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i have always wondered, does everybody paint miniatures in similar "groups" , or different ones.
i am asking this because when i started painting my SM scouts i did the first guy, and then when i started the second one i got incredibly bored as i was just doing the same thing again, so i began doing a different model each time. a standard bearer, assault marine, terminator etc.


note: when i mean paint groups i mean both painting a shoulder pad on every SM or whatever first, then doing the other shoulder pad on every SM too; and painting 1 e.g terminator fully, then doing the next one fully and so on.

I try to paint models in batches, but at the same time I paint 2 diffrent models, so I voted diffrent ones each time.

I'll do it in batches, by colour. So, generally I'll do one whole squad at a time (with weapon options and different poses this gives you a bit of variation)

Then, go through each model by color, so all the blue bits, then all the black bits, then all the washes, then all the white bits etc etc. The idea being that, by the time you get to the next colour, whatever you painted on the first model is dry.

I tend to avoid the monotony of this issue by simply building all my models a bit differently, no 2 of my sergeants are the same, no 2 captains, terminators never positioned the same, and this new army I'm trying to avoid my tac and assault squads being too alike. But when there are a bunch of the same guys I do swap between them, tac assault dev hq elite. keep moving never get bored never lose that spark that makes you want to paint.

Last night I painted 15 Catachans to about 90% completion. Flesh on every guy, second coat of flesh on every guy, flesh wash on every guy, green on every guy...

It goes on and on, but when you're done you've got almost everybody done at the same time.

I do as much as i can in batches. I like to get squads done all together, and so batch or assembly line painting is very good for that.

Obviously, however, vehicles and characters are a bit harder to do in a batch, so i paint them individually to completion before starting the next one

I agree with the "assembly line" approach. I paint all member's of the squad at the same time, ArbitorIan explains it perfectly. I agree with carabine too, I tend to put a lot of variety into armies I'm doing. It helps keep things interesting.

It depends what I am painting, but I tend to paint by squads. That way I can get 'em done using assembly line painting, but I can differ the exact style between squads so as to be able to tell them apart.

I prefer doing characters separately, as I feel they deserve more effort than the average ork boy.

Groups until I get sick of painting the same thing. Its the best way to paint large armies for sure. I base coat, then base skin, then highlight skin. Then do metal, then do rust, then do wash, then do shirts....and so on and so on. Takes forever to paint a million boyz, but its gotta get done

Recently I've just been painting squad by squad but I've only really got back into it after a short break away from painting.

Now I'm planning my building to suit my painting. i.e if i mix my base colour for application via an airbrush i'll buy x,y and z model and prepare them all for base coat at the one time (assemble either partially or fully and prime). At the moment I'm prepping a Seer Council, 2 Wraithlords, another Guardian squad and sections of grav tanks that'll be painted prior to assembly.

It works out quicker doing it that way for me. I've built big armies in the past using an airbrush to minimise brush strokes which eat up the time. i can still keep the quality high enough too which is important to me.

About 5 models at a time is all I can handle. I tried painting a 10-man unit of Croe's Cutthroats and finished my first couple colors and they sat for about 6 months. Now it's 5 at a time, max. Occasionally I'll single out a particular solo to do by his lonesome. And of course my warjacks get done one at a time.

This goes for my orks too. 5 at a time.

I paint my basic warriors in batches of about 3. Other things may get base colours done in small groups. But a good portion my models are done one at a time.

Mostly because I spend way too long on each one and they tend to get painted as I finish converting them, and greenstuff doesn't work assembly line style.