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Starting miniature painting can feel like you need to get everything just right before you even begin. You watch a few YouTube videos and suddenly it seems like everyone owns a dedicated hobby room, expensive lighting, custom paint racks, and hundreds of dollars worth of tools.
You don’t.
One of the biggest misconceptions about miniature painting is that you need a perfect workspace before you can paint your first model. The truth is much simpler: you need a comfortable place to sit, a few basic supplies, and the willingness to begin.
Your workspace will grow naturally as you grow in the hobby. Mine certainly did.
A Place to Sit Is Enough
You don’t need a dedicated hobby desk.
A kitchen table, a computer desk, a folding table, or even a cleared-off corner of a counter works perfectly well.
The important thing is simply having enough room to:
- Rest your hands comfortably
- Keep your miniature and paints nearby
- Set down a cup of water and a paper towel
- Focus without constantly moving things out of the way
If you can leave your project set up between painting sessions, that’s wonderful—but don’t let the lack of a permanent workspace stop you from getting started.
Painting your first miniature is far more important than building your dream hobby desk.
What You Actually Need
Let’s keep this simple.
To paint your first miniature, you only need:
- A miniature
- A brush
- Some paint
- A cup of water
- A paper towel
That’s it.
Everything else is an upgrade you’ll appreciate later as you discover what makes your own painting experience more enjoyable.
Choosing Your First Miniature
If you’ve already picked up a box of miniatures, you’re ready to go.
If you’re starting completely from scratch, beginner starter sets can be an excellent value because they include a miniature, several paints, a basic brush, and often the tools needed to assemble your first model.
- A perfect start to your Space Marines collection
- Three push-fit models, six paints, and a starter brush
- Features moulded squad markings and Ultramarines iconography
- The miniatures in this set are supplied with the appropriate bases and come unassembled and unpainted
More of a Dungeons and Dragons and fantasy fan? Below is an awesome starter set that comes with 5 fantasy miniature heroes, a starter brush, 15 paints, and even a little booklet to help guide painting your miniatures.
- 👩🎨 GREAT FOR BEGINNERS 👨🎨 Designed for every RPG player, miniature painter, and beginner at tabletop gaming. With this set, you have everything you need to create your band of heroes and customise them to look how you want. Gone are the days of settling for pre-painted miniatures that don’t quite capture the essence of your envisioned hero.
- ⚔ Whether you’re new to RPGs, looking for an alternative to Dungeons & Dragons, or wanting to begin your own tabletop role-playing game, the GameMaster: Adventure Set comes with everything you need to bring your adventures to life.
- 🎨 The GameMaster: Adventure Starter Role-Playing Paint Set includes 15 paints, consisting of 10 vibrant colours, 2 Effect paints, 2 Metallics, and 1 versatile Wash. You also get a Painting Guide, an Adventure Starter Guide, a GameMaster Starter Brush, and 5 snap-fit miniatures – FREE!
- 🏆 In this updated GameMaster Adventure Starter Set, the paints are now Warpaints Fanatic, easy-to-use, high-quality acrylic paints with unsurpassed coverage and intense pigmentation. They are set in a premium resin base with proprietary stabilisers, making it possible to thin the paint down to extreme levels while retaining pigment dispersion.
- 🏹 You also get five detailed snap-fit miniatures that cater to various fantasy settings. What’s more, the miniatures are designed for easy assembly. The snap-fit design and no glue required makes it straightforward for beginners to jump right in. Simply cut them from the sprue and put them together.
These kits remove a lot of the guesswork and make it easy to experience the hobby before investing in additional supplies.
A Good Beginner Brush
You don’t need an expensive brush to learn miniature painting.
What you do need is a brush that holds a decent point and gives you a chance to practice good habits from the beginning.
- 16 Detail Paint Brush set: The Miniature painting set Available in 16 different nibs: Liners 0 1 3 5, Rounds 2/0 6 8 9, Flats 1 2, Angular 1 2, Filbert 0, Spot 2 4, Dagger 1
- Perfect for all sorts of detailing: Good for face painting and nail art , work great for painting miniatures, figurines, models and doll houses, rock painting, paint by Numbers, Army paint
- Perfect for Precise Painting: Fine detail paint brush can handle various paintings such as acrylic, watercolor, tempera, enamel, gush, oil, face paint
- Designed Handle: Brusarth Detail paint brushes features a long, sturdy, well designed, ergonomic triangular handle. Excellent comfort that can be controlled firmly
- Great Gifts: The Detail Paint Brush Beautiful gifts for a birthdays, Halloween, anniversaries, New Year’s, Thanksgiving, Christmas any special Holidays; They are suitable for artists, hobbyists, and beginners
I like recommending affordable starter brush sets because they give you multiple sizes to experiment with while you learn what feels comfortable. As your skills improve, you’ll naturally discover which brushes are worth upgrading.
