What is your procedure?

[DEL 707]

I'm trying to get back into painting (thread here) and I'm finding it a little slow and difficult at the moment, so I'm hoping people can tell me what I'm doing wrong or how to speed things up.

• Step 1 - Assemble/glue model.
• Step 2 - Undercoat model.
• Step 3 - Base coat.
• Step 4 - Wash.
• Step 5 - Another base coat.
• Step 6 - 2 to 3 coats of the colour I actually want.
• Step 7 - Highlights and detail.

1 thing I want to change is painting the model before I assemble, I've seen people drill and glue the parts onto paper clips, which looks like a great way to do things, but my silly question is how to you get the parts off the paperclip at the end if you've glued them on?

 

I'm also wondering about the wash, since I've never done 1 in the past, I washed the entire figure, now it's taking me a fair bit of time painting the layers on, trying to avoid the recessed areas.

Would it be possible to leave the wash to a later stage and simply just wash the recessed areas, or would the model be too *bright* at that stage?

 

I appreciate any help.

[Res Ipsa Loquitur]

I can give you quick. You'll have to look elsewhere for quick and well-painted.

 

Spray Army Painter Pure Red

Wash with Nuln Oil

Drybrush Pure Red

[Disruptor_fe404]

1. Remove and clean parts.

Spray with primer.

Basecoat.

Wash.

Details & Clean Up.

Highlighting.

Prepare base.

Assemble.

[Subtle Discord]

1. Clip and clean - remove any mould lines and make alterations to certain parts.

2. Partially assemble - leave the shoulder pads, backpack, and sometimes the head off (depending on the pose). I prefer to glue weapons in place, some prefer to do it after.

3. Base the model - pose the model on the base and add rocks and sand before priming; basing now saves having to do it 'around' a painted miniature later.

4. Final cleanup before priming - just to make sure nothing is wrong; usually to remove stray bits of basing grit.

5. Prime - let the primer dry at least 48 hours for full adhesion.

6. Light unifying paint layer - even the surface and makes sure all of the nooks-and-crannies are painted.

7. Messy paint layer - do things that are messy and hard to contain; metallics and other washes, eyes that need to be 'shaped' from the outside, etc.

8. Careful clean paint layer - go in and clean up the edges of all the messy work.

9. Rinse-&-Repeat - some extra details might need another round of messy work followed by cleanup.

10. Highlight - again, done quick and messy, then cleaned up carefully.

11. Complete assembly

12. Minor touch-ups - usually to clean up any minor mess caused by assembly

13. Varnish - gloss painted on chip-prone places, satin spray to finish.

 

No, my method is not the most refined for speed, but I think it finds a balance between trying to be efficient, and doing the best 'table top quality' job that I want for my army.

[Bryan Blaire]

1 thing I want to change is painting the model before I assemble, I've seen people drill and glue the parts onto paper clips, which looks like a great way to do things, but my silly question is how to you get the parts off the paperclip at the end if you've glued them on?

 

I'm also wondering about the wash, since I've never done 1 in the past, I washed the entire figure, now it's taking me a fair bit of time painting the layers on, trying to avoid the recessed areas.

Would it be possible to leave the wash to a later stage and simply just wash the recessed areas, or would the model be too *bright* at that stage?

 

I use both paper clips and cut off toothpicks to anchor parts of models of different sizes. Generally I simply break the paper clip or toothpick off and pull it out of the hole/away from the part (I don't use enough glue to anchor them so that I can't simply break them off).  When it gets really trying or I'm worried about damaging the bottom of the part, I will cut the paper clip away with some wire cutters.  Don't drill in so far that you can't just break a little glue off and pull the clip out of the hole.

 

As far as the wash, yes, you can definitely just wash the recessed areas.  I only wash the entire model (or large portions) when I actually want to darken the whole model down for some reason (for instance, I did a test Dark Angel mini where I wanted a color darker than the Caliban Green as a base, so I washed the entire model in Nuln Oil to darken down all of the model, then just edge highlighted with Caliban Green).  Otherwise, only apply a little wash to each of the areas that you want to darken, and then go back over any tide lines with your base color.

