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Speed painting; ...any advice?
Topic Started: 9th July 2005 - 09:22 AM (405 Views)
Tilara
Grey Seer
Got my next two boxes of nightrunners today to finish out my eshin army. I'd mail ordered them about 2 weeks ago but the place was out of stock at the time. So, they just arrived this afternoon and I was pondering the ability to paint them all tomarrow so maybe I can play with them on sunday. Given the 4-5hrs of assembly for the last box of 20 and that I've not even started yet...ugh, its a tall order.

Anyone have any suggestions to speed up the process? I didn't even get the chance to primer them today and I usually let the primer coat sit for a whole night. I'm starting to think I shouldn't rush it and just work on them this comming week as time permits.

I was thinking about primering them all on the sprues then maybe doing some basic coloring (brown fur, etc) before cutting them off and assembling. I noticed my last set of nightrunners all had non-armored arms and non-fured torsos so thought perhaps it might be fastest to paint like that since there wouldn't be much worry about slopping onto other parts.




As a side note...

I did spend the last two hours getting the based prepared. I thought I'd try something different and do all the bases first then attach the nightrunners to the (finished) base as the final step. Its always rather time consuming to carefully brush glue between and around their feet, then put on some grit, then paint the grit, then dab in more glue here and there for flocking...
So, I put the grit on the based, then attached magnents (I got these 'rare earth' magnets that are really strong and tiny) with little blobs of greenstuff, stuck all 40 bases 8x5 to a cookie sheet covered with wax paper, hit them with a little primer, hairdryer a little to dry it a bit, drybrushed 3 colors, did the glue and flock thing, hairdryer again, flat lacqure coat, hairdryer... and now they're sitting to let everything set for a day or so. I didn't paint the edges yet, was gonna do that as the very last thing after the models were on them.
Pic here!

All in all, so far I'm fairly pleased with that. I don't really anticipate having problems painting the rats w/o bases on them but worse comes to worse I can stick them to something else for painting, then put onto their permenant base afterwards.
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scrivener
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*toot*

Nice job on the bases.

Painting on the sprues is quicker than painting assembled models, but then you'll need to keep touching up where the sprues cut off, which may cause more time. It's no real issue though, the bits on the arms and legs are barely noticeable, and the only real visible bits where the sprue cuts off are the shoulders and the snout. Though scraping off the mold lines can be a hassle if they're on the sprue.


Doing the bases first is a good idea, especially considering how detailed yours are now. :D Just blutack your models to a temporary stand for painting.

As for speedpainting, rattsu had a guide hereabouts but i couldn't locate it.
hannanibal
 
*Angry mob assembles*

"WHAT DO WE WANT!!??"
"A THINNISH, WATERY PAINT WITH A GREENER TINGE THAN AGRAX EARTHSHADE!!"
"WHEN DO WE WANT IT!?"
"QUITE SOON PLEASE AS MY LAST POT IS RUNNING OUT!"
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'Ttakquick
Grey Seer
As far as I know, I usually assembly-line build my models.

Prime the mods, while on the sprues with brown (forget the black stuff), and then remove all the pieces you'll be needing (like hand weapons if your not making the unit have spears).

Then neatly (and carefully) seperate and pile all said pieces in their proper piles (torso pile, head pile, sword arm pile, etc...).

Then when all the mods are complete, attach and flock them to the bases at will.

This helps alot if your planning on making mods when you haven't enough time.


*bsb*
'Ttakquick. Battle Standard of Clan Mors! Litter-spawn of Lord Queek HeadTaker!
Quote:
 
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GutRot the RatBastard
Unregistered

Start with the legs and glue the torsos to all the legs, keeping them reasonably straight by trying them in an unglued base. Then the heads on all the models. Then the right arms, then all the shield arms. Put them in their unglued bases and base-paint. Take each model and paint the flesh on every one, then the fur on everyone, then the eyes, weapons, shield (can be done separately), and so forth. Add a bit of uniqueness to a few models so they stand out and give the unit some character. Its all good :rogre:

Horde Master Matt :censor:
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Tilara
Grey Seer
Well, I got them mostly done. If I worked on it all day I probably could have got them done but I had other stuff to do and didn't want to rush it and make them sloppy.
I primered them on the sprues and then painted a base color and drybrush over them, then began the long process of sprue cutting. I started doing some of the touchups over the spots where they were on sprue and their fully built, but I still need to do the 'fur' touchups, ink the weapons, and do a few other little detail things. I could glue them on their bases and call it 'good enough for tabletop' but I figure I might as well not rush it. They'll be ready for next weekend for sure.

I think rough painting them on the sprue was a bit of a time saver. In most cases I didn't need to be careful to avoid painting over other color areas. For example, when painting the arms there's no other color to worry about other than browns for a base color, but on their legs sometimes they mix clothing with fur. I'll post a pic of them when done... shouldn't take more than a couple hours of touchup/detail work but I won't be home most of today.
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skaven rooster
Unregistered

got any pics of them so we can see how they turned out. i need to see as i need to get my monks done in a hurry too.
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Tilara
Grey Seer
Posted Image

Can sorta see the plastic spots on the noses and such. Going to go back though and ink the weapons and probabaly the faces and fur a bit too, highlight some of the details along with the noses, and do something with the wristbands... but all in all I think they're good enough for 7pt core troops.
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Frankensqueek
Doomwheel Driver
Heres a link to my Topic on speed painting my Plague Monks, they took me 3 hours. Later in the topic as well i posted how i painted them.

