Is priming really necessary?

[Wraith01]

I'm new to the hobby and keep reading and seeing YouTube videos were people insist priming your models is a necessary step. I don't understand why? The paint sticks well to the plastic without any primer, the colors look just as good...

Is it an aging thing where the paint comes off in 10 or 20 years? Or is it just something that's ingrained in people from when mini's were made out of pewter? 

[RuneBrush]

There are a lot of different reasons.  Off the top of my head:

• it gives more adherence to your top layer paint, so it's less likely to rub off or chip
• different paints have different coverages and will pool and puddle on raw plastic rather than stick
• it provides a consistent base colour - GW have used various different plastics over the years and the under colour will taint the top coats equally if you wished to add a resin model to your plastic army they'd end up looking different (and you can't paint on top of resin)
• you can use the base colour to help with your painting, black inherantly provides darker shading for example
• if you use masking tape or blutack without some form of primer or undercoat it may well pull the top layers off entirely

Generally if you're likely to use the model to play games a primer or undercoat is a pretty essential step, if it's a display piece then it's less critical

[amysrevenge]

If you're in like the 95th percentile of painters, the colour issues will be important for you.  Otherwise probably not, as natural variations in your painting will probably make a bigger difference.

If you're a gamer, a top coat (or double coat) of varnish will do more to protect your paint job than an undercoat of primer.

 

That said, if you do a coloured primer, one that is the same colour as the main base coat you intend to use, it can save you a step in painting.

I file priming under "Optional, but usually not" for myself.

[Spiky Norman]

Painting with washes/shades/glazes straight on a Corrax White primer is great. That's the reason I prime most of my models white, but I prime my bases black as it unifies the base materials and makes it easy to drybrush up afterwards.

[Lysandestolpe]

Priming is essential. Your paintjob will come off and you've wasted your time (period)

[hobgoblinclub]

I'm told some painters (good ones) don't prime. Think @Painted by G has been painting without using one recently.

[Avindskjold]

I have a friend who used to (or maybe still does) skip the primer step. You can see the blotches of grey plastic under the paint. Priming is a necessary step, as the paint will not hold to a rigid plastic surface. Over time, it will rub off. Colors will also be more consistent over primer, as stated before - you won't get ugly blotches that show through the paint.  

[Broken]

45 minutes ago, hobgoblinclub said:

I'm told some painters (good ones) don't prime. Think @Painted by G has been painting without using one recently.

I would like to see these good painters because that's extremely unlikely. Priming helps paint stick better and gives you an even base to work from. Without an even base you can't shade or highlight consistently, which is the key to a good paint job. In fact there are many techniques that use an uneven base after it's been primed as part of the shading and highlighting, in military and larger scale robot model kits this is often the only shading techniques they use.

[Sadysaneto]

Well, it saves time, its essencial for zenithal painting and i find that it really helps to hold the paint while youre painting/ handling the model.

 

Is it really necessary? If you coatnthe model with matte varnish, not really.

 

But boy, does it make things smoothier.

[RuneBrush]

8 hours ago, hobgoblinclub said:

I'm told some painters (good ones) don't prime. Think @Painted by G has been painting without using one recently.

Am I not right in saying that a lot of his models are for display though?  Quite a few people who don't prime/undercoat are people who don't paint for gaming (where they get a lot more handling).

[hobgoblinclub]

Yeah that's true. He only mentioned it the other day. Didn't say on what. The majority of what he paints is commission stuff though, it'd have to be fairly robust. I'm sure he'll chime in here at some point when he sees he's got a mention.

[bottle]

Priming is absolutely necessary for me as I paint with very thin layers and inks over white undercoat. It just wouldn't work if it was the grey plastic beneath instead

As mentioned above I have also seen some very good painters experiment without using it - but I think again for display pieces.

[G.AmbulanceService]

Not necessary at all

[Lysandestolpe]

12 hours ago, G.AmbulanceService said:

Not necessary at all

I'm excited about your argument!

[amysrevenge]

17 hours ago, bottle said:

Priming is absolutely necessary for me as I paint with very thin layers and inks over white undercoat. It just wouldn't work if it was the grey plastic beneath instead

As mentioned above I have also seen some very good painters experiment without using it - but I think again for display pieces.

