Painting With Oil Paints

Before hobby and craft acrylic paints became widely available and cheap, miniature gamers had to choose between oil-based paints and shiny enamels to paint their miniaturs. Oil-based paints are the same types used by artists to paint on canvas and typically come in squeeze tubes. They can be mixed to create the full spectrum of colors and thinned to aid in application to the miniatures. Their disadvantages include slightly higher cost, messier clean-up (with mineral spirts to clean the brush), and significantly longer drying time.. Here are some tips from painters who use oil-based paints:

Stan Olson: A brief overview of painting wargames miniatures with Oils:

Clean & prime figures with a Primer spray (usually a flat enamel Primer)
Paint basic (Base) colours with flat Acrylic paints.
Apply washes with acrylic paint + GW ink (dark shading).
Apply the dry brush shade with oil paints that can be applied thinner away from the edge of the areas painted . Because they spread like cosmetic make up, you can go from a light coloured edge to a semi transparent layer of oil paint that lets some-most of the base colour show through.
Oils take a long time to dry and so can be spread thinner or even washed off with turpentine when being applied. Oils can be used to do deep shading instead of acrylics paint & inks.
Layers of oil paint are not very sturdy even when dry (compared to acrylics) so use a Damar Matt Spray Varnish by Grumabach as a final touch. Then, your favorate spray clear coat for extra durability.

This is one method for using oil paints for wargames figures/display figures. Locally, people win awards for using oils on wargames figures as well as SF/RPG figures. Fantastic results can still be achieved with just acrylic paints + inks though. (i.e., the recommended method).

Marc ?: Oils add a certain depth to figures that was lacking in the early days of acrylics. Nowadays it's not easy to determine what kind of paints have been used so it's all down to preference. Drying time is a big factor though. It's very difficult to paint more than one colour a day. Maybe that's why I take years to finish armies (my first 15mm army was purchased in 1986 and still has a couple of units to go) but I do try to keep a dozen or so on the go at a time.

One BIG advantage of oils is their ability to provide some great wash effects. As some have already mentioned, a dark wash over a finished figure can enhance its appearance, I use a Burnt Sienna or Van Dyke Brown wash over ancients and medievals before highlighting. This tones down bright colours, does wonders for bronze armour and gives a 'tan' to flesh. It also picks out those areas of detail that my shaky hands (or rather shaky brushes) can't touch without obliterating.

One more problem with oils is that it is pretty particular about the brushes you use - it hates those wonderful nylon ones.

Jim McDaniel: I paint or at least try to paint collectors figures and belong to the River City Historical Miniature Society. This is a terrifically talented bunch of folks who paint to a very high standard and they all use tube oils. The secret is that everyone uses an old crock pot/food cooker/whatever else you call it to dry figures after a painting session. Just make sure you don't use it for doing any kind of food, that's all. No drying agents like Dorlands are used with the paint. You simply put a figure in the pot, cover it and run it up for a couple of hours - experiment to find what works for the type of figure you're using. After the paint dries just let the figure cool off and you're ready for the next painting session.

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Last Updated: August 18, 1999

Comments, questions and additions welcome. Send them to Chris Brantley at brant@erols.com.