Quantity has a Quality all its own - or

[iamfanboy]

Many, many people complain of painting slowly, too "Slow to have a well painted army on the tabletop."

 

These words confound me, as it is perfectly possible to paint well and fast together in concert. I've been doing it for a number of years. I've spent most of that time refining my technique for greater speed with an acceptable level of quality, because time is the one precious thing that you can't buy more of.

 

*ahem* Sorry, little philosophy crept in there.

 

Anyway, I've spent some time talking to my acquaintances, friends, and forum-mates and come to the conclusion that there must be SOMETHING I'm doing differently, and it all comes down to procedure.

 

(a bit off topic) Some years ago, I was well-known among a circle of twenty or so people for being the best Resident Evil player around; not because I particularly liked the game, but because I had narrowed everything down to strict combat doctrines and procedure, making me very, very efficient as I cruised through the game. Nothing fazed me because I knew how to handle whatever came up.

 

I've done the same for painting Warhammer 40k figurines, though this is the first time I've set it on paper. I offer this for your edification, and hope that others have little tips and tricks to offer as well for the motto of "Quantity AND Quality."

 

 

 

1) Choose your colors carefully.

 

A lot of people would put a bunch of nonsense in this point about "color wheels" and other stuff that purely doesn't matter. I follow a basic formula: Colors divide up into "soft" (blue, gray, black, usually dark) and "sharp" (red, green, white, almost always lighter) and for a basis, 2 colors is plenty. Even at an advanced level, it's plenty. 2 basic colors for the uniform + 2-3 different colors on the weapons + highlighting for the 2 basic colors + eyes + skintones + assorted sundry gear (belt pouches/insignia/gemstones/toxin sacs/whatever) is plenty. Two basic colors lets you be individualistic without making the figurine look 'busy' - a fatal flaw at the advanced levels.

 

Choose whether you want the two colors to contrast (a soft and a sharp) or compliment (two softs or two sharps) beforehand. Complimenting works better for stealthy or more natural-oriented models like Scouts, Kommandos, Kroot, Imperial Guard, or Deathguard. Contrasting works better for more technological or unnatural models such as Tau, Space Marines, Necrons, Eldar Aspect Warriors, or Tyranids (always!). There are, however, no hard-and-fast rules about which army looks better as contrast or compliment; it's strictly a personal decision.

 

 

2) Plan ahead on how you're going to paint.

 

Use a test figurine! Preferably, keep one figurine as a guinea pig for any radical paintscheme changes, or use programs available (like Dawn of War, which surprisingly follows my 2 color scheme formula) to check them beforehand.

 

Planning ahead also covers other aspects, some of which are in the rules below. Always have all of your paints out, ready, and at hand, preferably lined up in the order that you're going to be using them.

 

Also part of planning ahead on how to paint is choosing how you're going to 'unify' your army paint scheme. With Space Marines, it's easy, but with other armies it can be hard... Keep it in mind when you switch to a different army.

 

 

3) Glue your minis together first.

 

I'm going to take some flak for this one, but remember that this is "QUANTITY AND quality" painting. Painting your miniatures on the sprue sounds quite fancy and elaborate and professional, but in practice it's bollocks. You'll spend FAR too much time touching up and repainting and... it's a nightmare. Better to get an idea of how the mini will need to be highlighted beforehand by having it all together.

 

Exceptions to this are bolters, or other guns with a standardized size (so you can glue your Space Marines together with a test bolter in their hands to get the proper pose). This just makes sense - to get free access to the chestplate while quickly assembly-lining the bolters as outlined below. Also, it's OK to leave larger figurines seperate - Bikers of any ilk, tanks and their turrets, or Tyranid Monstrous Creatures also benefit from having just a BIT of assembly required after painting. As a guideline, if having arms or guns glued in means that you have to bend the brush in crazy angles just to paint, it might be for the best to paint it a little seperately.

 

 

4) Always use spray basecoat.

 

(another potential flak alert!) Always use spray basecoat. It goes on smoothly if shaken properly, speeds up the whole process (which is the POINT of this article, don't you think?), ensures a clean, consistent product, and speeds up the whole process.

 

Shake it thoroughly (for 2-5 minutes, can held upside down), and DON'T TRY TO COVER THE ENTIRE MINI WITH THE SPRAY. A firm spraying is just fine, but if you do two or three sprays to get in all the cracks it ends up too thick and ugly.Touch it up by hand afterwards with thinned-down paint of the same shade as the primer, or a touch darker if you don't have the same shade - never lighter. If you're going to be flocking a miniature's base, decide whether you're going to do it before or after you spray basecoat the miniature, and ALWAYS flock the bases using the assembly-line technique (discussed below).