I use a similar technique, maybe, but when I do, I brush white on to plastic and consider it a base coat. 

[Wraith01]

Ok, good points. Since I plan on using my figures to play,  I'll wait until they restock primer at my local shop and I'll make sure to get some sort of top layer varnish too. 

[G.AmbulanceService]

Priming provides a nicer surface to work on and does help the paint adhere, but the results of painting from not using a primer will be barely detectable

[Lysandestolpe]

7 hours ago, G.AmbulanceService said:

Priming provides a nicer surface to work on and does help the paint adhere, but the results of painting from not using a primer will be barely detectable

Well, take this statement with a grain of salt.

Basically it really depends on what type of paints you plan to use. Some paint hues have qualities that may adhere better to un-primed surfaces as the pigments and other ingredients may, others don't. Meddling in paint is like diving into an science lab. Whether it is through paintings on canvas, painting a wall on your house, or painting warhammer figures. The quality of the paint ingredients matter. However, that's only regarding adhering to the surface.

Now for being able to detect a figure that has been painted on top un-primed surface or a primed surface also depends on the style of painting and the brand/quality of paints you use. If you use crappy acrylic colors, there will be more vehicle than pigments, which means the surface will be less radiant. If you use something more dense of pigment, such as using Citadel base colors to first lay down a layer, after which you place down your crappy acrylic paint, it may work quite well. But then again, going through such trouble to get a descent result, you may as well prime the figure.

Also, primer tends to counteract grease. If you play with your unpainted figures for a while, moving them with your hands, you may as well say bye bye to that paint job as the paint will come off like dust on a rainy day. If anybody finds a paint that doesn't. Please let me know where I can invest my capital.

This may work for you for some magical reason, but I've seen too many cases of bad prepping to be OK with this advice to a new friend here on the forum.

8 hours ago, Wraith01 said:

Ok, good points. Since I plan on using my figures to play,  I'll wait until they restock primer at my local shop and I'll make sure to get some sort of top layer varnish too. 

Great! I think you're making the right decision! Hopefully you'll never know how it feels to have your work come off, I do. Army-painters yellow primer says it's a primer... it is not a good one in that case.

[Dissident]

This has been a really helpful post, being new to the hobby, is there any difference between using the spray cans (as GW push) or good old fashion brush?

[Lysandestolpe]

40 minutes ago, Dissident said:

This has been a really helpful post, being new to the hobby, is there any difference between using the spray cans (as GW push) or good old fashion brush?

Applying the primer by spray will make a more even coat. It is also easier to control the amount you put on compared to using a brush were it can be fairly easy to clog some details during application.

I recommend spray. It doesn't have to be GW brand spray but look at the "dry-time" on the side of the can. Some will make you wait 24h to be able to apply your paint, others will have you wait less than an hour.

Good luck!

[Painted by G]

It was David Soper who tipped me that priming wasn't necessary over plastic. His models are some of the best in the world so I figured I'd give it a try. 

Here's his WIP megaboss painted directly onto plastic. 

Pretty good eh? 

 

I've only tried with a couple of models so far and it seems to be fine. As for the colours, a grey primes is a good start for any,  so the grey of the plastic should be just as good. 

One of the recent models I did without primer was the Stardrake. Colors are great and I really can't see a problem with paint coming off,  but without playing with the model for years I guess that's impossible to say for sure. 

I'd say give it a go and see for yourself. If you prefer a primer go for it. If I can forgo it, it'll same me a lot of time and money in the future! 

 

[Nico]

Try Zenithal highlighting then apply thin layers - it's like free highlighting.

[bottle]

@Painted by G Really interesting to hear your input. I might try it on one of my models, I guess I am worried about my colours being dulled because I am working from grey instead of white, but we'll see :-)

[Ryan Taylor]

Many moons ago I did not use primer and the paints rubbed off on my hands. However that was years ago and I was a child. Now with stronger pigments in paints I tend to use a light dusting on miniatures to give the paint something to grip to and a zenith look to pop details and allow me to see where to paint better.