Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I've been getting spammed by Torrent of Fire but this is actually a really helpful article:

http://www.torrentoffire.com/1933/improved-batch-painting-101?cigx=d.cac,stid.147,sid.65685,lid.6,mid.178

I'm going to be batch painting another army soon and these are some nice tips, imo! I almost always paint with an event in mind, and do assembly line painting to finish in time, and this was very useful reading.

This time I particularly want to reduce the steps I use- I am always unsure when to wash, and how much highlighting to do afterwards, etc. This had some nice thoughts on that:

Lay down your color modulation and simple detail before the dip. This means that your final detail work will be painted using the dip’s preexisting shades. After the dip, you have to go back and redefine your “lighter” model areas and details, leaving behind the shaded elements in recesses and re-building dulled color. Because you are building the colors on top of the dip-shaded colors, the model will look intentionally shaded in select areas and selectively highlighted in others.

For example, if painting a Gaunt, you would paint the carapace and skin tones as a base coat. You then detail streaks on the carapace, teeth, eyes, claws and vents. By dipping after this stage, you get midtones and shade in your details. Then simply highlight details and lit areas again using your original colors to get a quick shadow/mid/highlight.

I was torn whether I should put this thread here or in the P&M section, but I'd like to hear thoughts of tourney players on how they paint for events, as these folks are usually cranking out more armies than anyone else from what I've seen! And have mastered the assembly line approach

I'm by no means the best painter, but my philosophy is always "Good enough from 3 feet away is good enough for me!"
I rarely go crazy with detailing and highlighting, and tend to paint in big batches of 10-15. Anything too time consuming gets cut, because I know I will never get an army done that way. I'm experimenting with various pre-shading/coloured primers and washes now, and it's massively speeding up my painting time!

Hmm - it's ok I guess but kind of insulting.

I thought it was going to be about improved ways to batch paint faster - instead it read more like 'you need to stop settling for tabletop quality'.

Reminded me of the "Painting with the Average Joe" articles from White Dwarf back in the day.

In a bad way.

I do like the tip you posted from the article about dipping after highlighting though.

I found that quite helpful, but now I would like to buy an airbrush. Hmm.

@cryptek that's the point of the article is NOT settling for tabletop if your trying to max your paint scores at tournaments. I for one found it moderately useful only because I was familiar with everything in the article even though it reinforced certain things for me. This wasn't for your normal friendly games this was about trying to set yourself up for better scores to try and win something at tournaments. It was nice for the newer tournament goers.

I am not trying to brag, just lend some personal feedback on the article. I started a 1750 Iron warriors themed SM army in September for a tournament this last Saturday (the 23rd) completely from the ground up and won best army for the event. I use an air brush, but like the author I don't let the airbrush speak for my work, in fact if not for the airbrush quality fade on my lava bases and display board, you probably wouldn't think airbrush at all. Basically I use it to prime, lay down my base color (in my case silver) and then seal my models in the end and it saves TONS of time and makes the whole army look incredibly consistent and uniform. It also was a wonder for taping those frustrating chevrons on all my vehicles (though you still need to free hand the infantry shoulder pads and gear).

I don't like when I see armies that are multiple color faded using solely an airbrush because, and I don't mean to sound mean, it looks too artificial while also being incredibly easy to do. You don't realize how much of a cop out the three color fade is until you first make your airbrush purchase.

Its also a wonder for vehicles as it doesn't leave brush strokes on your hull and with such large surface area it gives you the smoothest base coat possible.

TLDR; I'd definitely recommend the investment in an 80 dollar airbrush and 30 dollar compressor. It will save you money in time in the end and help combat burn out that base coating can generate.