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There are many ways to paint a model and I bet a lot of us put hours into one guy whereas others get the paint slapped on so they look reasonable, perhaps we all do a bit of both.

But let's share our methods, it might help someone pick up an extra step in their painting.

For me, I'm currently wanting to get around 80 models painted up quite quickly, so I;

Give them a spray of black for an undercoat.

Paint on a base coat colour for each part (face, guns, clothes) in my case, green for my tyranids skin.

Next up is a wash specific for the base coat.

Then perhaps a second wash to darken some areas

I may then re apply the base coat colour leaving some recess wash there (as traditional to painting tutorials)

I then highlight the raised edges, or outline certain parts in a lighter/brighter version of the base coat colour

I rarely go past this stage, and call the miniatures done. I'd like to go further, but I don't get a lot of time, and have so many models to paint up, that I need to get them done quickly. It would be nice to have one that is very carefully and deeply painted however.

So, share your method, let's see what extra steps we can uncover.

iN

It depends on the model, what I'm painting it for (gaming vs display) and all sorts of other stuff.

For example, my IG infantry are just blocked in colours, given a black wash and done. I can knock out a squad in that scheme in 30 mins, and once did over 100 in 36 hours.

On the other hand, I spend an hour minimum on Space Marines, each guy gets layering, freehand and other relevant effects (power weapons, osl ect).

I prefer a darker tone even on cleaner models, so use washes a lot regardless of the mini, all that changes is whether it's carefully applied or just daubed on!

If you get used to oil washes, you can basically stip the step of redoing the base colour.

Ideally you shift the wash to the end of the process, but otherwise., besides getting an airbrush to speed up some processes, that's about it

My process for speed:

- prime the most effective color
- base colors on the most noticeable areas (i usually skip details here)
- wash everything
- wipe off highlight areas with my super duper squeaky-clean thumb
- call it a day or go add a few details.

For quality:
- Prime black
- thin painted layer of black to ensure smooooothness
- drybrush with a medium gray
- pick out highlight with light gray.
- obsess over color scheme on paper, work out ratios
- basecoat a test model 3 to 5 colors, usually ignoring tiny details
- working inner to outer, paint 2nd layer, filling in more details
- wash areas with various inks
- highlight areas depending on direction of light
- very super duper thin layer of matte medium over the whole model, call it a day.

At this point, I can either put it on the table or put it away and not worry about chipping as much. A thin layer of medium rarely fills in details for me, but allows for handling. When I feel like it, I pick up a model and my 000000000 and add fiddly bits under a microscope.

My 2nd process is stupid and redundant for the most part, but it's very soothing for me.

- Airbrush prime, 2 coats .3 mm needle
- Airbrush basecoat, 2-3 coats .3mm needle
- Airbrush details and effects if appropriate (eg power weapons), .2mm needle
- First brush basecoat with #4 flat; visualize paint scheme
- Additional brush basecoats (up to 5, especially to finish a very light color like white) until opaque, 4 flat
- Final basecoat & cleanup with #1 & #2 round
- Drybrush if appropriate

- Hard to reach or obscured areas (such as chest eagles, faces, visor lens): fine detail washes, 2/0 round
- Any layers or blending on hard to reach areas, 1 or 0 round
- Any finishing detailing on hard to reach areas including highlights and freehand, 0 round or smaller

- Assemble model
- Check all areas for missed basecoat
- Washes & Glazes, #3 round for most areas or 3/0 for tight recesses only
- Layers, #1 round
- Wet blending if appropriate, #2 round, #1 round and #2 filbert
- Freehand, such as writing on banner areas, or "text" on purity scrolls
- Outer Edge Highlights #0 round
- Inner Edge Highlights 2/0 round
- Point Highlights 2/0 round

- Weathering, weapon soot, etc.
- Touch-up

- Basing - I have a dozen or so finished bases (with no model) that I hold the finished model against to get an idea of what look I want. However, I will generally not base until I have all the other units of a squad, or even a few squads, done.

- Finishing sprays - I rarely use finishing sprays now, as I no longer play.

'How do YOU paint your models? '

Slowly.... and usually 2or3+ times

hehe, in seriousness;

Clean the model - MOST IMPORTANT STEP EVAAAAR
Prime, (spraycan or airbrush)
Preshade, (airbrush)
basecoat (airbrush)
Highlight (airbrush)
Edge Highlight (paint brush)
Base and highlight smaller details that airbrush couldnt do (paintbrush)
Seal (airbrush or spraycan)
Washes (paint brush)
Glazes (airbrush or paint brush)
Seal again.