I received this brush set from a friend as a Christmas gift, and to be honest, I was skeptical at their quality and figured I could use them for texture, technical, or metallic paints that I wouldn’t use my expensive brushes for. As it turns out, these brushes are terrific workhorse brushes for basecoating, rudimentary layering, and even some highlights and details. For the price, they’re perfect!
Start With a Small Paint Collection
It’s tempting to buy dozens of paint colors right away.
Resist that temptation.
A quality starter set teaches you far more than a giant collection because you’ll learn how different colors work together while keeping your investment reasonable.
- 🚀 THE PERFECT STARTER SET – The Warpaints Fanatic Starter Paint Set Comes with Everything You Need to Get Started with Painting Any Wargaming System. It’s Ideal for Beginners as It Includes the Basic Items You Need in Your Hobby Painting Kit.
- 🖌️ FREE BRUSH AND MINIATURE INCLUDED – The Warpaints Fanatic Starter Paint Set Comes with Both a Starter Brush and Miniature Figure For FREE. This Means That with This Set You Have Everything You Need to Get Started – All in ONE box.
- 🔥 TAKE YOUR MINIATURE PAINTING TO THE NEXT LEVEL – Warpaints Fanatic Is Easy to Use, High-Quality Acrylic Paint with Unsurpassed Coverage and Intense Pigmentation. Easy Enough for A Beginner to Use, Fast Enough for A Gamer, Yet Capable Enough for The Best Painters in The World.
- 🎨 EASY-TO-USE FLEXIBLE COLOUR TRIAD SYSTEM – Each Paint Is Part of a Flexible Colour Triad System: A Segment, Or Family, Of Paint Colours That Are Made Using the Same Root Colour. Inside Each Flexible Colour Triad Are Six Colours That Range from Dark to Light with A Consistent Hue. With This System, You Can Easily Select Paints That Create a Natural Colour Progression on Your Miniatures.
- ✔ CUSTOMER SATISFACTION – We Are Confident That You Will Love Our Warpaints Fanatic Starter Paint Set. If You Encounter Any Issues, Our Dedicated Team Is Always Ready to Provide Prompt and Friendly Assistance to Ensure Your Complete Satisfaction.
You can paint a surprising number of miniatures with a small collection of well-chosen colors.
Basic Assembly Tools
Some miniatures come ready to assemble without glue, while others require a few simple hobby tools.
A basic hobby toolkit usually includes sprue cutters, a hobby knife, and a few other essentials that you’ll continue using long after your first model.
- This amazing set has been designed to give the wargamer a “one box fits all” tool kit. Includes all the basic tools you need to assemble any miniatures army. It also includes a free 5g Super Glue as well as a guide to tool safety and the Army Painter Technique Painting Guide.
If you’re planning to build plastic miniatures regularly, it’s a purchase you won’t regret.
A Simple Palette
One thing I do recommend from the very beginning is having something to use as a palette.
Painting straight from the paint pot makes it difficult to control how much paint you’re loading into your brush, and it encourages using paint that’s too thick. A simple plastic palette gives you room to thin your paints with a drop of water and practice loading only the tip of your brush—two habits that will immediately improve your results.
The good news is that this doesn’t have to be fancy.
A basic plastic artist’s palette from a craft store, department store, or dollar store works perfectly. If you’re just getting started, there’s no reason to spend more than a few dollars.
As you gain experience, you may eventually decide to switch to a wet palette to keep your paints workable longer, but don’t feel like you need one to paint your first miniature.
Water, Paper Towels, and Common Sense
Not everything has to come from a hobby store.
An old coffee mug works perfectly as a water pot.
Paper towels make excellent brush wipes.
A piece of cardboard or an inexpensive cutting mat can protect your table while you paint.
Miniature painting has plenty of opportunities to spend money later. This isn’t one of them.
Your Workspace Will Grow With You
After you’ve painted a handful of miniatures, you’ll begin noticing small things that would make the hobby more enjoyable.
Maybe you’d like better lighting.
Maybe you want a wet palette.
Maybe you’re tired of searching for your brushes every session.
Those improvements come naturally with experience.
Don’t feel like you need to solve every future problem before you’ve even painted your first miniature.
Ready for the Next Step?
Now that you’ve set up a simple place to paint, it’s time to prepare your first model.
Continue to: How to Assemble Your First Miniature
Prepare and Assemble Your Miniature
Before applying primer and paint, it’s important to properly prepare your model. Learn how to remove mold lines, clean components, and assemble your miniature so you have a strong foundation for every step that follows.
Looking to Build a Dedicated Hobby Space?
Once you’ve spent some time painting, you’ll have a much better idea of what upgrades are actually worth making.
If you’re ready to create a more permanent painting area with better lighting, improved organization, and tools that make longer painting sessions more enjoyable, continue here:
How to Create the Perfect Miniature Painting Workspace
You don’t need a dedicated hobby room to paint great miniatures, but as your skills grow, so will your workspace. Discover simple ways to improve your lighting, organize your tools, and create a hobby space that makes every painting session more enjoyable—one upgrade at a time.
