Before I begin, let me make it absolutely clear, lest I be accused of plagiarising someone else's mediocrity, that nothing in this world is new. That is certainly true of articles on how to paint toy soldiers.

If, like me, you will pick up any magazine promising to unlock the secrets of the magic brush you should by now have a sizable collection of magazines dedicated to the pixies and fairies fraternity of our hobby - not that I have anything against them, indeed many's the time I have gone dwarf stomping with my goblin hordes.

Unlike many of the authors of these insights into the mystical world of paint, dear reader, I will not try to delude you with promises that this article will turn you into the David Hockney of miniature figures overnight - sorry, but that standard of brushmanship requires a lot of practice.

Instead I will try to give you a layman's guide to getting started and pass on a few tips which can make the task a little easier and take some of the frustration out of producing figures to an acceptable standard.

There is a well worn story about the artist, who when asked how long it had taken to paint a picture, replied a lifetime. That is without doubt a true statement. I have been painting toy soldiers for about 25 years, but I am stilt learning new techniques, experimenting with different paints and styles.

Myths

Firstly let me explode some of the myths about paints and brushes. Most painters will tell you to buy the best brushes you can afford, you know the ones, the Kolinski sables which cost two arms and a leg. That's all very well if you are painting a landscape, but the figures we paint play havoc with brushes and even the best sable will be useless very quickly. It is far better to buy cheaper brushes and replace them more often. The best brushes I have found are those made by Humbrol which are good quality and very reasonably priced.

Size isn't everything if you will pardon the expression. Avoid the triple and double zero brushes, they don't hold enough paint and the point is no better than that found on larger brushes. The smallest I use is a zero, and normally I paint with a number one brush. In fact one of the best painters I know - I will save his blushes and name no names - uses a number two brush for most work and a number one for the fine detail.

Now let's look at paint. Here quality does make a difference, but first it's time for some myth zapping again.

How often have you seen figures advertised as "painted in oils" as if they were something to be viewed in awe. Apart from the snob value this medium is no more difficult to paint in than any other, you might as well advertise figures as painted in watercolours or inks. If you want to wait for three days for each colour to dry that's fine, but don't expect to field your new army in a hurry.

I paint using a black 'undercoat' this requires the use of high quality paints to make sure that the undercoat is covered properly and the colour is strong and true. Many people who try black as an undercoat give up because they attempt to put a poor quality yellow straight on to the figure and end up with a mucky ochre/green shade with the black shining through.

I have found that, of the ranges produced specifically for our hobby, the Foliage Factory paints consistently have the best overall standard. Humbrol is variable, some, their leather and white for instance have excellent covering quality while others are thin and are of little use. The same is true of Citadel who produce some quite exceptional colours, others are so poor they can only be used to apply washes.

If you can raid the piggy bank, however, I would strongly recommend that you invest in a few Winsor and Newton artist quality acrylics. Painting with these is a joy, you can thin them down to almost the consistency of thick cream and they still give total cover.

Finally in discussing paint ranges, another to keep an eye out for is Liquitex. These were designed for animators to paint directly on to celluloid and their covering quality is without equal. They are, however, even more expensive than the Winsor and Newton.

Onward

Fine, that's the materials out of the way, now let's get down to the serious business. As I said earlier I generally paint in a black undercoat, although occasionally I will undercoat in white or even brown, yellow or red depending on the particular finish I am looking for. For the purposes of this article, however, I will concentrate on black which is the easiest to get a good finish with.

The best undercoat to use is the matt bla& car spray which you can get from most supermarkets or car accessory shop. This gives a very fine spray, dries within a couple of minutes and provides a slightly grainy finish which gives a good tooth for the paint to grip on.

There Are two golden rules for working in a black undercoat, number one never try to paint a light colour directly onto the figure and two, the bits you don't paint are almost as important as those you do.

