Beginners Painting Toolkit

While you can get away with nothing more than a spray can for priming, as soon as you want to put more paint on your models you're going to need some additional tools. Let’s look at what your core set of painting tools should include.

The Core Toolkit

Brushes

While natural sable hair brushes are the best of the best, you absolutely should not buy these when you're new to the hobby. They're relatively expensive, and for that money you get longevity when cared for. You will destroy your first brushes, probably your second and third set too. Don't start with sable. If it makes you feel better, many top painters still use synthetic brushes for a wide variety of painting tasks

Start with synthetic brushes. Golden taklon is my preferred material as it has a good stiffness and maintains its shape well. 

Brushes come in a variety of sizes. Its tempting to start with small brushes, size 0 and smaller, because, well, miniatures are small. This is a mistake that can kill your motivation to paint more miniatures. So, what size brushes should you have in a minimal toolkit:

• Size 5 or 6 round brush; a larger brush is a must. This is for basecoating where you need to cover large areas of the model quickly. It's also great for all-over washes or contrast paints.
• Size 2 or 3 round brush; I like a brush in this range for more precise washes. It's able to hold a reasonable amount of paint while being more precise.
  
• Size 0 round brush; I know I said it's a mistake to start with a size 0, but the mistake is to use if for everything. Having a brush of this size in your toolkit is absolutely necessary for detail work and edge highlighting. 
• Drybrush; Drybrushes come in many shapes and sizes. My preference is for a stubby round brush. I've seen these sold as "scrumblers" in art and craft stores. Small makeup brushes are popular with many people. These are the roughest of rough brushes so buy a few cheap options and see what shapes and materials you prefer.

Left to right: sizes 5, 3, and 0, a round drybrush, and a flat drybrush

 You may have to experiment with brushes. Different brands are longer or shorter, and may have different behaviours. If you don't like a certain brand, buy something different. Don't throw out the brushes you don't like though, there's always some type of rough work they can be used for.

Water pot

Use an old jam jar, a coffee mug, there isn't a lot to say here. There's absolutely no reason to buy a special water pot other than because you like the look of it. Functionally any cup that can hold a few inches of water will work great as long as you remember to refresh it with clean water on a regular basis.

Palette

This is the one area where I recommend going a bit beyond a true beginners toolkit. One of my biggest frustrations when I start painting was how quickly the paint dried out on my palette.  Being introduced to wet palettes was a game changer. 

 

The everlasting wet palette from Redgrassgames

A wet palette is simply a shallow tray with a thin sponge and you can easily make one at home. The tray is filled with water which the sponge absorbs. You then place a piece of unwaxed (this is vital!) parchment paper on top of the wet sponge. It'll try to curl up, run your fingers around the edges a few times and work the bubbles to the edges. You now have a wet palette. It allows water to gradually seep up through the parchment paper, keeping the paint from drying out so you can work with it for much longer.

Pitfall: I can't overstate how important it is that the parchment paper you use is unwaxed. Wax is hydrophobic, it repels water, and waxed parchment paper will not allow moisture to reach the paint and keep them workable.

While a wet palette may stop your paint drying out for days, the paint will become increasingly diluted and may separate. I've also found some paints take on a curdled texture after sitting on a wet palette for too long. Think of a wet palette as something that keeps paints workable over a single painting session, not something that will keep your paint workable for days. 

Paints

There are many options when it comes to miniature paints. The main guidance I can provide is to steer clear of craft paints and really anything that isn't specifically for miniatures. Miniature paints are designed with finer pigments in higher densities. This enables you to achieve extremely thin layers that preserve detail, while still maintaining vibrant colours.

You can mix and match across the many brands without any issue. Games Workshop's Citadel paints are ubiquitous and while their flip top pots are appallingly bad, the paint itself is on the upper half of the quality scale. Reaper, Vallejo, and Army Painter are common in the US and all of reasonable quality.

The main thing is to avoid acquiring an overly large collection of paints right when you start. Buy the colours you have a plan for and expand your collection as you find yourself needing specific other colours. 

 

Left to right: AK enamel wash, Golden Flourescent Pink, Reaper MSP Rosy Highlight, Citadel Grey Seer, ScaleColour Inktense Yellow, and Vallejo Game Color Black

Bonus Items

There are a few extra things it can be good to have. They're not absolutely critical and you can paint without them, but they may improve your experience. I'll list them briefly.

• Brush soap; many people consider this a must. While you're using cheap synthetic brushes it's not critical, but it can extend their life and help break up any paint that dries on the brush.
• Painting handle; handling the model while the paint is only recently dried can rub paint off, a painting handle makes it easy to hold the model without actually touching it.
• Lighting; the number of models I've seen painted in poorly lit hobby stores is testament to the fact you don't need a great light. However it'll save you straining your eyes and if you get a daylight spectrum light, it'll help you see the colours you're applying accurately.