FB
Posted Image

Rusty
 
As for nominations: Frankie, of course, because I love to vote for him and watch him fail :unsure: 


My Army
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Tilara
Grey Seer
Man, I can't even BUILD them in 3 hours. lol
I think I spent almost 2 hours (or more!) cutting pieces from sprues and trimming the little tab of sprue left. These I didn't even clean mould lines off of, but I did inspect all the kits first and it wasn't that bad anyhow so I didn't feel bad. If those models were metal I'd have been long since done, but the build times are crazy.

Got them all on bases now, going to let that sit overnight and paint the edges on bases tomarrow. Will put up another pic!

I'd guess i'm up to about, oh... 8-10hrs work on them now and another 30min of doing the bases tomarrow and spraying varnish. That's not counting the time I let them sit to dry or when I just went off and did something else instead, but actually sitting down and working. Not too bad for 40 nightrunners. hehe. That size task is usually rather daunting and I tend to get bored and set it aside.

Also picked up 2 clanrat boxes (for slaves) before prices went up, so need to do them soon too. I ran out of primer and store didn't have any black today so I guess those will wait awhile! I'd always used non-GW ratmen for slaves but I want to have 'real' ones for tourny type play (or just for picky opponents).
I'm considering 'demoting' my 60 old style plastic clanrats to slaves and using the 'new' style for clanrats, but my budget is at its limit at the moment and that's a LOT of painting/building. hehe.
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Skruv
Clanrat
I cant speed paint, it takes about one day for me to paint 2 Monks. But im not a verry good painter so i quess its because i dont want them to look too crappy. Hmm, 8 done, only got 42 left.. After that im gonna start on my 75 unpainted Clanies!!!
I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
Without ever having felt sorry for itself.

D.H. Lawrence
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Tilara
Grey Seer
You don't paint them one at a time, do you?
I always paint rank and file troops 5, 10, 20 (or in this case 40) at a time.. its just easier. Pile them all up on one side of your work area, do one color at a time, and make a "finished" pile on the other side. For example, put all the monks on your right, mix up some green or whatever you're going to use on their robes, then paint away and pile them up on the left. Take a short break to let that dry, then mix up some brown to use on their staves and move the pile back to the right side as you work.
I find 10 to be a pretty good number to work on at a time, but skaven unit minimum size is 20 and I want to keep the units looking the same so I press on.


*editing for pics:

40 nightrunners, about 10hrs work in all (counting primer and assembly)
Posted Image


Closer view of a couple of them:
Posted Image
Posted Image

Could have been better if i put more time into it, but I think they look fine for their value. Besides, who's gonna look at rank and file this close anyway.
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Malignus Rodenticus
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Attorney to the Rats
I( paint a unit at a time. No matter how big/small it is...so they have some coherency. I start by priming everything blac. Always prime black because whhen you prime white, you may get stuck with whote edges. I also put them in big piles on my left and as a paint a stage I move em to my right, and then I reverse the process. I also base my miniature before I prime em. Then I go over all models w/ chaos black to get spots the spray primer missed. Then I wash the base black to complete teh job. Then I can paint.

I always start w/ large areas first, totally complete it and then move onto teh next spot. When I am al done, I do touch ups.

A lot pf painters like to paint in stages, so they can play and paint as they go.


MR...THE WARLORD!
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scrivener
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*toot*

I like the highlighting on them very much. Is that simply a quick drybrush of blue over black?

I take about 1 day to do 1-2 monks. :D I "assembly-line" my rank'n'file normally, but since I love my newfangled plastic plaguemonks so much, each of them's getting the TLC i normally reserve for characters. Phew.
hannanibal
 
*Angry mob assembles*

"WHAT DO WE WANT!!??"
"A THINNISH, WATERY PAINT WITH A GREENER TINGE THAN AGRAX EARTHSHADE!!"
"WHEN DO WE WANT IT!?"
"QUITE SOON PLEASE AS MY LAST POT IS RUNNING OUT!"
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Tilara
Grey Seer
I started with black primer then for the clothing areas painted over it with a fast coat of 'deadly nightshade' (I think midnight blue is new name). Later I went back over that with a drybrushed mix of 'chaos black', 'skull white', and 'deadly nightshade'.

Fur was black primer, quick messy coat of beastal brown (just enough to make the black look muddy), beastal brown/bleached bone mix to highlight it.

Weapons were just straight 'boltgun metal'... no drybrush at all. 'Tin Bitz' on the bracelets, and snakebite leather on straps, belts, etc.

Near the end, most areas (avoided most clothing, but not all) I drenched in a wash of 10 parts 'chaos black', 25 parts water, 1 part dish soap. That's what left the weapons looking older and more filthy.

Lastly, quickly went over snouts and hands with a mix of 'beastal brown', 'bleached bone', and a bit of red for a pinkish tint. Spots of red for eyes, spots of yellowish for teeth, etc.

Normally I wouldn't soak models in a black wash like that, but I figured nightrunners ought to be kinda dark and the fur got a bit too light for my tastes anyway. Normally I only will put a mix like that over weapons and then carefully brush into areas I wanted black in the cracks.
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Sammy the Squid
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Back to retirement!

:( You painted all those in 10hrs??? It would take me minimum of a week or 2, and thats if Im painting non-stop!! Oh you must be some sort of mythical creature, with painting skills like that! (bows to Tilara) Whats worse is that your minis are better than what I could do, even in a few weeks!! :(

Entaro Adun
"If the squidman can't do it, no one can!!"

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Dark Elves - 44/14/8
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Have not completed a Painting Vow since July 07!!
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