Some things I wish I'd been told when I started painting miniatures

There's lots of blogs, YouTube channels and Patreons that will tell you how to paint at all sorts of levels - from quick tabletop to advanced techniques like NMM.  There's a whole range of specific guides out there for painting certain uniforms, hair colours, ground textures, skin and more besides.  Great stuff - and I've used lots of them myself for general techniques and specific projects.

So what can a tabletop level painter like myself add to the world?  Well, I can't give people advice on much, I'm an average painter at best - but I can hope that this post might prove helpful to people starting out in the hobby if they chance across it.  I want to share a few things that I wish I'd been told back when I first started painting.

Invest in neutral colours
Beyond the primary and secondary colours, some skin tones, and a couple of metals the paints I use far more than anything else are a rather large selection of neutrals (and near-neutrals) - greys, browns, sands, beiges and the like.  These are the colours that I have found become the unsung heroes of the paint arsenal - leather straps, wooden weapon shafts, stone, hair, shoes, clothing.  All the stuff that's important to make a miniature feel real/complete - but that you don't tend to want to overpower the focal colours (knight's tabard, wizard's robe, alien's armour etc).  I genuinely buy and use more of these types of colours than any others!

You can strip paint
Yes, if you butcher something that badly that you want to press reset, you can do that!  Now, I'm not going to pretend to be an expert - but I can confirm that metal and plastic miniatures strip just fine after an overnight soak in a Dettol bath.  Just get a tupperware box, a bottle of brown Dettol; pour Dettol into tupperware - put miniatures into the Dettol and leave.  Next day take a toothbrush to them and gently scrub away the paint (Poundland packs of cheapo toothbrushes are fine).  Give them a wash and dry then get them ready for painting again!

Nothing is cheating
There's lots of different techniques and products turning up all the time - some people will clam that certain of these are cop-outs or somehow 'cheating'.  Drybrushing, washes, contrast paints - all of these I've seen put down by some people over the years.  But stay Assassin's Creed "Nothing is true, everything is permitted" - use whatever techniques you find work for you and maximise your enjoyment of your hobby.

Not all details are equal/Three Feet Rule
This one took me a while to accept - but as a miniature painter who paints gaming pieces it was a necessary thing to learn!  When playing a game you aren't concentrating on the tiny buckles on your infantryman's satchel - but you are probably focussed on his jacket and trouser colours and his bayonet-tipped musket. Prioritising the main things will give you a much better overall look for your unit/squad (and army!).  I'm not saying to not push yourself if you want to develop your skills - and I've recently been painting leather straps on 15mm miniatures - but keep in mind why you are painting them and come to a happy point that suits that purpose best without driving you mad about toenails or the like!  For me I paint to play games with things that look cool - so that's miniatures on a gaming table... which is give or take a bit three feet from where I'm standing up - hence the Three Feet Rule.

You don't need to 'keep pushing'
Some people give the well-meaning advice that it's important to keep pushing your skill when painting - well, I don't agree.  Not one bit in fact.  If what you paint looks the part to you then you should feel in no way required to 'improve'.  That doesn't mean it's wrong to want to, but that want should come from within you - not from what someone else is projecting on to you.