 

 

5) ALWAYS assembly-line paint.

 

I'll do a separate article about assembly-line, once I get my Eldar done - I get the sneaking suspicion that some people don't quite get assembly-line. In short, it's the technique of setting up, say, 5 figurines at a time, painting an area on the first, setting that one down when one is done, picking up the next, and using the same color on the next figurine, then repeating until you come back to the first, and starting a new color on that...

 

It's the most efficient technique devised, yet some people say that it "removes quality". Seriously, a guy I game with claimed that. Why? You're going to have to paint all of them with those colors eventually, why not speed it up and while you're waiting for one to dry, paint four others?

 

Even use assembly-line on HQs - while you're waiting for the more elaborate paintjobs to dry, you can be doing more basic troops. Use it on vehicles. It is your greatest friend in the war against time and having a fully painted army.

 

 

6) Don't be afraid to make mistakes - in fact, plan for them.

 

"Perfection is an attribute of the Divine" should be your watchword. We all know that brushes slip, we all know that some holes are too tiny to get into without slipping the brush across some other surface, and in fact you shouldn't worry overmuch about it. I make a hellacious amount of mistakes - as I write this, I'm looking at some thinned-down black paint that I slopped halfway across a Fire Dragon's helmet. That leads into my next rule.

 

 

7) Do all of your touchups at the SAME TIME.

 

This is the mind-killer. This is what derails more assembly-lines than anything else, and it shouldn't.

 

The immediate temptation, when you slop black all over a carefully-highlighted, 3-different-layers-of-thinly-painted-red helmet, is to bust out your Crimson Gore and immediately get started on fixing it. That temptation is WRONG, by the assembly-line doctrine. What if you make a new mistake on the next mini, after you get done fixing the last one? Best to get all the touchups out of the way at the same time, using the assembly-line technique once more.

 

 

8) Paint in thin layers.

 

What? You inquire about light colors like red and green that never show up properly when painted in thin layers? You insinuate that I'm being a hypocrite?

 

This is what I mean when I say, "Quantity AND QUALITY." Multiple thin layers will achieve a much more natural, even effect than one thick layer just globbed on - and it makes those expensive GW paints last longer, should you use them.

 

Admittedly, you have to be very, VERY careful when adding water to paint - too much and you turn it into a very crappy, almost diahrretic ink that will run everywhere but where you need it to be. If you don't have the technique mastered, it's best to add a few drops of water at a time, shake up the paint, and then carefully brush some on a palette or your desk to see if it's too thick or too thin. It is better to err on the side of too thick, though. Runny = bad. *looks at Fire Dragon's helmet again* take it from me.

 

 

9) Paint inside-to-out.

 

Always paint the deepest recesses of the miniature first, and work your way outward from there. Plan your assembly-line around this primary painting procedure. I don't even see how I can explain this further. Always do it.

 

 

10) Paint large areas first - except where it conflicts with rule 9).

 

The broadest areas are oftentimes the most basic parts of the figure - an Ork's skin, an Aspect Warrior's bodysuit, etcetera, and (to be honest), once you have them out of the way, even if you make a sloppy mistake on the next few layers, at least you'll only be touching up the one basic color, which will speed up compliance with rule 8).

 

 

11) Paint darkest to lightest - except where it conflicts with rule 9).

 

Darkest to lightest makes sense. Why risk having to touch up your pale green gemstone with a sloppy glob of dark blue paint? Though it can lead to nightmares if, say, you've got a red helmet and something that needs to be black on top of that...

 

 

12) While assembly-lining, always stick with the same-size brushes.

 

OK, this one is a personal technique, and that title didn't do it justice, but I'll explain it through example. You're assembly-lining red, and your plan says for the red to be over small, limited armor plates all over the figurine (which would call for a small point or round) AND all over the huge amount of helmet as well (which would call for a flat brush). Stick to the point or round for one assembly-line trip through of red, skipping over the helmet for now, and then pull out your flat and do the helmets on another trip through. This saves time (a small amount of time, but still some) by just avoiding the tedium of cleaning out the round, picking up the flat, dipping the flat, cleaning out the flat, picking up the round, dipping the round...

 

And small time-savers add up. It's all a part of planning.

 

 

13) Remember, you can always strip the paint off later.

