Paint better minis.
Independent buyer guides for miniature painters — paints, brushes, primers, wet palettes and airbrushes. Paint types named, thinning explained in plain English, picks chosen for the painter you are now. Written by a six-year hobbyist who would rather answer your gear question than sell you a hundred pots you do not need yet.
Read the starter guide →Specs verified against manufacturer data and Amazon listings · No fabricated hands-on testing · No hype
Choose your path
Three doors. Where you start depends on whether you are brand new to the hobby, buying your first paints, or trying to get cleaner results from the brushes you already own.
I'm brand new
Read the starter guide. The gear you actually need, paint types, thinning to the consistency of milk, priming, and the beginner mistakes worth skipping.
Open →I'm buying my first paints
Start with one good set rather than a hundred loose pots. How colour range, paint type and pigment decide a forgiving first set to learn on.
Open →I want better brushwork
The brush, the thinning and the two-thin-coats habit fix more than any single paint. Synthetic versus sable, sizes, and keeping paint out of the ferrule.
Open →Where to start
Paints
Paint types explained — standard acrylic, wash and shade, one-coat high-pigment, metallic — and how to choose a first set you will actually use, not the biggest box of pots.
View guides →Brushes
Brush anatomy in plain terms — synthetic versus sable, sizes, tip retention, and brush care. The cheapest upgrade most painters skip, and the easiest win for cleaner work.
View guides →Primers & Palettes
Priming and wet-palette basics — spray versus brush-on primer chemistry, and why a wet palette keeps your paint workable for hours instead of minutes.
View guides →Tools & Airbrush
The hobby workspace — clippers, knives, a daylight lamp, and a beginner airbrush. Needle size, feed type and what to buy when, with ventilation safety up front.
View guides →The four guides most readers start with
Best miniature paint set
Sets compared on colour range, paint type, pigment and value — the forgiving first set that teaches you to paint, not the wall of pots you will mostly ignore.
Best miniature paint brushes
Brushes compared on bristle, sizes, tip retention and handle — the upgrade that cleans up your work fastest, and how to make a brush last.
Best wet palette
Wet palettes compared on tray size, seal, paper and depth — the cheap accessory that keeps thinned paint usable for hours and cuts your paint waste.
Best airbrush for miniatures
Beginner airbrushes compared on needle size, feed type and cup — for fast primer and basecoats, with ventilation and respirator safety up front.
By goal
Skip straight to the question you came here with. Each link drops you on the guide that answers it.
Who writes here
Brush & Base is edited by Sam Holloway, a six-year hobbyist in Minneapolis who paints 28mm fantasy and sci-fi minis and edited a hobby magazine before going freelance. Guides also draw on rotating contributors — working hobbyists, commission painters, terrain builders and airbrush specialists. Every piece shows its author at the top, with Sam on the editing line. Read more about how we work →