Your First 10 Miniatures: A Learning Roadmap

Your First 10 Miniatures: A Practical Learning Roadmap for Beginners

Meta Description: Start your miniature painting journey right! This beginner's roadmap guides you through the first 10 models, building essential skills from basecoating to shading. Learn progressively and build confidence.

Embarking on your miniature painting journey is incredibly exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. Where do you even begin? Many beginners jump straight into complex techniques, get frustrated, and lose motivation. The secret to success is a structured, progressive approach. Think of your first ten miniatures not as ten separate projects, but as ten chapters in your personal training manual.

This roadmap is designed to build your skills one step at a time, ensuring that each model teaches you something new and builds your confidence for the next. Let's begin your journey.

The Philosophy: Progress, Not Perfection

The goal for these first ten models is skill acquisition, not creating masterpieces. Embrace mistakes as learning opportunities. Each mini is a stepping stone, and by the tenth, you'll be amazed at how far you've come.

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Miniatures 1-3: Mastering the Fundamentals

The goal here is to get comfortable with the core process: getting smooth, opaque paint from your pot to the model.

Model 1: The Basecoat

• Goal: Learn paint consistency and full coverage.

• Technique: Choose a simple, single-piece model. Focus on applying 2-3 thin, smooth basecoats of your main colors. Don't worry about shading or highlights. The victory is a clean, streak-free base layer.

• Focus: Thinning your paints with water and controlling your brush.

Model 2: The Wash (Liquid Skill)

• Goal: See how a wash can instantly create depth.

• Technique: After basecoating a new model, apply a commercial wash (like Citadel Nuln Oil or Agrax Earthshade) over the entire model. Watch as it flows into the recesses, defining details with minimal effort.

• Focus: Applying the wash neatly and controlling pooling on flat surfaces.

Model 3: Re-Layering

• Goal: Learn to bring back brightness after a wash.

• Technique: On your third model, after applying a wash, go back with your original basecoat color and paint the raised areas, avoiding the recesses where the wash settled. This simple step makes the model "pop."

• Focus: Brush control and understanding light/shadow relationships.

Miniatures 4-6: Introducing Intentional Highlights

Now we move beyond washes and start creating our own shadows and lights.

Model 4: Drybrushing

• Goal: Master a quick and effective highlighting technique.

• Technique: Choose a model with a lot of texture, like fur, chainmail, or rocky base. After basecoating and washing, use a drybrush to lightly apply a lighter color over the textures.

• Focus: The drybrush technique—removing almost all paint from the brush before applying it.

Model 5: Simple Edge Highlighting

• Goal: Practice precise brush control for definition.

• Technique: Pick a model with sharp, accessible edges (like armour plates). Using a fine brush, carefully run the side of your brush along the edges with a color slightly lighter than your basecoat.

• Focus: Steady hands and using the side of the brush for crisp lines.

Model 6: Combining Washes & Highlights

• Goal: Bring all previous skills together.

• Technique: On this model, execute the full basic process: Basecoat > Wash > Re-layer > Edge Highlight. This is your first complete "standard" paint job.

• Focus: Workflow and seeing how each step builds upon the last.

Miniatures 7-10: Branching Out and Refining

With the core skills in hand, it's time to tackle new challenges and materials.

Model 7: Painting Skin Tones

• Goal: Learn to blend on organic surfaces.

• Technique: Choose a model with a significant amount of exposed skin. Practice using a dedicated skin tone recipe, applying a wash, and gently re-layering and highlighting the muscular forms.

• Focus: Smooth transitions on curved surfaces.

Model 8: Painting Cloth & Fabric

• Goal: Understand how to paint soft, non-metallic materials.

• Technique: Pick a model with a large cloak or tunic. Practice creating highlights and shadows that follow the folds of the fabric, using softer blends than on hard armour.

• Focus: Visualizing how light falls on cloth.

Model 9: Basic Basing

• Goal: Make your model part of a world.

• Technique: Don't leave the base black! Glue on some sand or small rocks, paint it, and drybrush it. Add a tuft of static grass. This simple addition completes the story.

• Focus: Composition and creating a simple scenic element.

Model 10: The Capstone Project

• Goal: Apply every skill you've learned on one model.

• Technique: Choose a model you really like—a hero or character. Take your time and deliberately use every technique: basecoating, washing, layering, edge highlighting, and basing. This model is a celebration of your progress.

• Focus: Confidence and execution.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What if my first few models look terrible?

That is completely expected and normal! The first models are for learning, not for display. The goal is to understand the process. Keep them forever as a reminder of how much you've improved.

2. Do I need 10 different models, or can I practice on the same type?

Using the same type of model (e.g., 10 simple skeleton warriors) is an excellent idea! It allows you to focus purely on the technique without being distracted by the model's form. This is called "batch painting" and is highly efficient for learning.

3. I'm stuck on a step (like edge highlighting). Should I move on?

It's okay to acknowledge a skill needs more work. If you're really struggling, paint another model focusing on the same technique before moving to the next step in the roadmap. The roadmap is a guide, not a rigid rulebook.

4. How long should I spend on each model?

For the first few, maybe 1-2 hours. As you add techniques, it might take 3-4 hours. Don't rush. The time invested in practicing correctly is what builds muscle memory and skill.

5. What paints and brushes do I need to start?

You don't need a huge collection. A starter set from a major brand (like Army Painter or Vallejo) with about 10-15 colors is perfect. For brushes, start with a size 1 and a size 00 synthetic brush for details. A cheap, larger brush for basecoating and drybrushing is also useful.

6. Can I skip steps if I feel confident?

Absolutely! This roadmap is for beginners who feel lost. If you already have some experience with a technique, feel free to consolidate steps or move faster. The key is to ensure you have a solid foundation before tackling more complex projects.

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Conclusion

Your first ten miniatures are the most important ones you will ever paint. They are the foundation upon which all your future skills will be built. By following this structured roadmap, you replace anxiety with purpose and randomness with progress. Remember, every expert painter was once a beginner holding their first model. The difference is they started, they practiced, and they persevered. So pick up that first miniature, thin your paint, and embark on your journey. You have a roadmap to guide you, and an amazing hobby awaits.

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