 

Simple Green is your friend. It's better to have a fully-painted army on the table than to have only one WELL-painted squad. If you have the fully-painted army, you can at your leisure strip down one squad at a time, focus on painting that one well, then move onto the next. If quality is your obsession right from the get-go, you invariably become frustrated and beaten-down by the horde of still-unpainted minis left on your shelf - and few people can persevere in a situation like that.

 

One of my friends would NEVER have a fully-painted Deathguard army if I hadn't pounded this point into him and hounded him to paint, paint, paint. His army looked much better as a whole with ALL of it painted than with half of it in basecoat, a quarter of it only painted green, and the last quarter of it actually painted to the quality he desired - no matter how mediocre all the army was (and actually, it looked quite good!) Now, he's kicking back and stripping one squad at a time, secure in the knowledge that at least he finished the hardest part: Getting paint on all of the figurines.

 

 

14) Stick with it.

 

It's hard to keep it going. I know that better than anyone else, which is why I developed this philosophy and technique. Discouragement is terrible, and it happens to EVERYONE - you aren't alone.

 

Fighting discouragement is a big part of why I counsel speed over quality, for the reason I listed in 13. Some might think that seeing a crappily painted army would be more discouraging than seeing some unpainted figurines, but that's pure, fresh and still-steaming bullshyte. One squad painted is a chore accomplished, with more chores to come - bloody hell, there's seven more squads just like it, three vehicles, and those bleeding HQs with all the fiddly bits as well...

 

An army painted is an accomplishment. So few people manage to do it that even HAVING it is worth props. It gives you a warm, glorious feeling to have seventy-plus figurines on the table, see them all painted, and go, "I did this. This was all me. No one can take this feeling from me. I succeeded.

 

"Now, what am I going to do next?"

[Childofthewired]

AHHHHHH! It's good to be back!

 

I thought that I would add a few things to this.

 

First off, When putting on decals, laquer the shoulder pads in the assembly line process. You should also precut all of the transfers to fit. Finally, use microsol and microset, as it speeds up the amount of time needed to make the transfers stick, and it makes them look like they were painted on. Also, you should assembly line the laquer to cover the decals as well. Thise makes the process permanent.

 

I pretty much used iamfanboy's approach when painting 1850 of Ravenwing in 16 hours. They don't look great yet, but they were tournament ready, and looked good on the table.

 

There is always time for touchup later.

[Alcyon]

I've been doing this since I started 40k, and am damned proud of my two (TWO!) fully painted 2000 and 1000 point armies. I'm repainting one of them right now, because I can still play with the other! I pride myself on never having fielded an unpainted miniature and even if they look only tabletop quality, at least they're all done.

[Humakt]

Its funny, I actually do most of these things, but not all the time, and Im not very fast at all.

 

I do quite a lot of conversion work, and I actually enjoy doing this more than painting, so when it comes to painting, I've already done a lot of work, and this does make me a little bit dispondant.

 

Once thing I do to get round this is to give myself reward figures that I know I'll enjoy painting, such as tanks or HQ units. So currently I know I have to paint another Chaos squad, and then I'll paint the much more interesting Rhino. I think this is in my head, but it does help the 'stick with it' factor.

 

Thanks for the tips.

[JaM_TW]

Good tips/advise, thanks for posting. It'll prolly get me trough my scouts and Bloodbowl-teams wich are currently in the "to paint" section :blush:

[T14]

I am guilty.

 

I have well over 7000 points of space marines and I have less than a thousand points painted.

 

Bits and sprues everywhere, and very little pigment to show for it.

I must visit my parent chapter for some time with the pain glove.

 

Cheers

-t14

[ant258sniper]

i have no fully painted armys i will try this method and will reply back if i suckeed

 

thks

[UrbanKnight]

Another great technique if you have the resource:

 

an airbrush is really your friend. A good one, not a crappy single action external mix.

 

You can prime a whole 6000+ point army in under an hour.. and a primer coat that won't obscure tiny detail and such.. and nothing beats an airbrush for tanks. you can try to paint all those flat surfaces with a brush without leaving a brush mark, but thats not as easy as it sounds. or remotely as quick.

[ant258sniper]

Another great technique if you have the resource:

 

an airbrush is really your friend. A good one, not a crappy single action external mix.

 

You can prime a whole 6000+ point army in under an hour.. and a primer coat that won't obscure tiny detail and such.. and nothing beats an airbrush for tanks. you can try to paint all those flat surfaces with a brush without leaving a brush mark, but thats not as easy as it sounds. or remotely as quick.

