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What do you guys who are often making new armies do to get them painted up for a specific event? I often see people post about needing to get an army painted up for a tourney, and I could use the tips...

I've been planning to get my current army painted up for tournies this summer... but now they're getting awfully close and I am just about to start .

Speed painting, schedule, and the like would all be helpful... I am considering the wash method but will have to see how a test figure looks with it first.

I have a significant challenge ahead of me. The biggest local event is next weekend. My dark eldar had barely seen much paint on them prior to today. 1500 point essentially all painted in 1 week is the challenge. Luckily I was able to get a few extra days off and only work 3 days until the event.

One thing I got to speed up the process was the GW airbrush. I was not certain it would be a good buy, but wow does it ever work for getting your foundation colours and batch washes down.

Wish me luck (and focus)!

Ah, I hadn't considered an airbrush... I'm not sure if it's an option given where I'm painting (claimed a corner of our living room!).

Here are some things to consider:

Dipping and washing both are valid for tourney standard. I am going to recommend washing for people who are not experienced simply because dipping takes more effort, set up and planning and washing can be done while sitting on your couch watching tv. The basic technique with wash/dipping is you are basically painting by number and are only giving everything a solid 1 color coat per area. Example:

*Take a space marine and prime him
*Slather on the Ultramarine blue to his entire armor
*Paint his gun and any other metalic thingies black, Add boltgun metal where needed
*Paint the eyes red, paint any skulls, wings, shoulderpads the appropriate colors
*let dry overnight
*Get Balab black Or Devlan Mud and a large brush and just slop on the wash to the whole model. Let sit overnight.

Dun! While doing layers, and drybrushing before washing and highlights after can increase the job, you are very much tabletop without doing anything more.

I normally don't do a simple wash, I usually wash parts as part of my attempt to highlight and stuff, but I have a almost fully painted fantasy army from my 4th and 5th edition days which I really like. Th paint jobs are really simple because I was very new at painting at the time. I found using the ONLY WASH technique really helped update the models to a new standard as well as giving the fantasy models a darker look unlike the cleaner cartoony look I had before.



As you can see, almost all the parts are 1tone colors with minimal drybrushing attempted. Basically just trying to stay within the lines and a simple green base. While my photo skills are not the best, I hope you get the general idea of what a very simple 'before' paint job can become afterwards without any real painting techniques. I often let my nieces paint fantasy models because they can get close to the basic standard, then all I need to do is minimal touch up and a wash and they meet the basic standard.

While my 40k army I do a lot more with, I am very happy fielding these models (if I ever got a chance to!) and would totally take them to a tourney without embarrassment.

Apart from the painting issues, the other hangup is assembly. I subscribe for simple paintjobs to assemble and base before painting. If you can't get a brush there, you can't see it! You can get your entire army assembled and then just start assembly line painting with batches of models.

That's fantastic, nkelsch- exactly what I'm looking for! The before and after shots are especially helpful.

I've done a grey prime followed by a badab black wash already on almost the whole army, and am thinking of following it up with washes (thraka green on trolls, one of the browns on ogres and hounds) and go with almost no foundation colors.

If it doesn't work out on the test fig, though, my next attempt will likely be the method you describe (simple basecoat colors, then a wash over the whole thing).

It really just depends on how much time you have, but I'm in the same boat, I may end up doing a blog on dakka here to chronicle my progress (things like this also help keep you motivated and sticking to your goals).

I've been playing my IG for 3-4 years now (1-2 with the old book), and am looking for a change. So, I decided to pick back up my GK's, which was my main 4th edition army until I replaced them with the old IG, and redo them. Now I'm staring 40-60 power armored guys, some henchmen, 3 dreads, 2 chimeras, and 8 rhinos/razors in the face, and am thinking "how in the heck am I going to get this done for NOVA, let alone Grim Open in June".

The key for me is:
1) Don't have all the models out at any one time. Looking at a field of bare plastic is just discouraging. Only keep out what you're currently working on.

2) If you need an army in a short amount of time, do it in an assembly line. Basecoat everything at once, do highlights, washes, etc. all at once. It saves a lot of time as it takes transitions/cleaning out of the picture.