It is not the purpose of this article to take you through all the stages of painting a figure, if you want more detailed advice speak to me at one of the shows, I will be happy to stop for a chat just ply me with tea.

However, the basic principles hold good for all parts of any figure. The technique is very simple. Take a colour slightly darker than the one you want the finished coat or whatever to be and apply it. Here is where you begin to see the great advantages of working on black. If there is an area where you have difficulty in getting the brush in then don't paint it. This not only saves time because you are painting less of the figure, but it also saves a hell of a lot of wear on your brushes because it's trying to push the point into all those awkward undercuts that ruins the point.

Also, many people will tell you to leave a distinct black line where colours meet - don't. This creates a very patchy figure, the black undercoat itself coupled with the nooks and crannies you have not painted will give the contrast.

The second stage is to apply a highlight which should be lighter than the finished colour you are trying to achieve. This can be done several ways. If the figure has distinct folds on the clothing then dry brushing can be very effective - it is also a very good use for all those kolinski sables you have ruined trying to push into crevices when painting on a white undercoat.

As a matter of preference I do not dry brush. I find a better finish can be achieved by following the lines of clothing, drawing the brush in the direction of the hang. A simpler method, which results in a very fine finish, is to block colour. This means use the highlight colour to paint the area you have just painted but leave some of the base colour showing round the edges. The eye is deceived into seeing detailed highlighting that is really not there.

A word on colour. I never mix paint to achieve a colour unless absolutely necessary. This means that I can paint figures six months apart and not have to worry about how I managed to get that colour the last time.

Search around to find two of each colour you want to paint with, a base colour and a highlight, some of the shades I use are:

Red - base of Rowney free-flow cadmium deep with a highlight of Winsor and Newton Cadmium medium, the Plaka vermilion also makes a nice highlight.

Yellow - base of any orange, cadmium orange is a good one, highlighted with a cadmium yellow, deep or light depending on the shade you want.

White - base of Citadel spacewolf grey highlighted in Citadel white.

Blue - Foliage Factory dark blue highlighted in Citadel Enchanted blue or by adding a little white to the base colour.

High quality finishes can be achieved quickly by spending some time highlighting the main colour areas coats and trousers - but using only a straight colour for belts, pouches, knapsacks and such like. Black should never be highlighted.

One area that is worth spending time on, and one where more people ask me how it's done than any other, is faces. The simplest way to get an effective finish is to paint a base colour of Citadel Bestial brown. Using Humbrol flesh paint over the face leaving thin lines of the brown showing around the mouth, nose and eyes. Finally a highlight is added to the ridge of the nose, the chin and cheekbones using Foliage Factory light flesh.

A very rich colour can be achieved by a simple trick. Once you have painted the base colour and highlight apply a thin coat of Tamiya clear paint to he area. These have the consistency of a thick varnish and come in green, yellow, blue, red, orange, and a colour called smoke whict can give a nice finish if applied to white.

The orange and smoke can be used very effectively over gold and steel for a very realistic metal finish.

When it comes to varnishes I prefer a matt finish and the best one I have found so far is the Humbrol Mattcoa which dries very matt and gives excellent protection.

Technique

Finally there is one technique which you may wish to try on 25mm figures. This is used by a good friend of mine who is without doubt one of the country's top designer: and painters.

First you undercoat your figure black. You then take a tin of car spray slightly darker than you want and spray the figure from an angle of about 45 degrees and about a foot away. You then take a lighter car spray and repeat the process from slightly further away. All that's left to do is the flesh, belts, pouches and such like. It is extremely fast and works best on figures which are predominantly one colour such as Crimean French - if you don't believe me try it, you will be amazed.

As you will realise I have only scratched the surface of how to paint. To go into detail about every style, type of paint and its use and technique would require a book, but I hope that I have dispelled some of the myths. Don't let anyone kid you that they have some mysterious talent that you as a mere mortal could never hope to emulate, they've just been doing it a bit longer.