Miniature painting

[Chanticleer]

that sheet is drastically out of date. there are about 50% resculpts... if you have questions about the game i'm happy to answer. i've got 8 years and ~300 learning games for new players, drop me a pm.

Fine. WITH the new resculpts, which faction has the best butts?

[Sprikut]

You're probably looking at something like: (assuming just lady butts)

nomads > haqq > aleph > yu jing > Ariadne > pan O > NA2 armies > Combined army > Tohaa

They did loosen up the proxy rules so even in official tournaments you could easily pick and choose butt models.

[Beorning]

Hm. I'd have never thought of rating Infinity factions regarding female butts..?  ???

[Sprikut]

Coldfront + A few extras all built and based and ready for paint... If anyone wants close ups of some specific model lemme know.

[Sprikut]

Spent the afternoon doing a speed paint of the Kazaks. Mostly done now. Wont win any awards but should look nice and striking on the table top.  And since they're demo models I'm sure they'll be beat to hell and back within a month. :P

Hoping to spend some extra time on the Aleph but not sure what scheme I want to go with.

[Beorning]

If I may ask, where did you get Coldfront so early? I pre-ordered it and my box will arrive in September...

[Sprikut]

I get early demo copies of the bigger boxes to help promote the game locally.

[Beorning]

So, you're a WarCor?

[Sprikut]

Pretty much.

[Beorning]

Cool!

Hmmm... I look at these minis you have assembled and, once again, I'm flabbergasted. It take a few weeks to assemble them all. Not to mention, to paint - that would take a few months...

Gah! You know, I look at all these Infinity boxes on my bookshelf and I feel like they are all snickering at me with Mr. T's voice: "We pity the fool!". I'm never going to finish any of these...

[Sprikut]

The new models are a lot easier to assemble.

I also cut a lot of corners on the paint jobs. once I primed each section is only 3 colours.  A rough base, a smoother mid tone and then a very rough highlight. Each model only has 3 or 4 sets of colour on it as well which helps. (Cloth, bags +boots, armour, weapons. And even weapons I cheated and just highlighted the primer. )

From close up the painting is certainly questionable..But from a distance you get a nice effect on the table top that draws your eyes around the models. I'll try and get some nicer pictures tonigjt so you can see the questionable nature of it.

[Thorne]

Cool!

Hmmm... I look at these minis you have assembled and, once again, I'm flabbergasted. It take a few weeks to assemble them all. Not to mention, to paint - that would take a few months...

Gah! You know, I look at all these Infinity boxes on my bookshelf and I feel like they are all snickering at me with Mr. T's voice: "We pity the fool!". I'm never going to finish any of these...

I don't know if you have facebook (a lot of people legit do not), but if you do … this might help you;
https://www.facebook.com/thebeerphase/videos/1914882495448743/

[Dhi]

I am legit some kind of luddite living on kerosene and squirrel pelts, but even so I managed to paint a colorful Warrior of the Sun over the weekend and will endeavor to have a picture of that soon.

[Chanticleer]

I don't know if you have facebook (a lot of people legit do not), but if you do … this might help you;
https://www.facebook.com/thebeerphase/videos/1914882495448743/

That was hilarious and wonderful. And surprisingly well sung.

How you approach painting affects how long it takes, too. There are a lot of ways to paint, and a lot of different goals. If your goal is 'table ready for a game and looks okay' you probably will paint faster and in a more relaxed manner than if your goal is 'I want to win the next mini painting contest in my neighborhood.'

Probably the fastest I ever did was a bunch of FOW (15mm or 1:100 scale) Russian infantry. There were about a half-dozen different poses and I had about 200 of them to do, and after flashing them fairly quickly (I slowed down on the faces) I arranged them on tongue depressors in groups of five of the same pose, so that the flash lines were in line with the tongue depressors. So much for prep. That took me one weekend.

I primed them all with a beige paint that I was going to use as the tone for their greatcoats, then did an AMAZINGLY CRAPPY wash with black ink. I splashed it on so hard I could probably have saved time by just dipping each tongue depressor in a bowl of black, then giving it a good shake. Set them out in the sun to dry. That was weekday morning #1 (I was working afternoons and evenings).

The next day, I took a quarter-inch brush, thinned down the same beige paint I'd basecoated them with, and damply drybrushed them again, focusing on getting most of the coats and the helmets back to the tone I wanted. That took about an hour, moving fast. I then went through and with a smaller brush and again, thinned down paint, hit all of the faces with pale flesh (It was my winter Stalingrad army). Another pass doing smocks and pants, then another doing belts and boots. I was focusing on the layers further in, first. I did NOT 'fret and fuss' about being super-accurate. If I overlapped an area of a different color, I came back in a second pass to touch up that color.

