Primer or no primer

[Tomkat364]

At this point I have only painted a few figures which were all Bones and did not require any primer. For those of you who have painted your HQ minis, do you recommend priming? I usually use Tamiya fine primer from a spray can for priming my model kits, but am a little concerned about the level of detail I hope to get from the minis. Any thoughts or advice?

[Schmidt]

Primer. And don't rush it. It is better to spray two or even three light coats instead of on heavy coat.

[Sultan of Sandwiches Jimwise]

Actually, this is a topic I'm curious about as a novice painter. Why is primer so important? Particularly from the point of a solid white miniature like a Reaper Bones.

[Schmidt]

Boners don't need primers. They can be painted after being washed with a bit of soap and then dried.

[knightkrawler]

Yes Primer or No Primer?
- Yes. Always prime your models.
Do not doubt which every single miniature painter tells you.

Why Primer?
- The material of the model (metal, plastic, resin, or whatever have you) does not hold the material of the acrylic paint.
The primer adheres to the surface of the model and builds up a surface the paint sticks to. It's that simple.

Which Primer?
- For you in the USA, I keep reading and hearing good things about Krylon (gray).
Apart from that cheaper variant, there's a variety of primers catering to miniature painters. Use Vallejo Primers with an Airbruch or any spraycan primer, like those from Citadel/GW, Army Painter, or whatever.

Which color?
- Depends on your painting technique*, but basically a black primer is covered up just as well as a white primer. The difference is, in theory, not as bad as you're often told.
There is a bunch of unusual color choices from Army Painter. These are best if you paint armies and want a specific base color that you can then save time and money on by using the respective spray primer.
A word of Warning: Army Painter spraycan primers do give a less smooth finish that GW or Vallejo or even Krylon.
Personally, I do use AP because I got a collection cheap, so I choose the color nearest to that that the majority of the miniature will have, up to the point where they're empty, which is when I'll buy me a cheap airbrush and compressor just for priming. Apart from AP, I use both white and black from Citadel.

How?
- This is a topic in itself. I recommend using youtube on this, searching for "prime miniature". CorvusMiniatures has the best guide video out there.
________________________________________________________________________
*I can go into deeper detail here if I'm asked to.

[IvenBach]

KK summed it up nicely there.

To reiterate what he said Prime them always, it is just good practice. http://www.how-to-paint-miniatures.com/miniature-painting-apply-primer.html. I painted some Reaper Bones, the kobolds, and didn't have too much of a problem with the paint not wanting to stick. I washed them to remove release agent and didn't prime. It was noticeable but I wanted to see how it was painting them without priming. Before that I painted a metal mini without priming it first and that was a lot trickier. I still got a good result but took a lot more time that it would have with primer. I use Painters Touch grey primer and it works fine for me, so far. I switched to a reddish brown (Flat Red) for the Mantic undead I'm working on and while drybrushing it felt like it was 'chalky' - that's the best way to describe. Not uniform in how the paint adhered but the effect is growing on me, I digress.

Prime them so the paint has something to stick to. Prime in what color you want or have available. Mass producing? Prime them in a base color like Bone for skeletons etc...

[Maike05]

Which color?
- Depends on your painting technique*, but basically a black primer is covered up just as well as a white primer. The difference is, in theory, not as bad as you're often told.
There is a bunch of unusual color choices from Army Painter. These are best if you paint armies and want a specific base color that you can then save time and money on by using the respective spray primer.
A word of Warning: Army Painter spraycan primers do give a less smooth finish that GW or Vallejo or even Krylon.
Personally, I do use AP because I got a collection cheap, so I choose the color nearest to that that the majority of the miniature will have, up to the point where they're empty, which is when I'll buy me a cheap airbrush and compressor just for priming. Apart from AP, I use both white and black from Citadel.

I would add that acrylic paint is basically pigments, dilued up in water, which result in a non opaque paint. Depending on the painting technique (primer, glaze, wash, etc), you will dilue more or less the paint, wich will cover more or less the minis.

Never forget that paint is always transparent and depending on the tickness of layers that you applied, the basecoat underneath will show up. Therefore if you use a white primer, you'll end with a brighter result than if you would have used a black primer.

What you can try is applying a pure black coat and a pure white coat next to each other on some plastic tupperwear or something equivalent. And then apply a mix 1:1 water and some colour of your choice on each base coat. You'll see what I'm talking about.

White primer is generally more suited for good guys like elfes, human, whereas you could argue that black primer is more suited for chaos or orcs, but this is not necessarily true for every painter.

But as a rule of thumbs I would recomend a beginner to use black because it's easier to do dry brushing on it, but that's my opinion

[knightkrawler]

What you can try is applying a pure black coat and a pure white coat next to each other on some plastic tupperwear or something equivalent. And then apply a mix 1:1 water and some colour of your choice on each base coat. You'll see what I'm talking about.

White primer is generally more suited for good guys like elfes, human, whereas you could argue that black primer is more suited for chaos or orcs, but this is not necessarily true for every painter.

That's what the beginner always reads or hears, yes. What I wanted to say is, as a beginner, you go and buy the color primer in the color that makes you feel better. After 12 layers of paint put over both primers, you'll not be able to see a substantial, quality-defining difference.
And the good guys, bad guys rule of thumb? As Maike said, might help you, doesn't help me. Either you put on a base color and shade, then highlight from there, or you layer from darkest to lightest. That's a world of difference and the color of the primer should reflect that before it does "good" or "bad".

Either way, yes, as rules of thumbs these are OK and true, but I'm of the opinion that it confuses a beginner before he can find out his technique.

[Sjeng]

Yes Primer or No Primer?
- Yes. Always prime your models.
Do not doubt which every single miniature painter tells you.

Why Primer?
- The material of the model (metal, plastic, resin, or whatever have you) does not hold the material of the acrylic paint.
The primer adheres to the surface of the model and builds up a surface the paint sticks to. It's that simple.

Which Primer?
- For you in the USA, I keep reading and hearing good things about Krylon (gray).
Apart from that cheaper variant, there's a variety of primers catering to miniature painters. Use Vallejo Primers with an Airbruch or any spraycan primer, like those from Citadel/GW, Army Painter, or whatever.

Which color?
- Depends on your painting technique*, but basically a black primer is covered up just as well as a white primer. The difference is, in theory, not as bad as you're often told.
There is a bunch of unusual color choices from Army Painter. These are best if you paint armies and want a specific base color that you can then save time and money on by using the respective spray primer.
A word of Warning: Army Painter spraycan primers do give a less smooth finish that GW or Vallejo or even Krylon.
Personally, I do use AP because I got a collection cheap, so I choose the color nearest to that that the majority of the miniature will have, up to the point where they're empty, which is when I'll buy me a cheap airbrush and compressor just for priming. Apart from AP, I use both white and black from Citadel.

How?
- This is a topic in itself. I recommend using youtube on this, searching for "prime miniature". CorvusMiniatures has the best guide video out there.
________________________________________________________________________
*I can go into deeper detail here if I'm asked to.

I concur. Except for Bones. Then listen to Schmidt.

Boners don't need primers. They can be painted after being washed with a bit of soap and then dried.