 

My general process is:

-Glue legs to medicine bottle top (sometimes base)

-Assemble torso and glue to toothpick that has been cut off and flattened across the top

-Drill small holes in arms where they will glue against the torso, drill small hole in base of head, glue to tips of paperclips (cut in half)

-Drill small hole in middle of front grip area of bolter (or other area where it won't show on the weapon) or glue the weapon to one of the arms

-Base coat all parts

-Recess wash (can be a couple different steps/color shades depending on what I'm trying to shade)

-Clean up with base color

-Highlights (generally two or three)

-Fine details (eye lenses, etc)

-Assemble arms onto torso, then glue torso onto top of legs (this helps with posing usually)

-Glue head on in a good pose position

-Make a good base

-Break model off from medicine bottle top and glue to base

[Disruptor_fe404]

I just blu-tac things to the top of an old brush.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

If you're just getting back into painting, I would suggest that after you assemble, clean, prime, and base coat the figure, you go straight to the highlight phase instead of doing shadows. Why? Because if you're not practiced with doing highlights and get paint on an area that's already been washed and/or shaded, you're going to have a hell of a time covering  up that mistake and making it blend in.

 

If there's just a base color, you can easily cover it up. Also, until you get good with doing edge highlights, an easy way to make nice ones is to paint the highlight on a little thicker than you want it to be and then come back in with the base color and paint over the upper part of your highlight and narrow it down to the thickness you want.

 

Also, a wash is not a phase of painting. That's dipping, which are for lazy people. Washes should be directed with just as much care as paint, controlling where it goes and not simply slopping it all over the mini and calling it a day.

[UltraRich]

I think Im just repeating the advice of the above posters here but definitely think about your assembly prior to painting.

Look at each mini and see how it goes together and keep in mind how you would paint it.

If you take a typical marine. I pin the parts to corks for painting. 

 

remove any mould lines

glue the legs to the body and put this on one cork

glue the pads to the arms and put this on another cork

drill the head, backpack and bolter and glue this to another cork

Now spray them all with primer 

Now undercoat, wash, highlight, detail

Assemble

Final touch up where any joins are 

Fix to base

Weather whole mini

[p34ce]

I'm also wondering about the wash, since I've never done 1 in the past, I washed the entire figure, now it's taking me a fair bit of time painting the layers on, trying to avoid the recessed areas.

Would it be possible to leave the wash to a later stage and simply just wash the recessed areas, or would the model be too *bright* at that stage?

There is a technique called pin-washing that you might want to investigate. It's more commonly used by people who use airbrushes. The meat of it is that you paint on your layers (dark base, light layers), then seal that work in with a coat of acrylic gloss varnish. Now, you can 'drop' a small amount of wash into each recessed area, and the wash will flow into the rest of the recess by itself.

 

At this point, you have some areas where wash has spilled out onto your layer areas, so you mop it up with a cotton swab which has been dipped in the appropriate thinner. You can usually get away with this because the varnish is very tough, and will stand up to a mild amount of thinner.

 

If you use a lacquer based varnish, you can use highly thinned enamel paints (using the right thinner for enamels) for the pin wash, and wipe it away with more thinner, without touching the varnish (they don't interact chemically). The most important thing is letting the gloss varnish totally dry, so minimum 24 hours for the solvent to evaporate.

[Subtle Discord]

 

I'm also wondering about the wash, since I've never done 1 in the past, I washed the entire figure, now it's taking me a fair bit of time painting the layers on, trying to avoid the recessed areas.

Would it be possible to leave the wash to a later stage and simply just wash the recessed areas, or would the model be too *bright* at that stage?

There is a technique called pin-washing that you might want to investigate. It's more commonly used by people who use airbrushes. The meat of it is that you paint on your layers (dark base, light layers), then seal that work in with a coat of acrylic gloss varnish. Now, you can 'drop' a small amount of wash into each recessed area, and the wash will flow into the rest of the recess by itself.

 

At this point, you have some areas where wash has spilled out onto your layer areas, so you mop it up with a cotton swab which has been dipped in the appropriate thinner. You can usually get away with this because the varnish is very tough, and will stand up to a mild amount of thinner.

 

If you use a lacquer based varnish, you can use highly thinned enamel paints (using the right thinner for enamels) for the pin wash, and wipe it away with more thinner, without touching the varnish (they don't interact chemically). The most important thing is letting the gloss varnish totally dry, so minimum 24 hours for the solvent to evaporate.

 

That's an interesting idea that I've used in the past, but without a specific gloss varnish to protect the work. My trick was to use a very tiny bit of Future Floor Wax in the wash. The reduced surface tension caused by the FFW makes the wash more prone to 'cling' in corners and to edges; this lets you paint stripes of wash that will stay mostly along edges. Then you can go in with a damp brush and clean/blend the edges where you want the wash to cleanly fade into the colour it's on.