 

 

so do i water down the paint a lot for the tanks and then brush on with the air brush.

[UrbanKnight]

Well there are a lot of variables with an air brush, depends on the paint, the airbrush and what you are using to thin your paint..

 

Example: I use primarily Vallejo Model color, in an Iwata HP-CH airbrush I generally thin it with Golden Airbrush Medium..

 

So I generally add 7-8 drops of Airbrush medium into the paint cup, then add about 5-6 drops of paint, then I put my finger over the nozzle and press the trigger which floods air into the cup, mixing the paint for me until pretty smooth (it should look like milk when the mix is about right, same texture and fluid consistancy) then pretty much you should be good to go, you can add a drop or two of acrylic retarder as well to keep the paint from drying on the needle tip as acrylics are wont to do. and make sure you keep the bugger clean.

[Lord Ragnarok]

This is a very good guide. I've probably adapted and used 90 percent of it already. I think my issue is distractions and procrastinations :wub:

 

The key addition in your list for me is dark to light. Eventhough sub-consciously know this I have not put it to practice.

[stayeatingpaint]

does anyone know how thick/thin should the paint be after you have added the water? i added 4 drops to a brand new paint pot and it seems as though the paint has the same thickness as a new one with out water, can anyone help me?

[iamfanboy]

You've just gotta go carefully - and don't worry about paint being really thin; thin paint is self-correcting with several layers.

 

Thick paint, on the other hand, takes a stripping to get off, and I've stripped enough to last me a lifetime.

 

<_< Really is too bad that now I've got 5 Wraithguard and 2 Wraithlords to strip... *sigh*

 

 

What you might do instead of trying to mix water INTO the pot itself is to dip your brush into water, then put it into the handy paint resevoir that each pot comes with, mixing it THERE. Though you'll have to clean your brush carefully to avoid dripping paint into your thinning supply, I've done just this with new pots.

[Pleasuredome]

For SM armies like salamanders , Imperial fists , etc. try to borrow a Airbrush from a friend.

 

Primer the minis in black or white with GW Spray

Thin down the wanted color with airbrush primer .

Primer all the boys in one go ( you will have to clean the airbrush several times)

 

Now you have a good start ...

[alexious]

I use almost all of the concepts above in my painting, although with my Ultramarines, I've found that it is easier to get a good base by priming black and then spray the Ultramarine blue spray on. Its a bit lighter than the regular ultramarine blue, but I do a basecoat of boltgun for the metallics, and then a nice wash of blue ink to give the recesses some depth. The only way in which I majorly differ, is I usually paint little detail than big stuff, for some reason I find this goes faster for me (as evidenced in my pic in the army thread).

 

But one should really go with what is comfortable, its better than forcing your way through a process you are at odds with. Also, I use vallejo glaze medium (from the game color line) to thin my paints, a couple drops and its good to go, nice flow control and not to thick. Works especially well with other game colors and some of the reaper colors (i like their leather white and linen white). Also, if you plan on painting rubble or other textured flock you've added to a base, definately prime with the rest of the model, saves you time trying to have to hide bare rock later on.

[Darzoni]

Listen to iamfanboy, because that's basically everything I had to learn the hard way about painting minis.

 

I'd like to add that I primer my plastics on the sprue to speed things up. I can also see mold lines and areas I need to trim easier when I primer black (since the plastic is y'know, grey). Like iamfanboy said, you can touch up the primer by hand pretty quickly.

 

As for assembly-line painting, I swear by it. I got about forty Fire Warriors painted in a total approximate time of 4-6 hours over two days. Ten hours over a week (I was busy) for 30 SM Scouts. I painted the scout heads on the sprues because A- They only attach at the bottom and are quickly touched up with black paint, and B- I could move from one head to the next without having to pick up a new head. So painting on the sprue will work if you know the spot the bit is attached to is never going to show or doesn't matter.

 

What takes time for me is deciding what I need to build for my army. :blush:

[Prince Khargore]

Those are all really good ideas but one that I have come across that works really well is painting them on the sprues. I am currently painting a 1500pts Tomb Kings army, that I am almost done with, and I only started anout a month ago.

[Joah from Alberta]

I can attest to the pragmatic painter, as I myself am one. I have made untold wealth painting the homes of my clientel by applying a systematic (and friendly) approach of painting. I can share with you a trade secret that I wish denominate in wargamers parlance-- and that is ZOC. Simply, Zone of Control. Wherever you can reach immediately, paint NOW. When I have the brush in hand, no matter what mode of thought I am in, if I can reach a place that can immediately be painted, effortlessly, then I paint.

