How to Use Colour Primers to Speed Up Army Painting

Quick answer

Spray your whole unit in a colour that already matches the army's main armour or cloth, then let Speedpaint and a couple of highlights do the rest. Choose the primer colour closest to your dominant tone so you skip the slowest step — painting that base colour by brush. Batch 5-10 models at a time, keep coats thin, and test one model before committing the squad.

Most of the time you spend on a new unit disappears into the first coat. If your Space Marines are green, your Orks are green, or your undead are bone, painting that colour by hand across 30 models is the slowest part of the project. A coloured basecoat moves that work into the spray can, so you start the fun part — shading, highlighting and details — much sooner.

This guide walks through the order that actually saves time: choosing the right primer colour, spraying in batches without clogging detail, then layering a one-coat paint over the top. It also covers where a coloured primer hurts you, because it is not the right answer for every scheme.

Match the primer to the dominant colour, not the trim

Look at a finished model in your army and decide which single colour covers the most surface area. That is your primer colour. On a Goff Ork it is usually the dark armour and black cloth; on a Salamanders force it is the green power armour. Everything else — metallics, skin, lenses — gets painted over the top, so a slightly different primer shade underneath is fine as long as it is close.

The mistake here is choosing a primer that matches a small detail because it is the colour you enjoy painting. If you prime red for a red helmet but the body is blue, you have added a full basecoat step instead of removing one.

• Prime a spare model or a leftover arm first and let it dry fully before you commit a whole squad.
• If two colours are roughly equal in area, pick the darker one — it hides better under lighter layers.

Spray in batches with short, controlled passes

Mount your models on a strip of card or a painting handle so you can rotate them without touching wet surfaces. Shake the can thoroughly, then spray in short passes from roughly 20-30 cm, starting the pass before the model and finishing after it. Two thin passes from different angles beat one heavy coat every time.

The common failure is holding the can too close or too long in one spot. That floods recesses, softens sharp detail and leaves a grainy texture that Speedpaint will not flow over evenly. If the surface looks wet and glossy, you have already overdone it.

• Spray in good ventilation and within the temperature and humidity range on the can.
• Work in batches of 5-10 models so you always have a dry squad to paint while another dries.

Check coverage before you start painting

Once the primer is dry, hold the model at arm's length. You should see an even colour with no grey plastic or bare metal showing through. Missed spots in deep recesses are less important than missed spots on flat panels, because flat areas are where a thin Speedpaint layer will look patchy.

This is your checkpoint before the fun begins. Touching up a missed patch with a brush now takes seconds; discovering it after you have shaded and highlighted means repainting that area from scratch.

• If the coat looks dusty or rough, stop and strip or re-prime rather than painting over it.
• Keep one primed model aside as a colour reference for the rest of the army.

Layer a one-coat paint over the primer

With a coloured basecoat already in place, a one-coat paint like Speedpaint does the shading and highlighting in a single pass. Load the brush, touch it to the surface, and let the paint flow into the recesses rather than brushing it back and forth. The primer colour underneath still influences the final tone, so test on one model before you batch the unit.

The mistake at this stage is applying a second heavy coat to fix a patchy area. Speedpaint is designed as a one-coat solution with consistent flow, and adding more paint usually darkens the recesses and muddies the contrast you were trying to build.

• Paint one model completely, let it dry, then judge the result in daylight before doing the squad.
• Keep the primer colour in mind: a light primer gives a brighter finish, a dark primer a deeper one.

Finish the details and lock the scheme in

Once the main body is done, paint only what the primer and one-coat layer did not cover: metallics, skin, lenses and base rims. Because the bulk of the model is already finished, this stage is quick and you can work through a unit in an evening. Write down the exact primer and paint names you used so the next batch matches.

The mistake is leaving the scheme undocumented. Six months later, a new squad primed with a slightly different can will not match the rest of the army, and you will not know which colour you used the first time.

• Photograph one finished model under neutral light as a record of the scheme.
• Varnish only after the paint is fully dry to avoid disturbing the one-coat finish.

The colour primer speed painting order

1. Step 1: Choose the primer colour: Identify the single colour that covers the most surface area on a finished model and pick a primer that matches it, not the trim. Checkpoint: if two colours are close in area, choose the darker one.
2. Step 2: Test on one model: Spray a single spare model or a leftover part and let it dry fully before committing a whole squad. Checkpoint: if the finish looks grainy or glossy, adjust distance and passes before continuing.
3. Step 3: Spray the batch: Mount 5-10 models on card or handles and apply two thin passes from different angles, starting and finishing the pass off the model. Checkpoint: an even colour with no bare plastic on flat panels means you are ready to paint.
4. Step 4: Apply the one-coat layer: Use a one-coat paint such as Speedpaint over the primed surface, letting it flow into recesses instead of brushing it back and forth. Checkpoint: resist a second heavy coat — it darkens recesses and muddies contrast.
5. Step 5: Paint details and record the scheme: Cover only metallics, skin, lenses and base rims, then write down the primer and paint names and photograph one finished model. Next step: repeat the same order for the next batch so the whole army matches.

Products that support this method

• Warpaints Fanatic: Scarab Green: A dark bluish green and the darkest tone from the Teals Flexible Colour Triad, with the practical colour name Dark Bluish Green. Useful as the base coat for teal projects, and a good reference point when choosing a primer colour for a teal-dominant army.
• Speedpaint: Periwinkle Purple: A one-coat painting solution with consistent flow across all colours, intense shading and highlighting effect, supplied in an 18ml spill-free dropper bottle with mixing balls pre-loaded. The one-coat behaviour is what makes a coloured primer pay off, because the primer supplies the base tone and this layer supplies the shading in a single pass.
• Warpaints Fanatic: Doomfire Drab: The lightest tone from the Pinks Flexible Colour Triad, with the practical colour name Very Light Purplish Pink, described as a final highlight colour for pink projects. Shows why triad position matters: this is a highlight, not a base, so it is the wrong choice to prime with if you want to skip a basecoat step.
• Salamanders (Horus Heresy) Bundle: A curated Salamanders paint bundle of Warpaints Fanatic and Speedpaint colours, including Camouflage Green and Woodland Camo for dark green power armour and multiple metallics for trim and scorched weaponry. If your army's dominant colour is dark green power armour, this bundle covers the layers you will paint over a matching coloured primer.

Colour primer speed painting is really a sequencing decision: move the biggest block of colour into the spray can, keep the coats thin, and let a one-coat paint handle the shading. Test on one model, batch the rest, and write down what you used so the next unit matches the last.