Now you’re right at the start of deciding what to do. Looking on the shelf, you see a “Learn to Paint Kit-1: Armor & Fur”. You read the box and it notes that it includes the following: 2 brushes, 9 Pro-Paints, and 2 highly detailed pewter miniatures.” Paint included is; Dragon White, Dragon Black, Truesilver, Dragon Blue, Walnut, Woodland Brown, Emerald, Caucasian and Firehawk Red. The figures are an Anhurian Man-at-Arms and a Barrow Rat. Picture your typical city guard and a giant dire rat. For brushes, we have one for normal details, a ‘normal’ brush and a flat brush. A good deal in and of itself, but how does it actually work?
Well, the first thing is that there is in preparation and I feel that the instructions fail a little here. See, starting off a figure right is one of the keys to doing less work latter. All we’re told is that you should wash them carefully to remove any dust. Good advice in and of itself because sometimes miniatures also get oils from your hands on them which can cause the paint to refuse to stick to a certain point.
When looking at preparation, it doesn’t mention anything that might be a little less basic. For example, it doesn’t mention how to fix a sword if it’s bent. It doesn’t define what flak and flash are and how to handle them. I’m no expert painter, but for me, flak is a larger piece of metal that can usually be flicked off while flash is excessive metal in the form of a line on the figure where the mold meets. To remove flash, you usually need a sharp hobby blade.
But if the figures are perfectly cast, that’s probably not too much of an issue. Looking over the Man-at-Arms, I see that his shield has some flak and there’s some flak on his base, both on top of it and under it. Since I’m reviewing this as a starter would, I remove the flak with my hands knowing I’ll have to wash them for sure now. The rat has a little excess flash on the underside of his tail but that’s it. Both figures have minimum flash and look like they’re some of the first from the mould.
I’ve been told that when you get a figure whose details are a little muted and has massive flash lines, that it’s because the mould is either old or hasn’t been cleaned in a while. As these are older figures, either my box is very old, or these moulds have been kept very clean.
What’s more, there’s no primer. No primer is not a must by any measure but I’ve always found that it helps the paint stick better to the figures. Instead, they recommend that that you use some white mixed with a little water and leave it to dry. So after washing and drying the figures, I prep them with some white paint and some water. The recipe here is two parts of water to one part white paint. Which brings up some other problems.
When trying to cater to someone with no skills or information on something, assume nothing. To mix that paint, you’ll need a tile or something that you can put the paint onto. In addition, if these are your only two brushes, you’ll need to use a toothpick or use the flat brush very lightly, because mixing paint, even with water, can damage the brushes.
Being a little more familiar with paints then the assumed level, I do use my mixing station and old brushes to not only mix the paint with water, but to apply it. Another important thing to note is that you’ll want to make sure that the paint is thin and goes on easily. See, even if it looks like the white paint isn’t holding, it’s better to use multiple layers. This insures that you don’t obscure the details on the miniature and allows future coats to go on easier.
The instructions are four pages total but are done on one sheet of paper folded, almost like a greeting card in landscape format. The instructions after the preparation are better. Each one is broken down into five steps. Each one covers a specific area of the figure and rely on terms introduced on the front page.
Terms introduced on the front page, start with drybrushing, where you dip the brush into the paint and then wipe away the majority of the paint on a paper towel or other absorbent material, and then brush it onto the figure. You can change the amount of paint by brushing harder or softer against the miniature. The bad news, which isn’t noted here, is that drybrushing quickly destroys your brushes. This is best reserved for a brush designed for it or an older brush.
The next term, is washing. Here, you take paint and water, usually a two to one, or a three to one ratio, and apply it to the figure. The idea is that this is a darker mix than the surface color on the figure and this wash will flow into the cracks and folds of the miniature to bring out the depth of the figure.
One thing not mentioned, which I’ve learned is important, is thinning your paints when applying the paint. I’ve heard that the paints, even in Reaper’s Master Line series, are just a touch too thick and that applying a little water is important to insure that the paint flows.
What’s worse is that there are no tips on handling your brush. This is bad as brushes, well, good brushes anyway, are expensive and require a little care and feeding. Quick tip; don’t dip the whole brush into the pot. You only want enough of the brush in there to get the tip. In addition, when cleaning the brush, don’t smash it against the water, just swirl it around and remove the paint with a paper towel. Don’t leave the brushes in water overnight. If the brushes come with covers, keep them and use them. These little things will add to the life of your brushes.
For those who want a very basic starter set, check here: http://www.reapermini.com/?nav=The%20Craft&sub=Paint&article=beginner1 from the Reaper guys themselves.
Now in terms of detail, the instructions provide some good color combinations and ideas on how best to use drybrushing and shading for a newcomer. However, they leave out repetition. For example, the first step defines that when using drybrushing and washing, that you have to allow the wash to dry before going back in to drybrush and pick out the details. It doesn’t mention that in further steps where it just refers to which colors to apply the technique to.
I can easily see someone looking at the instructions and painting the armored parts of the Man-at-Arms silver then washing them with Dragon Black and then drybrushing it with Truesilver before the Dragon Black wash has dried. Repetition is one of the keys to teaching.
The instructions are simple. This is great for those who may be intimidated by seeing a whole book of instructions or fearing that the vocabulary would use specialized terms. They also offer variety. For example, when painting the eyes of the Man-at-Arms, they suggest painting the eye Walnut, then a little Dragon White strip, then a dot of Dragon Black for the pupil. For the rat, they could’ve did the same thing, suggesting the use of Firehawk Red as opposed to the white, but instead, they have you Paint the eye Firehawk Red and then dot the center with Dragon Black, but then you wash the eye with Dragon Black.
The kit, in and of itself, can be used to fully paint the two miniatures. I’ll try to upload them somewhere to show off what the kit teaches you to do using just the two brushes provided and the nine paints provided.
Overall, I rate the instructions a C- in terms of complete coverage to a newcomer. They are a foundation on which to build, but need to spend much more time dealing with the very basics of miniature handling. Perhaps even on a separate sheet so that the instructions for these miniatures don’t have to be changed.
If it were changed however, larger photos would be fantastic. There is a lot of detail on the Man-at-Arms and it’s easy to forget some strap or something while painting. Having a larger, fully painted illustration with the base colors noted, would be great.
In terms of good things, the set is a good deal. Nine good paints, two brushes and two figures in one package with some starter instructions, is a good thing. The retail value of the material is something like $38.00 for only $25.95.
