Painting Minis with a Starter Set
by dave
I am always looking for new products and experimenting with different techniques when painting miniatures. With the release of the Army Painter’s Warpaints Fanatic range and watching many a good review on YouTube, I wanted to take the plunge and see just how good these paints are. I ordered the Fanatic Starter which comes with 11 paints with a very limited colour palette.
I wanted to get the most out of the starter set so I set myself a challenge to only use the paints included in the starter set and set about painting 4 survivor miniatures from one of my favourite franchises, Zombicide, specifically Zombicide 2nd Edition.
The included paints are very limited but I knew with a bit of creativity I could achieve some nice colours by mixing what I had. This is not a guide on how to mix colours as there is loads of reference material online. I didn’t follow anything specifically, instead I just used my wet palette and got experimenting by pushing paint around.
The colours included are perfect for creating a variety of colours. I was particularly impressed with just how good the Daemonic Yellow is as yellow as it is quite opaque and great for coverage and easy to mix.
Disclaimer, I had already primed these miniatures with a black primer, however I brushed on the included primer on another Zombicide survivor and was pleased with the results.
I gave each survivor a drybrush with Matt White so I could see the details. My most used technique for painting miniatures involves blocking in a base coat, applying a wash, then highlighting and picking out details. I make the blocking in stage extremely messy and just want to get it done. I hide my mistakes with a wash. The Army Painter’s Strong Tone is brilliant for doing this and dulling down your base coat. I have always been a fan of The Army Painters washes and their Strong Tone is certainly a rival for the ever popular Citadel Agrax Earth Shade.
I would describe myself as a messy painter who is rarely consistent in terms of quality and applied techniques. Probably my most consistent part of painting is getting the base coat on as fast as I can and fixing it later. The miniatures are not that appealing at this stage but a wash and picking out certain features draws the eyes away from my sloppy base coat.
I use my handy wet palette which I have previously provided a tutorial on how to create one on the PATM website. It is almost essential for experimenting with mixing colours.
When I mixed up my colours, I didn't use ratios or guides, I simply started mixing and adjusting until I found what worked. I have always relied on skin tone colours when painting flesh however I found with a drop of Pure Red into some Daemonic Yellow, dulled down with some Leather Brown then lightened with Matt White gives some great shades of flesh. I had no consistency with my flesh tone but it came out looking how I wanted it to.
The survivor Elle has a crimson like colour jacket in the official art, I went for a more purple/crimson combo which came out rather nice. Her tan pants are a little too skin tone for me but it was nice experimenting with what I could produce. Leather Brown is such a good paint to mix other colours with and the quality of these paints makes it fun and enjoyable, infact all the tested paints mixed extremely well together.
The final result although a little rough around the edges has come out rather pleasing. I tend to focus on small details to draw the eye. For example, Elle’s face and her eyes, Crazy Ned and his Checkered Shirt, Josh and his face mask and I particularly like how Wanda came out in all aspects but especially her hair. Leather Brown is such a great base for those earthy and natural tones.
I never thought I would be able to achieve such nice results with a very limited colour palette. The Primary Colours of Red (Pure Red), Yellow (Daemonic Yellow) and Blue (Ultramarine Blue) are the foundation for almost unlimited possibilities. Add some Black (Matt Black) and White (Matt White) and you can create all sorts of variations. I had limited use of the two metallic paints, Greedy Gold and Plate Mail Metal but I was extremely impressed with their ease of use.
The Army Painter have developed and excellent paint range with their Warpaints Fanatic range. I am a convert and will hope to get some more of these paints in the future. I have also learnt I don’t need countless shades of paints when painting miniatures as I can have fun experimenting with only a few colours. Saying that, I am 99% a hobbyist so that isn't going to stop me from acquiring more paints down the line to add to my enormous collection of paints.
Feel free to leave a comment below and tell us what you have achieved by creating your own colours. I am wishing to take my experiments further.