3) Set deadlines, and if you need, get some friends to join in on it with you (or monthly painting goals like 40konline used to and might sitll do). "Everything assembled by the end of the week". "everything basecoated and washed by the end of the next week." Etc., Etc.

GL, let us know how it's going!

(And now I'm off to clean the flash/mold lines off a million GK bits...)

Great advice... as to cleaning flash/mold, I once tried to do that with 100 gaunts at once . Got through the gaunts, but then was so sick of it I immediately sold the army...

So I'll keep this one to manageable chunks (and it's already assembled barring a few late additions).

1. Set up an area to paint. Have all the little things you need. Paints, a new brush, water pot, mixing tile or wetpallet. Leave it set up.

2. Paint 15 minutes a night. Every night. EVERY FETHING NIGHT!!! Sometimes you'll cheat and it will be 10 minutes, sometimes it will be 2 hours. The important thing is to keep working on the army, and don't get into a habit of avoiding the army. The more you paint and accomplish, the more you'll want to keep painting and accomplish more.

3. Big screen TV at the end of the painting table. Stack of favorite movies you've already seen a few times. Lots of caffiene.

mikhaila wrote:1. Set up an area to paint. Have all the little things you need. Paints, a new brush, water pot, mixing tile or wetpallet. Leave it set up.

2. Paint 15 minutes a night. Every night. EVERY FETHING NIGHT!!! Sometimes you'll cheat and it will be 10 minutes, sometimes it will be 2 hours. The important thing is to keep working on the army, and don't get into a habit of avoiding the army. The more you paint and accomplish, the more you'll want to keep painting and accomplish more.

3. Big screen TV at the end of the painting table. Stack of favorite movies you've already seen a few times. Lots of caffiene.

Very good advice. If I might humbly add a few pointers;


1. Always test paint one complete model---I call this the prototype. Make sure you're happy with how it turned out.
2. Start a Word File (Or notebook paper, whatever)----write down your paint recipe so you know exactly how to replicate the effect.
3. Make sure you have enough of your colors to complete the army---if not, order now so when you need it you'll have it.
4. Get resin bases----making nice bases can be a time sink---and there are plenty of manufacturers to choose from.
5. Just START! After you paint for 5 minutes, you're in paint mode----getting that first 5 minutes out of the way is the tough part.

Just curious, but what army are you painting up?

I think I've painted up an Ork army in record time (I started playing Christmas of last year). Three weeks ago I painted nearly 50 or so models in 3 days. I already have about 1200 points fully painted, and I picked up a lot of little tricks with painting so many models:

1. Use the largest brush possible for basecoats.

2. Don't paint a single model at a time. Assembly line. This means to take 10+ (I did 24 in one go, that was an entire afternoon for me) models, line them up, and paint one area on each model. Only change brushes/colors when necessary and ignore any mistakes.

3. Paint the most prominent areas first. For example, for my Boyz, since I painted them as Goffs, I painted their clothes black first, then their skin. I then painted their weapons, then the metals on their clothes. After that, I worked on the leather straps. The key here is to work from largest to smallest, work your way in to the model.

4. Have a drink right next to you (Don't put it next to the paint water).

5. Paint in a comfortable area, preferably away from any distractions.

6. If you're painting an army with a dominant color (BA being Red, Black Legion being Black, Ultras being Blue, etc) buy a colored primer for that color. HOWEVER, make sure to find an exact match to a paint color that you already have. I made this mistake with Army Painter Navy Blue for my Ultras, and found it did not match VGC Ultramarine Blue, Ice Blue, or Regal Blue.

7. If you're painting any of the horde armies, look into Quickshade. This is the saving grace for my Orks, and it allowed me to paint up so many models so fast. If you want to see the results, let me know and I'll try to get the best pics that I can.

I know it takes me a while to paint if others are around. I have 6 marines and 3 tanks to paint for next Saturday, and I cant paint on Tuesdays or Thursdays. This will be fun.

I dont assembly line, but I try to move as fast as I can on my marines.

This is fantastic advice, guys... thanks!

+1 on the assembly line method. Base, blacks, metals, details (eyes, belt, etc) wash and highlight. Then I have to add inspection. There have been so many times when I thought a unit was done and I missed a skull or the inside of an arm.