Day five was rifle stocks, followed by carefully drybrushing the barrels and receivers. I messed with trying to put silver on the stock, then painting stripes to leave the barrel bands silver, but I gave up after experimenting on one stick of figures because they just weren't visible at table distance. I touched up the bayonets with a brighter silver, then did the hands with flesh.

Day six was another wash, this time a brown wash which I focused on using to add 'depth' to the beige and tan and flesh areas, then I let them dry in the sun.

Day seven was the ONLY day I was fussy. I went in and carefully drybrushed a few highlights on faces, shoulders, and sleeves using different flesh tones or light tans to give the greatcoats depth.

After that I spent another couple of days basing them, but that's because my basing process involves adding lots of little bits of plastic pre-fab brick wall, rubble, & wreckage, washing those and drybrushing them roughly, then using baking soda to 'snow' them in.

So, 200 infantry figures, 40 bases of 5 figures each, in about 10 days. They weren't 'tournament winning' paint jobs, but everyone I played against said they looked really good for having to paint so many.

The big secret to doing big armies like that is figuring out how to do most of the painting with big splashes that you clean up a little later, not spending too much time being hyper-fiddly about 'getting it right,' and using lots of washes and light drybrushing.

You have to decide what things you want to really put time in on. I feel like putting time in on interesting, single units is a good idea, but I wouldn't do it for rank and file.

Trying to do things perfectly often results in us not doing them at all. You don't need perfect to feel happy!

[Oniya]

I am legit some kind of luddite living on kerosene and squirrel pelts, but even so I managed to paint a colorful Warrior of the Sun over the weekend and will endeavor to have a picture of that soon.

Seriously, I hear people say that squirrel hair makes some decent brush material.  ;)

[Beorning]

The new models are a lot easier to assemble.

Supposedly ;) Yes, some turn out to be super-easy, like the three Daylami from the recent Hassasin starter. I got them together in minutes. But the female Farzan from the same starter? I recall that she turned out to be a small nightmare...

I also cut a lot of corners on the paint jobs. once I primed each section is only 3 colours.  A rough base, a smoother mid tone and then a very rough highlight. Each model only has 3 or 4 sets of colour on it as well which helps. (Cloth, bags +boots, armour, weapons. And even weapons I cheated and just highlighted the primer. )

From close up the painting is certainly questionable..But from a distance you get a nice effect on the table top that draws your eyes around the models. I'll try and get some nicer pictures tonigjt so you can see the questionable nature of it.

How long did it take you to paint these minis? When I paint, it takes me 3 hours per a single mini. I admit I don't want to cut corners - I'm paying solid money for these minis, so I want them to look good...

Anyway, I'm curious about the photos!

I don't know if you have facebook (a lot of people legit do not), but if you do … this might help you;
https://www.facebook.com/thebeerphase/videos/1914882495448743/

Ha! This video kind of shows how I feel... Anyway, hmmmm - one mini a week? It sounds a bit scary for me, as I'd have to do nothing else but clean, glue, prime or paint minis every day. I mean: one day to clean the mini. At least one day to glue it together (seriously, I sometimes need a few hours to glue a mini...). One day to prime it - and at least one additional day for the primer to cure. One day to paint the mini. One day to put it on the base... So, at least six days for one mini. With no real basing or varnishing included... I could work like that for a weeks, but I'd eventually burn out. That's what happened to me after April: I spend a few months glueing my Haqqislam troopers together and, after completely about 2/3 of the collection, I was so tired I had to stop...

I don't know how you guys do it..!

That was hilarious and wonderful. And surprisingly well sung.

How you approach painting affects how long it takes, too. There are a lot of ways to paint, and a lot of different goals. If your goal is 'table ready for a game and looks okay' you probably will paint faster and in a more relaxed manner than if your goal is 'I want to win the next mini painting contest in my neighborhood.'

Well, my goal is for them to look and convincing enough for me to immerse myself in the game. I found out that the better the minis and the terrain look, the more playing the game is for me...

Thanks for sharing your painting approach. I tried to describe my above. As you can see, I work much slower...

I am legit some kind of luddite living on kerosene and squirrel pelts, but even so I managed to paint a colorful Warrior of the Sun over the weekend and will endeavor to have a picture of that soon.

Eagerly waiting for the photos!

[Sprikut]

So the last two boxes I put together were JSA and Cold front and I found outside of a little confusion with just how the Daiyokai sent together all the models were simple and well assembled.

As for painting I think. I spent about 2 hours assembling. 1 or 2 hours priming everything with a hint of zenithal grey over black.

And then I worked from 2pm Sunday to about 8pm. So roughly 6 hours. Alot of the painting on the Russians is all about extreme highlights to make them visually interesting on the table top. I don't worry about smooth transition or accuracy. I also worked assembly line style on the models.

