Technique guide · 6 min read
How to paint metal miniatures
Thin coats over a dark basecoat, a wash into the recesses, and one bright edge highlight — that's the whole method for true metallics. Here's how to stop it looking grainy or toylike.
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True metallics is the technique of painting a miniature with real metallic-pigment paint, applied in two thin coats over a dark basecoat, then shaded with a wash and highlighted along raised edges. It's the default way tabletop painters render armour and weapons, and it's far faster than non-metallic metal (NMM), which fakes the same shine with ordinary matte paint.
The four-step method
Metallic pigment behaves differently from flat paint. Get these four steps right and the rest is ordinary layering.
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Basecoat black or a dark colour first
Metallic paint over bare grey plastic or a light primer looks flat and toylike, because there's nothing dark underneath to give the flake depth. A black or near-black basecoat under gold, silver or bronze makes the same paint look three times as rich.
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Apply the metallic in thin coats
Metallic pigment is heavier and coarser than ordinary paint. A thick coat dries grainy and uneven, and it hides brush strokes badly. Two thin coats, drying between each, beat one thick one every time.
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Wash into the recesses
A dark or brown wash pooled into the panel lines and folds adds the shadow that flat metallic paint can't create on its own. Without it, metal reads as one uniform tone with no sense of form.
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Edge highlight the raised areas
A thin line of a brighter metallic — or a metallic mixed with white — along the edges that would actually catch light finishes the effect. This is the same edge-highlighting principle used everywhere else on the miniature, just in metallic paint.
True metallics vs. non-metallic metal (NMM)
Painters new to the hobby often assume "painting metal" only means true metallics. It's the more common route, but it isn't the only one, and the two produce genuinely different results.
True metallics uses paint with actual metallic flake in it. The flake itself catches studio or camera light and does most of the work — you're mostly managing coverage, depth and edges. It's faster to learn and faster to paint, which is why PaintMini's own beginner and intermediate schemes lean on it.
Non-metallic metal (NMM) uses ordinary matte paint to paint the *illusion* of a metallic surface — light source, reflection and specular highlight, built up in layers with no metallic pigment at all. It photographs more convincingly and is the standard for competition painting, but it takes real practice to read a light source and paint it convincingly. See the full NMM guide if that's the route you want.
Side-by-side comparison
| True metallics | Non-metallic metal (NMM) | |
|---|---|---|
| Paint used | Metallic-pigment paint | Ordinary matte paint, no metallic flake |
| PaintMini tier | Beginner – Intermediate | Expert |
| Typical colour count | 3–9 colours | 10–15 colours |
| Reads best at | Tabletop distance | Close-up and in photos |
| Used for | Most army-box painting | Competition and display pieces |
Tier and colour-count figures are PaintMini's own scheme-generation bands — see the technique glossary for what each tier actually changes about a generated scheme.
Common mistakes
- Thinning too far. Metallic paint needs some body to carry the flake. Thin it until coverage goes patchy and streaky rather than smooth, and you've gone too far — back off and add a second thin coat instead.
- Skipping the dark basecoat. Metallic straight over primer or bare plastic looks pale and plasticky, no matter how good the brand.
- No wash. Flat, unshaded metallic reads as one grey blob under tabletop lighting. The wash is what makes it look like metal instead of paint.
- Overworking the highlight. One thin, confident highlight line beats three attempts at "fixing" it. Metallic paint shows brush marks more than flat colour does.
Which one to use
Ask yourself three things before you pick up a brush:
Distance
Painting for the tabletop, at arm's length? True metallics reads perfectly well and takes a fraction of the time.
Volume
Finishing a whole army box? True metallics scales — NMM on 20 models is a serious time investment.
Purpose
Painting one hero model for a competition table or a photo? NMM is worth the extra hours.
Skill
New to painting? Start with true metallics. NMM is easier to learn once you already understand light and shadow from other techniques.
If you'd rather see the choice made for you: upload a photo of your primed miniature to PaintMini and pick a tier — Beginner and Intermediate schemes default to true metallics, Expert schemes bring in NMM automatically where it suits the model. Browse the full paint library to check which metallics are already in your collection first.
Questions people ask about painting metal
Do I really need a dark basecoat under metallic paint?
Yes, if you want it to look rich rather than pale and plasticky. Metallic flake needs a dark surface underneath to reflect against — black or a very dark brown works for gold, silver, bronze and gunmetal alike.
Why does my metallic paint look grainy or chunky?
Almost always a too-thick coat. Metallic pigment is coarser than flat paint, so it needs two thin coats rather than one heavy one. If it's already dried grainy, a very light sanding or a thin top coat of the same colour usually fixes it.
Do metallic paints need a different brush?
Not a different brush, but treat your good detail brush carefully — metallic pigment is abrasive and wears bristles faster than flat paint. Some painters keep one cheaper brush just for metallics.
Should I varnish over metallic paint?
Yes, the same as the rest of the model. A matte or satin varnish protects the metallic finish from handling without dulling the shine as much as people expect — gloss varnish is usually too much for metallics unless you want a wet-look finish.
What's the actual difference between true metallics and NMM?
True metallics uses paint with real metallic pigment, so the paint itself catches light. NMM uses ordinary matte paint and paints the appearance of reflection and shine by hand — no metallic pigment involved at all. See the full NMM guide for the method.
Can I mix true metallics and NMM on the same miniature?
Yes, and plenty of painters do — true metallics on the bulk of the armour, NMM reserved for one focal piece like a sword or a glowing rune, where the extra time pays off visually.
See a metallic scheme built for your miniature
Upload a photo, pick your paints, and PaintMini renders a painted preview and a step-by-step guide before you touch a brush.