For tourneys this can be done after as well as little nagging details like the wash didn't set into that one detail or his eye seems crooked. Get the basic form down and when you have time put in any extras work you want.

Have something fun to paint after each batch (or unit) of regular models - a tank, special character, etc.

Nothing worse than painting all the cool stuff to be left with a table full of grunts

Wow, the above are all good tips. I guess it depends on how dedicated you are, and what your goal is. If you want a three-colour tabletop army, or a tournament-appearance-winning army.

My first step is generally to tell my wife that I'm going to be painting X army for X event, let her know to expect me to be busy doing so, and schedule anything she really wants to do during that time in advance so I don't feel like I'm losing painting time. It's good to keep SOs happy.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So, now that's said, assuming what everyone else has said is good advice for getting an army done to tabletop standards, here's where I'd diverge for appearance-winning armies. This is the thought process I took with my orks which won Best Appearance at Adepticon.

First step - plan with a mind to painting. You will invariably make some concessions to game-effectiveness if you want to score the painting points. The main reason for this is that you need to show off lots of different skills, and you're not going to do that by spamming units. If a judge looks at your army and sees four units of 5 dudes with rhinos, that's four units that are showing off the exact same skills.

So, you need to diversify. But it's a tournament army, and you want to have some redundancy. I'd say, don't take more than two of any one unit. That gives you some redundancy, but forces you to use different things throughout the army.

Second, think of what kind of conversions you can do. It's important to be able to demonstrate conversion skills, because if you and another guy have similar painting skills, but he's got a ton of conversion work and you don't, you're not winning. Some armies lend themselves to big showy conversions - orks and chaos come to mind. That's not to say you can't do neat stuff with other armies, but repositioning marine arms will only get you so far.

Also, still in the planning stage, think about colours. There's a blog out there that has a few excellent articles about colour theory, and how to use that to create a feel. It's worth a read.

Moving on, your goal should be to give the judges lots of reasons to pick your army, and no reasons not to. That means:

In the prep-phase:
- Clean all mold lines, no excuses.
- Drill out all weapon barrels.
- Be neat with the glue
- Fill any gaps with greenstuff or your preferred gap-filler.

These won't win you any points, but not doing them will lose you points.

While building:
- Be realistic. Sure, we're playing a sci-fi game with monters and space ships. But, we're also dealing with a universe that has internal consistency. Pay attention to things like stances and angles (arms don't bend in some directions). Note if you're making models static or dynamic. Sometimes a twist of a head or torso can dramatically improve how the final model looks.

- Think about combat damage. Are your guys on parade duty or in a battle? Don't be afraid to chip up armour, put bolter rounds through plates, and so on. It's another thing for the judges to look at

In the painting phase:
- Be neat. The first and most important thing to do is to stay within the lines. If you're painting over the lines, clean it up, because it will stand out when the model is finished.

- Think about how to make every model unique. Small freehand details go a long way. One guy might have a litany on his shoulder guard, another might have some honorific on a knee-pad. Give the judges more to look at. Facepaint, tattoos, stubble on a bald-head. Whatever it is, make them stand out.

Basing and weathering:
- Make the bases tell a story. Where are you fighting? Are there dead bodies around? Trophies from past battles? Is it muddy? If so, where is the mud on the guy's feet? On the tank tracks?

The goal should be to have more to see than anyone else. If the judges keep noticing more stuff on your models, you're doing it right. You need showy (centerpiece) stuff to draw them in, but you also need a lot of depth to keep them interested and to make them keep looking for more.

If you do this, you'll find it's a lot of fun to paint the rank&file guys too. You don't have to 'reward yourself' with a character model, because the rank&file models will all have personality too.

If you have the money to spare for a good quality airbrush, I cannot suggest it enough. It really takes up very little space (the compressor is quite small and quiet).

Even before you can master any of the more advanced techniques, it will pay dividends by allowing you to quickly undercoat all your models with the most common colour you will be using.

This thread motivated me, so last night I finally got some lights on my little corner of the living room, and put in my first "15 minutes a night" doing some assembly (was actually more than 15 minutes, but I'm going to try to be consistent).

The TV will help too, I'm sure

I'll try not to repeat a lot of what was said. I'm considered to be a very fast painter and as I've added more kids to the mix I have less time to paint so my speed is essential.

