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I just knocked out 10 Night Goblins in 2 hours. Sure, they're easy in a way, small with lots of black, not complex or highly detailed.
But I thought that was pretty good for 10 models to a reasonable standard- some highlighting and all details picked out, fully based. Wondering what other people's approach is. Do you like to knock out units at a good pace, forgoing quality for speed? Do you prefer each unit to look amazing, and therefore spend a lot of time on them? Does it depend on the unit (centerpieces get extra time?).
I spend even less time on bigger models, because with my paint style, the detailing and correcting mistakes is the longest bit. I like gaming, and I like gaming with painted armies, so I can't say I can ever see myself approaching some of the amazing work I see here on Dakka, but I often see some of those amazing painters lamenting how long it takes them and searching for techniques to get it done faster. Any tips for aspiring speed painters?

Lets see since i have 3 tanks, 2 HQs, 3 Troop units and only 5 troops, 1 Hq and a tank are pretty much finished i take the long router to painting models lol.

It depends really
Commander/Special Unit pieces get special attention to detail, modeling poses

those rank and file troop?
Minimal effort for them to look decent

My gaunts are done quickly, I'll get 8-10 done in a day of off-and-on painting. Most things I paint slowly.

My objective every year is to average getting one mini done a day. I have come close the last couple years, but haven't hit the goal.

I'm working on a trophy army, so it take about 3-5+ hours per model, depending on the amount of bling the guy has.

I try to do 1-3 models at a time, and I can get them painted, highlighted, and ink washed in an hour or so

Mattlov wrote:My gaunts are done quickly, I'll get 8-10 done in a day of off-and-on painting. Most things I paint slowly.

My objective every year is to average getting one mini done a day. I have come close the last couple years, but haven't hit the goal.

I started a scheme like this last year, but I fell behind over the summer with moving country and all that. This year I'm behind already, but I hope to put a dent in it this weekend by getting all 30 of these gobbo archers done.

I paint far too slowly for my own good, it takes me a week or so of evenings to do a 10 man IG squad, and around half that for a tank.
I am speeding up with practice though!

I personally do quality over quantity. Grey Knights are a great looking model and I want my table top minis to look really nice. I do have pic of them in the gallery. As you can see not perfect but on the game table they look sweet.

Quantity for me.

I'm a wargamer, not a military modeller.

I want my stuff looking good on the table en masse as quickly as possible.

In all honesty i dont really have any fully completed models yet!! :s I have only really been collecting since before xmas but i keep changing my mind about colour scemes etc and after countless atempts STILL cant find a decent Ork skin colour i like. Im pretty anal about my painting and if it doesnt look good to me close up im not happy so have been spending alot of time painting my models. Though i have recently been heading to my 'local' GW store in Colchester (I see you're an Essex guy too!) and have been invited to play a few games so may try and simplify things a little to get a playable army.

I am still a new guy at painting (i have finished including basing about 15 models) so i go for quality over quantity and will probaly keep that minde set!

My painting methods may be a bit strange, as a general rule I paint batches of 10 minis,the initial process is reasonably quick,basecoat,washes etc...but on certain minis I get very slow after that, really attempting to bring out as much detail as possible until I'm reasonably satisfied,at this point I will "allow" the minis to be used in a game...but I'm constantly "revisiting" minis simply to improve their appearance.

Definitely planning on...

Both
At least when it comes to my finalized Guard.

A simple color scheme, very little exposed flesh, simple leather bits, etc means super easy ability to make quality models in a relatively small timeframe.

I pumped off a whole platoon of IG Guardsmen in just over a 3 days. That's about 3-6 hours a day as well, my Stormtroopers I took that extra little bit of time and it took me a week to do all ten.

I actually set a certain level of quality when I started and have painted every model up to that level.

As such, ever since I started, all of my focus has been towards upping the quantity at my chosen quality. Except for a few special conversion pieces, of course.

I also must admit to varying "standards" for each of my armies.
When painting my Orks,which consisted of Hundreds of "Ground Pounders" I did begin to develop a "Ok that's good enough" frame of thought...even though I still painstakingly highlighted every mini.
With My Praetorians,I devote a great deal more time to each individual mini.