Here's a couple of close ups. I will note I probably slowed down on the ratinik too because it's a centerpiece.




Are they the worst models ever? No but they only barely stay within the lines. But you can see from a distance this is what happenes

[Beorning]

So the last two boxes I put together were JSA and Cold front and I found outside of a little confusion with just how the Daiyokai sent together all the models were simple and well assembled.

As for painting I think. I spent about 2 hours assembling. 1 or 2 hours priming everything with a hint of zenithal grey over black.

And then I worked from 2pm Sunday to about 8pm. So roughly 6 hours. Alot of the painting on the Russians is all about extreme highlights to make them visually interesting on the table top. I don't worry about smooth transition or accuracy. I also worked assembly line style on the models.

Here's a couple of close ups. I will note I probably slowed down on the ratinik too because it's a centerpiece.




Are they the worst models ever? No but they only barely stay within the lines. But you can see from a distance this is what happenes

Ack! Only 2 hours to assemble all of these? Only 6 hours to paint all of these???

I mean, I know I can be anal about painting, so that's why I spend 3 hours on one mini. But seriously, *assembling* all of this set in 2 hours? In this time, I'd assemble 1 or 2... if I were lucky. Seriously.

*cries*

[Chanticleer]

Beorning, I get what you mean about 'the better they look, the more I enjoy the game.' I think that's true of most mini players. However, if they aren't painted at all, you probably won't play with them at all. Remember that you can dip-strip-and-repaint minis you're unhappy with.

Like any kind of art (and most kinds of hobbies) the more you do, the faster you will get at achieving a certain quality (and the higher quality you'll do when you really decide to take your time).

With practice, your brush accuracy will develop and your speed, also. I find that 'painting over' mistakes is much faster than trying to hold so still and steady for each stroke that I don't make any. Mistakes happen. Just be comfortable with it and assume you'll need to do touch-ups and you'll paint more confidently and make fewer mistakes (sounds crazy, but it works).

The more you do, the more you can do. Try painting awesome on commanders and specialists, but see if you can just sit down and churn out rank and file quick and dirty. You can always come back and repaint them/touch them up later. Getting them done will make you feel better AND will give you practice to improve your speed and accuracy, which will help with your commanders/specials, too!

As for flashing...Hmmmm. How do you flash? I do a quick once-over with an Xacto to get the big bits, and because i'm doing multiple models in the same pose I usually get pretty quick at them after the first few. I then come back with jeweler's files and get the stuff that I know will be visible. I don't worry about armpits and other 'underhang' flash on rank and file so long as it isn't visible when they're on the table. It comes back down to that 'the more you paint, the more you can paint' thing again. I apologize if it seems like I'm harping on it, but it's like a new painter only trying to work painstakingly on masterpieces...They're better off doing lots of quick scribbly studies to build speed and experience than spending weeks trying to make one thing look 'perfect.'

I wish I had space to paint in my current residence, I'd blog a small force. Unfortunately, I'm living in a tiny room (single bed takes up half of the floor space, touching all three walls) and I don't even have a desk, just an end table, and no place to store stuff, so all of my minis are in my storage bin, which is an hour drive away. :6

[Sprikut]

@Chanticleer
Look into rentable workshops/artists studios in shared spaces. You may be able to spend a few bucks a month to have a locker and a workspace to use.

@boering
Sure how long have you been building minis? A lot of it becomes more and more automatic over time. Ive been doing this 18 years now and I quite enjoy converting and sculpting so building is just second nature.

Like I said paint was done very roughly and in an assembly line style. All of one colour on a mini. Move to next mini. It makes it a lot fast.

[Chanticleer]

@Chanticleer
Look into rentable workshops/artists studios in shared spaces. You may be able to spend a few bucks a month to have a locker and a workspace to use.

Currently unemployed and selling off what I can to pay the rent while I jobhunt. I appreciate the suggestion, though.

I'm currently sorting a bunch of old WH and WH40k minis, including some Forge World. Most are open box, some are flashed, some are assembled and primed. Probably going to see if I can eBay them.

[Dhi]

Here's the Warrior of the Sun.

It's a very dynamic piece, this was a fun headache.

[TheLaughingOne]

Here's the Warrior of the Sun.

It's a very dynamic piece, this was a fun headache.

That is Fuggin Awesome!!

[TheLaughingOne]

As i look at tau and other things for 40k Kill team...

[Chanticleer]

Here's the Warrior of the Sun.

It's a very dynamic piece, this was a fun headache.

Wow, Dhi, that's glorious! Some really sweet blending going on there. Do you work wet-in-wet to get that?