Slowly

Usually:

Build
Prime black
air brush primary base coat
hand paint other base coats
Seal
Wash
Touch up and highlights
Seal
Base

Seal again

 Desubot wrote:
Slowly

I feel (and share) your pain.

Anyhow... here's how I "work":
'preemptive' level (before anything else)
- wash sprue (or decolour if used)
- clean flashes
- build or sub-build if new

Then, the painting itself:
'table' level:
- prime (grey)
- basecoat
- wash (skip if basecoat was a darker tone)
- renew basecoat exxcluding recesses (skip if as above)
- first lights (2 or 3 coats)
- final lights

'serious' level
- prime (again, grey)
- undercoat (for metals) and basecoat (2 layers)
- glazing shadows 1 (about 3 layers)
- glazing shadows 2 (again, many layers)
- glazing basecoat to smooth it up
- glazing highlights 1 (as above)
- glazing highlights 2 (ditto)
- glazing highlights 3 (keep highlighting as seen fit)
- glazing highlights/tones (warmer, cooler) (where needed)
- eventual seal (optional)

Last common general levels:
- basing
- paint pase

As said, i paint slowly (close to reverse sometimes)

I prime either black, white or grey depending on the model. (either dark, mid tone or vibrant)

I then literally pick one section of colour (armour, skin etc) and base coat that.

I'll then shade and highlight that area.

Once thats done i'll move on to the next area and just keep going like that.

Granted its a bit slower as sometimes ill be using the same colour on another section at some point, but i just prefer to do it that way.

If its something i want as a display piece though, i usually paint the model up in small sections (arms, legs, body etc) as i find i spend more time on each part and i get to check over it as i go.

I have lost count of the times i have tried to rush through something, only to realise i have missed something.
More recently being the wash on a wraithknights body.
Which resulted in me having to re-do that section for 5 more hours.

My personal technique is a bit different from the orthodox GW style. I prefer to treat the mini's as 3D canvas rather than attempting to get comic book level contrast. The result is somewhat more subdued, but I feel the depth of color in some of the shading is really pleasing to look at. Obviously, this won't win you a Golden Demon....but its more than suitable for tabletop gaming.

This is my current green & silver paint scheme for my Chaosy stuff.

1. Light misting of black spray for primer (usually ends up being way heavier than I want though, le sigh)
2. Metallic base for all mechanical parts.
3. Metallic layers.
4. Wash (usually black for mechanics).
5. Metallic highlights.
6. Olive green base for organics
7. Green layers.
8. Green wash.
9. Organic highlights (usually Rotting Flesh).
10. Black out bone areas (for pseudo blacklining effect).
11. Bleached bone base.
12. Brown wash.
13. Bone highlights.
14. 4 stages of Gunmetal (50/50 blue/black wash mix) for weapons.
15. Clean up mechanics, organics, and bone w/corresponding colors.
16. Glaze all organics and bone with light coat of Nurgle's Rot.
17. Detail work (eyes, power weapons, cloth, etc).

Layering and washing can involve anywhere form 3 to 9 coats depending. Bone is always 3 stages, organics are always at least 5. This technique is pretty time consuming, and I'm unmotivated when it comes to painting at least as compared to my enthusiasm for building conversions.

If you are interested in seeing what the finish on this paint scheme looks like, click the P&M blog link in my siggy. The green part is shockingly green due to the interaction of the wash with the glaze.

Have different methods depending on the model.

Usually something along this lines

Build
Clean
Prime
If details are hard to see put a wash on it
Block in base colours starting with the lowest layers. (So skin before shirts, shirts before armour etc)
Add details
If I am being lazy I hit it wish a wash or dip here and call it day.
Usually I will now hit it with a wash to bring out more depth
add some highlights and maybe some more shading
add some weathering etc maybe some dry brushing
Base

It still baffles me how quickly people can paint models :(

I'm not exactly talented at painting but it still takes me hours to complete a model. (it could be the scheme I have chosen though)

After I have assembled the model into pieces that are paintable (torso attached to legs, arms attached to weapons but not torso etc) I start with the armour, then any cloth, then skin then any details one colour at a time (all gold bits first, then silver and so on)

Current armour is base coat, then 2 layers , wash and ink/glaze/second wash dependant on colour then a single edge highlight.

