With how popular miniature painting is, it’s easy to see why so many people are trying it out for the first time. They’ll be learning how to refine their craft and do it better.
That’s why it’s always worth looking into some miniature painting tips. They can help you take your craft to the next level and do amazing work. Even if you’ve been doing it for a while, it could still be worth taking advantage of them. If you do, you’ll see more than a few benefits:
- Painting miniatures to a much better standard
- Getting a lot more creative than you otherwise would
- Being able to relax more when you’re doing it
- Taking more pride in what you’ve created
These can all be more than enough to strive toward. With the right tips, you shouldn’t have a problem seeing them. With ten great tips, you’ll get there before you know it.
Image Credit: Elena Mozhvilo from Unsplash
Miniature Painting Tips: 10 Top Picks
1. Don’t Overthink It
When starting a new miniature painting project, you’ll need to make a few decisions. Which miniatures you’ll paint, if there’s a theme, what color palette you use, and more will be part of this.
While these all need to be thought about, it shouldn’t have to be too complicated. Don’t overthink it, as this could make it all less enjoyable.
Go with your gut instinct instead. If you feel right going with a certain decision, then go with that decision. Remember you’re the one in charge, and you’ll want to do it your way. There’s no right or wrong decision, so there’s no reason to overthink how it’ll work out.
2. Take Pride In Your Art
Miniature painting is an art form in itself. No matter how you do it, or how well you do it, nothing changes that fact.
It takes a lot of time and effort to do to any kind of high standard. It’s worth keeping that in mind no matter what you’re doing. It’s something you should take pride in. This helps you stay positive when you’re doing it, as well as pushing you to do better and better.
Even if your miniatures don’t turn out exactly how you wanted, you should still be proud of them. They’ll be your creation after all.
3. Learn Theories & Concepts
There are quite a few theories and concepts in miniature painting. These are designed to help you do a great job when you start painting miniatures.
While they can seem a little overwhelming at the start, they can help you quite a bit. It’s worth investing in them quite a bit, as you should end up painting a lot better than you used to. It could take you a little time to master them, but it’ll be more than worth it as you keep improving.
There’s no reason not to look into them at the start.
4. Pick An Element To Stand Out
When you’re painting a miniature, it’s natural to have a specific color palette in mind with them. When you’re copying official sources, it can be quite helpful.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t deviate every once in a while. Getting creative should help you make your miniatures even nicer. One of the best ways to do this is picking an element to stand out. While what you can pick differs from miniature to miniature, it’s still worth looking at.
It’ll make the miniature more attention-grabbing, and it could stand out even more because of it. You might even like the miniature more because of it.
5. Get Inspired
You’ll always want your miniatures to look amazing when you’re done with them. That’s why you could follow specific instructions and follow a certain look.
Sometimes, it’s worth going out of your way and getting creative with it, however. Getting inspiration from other sources could help you come up with unique color palettes that make your miniatures stand out more. Even the likes of Spider Solitaire could be enough to help with this.
While this mightn’t be the official way of painting them, it could still make them look amazing and stand out from the crowd. I like to use my surroundings as inspiration to my artwork – from florals and leaves and the beautiful island I call home. Honestly, even your nails could be inspiration.
6. Step Away From Social Media
Social media is a great way to connect with other people interested in miniature painting. It’s even great for getting advice and help when you’re starting.
That doesn’t mean it’s always a good thing, however. Social media could lead to you comparing yourself to others when you’re still starting. This could mean you wouldn’t feel great about your miniatures when you should. It might be worth stepping away from social media to prevent this.
It’ll let you relax a little more about it and focus on painting your miniatures and painting them. You’ll be better off that way.
7. Never Apologize
When you’re painting your miniatures, you’ll want to do so in a way that makes you happy. You’ll want to make them look the way you want them to look.
As nice as they’ll be, it doesn’t mean everyone will like them. Everyone has their specific preferences, and there’ll be some people who simply wouldn’t like the way you’ve painted yours. This isn’t something you should feel bad about or apologize for. Remember that it’s just their personal preference.
What matters more is whether you like how they’ve turned out and whether they make you happy.
8. Seek Constructive Criticism
It never hurts to find out what other people think of your miniature painting. Constructive criticism can often be a great way to improve.
The key to this is making sure it’s constructive criticism. Talk to someone who knows a lot about miniature painting, and see what they think about your latest project. They could offer you more than a few tips and tricks to help you with this. This could help you keep getting better.
There are plenty of forums and online communities where you can do this if you don’t know anyone who can help you in person.
9. Remember Failure Is Okay
When you’re first starting, it’s natural for your miniatures not to turn out the way you had intended. They might be as nice as you’d want them to be.
Remember this is a natural part of getting into miniature painting, and it happens to everyone. Try not to see this as a failure. Instead, it’s a learning opportunity and a way for you to figure out how to get better in the future. You’ll be much better off going forward by thinking that way.
Don’t let it dissuade you from trying again. See it as an experience you can use to improve your skills.
10. Keep Pushing Yourself
As you get a little more experienced with miniature painting, you’ll master the basics. That’s a great step and it’s something to be proud of.
It doesn’t mean you should stop with that, however. Even when you’re happy with how far you’ve come, it could still be worth pushing yourself. The theories and concepts mentioned above can be improved upon, and you could even learn more. You’ll learn how to paint your miniatures to a better standard, and even in different ways.
With the benefits this offers, there’s no reason not to keep pushing yourself.
Miniature Painting Tips: Wrapping Up
Getting into miniature painting can always be a great idea, and you’ll always want to get better and better at it. With the right miniature painting tips, you shouldn’t have a problem doing this. You’ll end up enjoying it much more and having miniatures you can be proud of.
Disclaimer: This is a collaborative post. All opinions are my own, 100% honest & unbiased. Affiliate links are posted throughout. Feel free to read my Disclaimer Page for details and information on sponsored posts, affiliate links, and more.
