Painting Tips: 🎨 What if you could just get started with 7 colors?

 🎨 What if you could just get started start with 7 colors?

Yes I know. You need to start painting those minis. You just got these awesome Holy Blades from Raging Heroes, but you haven't found time to sit down for - what you expect to be - long hours of painting... But wait: what if you could get started quickly and make them stand out right away, with just a small step at time?

Let's say you have a game session next week with your fellow wargamers. It's been so long and you want to show off these great new Paladin figures in your Dungeon Game. The models are beautiful and epic, you assembled them but for some reason they are not painted yet. The evil bosses of the dungeon are laughing at them...

So let's move on. There is no reason not to play and have fun in this next session: set yourself the challenge of having them painted!

" PAINTED ??!! I don't have time! "

Yeah I know, but I didn't mean fully painted yet . For the next game session, you could have them painted only with the base colors: it's very simple, neither lights nor shadows nor complicated details or effects. You will see the difference and your friends too.

Just start by choosing your color scheme and separate it into a few colors, no more than 7.

For this example on the Holy Blades:

1 - Skin and Leathers
2 - Sword
3 - Hair
4 - Armour
5 - Clothes
6 - Red clothes
7 - Skulls

And there you go, just with your 7 colors:

Your Paladins will be more successful in their battles for sure! 

It's not much, but they already look way better on the gaming table! Just with these base colors, and a few hours of painting. Then you probably want to apply a wash to accentuate the shadows and reliefs. But this is the painting level that many of the pre-painted miniatures have. They look good enough and are ready to play.

Now you can go even a few steps further. Without pressure, because now you've already went through the most difficult step, base colors.

Next step: shading and details

Applying shading inks will not take that long. You want to make sure you apply the correct tones on the surfaces according to the base colors you choosed.

For this example, you can use: 
- sepia inks for the skin and the golden armor,
- black ink for the clothes and the sword
- blue ink for the hair, it will give a beautiful contrast with the gold of the armor, and look stunning!

And once again, you will notice the difference it makes just with this little step further.The model has gained in details and depth, compared to the previous step (base colors only).

You may have noticed that it has lost a bit of brightness, but that can be fixed by applying a few highlights ... or you can do that later, after the next game session, now it's time to play!

 

By applying lights and highlighting details, you will give even more life to your miniatures.

Remember... you're the only one setting up the limits. Don't pressure yourself yet to work on these great details, it's ok to leave it like this for now. If you don't feel ready yet to paint that eye so small, or those tiny details, just take a break, breathe and enjoy what has already been achieved.

Internet is an inexhaustible source of tutorials and painting guides that will help you achieve that technical safety, everything else is experience.

We hope this tutorial will inspire you to finally start painting!
Any suggestions or ideas? How do you set-up your painting workflow?

Don't hesitate to share your thoughts in comments.