First... Some credentials. all my stuff. http://jgemrich.smugmug.com/


Necrons (4000pts for adepticon 2010)
http://jgemrich.smugmug.com/Other/Necrons/Necron-Deceiver-014/817439903_Xagfh-O.jpg
http://jgemrich.smugmug.com/Other/Necrons/Necrons-002/476644881_2uFD5-L.jpg

Ork Boyz (60 boyz on commission)
http://jgemrich.smugmug.com/Hobbies/Miniatures/Ork-Boyz2-027/296023200_Zn8jy-O.jpg

OG (3000pts )
http://jgemrich.smugmug.com/Hobbies/Miniatures/Waaaggh-005/386131217_eSDYj-O.jpg


Uncharted Seas
http://jgemrich.smugmug.com/Hobbies/Miniatures/Uncharted-Seas-016/486025587_sXGCM-M.jpg
http://jgemrich.smugmug.com/Hobbies/Miniatures/Ork-Nob-002-copy-2/436982725_XSKeo-M.jpg

Marines. (4000 pts for adepticon 2011 - note: Army painted in 30 days)
http://jgemrich.smugmug.com/Other/Marine-Diary/Assault-Squad-002/460819963_iwmYn-L.jpg
http://www.patricks40khobby.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/blood-angels.jpg

Nids (in progress)
http://jgemrich.smugmug.com/Other/Tyranid-Gallery/Gaunts-w-Fleshborers-001/793320376_eDHQ5-L.jpg

Wyrd (painted in ~20 days for Gen Con 2010)
http://jgemrich.smugmug.com/Hobbies/Wyrd-Games/Nic-Crew-024/947474572_YRsoz-X2.jpg

Assuming you have assemble your army AND have based your army w/ PVA & Sand

1) Pick a color scheme that pops on the table from 2 to 3 feet away.
1.1) Look at color swatches
1.2) Look at other armies
1.3) Look at Movie armies.
1.4) try some free web sites.... http://websitetips.com/colortools/sitepro/
1.5) use contrast colors for focal points (Faces and hands).

2) paint a test figure.
2.1) Ensure you know what base color you will use on each areas.
2.2) Write down your recipe for each area. Mine is usually Base, Shade/wash, Highlight 1, Highlight 2 Highlight 3 depending on level of detail.
2.3) DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES START TO EXPERIMENT OR CHANGE UNTIL AFTER YOU FINISH YOUR ARMY. you can always go back and improve the whole thing later.
2.4) Set it down 3 feet away. Do you notice it?
2.5) Did you paint the base in a contrasting color to the BASE coat of your figure? THis is very important for a table top army. A decent base can make or break you.

If all is good above move into your unit(s).

Paint 5 to 10 figures at a time.
Paint 30 min a day. With a good recipe you can pick up and set down your army at any stage and continue on your way.
When possible spray or use an airbrush to base coat your primary color. That is a huge time saver.

Understand each subsequent layer gets faster. ie. Putting down the base coat on a unit takes the most time, followed by subsequent highlights.
For different units change up your schemes but keep the same consitent colors. Black boots and a brown coat w/ red trim becomes Red boots, black coat with brown trim.

Gnerally speaking, I find if painting to a deadline, work until everything has a basic paintjob. No need to worry about highlighting or shading, just get them assembled, and get the base colours on, and done well and neatly. That means come what you may, you have a fully painted force ready to hit the tabletop. Then, in the time you have left, start doing highlighting on them all. Then, if you have time, shading. Then, if you have time, final detail and washes.

Hi

Lots of solid advice - Mikhaila's advice is essential to my approach! I have listened to a lot of great movies and TV series in the last two years prepping for Adepticon, while drinking copious amounts of coffee.

I also set a painting schedule. My winter months are full of meetings, travel, and hotel stays. Those days are lost to me. As are local tournaments, birthday parties, playtest sessions, and family evenings/date night. Because of this what looks like 2 months to get a job done is really just 27 days. Having a handle on that reality is key for me.

