutorials on getting started with painitn miniatures which you can apply the same skills to miniatures of any scale really.
I started with Warhammer and moved onto things like Hero Forge using the Citadel Paint range and they work just fine too.
I second the thinning paints! Don't be afraid of washes and adding layers.
Also, keeping brushes clean (and investing in a couple of good brushes to begin with) helps a lot. I don't have the steadiest hand, so good tools made my accuracy much better. Plus once you let paint dry on a brush you will never be able to get it truely clean. It'll always re-appear when you least want it...
Anyone who does warhammer will be able to give you tons of advice on how to paint minis. There are a ton of techniques out there that will really enhance your painting, but those can be a bit advanced. I will give you some short tips I have learned and should be easy to apply:
Get decent brushes.
Thin your paints. (I like the Vallejo thinner.)
Get a good brand of paint. (Vallejo, Citadel, Privateer Press)
Do any small details last.
Look up dry brushing basics. (Easiest and simplest way to bring out details.)
Depending on how many minis you are painting, use a wet palette. (Look this up, they are amazing.)
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I don't like quotations, tell me what you know. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
There's a fellow down here in Southern California that has a YouTube channel dedicated to painting - look for Dr Faust's Painting Clinic. He's a really nice guy in person, also.
Everyone else has given really solid advice so far - if you're painting the Reaper Bones miniatures, they don't need primer. I tried to prime a few and it didn't go well at all. If you're just starting out, my tips would be to paint from the inside-out - start with skin, then the clothes closest to the body, then the layers on top of that, etc etc. I like using Vallejo paints (the dropper bottles are awesome) and Citadel (GW) washes. Don't stress out over little details. Some techniques you'll learn by reading about them or watching a video, some you'll develop yourself as you go. You can always repaint something you're not happy with. When you do finish something you like, I'd invest in a can of spray sealant (like a matte varnish or similar - different folks use different things) to make sure that the paint doesn't start rubbing off immediately.
I have a few unpainted Reaper Bones figures but think painting them could be fun! What are my first steps?
Get paint, brushes, and a good light for your painting area (natural light is best, but a simple and relatively cheap LED desk lamp works great too and is what I use).
Bones are great to start with, in my opinion, because you don't need to prime them - you can just put whatever base coat color you were wanting on the mini and it holds well so long as you don't thin the paint and have made sure your mini is clean and dry before painting.
That's a good start.
You really want a good primer then put your base coat on the miniatures. If you can then you want to create secondary base coat with a build up of your main palette, then fine detail the strokes and perhaps a dry brush over some areas.
You want a good clean workstation, with natural light being my preference. A few clean brushes, and a few spare brushes at hand.
Try to work from dark to light or light to dark. (mostly people work from dark to light as its easier for minis) but its worth exploring this some more in detail.
I think that Vallejo paints are the best I have used so far Vallejo Website [link]
You'll also want to look at what sort of bases you want to use. Are you going to use normal square bases, round bases, special terrain bases (I've seen and purchased some really great ones) and if you are going to add some flock?
Well those are a few things to consider. Obviously there is a ocean of advice and tutorials out there on the internet as its a large and fun hobby.
I spent hours on youtube watching how people paint miniatures before I tried my hand on them. Even then it looked like the poor miniature got swallowed by my cat and regurgitated out. I guess practice makes perfect?
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D&D Beyond StaffHere's a fantastic subreddit to help you get started! https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/
It may seem slightly off topic, but Warhammer do a lot of good tutorials on getting started with painitn miniatures which you can apply the same skills to miniatures of any scale really.
I started with Warhammer and moved onto things like Hero Forge using the Citadel Paint range and they work just fine too.
Here's an example: https://youtu.be/n6BxIDnaFZA
I second the thinning paints! Don't be afraid of washes and adding layers.
Also, keeping brushes clean (and investing in a couple of good brushes to begin with) helps a lot. I don't have the steadiest hand, so good tools made my accuracy much better. Plus once you let paint dry on a brush you will never be able to get it truely clean. It'll always re-appear when you least want it...
Anyone who does warhammer will be able to give you tons of advice on how to paint minis. There are a ton of techniques out there that will really enhance your painting, but those can be a bit advanced. I will give you some short tips I have learned and should be easy to apply:
I don't like quotations, tell me what you know. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
There's a fellow down here in Southern California that has a YouTube channel dedicated to painting - look for Dr Faust's Painting Clinic. He's a really nice guy in person, also.
Everyone else has given really solid advice so far - if you're painting the Reaper Bones miniatures, they don't need primer. I tried to prime a few and it didn't go well at all. If you're just starting out, my tips would be to paint from the inside-out - start with skin, then the clothes closest to the body, then the layers on top of that, etc etc. I like using Vallejo paints (the dropper bottles are awesome) and Citadel (GW) washes. Don't stress out over little details. Some techniques you'll learn by reading about them or watching a video, some you'll develop yourself as you go. You can always repaint something you're not happy with. When you do finish something you like, I'd invest in a can of spray sealant (like a matte varnish or similar - different folks use different things) to make sure that the paint doesn't start rubbing off immediately.
Good luck, and have fun!
yes, very much so