Before I start this I article I thought it would be best to point out that this is in fact only a rough guide for you to start with, just because this way of painting works for me you should always experiment with painting to find a style and technique that suits you.
For this article I have chosen four basic swordsman figures and Hida Sukune from the Clan Wars box set, which I will paint in the Crab army colours of blue armour and red.
Clean Up & Undercoat.
I cannot stress how important this is to miniature painting: clean the mould lines from your figure using a sharp scalpel or file and then undercoat your figures (it gives something for the paint to adhere to when you begin painting). With out both of these your figures will look unsightly and any paint applied would easily erode with out a good undercoat.
For the five figures I have chosen to paint, I will be using a white undercoat, although black works better for darker colour schemes (e.g. purple, green, brown).
Painting.
Many "orders" for painting samurai miniatures have been suggested to me, but it really comes down to how much detail you want to put on them. The following "orders" for painting has been devised purely for painting at speed - it should be used as a starting point and modified as it suits you.
1. Armour. This includes all body, leg, arm, shoulder and headgear. Apply a solid base coat of the clan colour of your choice (in this case Prussian blue) and then just dry brush all this area twice, each time adding a little more white paint to the blue...
Drybrushing is a simple technique. FIrst laod an old brush up with paint (I find, sizes 1 or 2 are best) and then wipe the brush backwards and forwards over a tissue until there is only a faint trail of paint appearing on the tissue. Once you have this simply flick the brush backwards and forwards quickly over the entire figure. This should pick up all the raised areas on the figure.
...You can then detail the armour as you wish.
2. Clothes. Now paint all the areas under the armour, in this case I have chosen a deep red. This may take a couple of coats to cover the blue. It is better when applied in two thin layers, by adding water, rather than one thick coat. If you do not want to do this then you may chose to use a colour that can cover blue easily such as purple, or green. After applying this use an ink wash for shading. Which ever make of inks you use - I personally use Winsor & Newton - always add a small amount of water. For the red, I washed the figure using purple ink. Just paint the ink over the entire area which requires shading and allow to dry. Brown was used on the shoes, with again ink for shading.
3. Metallics. Paint the sword silver and other areas which you choose gold. Ink the gold with brown ink for instant shading.
4. Flesh. My Flesh technique is far less complicated than you think. As a base colour I use a solid coat of Model colours, dark flesh (927 is the code), but any will do.
I always thin every paint I use with water and water only. In the case of the flesh only a tiny amount of thinning is needed and two coats of paint normally gives a solid base.
I wash this flesh with either thinned (with water) down bestial brown or snakebite leather. The key to watering acrylic paint down is to put enough water in it so it flows off the brush and into the recesses on the figure, whilst maintaining the pigment of the colour (do not water it down that much you cannot see it when it dries out). Simply wash all the flesh you have just painted and allow to dry.
Next take the flesh you used as a base colour and repaint all the raised areas, leaving the washed darker flesh in the recesses, e.g. sides of and under the nose, eye sockets, ears, under chin, in between figures.
Then add white paint gradually and highlight up the raised areas, e.g. bridge of nose, cheeks, edge of ears, chin, above lip. You only need to add white 3-4 times depending on the figure, but make sure you always add water to the paint.
WATER is key, always thin to some extent, as blends will be smoother and the colours will appear closer together on the figures.
The eyes are done by painting the eyeball black, and then a white line is drawn across it leaving a black outline. Then just add a dot of black to the centre of the white and you have eyes.