 

So, you have an assembly line method, but you must realise that the world is not flat and so you should not have all your players set out in a line (unless you fantasize them being shot dead infront of a wall). Spread them out eagle, scatter them out chaotically before your precious eyes and then apply the zoc. Paint what you can reach, methodically, pragmatically.

 

I have recently created my first 1000 point World Eater army to play against my 10 year-old son's Ork army. I am going to try and paint with nail polish as this paint has a very resilient finish. Yeah it's exploration, at-- its, best. Don't forget to enjoy what you paint, for we are all subjugated by virtue of survival to believe that the more time we have the better we are, but it is such a fable and in a blink of an eye it shall all be over.

[Dezzo]

Wow... i bumped into this thread by accident.

 

iamfanboy is correct with many (if not all) things he mentioned about quality "speed" painting. It really is organisation and practice happening at the same time.

 

I learn the bulk of my mini painting skills from years of military vehical modelling but minis are quite different because many of the details require you to paintbrush them in.

 

My crash course into mini painting is my wood elves army... the elves are hard to paint... all those vines and leaves and details on their weapons nearly drove me mad. My 2000 pt WE army is still unfinished. Around 1000 pt is left. I got pretty sick of them.

 

The Black Templars were a refreshing change! Their colour is majority the primer colour, black. But I also give various parts an aluminum over followed by either gun metal wash and/or a semi gloss black wash. Choosing the right primer colour gets you more motivated to finish the minis. My WE primer is black. Perhaps, if it's green, things might be different....

 

Hence that might be my advice... pick a primer paint that is similar to the general colour of your army... If it's white... perhaps prime silver / aluminum or grey....

 

I find 40 k minis alot more easier to paint, compared to fantasy.

 

My 2000 pt BT army is about 80% painted! They are a joy to paint (compared to WE). Assembly line painting the Initiates was alot easier than the Glade Guards or Dryads! Heck, even the LRC was more thrilling than the Treeman!

 

I don't know why but its true!

 

I painted a unit of Chaos Knights and a mounted Archaon before. for some reason I still find them more fun to paint than a woodelves army... even the cool minis like the Wardancer Lord and the Waywatcher Lord are a chore, i feel.

[Evil eyeball]

Admittedly im not a super painter but yeah I follow this method...

 

However there are exceptions... Like if one model has somnething another doesnt i won't paint that till last......

 

I havent had much time for painting since school begain again in sept..

 

So as of tomorrow im going to assembly line some Tson heads and finish my last squad of Tsons once i get this place cleaned up and in a shape to paint...

 

Then we mix the GS and convert flamers... HE he he I've got a way that will save me buckets of money on my tzeentchy deamons...

 

Maybe i'll post a tutorial once i get the first mini done.

[Synergy Commander]

Good advice imfanboy. Through trial and error I have come across most of those items, however a few of them I have not... kudos to you.

[Bat Guano]

I am re-enlightened. I'll have to put this into practice again ASAP.

 

Good tips on the airbrush, as well.

[LadyKat]

I've pretty much used iamfanboy's approach when painting 1850 of Ravenwing in 16 hours. They don't look great yet, but they were tournament ready, and looked good on the table.

 

There is always time for touchup later.

 

iamfanboy's approach is quite useful. I've been doing a very similar method myself as I've painted my WE, Brets, Orcs and all the other stuff I've painted en mass. For reference I've got 2500 plus points of each and of them all the Brets are the only unpainted ones because I've been focusing on touch ups on everything and making display bases, terrain, etc. Childofthewired mentioned 1850 points in 16 hours. I did 2250 Orcs from scratch to table ready in 5 days while juggling a 6 month old baby and a business, so it can be done. I won't win many painting contests but it's tournament worthy and can certainly hold its own. And he's right, touch ups can always be done later.

 

Any thoughts on how to more effectively keep sand/flock from attaching itself to feet/bottem parts of the models? That seems to be a big challenge for me.

[Damocles]

Kat - Flock and sand getting on the feet is a really annoying problem, but there's not much you can do besides being careful with your brush when you're painting the glue onto the model's base. As long as you can be careful enough not to get glue on the feet or legs, any grains on them won't stick and can be brushed off.

 

Damocles

[ultra tacticus]

it's all true. the assembly line works great. it helped me get done with a 3500pt salamnders army in about 2 mounths. although ive painted 6 armies in counting for other people i havent been able to get the stick to itness to do my ultramarines 2nd battle company.