For many years now, my miniature painting palette could be described as dark, not grim, but certainly not bright. This had different reasons, anchored in “technique”, colour types and of course my neverending quest for simplification (aka laziness). However I began recently to rethink my apporach on miniature painting methods and I discovered some satisfaction and sense of achievement by using a brighter/lighter colour palette.
Please don’t mistake this post for a full fledged tutorial, since I don’t like to tutor (hah) people. There are a lot of very gifted miniature painters out there, especially on the usual platforms, far more capable to explain miniature painting techniques than I am. This is a brief POV on my approach to painting.
My traditional approach
My usual (former) painting process could be divided into the following steps. They come especially handy once I have to batch paint larger numbers of miniatures quickly.
Again, this is no tutorial and it is barely as helpfull as old “Eavy Metal” painting guides.
- prime black
- apply base colours
- shade basecolours with a lighter tone. Maybe use a shade/wash
- add details
- spent a ridiculous amount of time painting the face



Why such a dark mood?
There are several reasons, why I once turned to a dark-based colour palette.
The main reason was expediency.
Priming my miniatures black and working my way up through the different base colours had several advantages. For one, the black gave me “free shadows”, either through drybrushing the miniatures or if I applied different layers of colours. This way, I was able to quickly get a great number of miniatures playready.
I would later spend some time adding or emphasizing details on the models, thus dooming some of them to a state of limbo between playready and finished.
The “free shadow” aspect also allowed me to hide unpleasant accidents or missed spots : “that black spot is intentional *cough cough* “. White primer would be visible even at a distance.
If I ever needed a lighter primer, I’d use grey, almost never white.
In later projects, I drybrushed some light grey or even white on the black primer in order to emphasize highlights. Today people call this method “slapchop” ; I call it drybrush.
Using black primer always dulled down brighter colours, especially red, yellow and some types of green. Yellow for instance, always looked green-ish, required several layers of paint and looked still bad in the end. I solved the issue by using products with a more efficient coverage and that paired well with my existing colours. Or, in most cases, by avoiding those colours.
You may see several examples below. I tried to bring in some colour with the dark red and white heraldry for the skirmish warband. My Dark Ages warband got a monochrome grey and metall colour scheme. The only real colour being wood, leather and skin. Although the overall effect was sufficient, there was no real effort in it.




Why the change of hearts?
influenced by influencers
Like many of us, I follow several talented miniature painters and terrain crafters on their respective social media. A while back, I stumbled over a video by Goobertown Hobbies, in which Brent advocated for brightly coloured terrain. Although I prefer my terrain to have a more sombre and modest look, one of his ideas cought my mind : obvious colours make things stand out.
Another creator I like to follow, is the very entertaining Louise from Rogue Hobbies. Having started my tabletop wargaming career with Warhammer in the 90es, I have great appreciation for her oldhammer-style technique and above all for her abundant use of highly saturated colours.
Lastly, I’d like to make a special shoutout to some fellow wargaming friends, who invest a lot of time and patience (two aspects I so often lack) into their paintjobs.
new opportunities
The release of the new the Army Painter Fanatic range in 2024, opened the door to an opportunity. One of the many reasons, why I relied on darker tones in my colour choices, was the traditionnaly bad covering abilities of yellow, red and so one… aka the warm and bright colours. It takes a frustrating number of coates and drytime to get it right, … and I never got it right. AP Fanatics contain more pigment and (Lo and behold!) I actually managed to paint a miniature in bright yellow with a certain easy. After that, it was only a matter of shading and highlighting properly. You may see the result below. The wizard in bright robes was painted entirely with the new colours. The only shade I applied was a medium shade on the skin and staff. All other “shades” are the result of clever drybrushing, mixing colours and patient layering.
Oh, how I wept, dear reader! I cried with joy and praised the dice and paint gods!

