For many in the miniature hobby, the act of painting is only one part of the journey. The other, often more difficult part, is managing the vast amount of information that comes with it. From the moment a new box of miniatures is opened to the final coat of varnish, a painter must track assembly progress, paint inventory, and—most crucially—the specific steps taken to achieve a certain look.
The recipe you can’t remember
The core challenge for any miniature painter is not necessarily a lack of skill, but a lack of a reliable recording system. It is a common situation: a painter mixes a custom ratio of two different paints to achieve the perfect highlight for a specific army’s armor. Weeks or even months later, when adding a new unit to that same army, they find themselves unable to reproduce that exact shade. Without a record of the specific brands, colors, and mixing ratios used, the visual consistency of an entire collection is at risk.
This is fundamentally an organizational problem. When a hobbyist relies purely on memory, the “mental load” of the project increases with every new color added to the palette. Information that should be easily accessible—such as whether a specific blue was mixed 1:1 or 2:1 with a grey—becomes a source of frustration. We view the solution to this problem through the lens of information design: creating a sustainable way to capture these ephemeral mixing decisions so they can be reused indefinitely.
What’s worth recording
To build an effective tracking system, one must first identify which data points actually provide long-term value. Based on our research into recording-field design, we have categorized the essential fields into three main areas: the miniature itself, the paints in your library, and the specific recipes that link them together.
| Category | Example fields | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Miniature | Name, series, build status, notes, thumbnail | Provides a high-level view of your collection and progress. Tracking status (e.g., “backlog” vs “painting”) helps manage the volume of unpainted models. |
| Paint | Brand, color name, color code/hex, remaining stock level | Prevents duplicate purchases and ensures you don’t run out of a critical color mid-project. Color codes allow for digital color matching. |
| Recipe | Title, linked paints with mix ratios, process notes | The “how-to” of your project. Capturing the specific ratio (e.g., 2:1) and the order of operations ensures you can replicate the look years later. |
By structuring records this way, the painter moves from a chaotic “trial and error” approach to a systematic “archive and repeat” workflow.
Notebook vs. spreadsheet vs. a dedicated app
There are several ways to manage these records, ranging from traditional physical methods to modern digital solutions. Each approach has distinct trade-offs in terms of operational efficiency and data retrieval.
| Management Method | Ease of Logging While Painting | Searchability | Linking Photos to Records |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper Notebook | High: No screen required; easy to jot down notes with messy hands. | Low: Requires manual flipping through pages to find a specific recipe. | Difficult: Physical photos must be printed or cross-referenced with a digital gallery. |
| Spreadsheet | Medium: Requires a computer or mobile device; data entry can be clunky. | High: Excellent for filtering by brand or status. | Medium: Possible to insert images, but often leads to large, slow files that are hard to view on mobile. |
| Dedicated App | High: Mobile-first design allows for quick photo capture and preset selection. | High: Integrated search and filtering for both miniatures and paint stock. | High: Photos are directly attached to the specific miniature or recipe record. |
While a paper notebook offers a tactile experience, it often fails when a painter needs to answer a specific question, such as “Which models in my collection were painted using this specific brand of metallic paint?”. Spreadsheets offer better data management but struggle with the visual nature of the hobby. A dedicated app is designed to bridge these gaps by treating photos and text as a single, searchable record.
Keeping status and stock in view
Beyond the recipes themselves, two other types of data are vital for maintaining a sustainable hobby workflow: build-status tracking and paint inventory management.
Build-Status Tracking
Many painters struggle with a “backlog”—a collection of unpainted miniatures often referred to as a “pile of shame.” By assigning a clear status to every miniature—Backlog (unstarted), Assembling, Painting, or Done—a painter can gain a realistic view of their project pipeline. This helps in prioritizing what to paint next and provides a sense of accomplishment as models move toward the “Done” category.
Paint Stock-Level Awareness
Nothing halts progress like realizing an essential paint pot is empty in the middle of a session. A robust recording system should include a way to track the remaining stock level of every paint in the library. We recommend a simple four-level indicator: Full, Half, Low, and Empty. By filtering for paints marked as “Low” or “Empty,” a painter can put together a shopping list before their next trip to the hobby store.
Additionally, some painters choose to track their cumulative painting time to understand the effort required for different types of models. It is important to note that this should be handled as a manual log—adding hours and minutes after a session—rather than a stopwatch, as the goal is a long-term record of effort, not high-pressure time-tracking.
How BrushLog approaches this
We developed BrushLog as a dedicated tool to solve these exact recording and management problems. Designed specifically for miniature painters and board game enthusiasts, BrushLog centralizes your collection, your paint library, and your custom recipes in one place.
One of the primary friction points in starting a digital record is data entry. To address this, BrushLog includes a built-in library of approximately 5,900 preset colors from major hobby brands like Citadel and Vallejo. This allows you to register your inventory quickly without manual typing. Once your paints are registered, you can link them to specific recipes, including precise mixing ratios and process notes.
BrushLog offers two tiers of service to suit different needs:
- Free Tier: Allows you to register up to 5 miniatures and 20 paints. It includes all core features, such as recipe recording, the paint preset library, and manual painting time logs. Your records also stay portable, since CSV and ZIP backups are free for every user.
- Pro Tier (One-time purchase): Removes all limits on the number of miniatures and paints. It also adds advanced management features, including project (army) management, a before-and-after comparison slider, a weekly painting reminder, and recipe image sharing.
BrushLog is built on a “privacy-first” philosophy, using only local storage on your device with no account registration required. It is a tool designed to be a long-term asset for your hobby, helping you focus more on painting and less on trying to remember what was on your palette three weeks ago.
Download BrushLog on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/brushlog/id6763442950
Summary
Successful miniature management relies on tracking three core categories: the miniature’s progress, the paint inventory, and the specific mixing recipes used. By moving from scattered notes to an organized system, painters can ensure visual consistency across their collections and avoid the frustration of lost recipes. Whether you choose paper, a spreadsheet, or a dedicated app, the goal is to build a record that supports your hobby for years to come.
This article organizes information from a recording and organizing perspective. If you notice an error or outdated information, please contact us. Last verified: July 2026
