The pages in the Miniature Painting section of the Gallery tend to include a special section: a “Paint Formula”.
For almost as long as I’ve been painting, I’ve kept a mini-journal logging every paint and technique that I use for each and every miniature.
I developed a shorthand that I use for space efficiency, including the Technique, Paint Brand, and ratios. This page breaks that down.
Example:
Tongue
H1: Wurm Green [P3] + W (1:1) <corners>
- The first part lists the area or particular color on a model.
- Next there is a letter followed by a colon indicating the technique.
If there is a number after the letter, that means there are multiple coats for that technique.- B: Basecoat. Color applied to the entire section.
- Sh: Shade. Typically a wash or darker color applied to only recesses.
- H: Highlight. Usually brighter colors only added to raised areas. Most often has multiple stages indicated by numbers (i.e. H1, H2, H3, etc.) as they build up to a brighter color.
- D: Drybrush. Technique of using a broad brush (usually makeup brush) dipped in paint with most wiped off on paper towel, then quickly brushed against model to only pick up raised details.
- Gl: Glaze. Typically achieved by greatly thinning down a color and applying it to the entirety of an area.
- C: Contrast. A Citadel Contrast paint applied to the entire area. Uncommon.
- T: Technical. Usually when a paint with a special consistency created to achieve particular effects is applied. Fairly rare.
- Next is the name of the paint, followed by letters/numbers in [brackets] indicating the brand. Brands are as follows:
- C: Citadel, made by Games Workshop. (officially renamed to Warhammer Paints in 2026, but I still use C)
- C-C: Citadel Contrast paints, made by Games Workshop.
- P3: Formula P3, created by Privateer Press / Steamforged Miniatures
- AP: Army Painter
- V: Vallejo
- S75: Scale 75
- S75-Tube: Scale 75 made a line of ‘artist acrylics’ in tubes, indicated by this
- PA: ProAcryl
- R: Reaper, made by Reaper Miniatures
- If multiple paints are listed, the numbers in (parenthesis) is the ratio. For example (1:2) would mean one drop of the first paint and 2 drops of the second.
- Lastly and somewhat uncommon are words in <angle brackets>. These are usually notes to myself on special steps used to achieve the effect, such as <corners only> if it’s a later Highlight stage, or <build> if I use multiple coats to build up a color.