Mithril Painting Guide

- Mithril Painting Guide.

Mithril Miniatures offer a rewarding and challenging range of Middle-earth figures for painting. The animation and dynamism of the figures rewards a careful approach, and the challenge is to attempt to remain true to the colour schemes described and implied in Tolkien's books.
To begin, a small amount of material is required.

For initial cleaning of the miniature of residual flash , a scalpel, Stanley knife and perhaps, a needle file will be useful.

For assembly, some 'super glue', possibly an amount of epoxy filler or modelling clay, such as Milliput, Duro or Das, and in some very rare instances, a modelling drill and brass wire to 'pin' heavy portions of a figure together.

For 'priming' the miniature ready for painting proper, use either some spray primer, available in a selection of colours, or a more traditional one from a jar. This initial overall coat provides a 'key' for paint, makes paint on top of it brighter and aids the paint in adhering to the metal making it less likely to chip off.

Paints: there are several alternatives all of which have their devotees, but acrylic miniature paints provide the modern, non-toxic, water-based, quick-drying and versatile option. Available in any numbers of colours and inherently clean and bright, they are easy to use and provide a good depth of colour. This of course is a personal choice and alternatives include enamels, oils, inks etc.It is sometimes beneficial to try various colours and mediums from different manufacturers, but a good initial selection would consist of about twelve acrylic colours.
See our range of paints.

Brushes: not as many are needed as one might suppose. One #OO, for detail requiring a good point, one #1, for covering larger areas and one #3 or #4, for priming, washing, drybrushing and generally treating badly. See our range of brushes

Peripherals: a space to work at, a good light source, kitchen roll and clean water in a jar. Theoretically, two water jars are often recommended, one being the cleaning water and the other to use as a mixing agent, in practice, however, this does not happen. Ensuring a regular supply of fresh water is sufficient, particularly after contamination with metallic paints.

Varnish: either spray or from a jar, gloss or matt. Use sparingly in all cases to avoid cloudiness, and even matt varnish has sheen. Gloss is more hard wearing and can be turned matt by a further coat of matt over the top once the initial application is dry.

It is best to completely assemble a miniature before priming and painting. It is also best and more economical to work from a suitable base colour applied over the whole of the miniature in most cases, this will usually be a neutral colour sympathetic to the final desired colour scheme. Deciding on a range of colours to use initially will cut down on trial and error sessions later on.

Deciding where the main interest in the figure lies before painting also saves time and effort. Getting large areas and washes out of the way first and then moving on to more detailed parts reduces accidents and overprinting. Sticking miniatures to a small piece of thick card with Blue-tack reduces handling. Preparing and priming more than one miniature at a time will stop long sessions of watching paint dry.

Painting miniatures is not about skill; it's about mastering the following techniques;

Coating: Giving an area an opaque layer of paint; primary colours with no white content, i.e., red or yellow may need an initial base of white before applying the coat.

Washing: a mixing of paint with water so that it is transparent when applied and freely runs into the recesses of the miniature. It must not be too watery, or it will run all the way down the figure and onto your hands. Colours with a large component of white pigment, (opaque colours), do not make good washing colours.

Drybrushing: Painting with pigment where the vehicle, (i.e., moisture), has been removed from the brush with a tissue. Technique to be used sparingly as it ruins brushes and can produce an unpleasant chalky texture. Mastery of this technique though, can produce magical results.

Highlighting: Gradual increments of progressively lighter tones graduating towards the protruding parts of the miniature. The technique is the one most commonly used in miniature painting to best effect. It is good to consider whilst highlighting that adding black to a colour does not make it deeper, but darker; similarly, adding white to a colour does not make it lighter, but whiter.

Do Remember
Painting is a skilful art and only time and effort will bring results. Being prepared to make mistakes and learning from errors is the key.
It does take time to become good at painting and if you expect perfect results first time you are going to be very disappointed and somewhat discouraged. Practice makes perfect!. More on Paints

Mithril Miniatures, Kilnamartyra, Macroom, Co. Cork, Ireland
Tel 353-26-40222, Fax 353-26-40004
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The Watcher Logo for Tolkien Enterprises. The Watcher logo, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and the names of the characters, events, items and places therein, are trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises under license to Mithril Miniatures since 1987.