Painting Miniatures in Acrylics

A multimedia CD instruction course

Reviewed by Jack Kennedy, DLC,  #12511

Every once in awhile a modeling aid comes along that just cant be beat. I believe that I have found one of these items. Strange as it seems this is not a tool but a complete course.

Andrea Miniatures from Spain has produced an outstanding interactive CD course on how to paint miniatures using acrylic paints. Andrea has long been one of the leaders in the miniature industry. The quality of their metal figures is among the tops in the miniature field, not only for the ease of assembly but also for the diverse subject matter.

Within the past few years, Andrea had introduced an assortment of very fine acrylic paints for these miniatures. I have tried using them with moderate success but have never been able to achieve the level that the painters from Spain and Italy do using acrylics. I knew I had to be doing something wrong but I didn’t know what. With this disc, I now have the solution.

This CD is interactive, which means that the user may go to any location on the disc to find what he/she is looking for. There are many sections with videos on how to do just about everything. This list includes: a place to work, tools and supplies, adhesives, pinning, putties, and priming. In the painting section there are separate clinics on color theory, use of light, painting eyes, faces, clothing, metals, leather and woods. There is also a section on painting terrain, mounting the figure on bases and nameplates.

The only fault I could find with this CD was that all the colors are keyed in to using Andrea colors. I wouldn’t expect less but it would have been a nice touch to have a cross reference to other manufacturers colors. On the plus side, a color chart is provided with the CD.

While this CD is only for windows users, we may only hope that it will become available for those Apple users out there. I bought my CD from Neil Das of Sentinel Miniatures. He is a long time friend and supports not only the figure element of the hobby but IPMS also. You may purchase this from Sentinel Miniatures, 4 Broadway, Valhalla, N.Y. 10595. The phone number there is (914)682-3923 and the website is www.sentinelminiatures.com. The cost is $36.95 and well worth the price.

When I saw what this CD had, I knew I had gone to Valhalla.