Miniature Painting Supplies: What You Actually Need to Start

Prepping to paint your first miniature can feel more intimidating than the painting itself. Walk into a hobby shop or browse online and you're hit with dozens of brush sizes, paint lines, glues, and gadgets — most of which you don't need on day one. This guide cuts through that noise and covers the actual miniature painting supplies worth buying when you're starting out, plus a few miniature painting tools that make the process smoother without draining your wallet.

Brushes: The Tools That Matter Most

Your brush is the single most important tool in your kit, more than any specific paint brand. For painting miniatures for beginners, you really only need three:

A medium round brush (size 1 or 2) for base coating and general work

A fine detail brush (size 0 or 00) for eyes, small trim, and tight recesses

A cheap "dry brush" — an old, worn-down brush you don't mind ruining, used for drybrushing highlights

Spend a little more on the detail brush since it holds a point the longest, but don't feel pressured into a premium set right away. A brush that comes to a sharp point when wet and holds its shape is all you're looking for.

Paints: Building a Starter Palette

You don't need 50 paint pots to finish your first model. A workable starter palette is:

2-3 base colors (skin, cloth/armor, a metal tone)

1-2 wash or shade paints (a brown and a black work for almost everything)

A basic highlight color or two to lighten your base colors

Acrylic paints designed for miniatures are the standard — they're thinned for small-scale detail and dry quickly between coats. Washes (thinned, ink-like paints that pool into recesses) are arguably the highest-impact purchase for a beginner, since they add depth and shadow to a model almost automatically.

Prepping Your Miniature: Cleanup and Priming

This step gets skipped by a lot of newcomers, and it's the one that most affects how the finished piece looks. Every kit — resin, plastic, or metal — needs some cleanup before paint goes on:

A hobby knife or fine clippers to remove mold lines and any small flash left over from casting

A fine-grit sanding stick or sponge to smooth seams after cleanup

Primer (spray or brush-on) to give the surface "tooth" so paint actually adheres

CastForge kits ship unpainted and unassembled in grey resin specifically so you're working from a clean, uncommitted surface — no factory paint job to strip, no plastic sheen to fight through. Grey resin also happens to be one of the easiest surfaces to prime evenly, since the neutral color makes it obvious where coverage is thin.

Essential Extras: Glue and a Decent Work Surface

A few small items round out the kit:

Plastic or resin cement / superglue, depending on your kit's material, for assembly

A cutting mat or old placemat to protect your table and keep small parts from rolling away

A wet palette or a simple ceramic tile to keep paint workable longer — acrylics dry fast, and a wet palette prevents a lot of wasted paint

A container of water and some paper towel for rinsing and blotting brushes between colors

None of this needs to be expensive. A $5 cutting mat and a repurposed tile do the same job as pricier hobby-branded versions.

A Simple Painting Process for Beginners

Once your tools and paints are assembled, the actual workflow is straightforward:

1. Clean up mold lines and assemble any parts that are easier to paint separately

2. Prime the model

3. Apply base colors in thin, even coats

4. Add a wash to bring out shadows and recesses

5. Highlight raised edges to bring back contrast

6. Seal with a varnish once you're happy with the result

You don't need to nail every step perfectly the first time. Miniature painting is a skill that improves fast with repetition, and even a "good enough" first attempt looks a lot better on a shelf than an unpainted model on a sprue.

If you want inspiration or more in-depth technique breakdowns, our blog covers specific painting methods, product comparisons, and tips as we publish them — worth a look once you've got your basic kit assembled and want to go further.

Getting Started Without Overbuying

The honest truth is that most beginners overbuy paint and underbuy good brushes. Start small: two or three brushes, a handful of paints, a hobby knife, primer, and glue. You can always expand your palette once you know what colors you reach for most. If you're ready to pick out a first model to practice on, our full range of unpainted resin kits and miniatures is a good place to browse — grey resin models are ideal for beginners since they show every brushstroke clearly, which makes it much easier to see what's working and what to adjust next time.

Conclusion

Getting started in miniature painting doesn't require a full workshop — it requires a few good brushes, a small paint selection, basic cleanup tools, and a model worth practicing on. Build your kit gradually, focus on process over perfection, and the rest follows with practice.