I think i'm just a slow ass painter. I will normally watch something whilst painting which probably slows me down. I think my centurions took 4 or 5 hours each and I dont want to know how long vehicles take me.

Lol.

I am about 14 hours into a Predator tank, just got the interior painted

WASH YO SPRUES!

Depends on the model in question. For example, on a USMC trooper...

1. Prime Black.
2. Basecoat in the most prominent color (In this case, a greyish green color).
3. Wash.
4. Drybrush the basecoat. This technique really only works with cloth. For things like Space Marines you need to either line wash or paint on this layer.
5. Highlight.
6. Paint the helmet basecoat.
7. Paint the camo colors. This takes a few coats.
8. Paint the skin in a tan shade.
9. Paint a lighter shade of skin while keeping the darker shade in the recesses.
10. Highlight with a very light skin tone.
11. Line wash the flesh with a brown wash. I use Reikland.
12. Line wash the flesh with a black wash.
13. Paint the webbing with a darkgreen color.
14. Highlight the webbing.
15. Wash the webbing.
16. Paint the rifle black if need be. If not then paint with a brown color. a
17. Paint the metal parts in a dark grey.
18. Wash the rifle.
19. Paint the boots in a dark grey.
20. Highlight the boots.
21. Wash the boots.
22. Clean up the model.

Then I'm done. I don't do all of the basecoating at once with historicals because every section of models has it's own little quirks in terms of what you need to do to paint it that will interfere with each other. For example, if I did the basecoat+wash+drybrush part with the gun painted then I would get the gun dirty. I also prefer to block paint the models up until step 8 because I prefer to paint little details on a individual basis.

Well for my space marines I did a shotty job on them but was learning so won't make any comments on that. Tau and eldar are more time consuming cause I wanted nice looking models.For basic troops (usually 5 at a time depending):
1. prime black or white
2. Base colours (2-4 layers)
3. Wash
4. Base colour again
5. Highlights
6. Small details

For my heroes and stuff that same process but much slower and more precise

For my skaven army I went a whooooole other direction with that. Quick and dirty. I have 180 clanrats, 60 plague monks 40 stormvermin 50 giant rats, countless lords and heroes, war machines and monsters too

Hero's and war machines get the slow process and I detail them up nice. Stormvermin will probably get the same treatment (slightly less detail and slightly faster)

Clanrats go like this( paint them in blocks of 25 assembly line):
1. Prime white
2. Big dirty ol wash of homemade brown wash (means I can be sloppy with my base layers because the brown covers the white areas I can miss when going so fast
3. Base layer colour 1 ratskin flesh (try to get it in 1 layer for all base layers, I am not to particular as the final wash covers it up normally)
4. Base layer colour 2 red for robes
5. Base layer colour 3 dark grey for half robes
6. Base layer colour 4 metals (Max out at 4 colours for clanrats)
7. Washes (nuln oil and another one can't remember)

Bases are meh either straight brown (since I don't know what I want for bases with them) or just old coffee grinds (good trick for a cheaper alternative to sand or rocks from gw) glued to the bases prepriming and then just dry brushed using 2 or 3 colours.

They don't look half bad on the table top especially when you have 3 blocks of 50 haha

1) Spray prime black.
2) Touch up with brush.
3) Paint the eyes. If I mess up, it can be removed without screwing up anything else.
4) Basecoat skin, two highlight layers, then a final glaze.
5) Heavily textured areas like hair and mail get overbrushed basecoat, wash, and drybrush highlight.
5) Continue working from the inside layer to the outside layer using whichever technique is appropriate.
6) Basing.
7) Spray varnish.

If the mini is heavily armored, painting the armor might occur first, then the eyes, then the skin, then other details as needed.

Slooowwwwllllyyyyy...

Since I paint black legion I got it easy.

