The Painting Process in 4 Steps
When painting dungeon terrain in larger batches, one question quickly comes up:
How do I get a convincing stone grey – without burning through my entire hobby budget?
This post isn’t a step-by-step tutorial, but rather a quick documentation of how I painted the walls, stairs and door frames of my current dungeon build.
Looking Back
This paint job is already a bit older – I’ve just now gone through the photos and sorted them for this article. As far as I can remember, I worked in four basic steps:
Black basecoat – also using Schmincke artist acrylics.
First grey mix – using black, white and a touch of brown to make the color more “alive.”
First highlight – same mix, lightened with more white, some brown and a bit of Dungeon Grey by Army Painter.
Final highlight – repeating step 3, but lightening it even further.
Artist Acrylics Instead of Hobby Paints?
Instead of classic miniature paints (Citadel, Vallejo, Army Painter), I used Schmincke artist acrylics – usually made for canvas painting, but much more economical thanks to the large bottles.
Especially when painting terrain in bulk, they’re a solid option.
Downside: They dry a bit glossier than miniature paints – which isn’t ideal for stone. But I was able to balance that by mixing in some Army Painter color later on.
Note: Other affordable acrylics (from art or craft stores) will work just as well – at least when you’re just trying to get color on the terrain. You can always switch to high-quality hobby paints for the final details.
Conclusion
Painting with artist acrylics turned out to be a great experience – especially with lots of terrain parts. As long as you touch things up later if needed, you can save money without sacrificing too much.
It’s not a perfect result, but good enough in my opinion – especially considering the number of parts. A solid compromise between cost, time and appearance. Definitely tabletop-ready – and that’s what counts.
