For people with an interest in the arts, there are a lot of activities available to exercise their  creativity for a little while in a small space like a dorm room, from coloring books to fiber arts and having fun with air-dry clay. Recently, several people I know have started painting miniature figures, and I decided to give it a go myself.

There are a multitude of miniature figures available to choose from. They’re generally associated with table-top roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons, but several other franchises have their own minis, including video games like Darkest Dungeon or the ever-popular Dark Souls series. You can also find several unique figures on sites like Etsy, where many shops produce their own 3D printed models. Unfortunately, they can sometimes be a bit expensive, but Amazon has some affordable sets that would likely keep you busy for quite a while.

They generally come in a dull gray or brown color, primed and ready for a coat of paint. However,  I still recommend using a multi-surface paint and top coat to ensure the paint will stay intact. They also commonly have a wider base to ensure the minis can stand on their own, which is sometimes black even when the figures themselves are a lighter color. I personally think the black base helps the finished product look more polished, so I opted to paint it black on any models I had where that wasn’t already the case.

While some are reasonably large, such as the adult dragon minis from Wizards of the Coast, which can sometimes reach around eight inches tall, a majority of minis are quite small. This includes the humanoid figures, which are typically about one to two inches in height.

This, of course, means that there are a lot of incredibly small details, requiring a set of fine detail brushes and very precise brush strokes. As a result, slight mistakes can become frustrating, since they are often difficult to fix. Unlike painting on a canvas, where you can generally wait for the paint to dry before adding another layer on top to correct it, one mistake can often lead to a snowballing of many tiny errors while trying to get it to look just right.

However, there are a number of techniques that can make the process much easier and more enjoyable. Dry brushing the entire mini with a coat of opaque black paint can help bring out the shadows, such as in folds of fabric, and you’ll only have to worry about being precise in the most visible areas. Another popular method is dry brushing the areas the light would touch with a light gray after painting the figure entirely black. Then, use a low-opacity paint on top. The black will naturally cause the paint to appear in a darker tone, forming shadows, and the gray will create highlights.

The process of painting a single mini can take a long time, especially if you’re trying to get every detail exactly right. It took me about three hours to paint just the shield of one model, since I continuously mixed slightly different shades of paint and went back over it. Painting minis is a process that requires a significant amount of focus and patience, so you may not enjoy it as much if you prefer to work quickly. Still, I had a great experience, and it was very satisfying to watch the figures slowly come to life!