Why Primer Matters?

A good primer is the unsung hero of any miniature painting project. It creates a grippy surface, smooths imperfections, and ensures your colours apply cleanly and stick for the long haul. But should you go with spray or brush-on? Black or white? Is that hardware store primer really okay to use on your new resin army? In this guide, we break down primer brands, types, colours and techniques. 

Since our plan involves multiple primers, price and value for money were important. We also considered shipping and availability. Although in some cases very little information was available and online reviews tempting, we stuck with manufacturer statements. For simplicity, our starting point was to source from one brand, so broad colour range was a requirement. Something that will likely change as we get deeper in.

Rattle Can vs. Airbrush

While airbrushing offers superior control and a smoother finish, we decided against purchasing equipment at this stage. Our goal was priming rather than finishing and rattle cans offer a fast, efficient and economical solution.

Colour Selection

Choosing your primer colour is essential for getting the desired undertone - we aimed to select from each of these three categories. To either build highlights from the primer upwards, or craft them later with brushwork. If you want to go deeper into how primer colour affects your final paint job - including tonal value, paint transparency, and lighting theory - check out our companion guides: Primer Colour Decision for Miniature Painting and Colour Theory Your New best Friend. Explore the artistic and technical reasons behind your choice and how different colours interact with contrast paints, washes and more.

DARK: For dark or metallic schemes, enhancing shadows.
MID-TONE: Neutral choice for both dark and light schemes.
LIGHT: For bright, vibrant colour schemes.
COLOURED: Can speed up the painting process significantly.

Brand Selection

With numerous brands appearing in search results, we started by examining three most highly ranked ones: Citadel, The Army Painter and Vallejo. Then explore those further down the search rankings and revisit brands we remember from childhood, such as Humbrol and Revell. To see if they had anything new to offer for miniature painting.

Vallejo:

With minimal primer based information on their website it was difficult to find their product range. We did however, find a few Vallejo branded spray paint products on Amazon, 'Hobby Paint' being one of them. Used as a primer by hobbyists. The lack of official information and limited Hobby Paint colours led us to exclude Vallejo from our shortlist. For primers.

Citadel (Games Workshop):

Citadel offers a wide range of readily available 400ml 'Sprays' for priming. Most are priced at £15, except Chaos Black (£13) and Retributor Armor (£21.50). While the exact number of spray colours can vary due to new releases or discontinuations, the range includes shades across all four of our required categories. Shortlisted.

The Army Painter:

The Army Painter offers a comprehensive primer range with detailed information. Their 400ml coloured spray cans are well priced and primer product photos showcase the effect on miniatures. In three states: prepared, sprayed and painted. The accessibility of product information and visual representation of colours made this brand an easy addition to the shortlist. Straight to the top.

Revell:

Revell, a familiar brand from our childhood model kits, offers a single spray primer: "Basic Color" in a 150ml can. Limited to one colour, this brand didn’t make the shortlist but remains interesting for future experimentation.

Humbrol:

Humbrol, well known for model vehicle paints, offers one 150ml primer in Matt Grey. Though not suitable for our current requirements, Humbrol paints could be worth exploring later.

Green Stuff World (GSW):

This Spanish brand offers four interesting rattle can sprays: Matt Ochre, Matt Green, Matt Red Rust and Matt Black, but lacks a white primer. While intriguing, the absence of a white option meant it didn’t make our final selection. However, GSW’s specialty sprays, like Chameleon Burning Gold (colour shifting effect based on viewing angle) easily warrant future exploration. It should be noted that there a GSW brush/airbrush primer is available in white.

Pro Acryl:

Pro Acryl claims to produce "The Best Paint, Period." Their black, white, and grey primers are available in large 500ml cans, with a visually inspiring website. However, due to shipping restrictions, these are only directly available in the US, making them impractical for our needs. At the time of writing, we could not find any local third party retailers.

AK Interactive (3rd Generation Primers):

At €11.50 for 400ml, AK’s primers are budget-friendly and ship with two nozzles, standard and fine diffusion. A brief diversion into into nozzle types revealed five key spray patterns, with a fine mist being optimal for detail retention. While a strong contender, AK was ultimately set aside in favor of a brand offering more colour variety.

Why are we interested in nozzles? For graffiti artists, rattle can nozzles (or caps) are crucial tools that influence spray control, line width, and paint flow. Different nozzles serve distinct purposes: fat caps allow for wide, bold fills and expressive flares, while skinny caps provide precision for detailed work and clean outlines. The right nozzle can make the difference between a smooth gradient and an uneven spray, affecting both efficiency and artistic expression. Experienced artists often swap caps to achieve specific effects, making nozzle selection an essential aspect of their craft.

The Colour Forge:

As a specialist manufacturer of primers and based in Sheffield UK, The Colour Forge stood out and overtook The Army Painter on our shortlist. Their 500ml rattle cans are priced at a very economical £12. There are 33 colours in the collection (Jan 2025), including a signature range. With no extra charge for metallic. The Colour Forge match their colours to Citadels acrylics and to ease decision making, provide colour conversion charts. Referencing to not only Citadel but also some Vallejo and The Army Painter colours. Supporting a UK based business while meeting requirements made The Colour Forge an obvious starting point. Prices based on 2025 data.

Final Thoughts

We don't think there's a wrong primer, just ones that meet requirements and seem right enough at the time. After thorough investigation, The Colour Forge rocketed to the top of our shortlist. Homegrown affordability and a wide colour selection sets the stage nicely. For the provision of product information kudos has to go The Army Painter, outstanding.