Certainly, there are other brands with similar qualities. I know Eric is partial to Valejo colours, for instance. Louise from Rogues Hobbies once mentioned warcolours, a company creating a range similar to the old 90es citadel colours (still some of the best paints ever made). And I’m sure there are plenty more.
my own reasoning
The best argument in favor of light and bright colours in miniature painting is visibility. Terrain in tabletop wargames is often very crowded and kept in dark(er) shades. Especially if you play in a ruined city, a dark dungeon or a sombre forest. Painting our miniature in light and bright colours will make the stand out in the scenery. They don’t need to be camouflaged; they are no fun, if you can’t see them 😉
Furthermore, I can’t imagine myself painting large armies anymore. At this moment in my life, I have neither the time, nor the ambition to muster yet another large fighting force. That said, I find more joy in skirmish level games these days, than large scale battlefields. Consequently I can spend more time on smaller numbers of models, thus moving further than the “playready” level of work.
Make’em stand out
As mentionned above, one reason for bright colours, is to make them stand out more among the terrain pieces. We have to remember, that our miniatures are 25-30mm tall, usually on a 3×3 or 4×4 foot board. From the player perspective, it’s like a birdseye view.
Brighter paint will catch the eye more easily than a dark painted miniature among grey-ish terrain features. However, I try to keep a modicum of realism (as far as realism goes in fantasy games).
Below you see some examples to illustrate my reasoning.




Adapting my miniature painting technique
I am not ashamed to admit, that one reason behind my hesitation to change my miniature painting approach was fear: the fear to fail or mess up the little skill at my disposal. Unlike Eric, who always tries to discover and master new techniques, I rarely dare to leave my miniature painting comfort zone.
But sometimes you have to dive headfirst into the unknown. To my pleasant surprise, the changes I had to make were minimal.
Zenital for lazy people
As many miniature painter will point out, the priming step is crucial in any painting process. As mentioned above, I used to prime my miniatures black and added sometimes a grey drybrush. That works well, but might be improved.
Although I own an airbrush, I don’t like using it, since I lack a propper space to do so. I go outdoors and use a rattlecan.
My priming process may be divided into three steps and work with rattlecans and an airbrush. I call it “lazy zenital”. For simplicity I will elaborate using the rattlecan method. Again, nothing new here, all pretty standart and explained in many good youtube videos.
- Using black primer, I give the model(s) a first coat in black. Making sure to cover the areas thoroughly where “light” will hit the least, I give an extra layer to the “below” parts of the miniature.
- In a second step, I spray the model with grey (sometimes white) from a fix angle and from above. Thus the areas hit by “light” will be primed in lighter colours.
If I feel extra motivated, I might even use brush on primer to bring the details out even more. - Optionally I drybrush select areas with white colour. Especially if I intend to make these areas stand out more after the final paintjob.

Above you see an example of the primed model.
It’s the aforementionned reaper owlbeal. I intended to paint the fur in light brown colours. Therefore I used more of the gray primer spray over the black on. I paid extra attention to keep the “below” areas darker than the above areas.
After priming properly, I may happily apply my colours, without worrying, that the dark “free shadow” primer will dull my bright colour down.
less shading, more technique
I also changed my approach to shades and washes (aka liquid skill). I admit, that I relied to much on them. Especially since I was stuck in the 90es approach of using washes. Old citadel washes were great. Especially for skin or armor, less however for textiles or flat areas. Although I rarely was very satisfied with the result of newer shades and washes, I still used them extensively to get my models quickly on the battlefield.
Instead of drowning my miniatures in washes and whatnot (#nuln oil), I’d now take my time to paint shadows and highlights using proper paints. As mentionned above, for the wizard.
Refining technique is a lifelong process. I am not in a rush and I will enjoy (re-)learning to paint a miniature.
Take your time
Another important aspect is not to rush painting your miniature. Too often I sacrificed quality for speed. This required a lot of reprogramming my mindset. I took me a while to rediscover what actually made me fall in love with the hobby : creating a world of my own I am happy to look at, both miniatures and terrain.
These days, when I find some time to paint, I meditatively set up my painting area and take my time. It is not my abition to create a masterpiece. But I want to feel the satisfaction I experienced, when I took ages painting up (not always very expertly) a model in my early gaming days.
In that context, I decided to rework my High Elf army, which started in the 90es, in order to deploy them (hopefully) in all their glory for our Maughthrond Project.
Final thoughts
Again, this (surprisingly long) wall of text is not intended to be a tutorial. It is more an opinion piece aiming to give food for thought. Also, I am not going to be dogmatic about it (looking at you black vs white primer zealots).
As usual, I will end this contribution with “happy painting”. And that it should be: something that makes you happy.
I reached a point, where I am rethinking many aspects of this wargaming passion of mine. As Eric once pointed out in an older post, this is no bad thing. Priorities shift, life changes and the hobby evolves with it.
happy painting 😉
D.
Wise words my friend! Excellent read! 👍🏻
I completely understand your reasons for switching. I was at a convention this past weekend and one game in particular stood out for the bright colors on both the miniatures and the scenery.
nice. must have been a treat 🙂 thank you for reading my wall of text 🙂