Select a plate to use. White plates are ideal for work that will cover the entire surface, but colored plates are great for incorporating the background into the piece. Plates made of melamine are popular for painting, and are available at most hardware and department stores for an affordable price.
Clean the plate thoroughly. Put some dish soap on a sponge, and scrub the plate. Rinse the soap off of the plate with lukewarm water.
Sand down the plate's surface with a piece of sandpaper. This will help to remove some of the paint's glossy surface, which is less receptive to paints and art materials.
Draw the initial design of your piece onto the plate, using a graphite pencil. Stronger mediums will be more difficult to remove from the plate, so perfect your design at this stage.
Apply acrylic craft paints or another medium of your choice over the design. Mediums intended for crafts are the best choice for painting on plates.
Allow the paint to dry thoroughly.
Coat the plate and design with an artist's fixative, or with some aerosol hairspray. Allow this to dry and apply one more coat.