In Excel, I will do the following:
1. I will plot out the army I am taking and total the models that need to be done. Each model will be assigned a box in a grid so that I can track that model's progress.
2. I figure out my schedule on a weekly basis - I block out days where I am unavailable to work on stuff in Red.
3. I determine the number of models per day I need to complete in order to meet the deadline. (Divide the number of models by the total days available)
4. Following the assembly line process, I will pick three critical points as phases, which are usually assembled and primed, first main colour done, and finished models. As I reach that goal on each model, I shade the box from step one for that model. For example, grey for assembled and primed, a light green for finishing the skin on my orks, and a dark green for completing the model.
5. At the end of each day, I update my progress. In addition to marking the progress on the army itself using the phases outlined above, I will record whether I thought the day was a good one in green, or a mediocre one in blue, or lost in red. I then update the model/day pace I need to meet.

My rule of thumb from there is that I never want the pace to exceed 2 models per day, and generally want 1 model per day to be my average. If I get below 0.5 models per day, I take an unscheduled night off as a reward for hard work.

I also tend to switch between what I call depth and breath in my focus. When focusing on breath, I try to complete an entire step for the entire army/unit. For example, the assembly phase. When focusing on depth, I'll take a group of 3-5 models and complete them entirely. I find this keeps things from getting too stale.

Cheers,
Nate

Just to throw this out there, Movies/TV don't help me because I want to keep looking at the movie, and then you have to change the disc after 2 hours or whatever if you have a long painting session.

I also paint next to my computer, so I use Pandora Internet Radio instead! Music works better for me than TV. Just a thought.

I kind of agree. I find myself running documentaries on netflix, as you really don't need to watch them.

whitedragon wrote:Just to throw this out there, Movies/TV don't help me because I want to keep looking at the movie, and then you have to change the disc after 2 hours or whatever if you have a long painting session.

I also paint next to my computer, so I use Pandora Internet Radio instead! Music works better for me than TV. Just a thought.

I tend to use things I don't need to pay much attention to. Music (purely auditory) or shows/movies I've seen before work best for me, as whitedragon said, I don't end up spending more time looking up and watching then painting.

It's also just nice having background noise, which is the time I usually tell my girlfriend "sure, watch as much hgtv as you want, I don't mind at all!". She gets to watch all the shows I usually groan about, and I get background noise to prevent boredom.

Ah, will keep that in mind- sounds like I need to put on boring stuff / stuff I've already seen, soas to not get too distracted...

Redbeard wrote:I kind of agree. I find myself running documentaries on netflix, as you really don't need to watch them.

TED talks on youtube are pretty good as wel.

Speaking of airbrushes, what are decent brands? I don't have many options available, other then what the local hobby lobby has for sale, while they are econimcal in price I don't want to get the airbrush and have it be subpar to the task.

for 40k I can pain usually pretty clean so this would be more for fantasy, whenever I can get back into it, for my horde army.

Two words for speed painting....

Delvan Mud

dear god just wash a based model with that and it looks amazing...


or you can dip, which is amazing for RNF models...

For example, when I had to paint 200ish rats... Prime grey, hit the fleshy areas, the armor, the eyes, weapon and cloth areas. Then you dip them.

I did 200 of them in about 15 hours.

Of course, now im working on Bretonnians and they are taking a while... Horses are a lot less forgiving when it comes to speed paining, its taking me like 2 hours a fuggin model.


As for airbrushes, unless your willing to drop a few hundred dollars on a decent setup your results will not be that impressive.

I am not against spending the cash for good results, just need to know what brands are recommended...

I am no help on the airbrush front (although there's likely to be an Article or a thread in P&M on it), but on the subject of media to paint to, I find 40k or other gaming podcasts pretty good.

I seem to be doing that alot lately (painting armies up for events or tournies that is) and my biggest suggestion is this...

Don't wait till 3 weeks before to paint an entire army (doesnt help that it was 600 models >.> )!!

I myself am definitely changing my painting habits after these last two 1 week and 3 week painting rush's. While its nice to be able to buy an entire army and paint it, I find myself wanting to convert and paint units as I buy them, box by box.

Also, depending on what your painting, Ive found that Army Painter sprays are a bloody wonder. Throw a wash or two on em and youve got a nice looking color. Saved me a ton of time with my Black Orcs and Savage Orcs, thats for sure.