 

As has been mentioned, be sure to paint wash on in selective layers. It's not 'wrong' to do a layer that might cover all/most of the model, but that really is the most crude way to wash if it's all you're trying to do. You usually do a light overall wash to star the process, and once that first overall layer is down, go in and selectively add washes to shade and deepen the effect you're looking for. It may seem like a lot of work, but really you just spend most of your time waiting for wash to dry. A hairdryer and/or working in batches will help keep the process moving.

[Peredyne]

My technique for most rank and file (I do Minotaurs) is:

 

1) clip the parts

2) assemble the torso

3) clean up mold lines

4) fully assemble the model (I figure if I can't see the details cleanly when I'm painting, most people won't see them at all on the tabletop.), including the base.

5) apply my basing texture

6) primer spray

7) allow to dry at least 24 hours

8) basecoat with my bronze mixture (VGC Bright Bronze, Flow Aid, a touch of matte medium and a touch of water)

9) black detail work (weapons, breathing tubes, vents)

10) red details as needed (chainswords and shoulderpads as needed)

11) Beat brown for bases

12) sepia/black inkwash/glaze

13) green helmet lenses

14) gloss for decals

15) decal work

[Firepower]

1- Clip bits off sprue

2-Dream of killing small kittens and punting puppies as you spend hours shaving off mold lines.  Include extra times for fantasizing about the end of the world should said bits include CCW and pistol arms.  They will never be well molded.  Ever.

3-Prime. 

4-Prepare to paint.

5-Realize the primer missed important nooks and crannies.  Repeat Step 3.

6-Attach legs and torso to base.  Arms optional.  Shoulders, Head and Backpack separate on paper clips, or attached to discarded sprue by greenstuff blobs.

7-Base the um...base.  Realize you should have done this as Step 3, and done Step 3 now as Step 7.  Swear abundantly.

8-Think happy thoughts while you go through the tedium of base coating.

9-Realize you run out of happy thoughts rather quickly.  Resume abundant swearing.  Use a thesaurus to keep it fresh if you chose a difficult color such as red, yellow or white.

10-Clean up.  Paint guns black, metal bits, recesses that base coat covered.  

11- Clean up base coat.  

Optional Step 11.5- Clean up the black, metal, and recesses after the second clean up inevitably messes them up again.

12-Sloppy highlights.

13-Realize just how literally you took the term "sloppy."

14-Lament

15-Thin, edge highlights

16-Clean up any sloppy thin highlights with the original sloppy highlight color.

Optional Step 16.5-Redo thin highlights where sloppy color clean up was too sloppy.  Add gratuitous swearing if performed after Optional Step 11.5

17-Clean up first sloppy highlight with basecoat color

Optional Step 17.5-Just like previous two optional steps.  If both Optional Steps were performed prior, suggest putting a fist and/or foot through solid subject.  Particularly effective if said subject can feel pain.  May use self as subject.

18-Drybrush Base

Optional Step 18.5-Take a wild guess

19-Realize that you paid money to endure this hell.

20-Varnish

21-Admire work, and realize that 1-20 were totally worth it

Alternative Step 21- Use too much Varnish, and damn the Gods for ruining Steps 1-20.  

22-Begin again at Step 1, and forget the satisfaction of Step 21 by the time you reach Step 2.

[Tellos05]

Open the box

Pose with blu tack

Put away in a draw for a year

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Open the box

Pose with blu tack

Put away in a draw for a year

 

This is so painfully true I couldn't even laugh.

[Urauloth]

Open the box

Pose with blu tack

Put away in a draw for a year

Welp,

[Brother Heinrich]

Open the box

Pose with blu tack

Put away in a draw for a year

lmao, well said.

 

My Process is as follows:

 

1. Clip and clean mold lines

2. Assemble models leaving bare heads held in place with blu-tac

3. Base with sand and glue

4. Primer

5. Remove bare heads

6. Basecoat with Airbrush

7. Pick out metallic details

8. black wash

9. paint brown, bone and skin tones

10. wash brown, bone and skin tones with brown wash

11. drybrush faces and paint teeth and eyes.

12. Attach bare heads

13. highlights, eye lenses and symbols

14. paint base

15. drybrush base and bottoms of legs and boots

16. apply weathering power to base and legs

17. Airbrush Matte Coat