I usually paint up single models for display, so definitely quality over quantity. As for the time it takes, I probably spend more time pondering what I'm going to do than the actual painting. But, I suppose that with a good idea of what I'm doing already in place (as was the case with the last thing I finished, which was the same paint scheme as a previous piece) I could finish a model in a day.

Though to be honest I'm far too lazy to do that on a regular basis

I think I do a pretty good job of knocking out pretty good quality quickly.

Fitzz: I can almost never bring myself to go back to minis- it's one of the reasons I've lost heart with my 40K orks. I painted a lot of them when I was much younger, and they look god awful, and I just can't bring myself back to them to fix it. I'd rather paint something new!

Kan: Good point- planning the scheme properly can really speed your painting time. I usually spend quite a long time thinking about schemes now, before I put a brush anywhere near a model. Course, that slows me down, but daydreaming is a lot less hassle than painting (I can do it on the train )

10 more gobbos done! I'm thinking I should paint the heroes I have sitting around and 4 fanatics and call it a night...

Depends on what I'm painting. Squads/Vehicles in 40k? Quantity. Single models? Quality (as much as I can actually do that, honestly).

Malifaux is all quality, seeing as a single crew only consists of 5-6 models.

Warmachine gets quality as well, as my forces tend to be a bit 'jack heavy.

Da Boss wrote:Fitzz: I can almost never bring myself to go back to minis- it's one of the reasons I've lost heart with my 40K orks. I painted a lot of them when I was much younger, and they look god awful, and I just can't bring myself back to them to fix it. I'd rather paint something new!

Kan: Good point- planning the scheme properly can really speed your painting time. I usually spend quite a long time thinking about schemes now, before I put a brush anywhere near a model. Course, that slows me down, but daydreaming is a lot less hassle than painting (I can do it on the train )

Sticking with colors that you can airbrush on as basecoats, or going for a very 'drab' single monotone color that works for both the armor and cloth works nicely too.

The real trick, in my opinion, is the detailing that comes afterward to separate the cloth from the armor. Things like scratches done along the edges using pencil shavings, weathering powder applied to the armor, etc makes for a much more dynamic and more 'lived in' appearance.

Hello,
Well I have been known to take a few hours on a single mini, up to 30 hours for a greater daemon. That said I am kinda funny if it does not look right, and have been known to restrip it, if something is not quite right. Are my paint jobs amazing; not really, just TT for the most part. I just am particular on how they turn out. Pic at bottom 9 hours ><.

Regards,
Carl

Quality. And I started hoard IG.

Each model I paint usually takes me between 1 - 3 hours (paint as I assemble) and longer on HQ units and Tanks etc as I tend to paint the insides too

Um it takes me about 10 hours for a squad of Imperial Guard, but anywhere from 7-14 hours for a single dire avenger, but that could be because I basecoat schorched brown and highlight up to skull white all the while using heavily diluted paints.
The longest I spent on a figure was about 48 hours on my Lord Commissar. Yeah I'm generally a slow painter.

I can sit and paint up a combat squad in about 9 hours, my drop pod took me 2 days...

I also share your sentiments about the love of gaming, in particular gaming with fully painted units. In the past I couldnt call a model done until I had picked out all of the details. When I started my Blood Angels 10 months ago, I decided that not only is it incredibly tidious to paint every detail, but it also made me lose interest in painting and eventually in the game. My current army only includes details on certain special characters. I prefer this route over laboring over every detail on the model. I decided that I can always return to the models and spend the necessary time completing them. However, my work is far from lathering them up in a basecoat and quickly flocking them before they hit the table. I do blend my armor and give the models a few highlights. I also paint all the faces in detail and finish the bases. Though I have left them unfinished, I am very proud to field the army, for the simple fact that 80% of the army's I see around my FLGS are unfinished, unpainted, and some dont even have primer applied to them. I am also careful to correct mistakes. Id say it takes me about 2 1/2 wks to finish a squad/tank and a little less for land speeder/dreadnought....but to me, for the price I pay for these toys, its time well spent and I get a certain level of satisfaction from painting and showing off my work

I prefer "Quality" over quantity.
Parentheses because my painting is average at best regardless of how long I spend on it.

HQ, as extreme detail as possible. With troops, I don't care about extreme detail, use generally one highlight. other leaders, tanks, and vehicles also get alot of attention.