How much does it cost to start painting miniatures as a hobby

If you've been staring at a blister pack of miniatures at the game store and talking yourself out of it because you have no idea what painting them will cost, you're in good company. The honest answer is that the cost to start painting miniatures ranges enormously, from barely more than a takeout dinner to the price of a decent pair of shoes, depending on how far you want to go on day one. Neither end of that range is the wrong choice. What matters is picking the tier that fits how sure you are this hobby is going to stick around.

The three rough spending tiers

Exact prices are a moving target. A bottle of paint from one brand costs something different from the same-sized bottle of another brand, retailers mark things up or discount them differently, and prices in one country do not translate cleanly to another. Rather than chase numbers that will be outdated by the time you read them, it helps to think in bands.

Tier	What it includes	Relative cost
Bare-minimum kit	Primer, a small handful of paints, one brush, a wash, one miniature	Lowest
Comfortable starter set	Primer, a broader paint range, two or three brushes of varying quality, a wash or two, a couple of miniatures	Moderate
Enthusiast setup	Multiple primers or an airbrush, an extensive paint collection, several quality brushes, multiple washes and mediums, a small backlog of miniatures	Highest

Every tier gets you through the same basic sequence: prime, base coat, wash, then drybrush or highlight. The difference is how much variety and convenience you're paying for, not whether you can finish a model at all. For the full rundown of that sequence, see what you need to start painting miniatures.

The bare-minimum kit

At the low end, you need surprisingly little. A can of spray primer or a pot of brush-on primer, three or four paints (a couple of base colors plus something dark for shading), one usable brush, a bottle of wash, and a single miniature to practice on. That's it. Nothing here needs to be premium, and nothing here needs to match a specific game system's official paint range.

This tier is the right call if you are not yet sure painting is something you'll stick with, or if you already own a stray miniature and just want to try the process before committing further. You can absolutely produce a miniature that looks good on a tabletop with only this list. It won't win a painting competition, and the brush will wear out faster than a good one would, but it will teach you the actual mechanics of priming, base coating, and washing, which is the point.

The one thing worth budgeting for even at this level is a wash (a thinned, dark, ink-like paint that flows into recesses and adds instant shading). It does more visual work per bottle than almost anything else on this list, and skipping it is the single biggest reason a bare-minimum first attempt looks flat.

A comfortable starter set

Step up one tier and the experience changes more than the results do. You're looking at a wider range of colors so you're not mixing everything from three paints, two or three brushes instead of one (so you always have a clean one on hand and a dedicated small brush for detail), a wash or two, and enough miniatures that a mistake on one doesn't feel like a disaster.

This is the tier most people land on once they've decided they want to keep painting past their first model, and it's a reasonable place to start even before that if the bare-minimum tier feels too restrictive for your patience level. If you're weighing exactly what belongs in this kind of set, how to start painting miniatures, a beginner's guide walks through the sequence step by step so you can see which purchases map to which stage.

What actually changes at this level

Mostly convenience and range, not quality of outcome. A wider paint selection means less time mixing and more time painting. A second brush means you're not switching between "large area" and "fine detail" work with the same worn tip. None of this makes a beginner's miniature look dramatically better on its own; it mostly makes the process less frustrating, which matters more than it sounds like it should when you're new and already unsure of yourself.

An enthusiast setup

At the top end, cost climbs fast and the returns get more specialized. This is airbrush territory, along with a large paint collection covering multiple brands and finishes, several brushes chosen for specific jobs (fine detail, dry-brushing, larger base coats), multiple washes and glazing mediums, and enough miniatures in the queue that you're rotating between projects instead of finishing one before starting the next.

Nobody should buy into this tier on their first purchase. It makes sense once you already know you enjoy the hobby and have hit specific limitations with a smaller kit, like wanting smoother gradients than a brush alone gives you, or wanting to batch-paint a squad instead of one miniature at a time. If you're wondering whether an airbrush belongs on your list at all, do you need an airbrush for miniatures is worth reading before you spend the money, because for a lot of beginners the honest answer is not yet.

Where cheap substitutes actually hold up

Some corners can be cut without hurting your results. Craft-store acrylic paints, the kind sold for general crafting rather than miniatures specifically, work fine once you thin them properly with water or a dedicated thinning medium. They tend to be thicker out of the bottle than hobby-branded paints, so the extra step of thinning matters more, but the pigment underneath does the same job. If budget is the deciding factor, don't rule these out just because the label doesn't say "miniature paint" on it.

A basic set of dollar-store brushes can also get you through your first several miniatures. They won't hold a point as well as a purpose-made hobby brush, and they'll shed bristles sooner, but as a first pair to learn control and basic technique on, they're a legitimate option. Treat them as consumable practice tools rather than something you expect to last.

Primer is another place where store brand and hobby brand perform similarly for basic coverage, as long as you're applying it correctly (thin coats, decent ventilation, and a surface free of oil or dust). Where primers really diverge is in finish and durability over time, which matters less for your first few practice models than it will later.

Where spending more actually helps

If there's one place to prioritize quality early, even on a tight budget, it's brushes. A good brush holds a point, springs back to shape after each stroke, and lets you control exactly where paint goes instead of fighting bristles that splay out or hold too much or too little paint. That control is most of what separates a clean-looking miniature from a messy one, more than paint brand, more than primer, more than almost anything else on this list. For a full breakdown of what to look for and which sizes actually matter, what brushes do you need for miniature painting covers it in more depth than fits here.

You don't need a full set of expensive brushes on day one. Even upgrading just your detail brush, the one you use for eyes, small trim, and fine edges, while keeping everything else budget, will show up in your results faster than upgrading paint quality would. Paint is largely pigment and binder; a cheap paint thinned well behaves close enough to an expensive one for a beginner to not notice much difference. A cheap brush, on the other hand, fights you on every stroke.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I really start with paints that aren't made for miniatures?

Yes. General craft acrylics work as long as you thin them, since they're usually thicker straight from the bottle than paints made specifically for miniatures. The color and coverage will get you through learning the basics without issue.

Do I need an airbrush to get started?

No. An airbrush is an enthusiast-tier purchase that speeds up priming and base coating once you already know you enjoy the hobby. Plenty of painters go years using only brushes, and a beginner in particular won't miss it.

What's the single most important purchase if my budget is tight?

A wash. It adds shading and depth to a miniature almost automatically once your base colors are down, and it does more visible work for the money than any other single item on a beginner's list.

Should I buy a paint set or individual colors?

For a first purchase, a small curated set is usually more efficient than buying colors one at a time, since it gives you a workable range without guesswork. You can fill in specific colors later once you know what you're actually missing.

How many miniatures should I buy to start?

One is enough to learn the sequence, but two or three gives you room to make mistakes on an early one without feeling like you wasted your only shot. You don't need a backlog before you've finished a single model.