Prime Black
Add brass and gold to trim and stuff
Add some lead to the weapons
Hit up all the pouches/accessories with some paint
Red on the eyes
Drybrush
And that's it for me at least on grunt units

1) Wash / dry (Ensure paint sticks)
2) Clip all parts off with large nail side cutters
3) Scrape mold lines off with blade (Sucks finding these when you paint).
4) Drill and pin metal/metal, plastic/metal joins sometimes pin feet to raise due to fancy base. (Easier to mount any way you like to paint)
5) Glue with appropriate adhesive.
6) Any gaps apply green stuff and smooth join (file). (Again, shows up really bad on painting)
7) Where possible apply fender washer into base.
8) Complete a squad or one vehicle.
9) Wash / dry finished results (oils from my fingers are killer).
10) Gouge, rough sand base. (Have had glue lift off of base)
11) Apply white glue to base.
12) Dip in mixed sands or whatever is the terrain of the day.
13) Mask-off any bases or clear you do not want painted.
14) Prime on dry day (black usually) apply to painting stick (double sided tape).
15) When dry, put parts on holder (wine corks, old paint containers, etc)
16) Procrastinate, perform same as above again, wait for the paint bug to bite.
17) Prepare water, pallets, mixes, choose paints, consult color wheel.
18) Block in areas with opaque paint hopefully the mid-tone color. (Using airbrush more for this).
19) Lightly highlight areas (drybrush or watered liners).
20) Apply washes or if really ambitious, keep applying progressively darker watered paints.
21) Highlight raised areas with (edges) slightly darker than lightest tone.
22) Take the brightest color and just touch corners, dots on gems / optics.
23) Use fine ink pens or really wee brushes to apply script or details.
24) Apply decals (list all it's own).
25) Apply hard gloss clear coat.
26) Apply matt coat.
27) Let dry for about 4 days preferably in a warm dry area.

Right or wrong it is mine.

I'm still figuring out the best approach, and my self devised, half white, half black colourscheme adds yet more time...

Prime White

White bits

Base coat grey
Nuln Oil Wash
Various layers of progressively lighter greys mixed with medium
Highlighting layer of White / Medium

Black bits

Base coat black
Highlights in various blues
Nuln Oil Wash
Blue Wash
More highlights as needed.

Not all that speedy, managed my Dreadnought in a day-ish though, found it a bit quicker than a normal marine really!

I have to ask, when you say wash your sprues, what do you mean exactly?

And what I do is
Prime black or spray with base color ( if possible)
If primed dry brush with base color, if sprayed with base, wash
Dry brush with one lighter tone
Dry brush with 2 lighter tone
Paint details
Wash details as needed
Dry brush details if needed
Clean up any base color items,
Base model
Play

 Loken31809 wrote:
I have to ask, when you say wash your sprues, what do you mean exactly?

While not strictly necessary, especially if you're using a good quality primer, it can sometimes help to wash the sprues/models in hot, soapy water before painting to remove any chemical residue from the casting process.

I've never really found a need for it on plastic models. Metal models can sometimes have oily mould release on them though, and resin models generally do as well.

Thanks, I was wondering and confused ha

I've been trying to smash out some Nehekaran skeletons lately. and found them really quick.

I start with a spray of Zandri dust in the new GW sprays - these things are amazing.

Then base each area
- Hawk turquoise on the shields
- Pallid Wych Flesh on the streamers
- Balthasar Gold on the metal
- Rhinox Hide for timber
- Bubonic Brown for the base

The metal gets a drybrush of silver, and the base a drybrush of Bleached Bone.

Then wash the whole thing with Agrax Earthshade

and done. Really quick and easy and good enough for table quality - except I'm finding all the mould lines I didn't replace when I built them a couple of years ago

I've got a fairly consistent process now - zenithal prime with airbrush, block out colours beginning from 'inside' the model (usually from the flesh), establish colour transitions on previously blocked areas with wetblending, then finish shading and highlighting with glazes.

Lastly, a varnish.

However, if there's metallic bits, I will add a final, pure metallic highlight after varnishing.

I paint in batches of 5 for squads, but paint independent characters seperately. Regardless of whether it's a troop or hq, I go through the same method:

Painting Blood Angels
1. Prime Grey
2. Basecoat Red, I try to go for a neutral Red that's close to GW's old Blood Red
3. Wash with Flesh Wash
4. Wash with Red Wash
5. Highlight Red
6. Highlight Orangish Red
7. Highlight Reddish Orange
8. Paint Black basecoats where necessery
9. Paint dark green
10. Highlight medium green
11. Highlight light green
12. Basecoat cloth/paper with neutral gray
13. Wash cloth/paper with Sepia/Brown wash
14. Highlight cloth/paper with whatever I choose (bone, grey, yellow)
12. Green wash the greens
13. Paint on metallics
14. Black wash metallics
15. Highlight metallics
16. Highlight blacks
17. Base
18. Matte Varnish

Results:

with a brush...

aside from having an approach where i work from darkest to lightest, every new mini is an experiment in style, so i don't really have a set method...

cheers
jah