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I can not for the life of me seem to get motivated to paint in this manner. I heard that it is the most efficient way to paint up in army, but I get so bored after batch painting the first color that I quickly lose steam halfway through the second color. I've always enjoyed painting but it's always been one model at a time because I enjoy a finished product after a few hours. Any tips or whatnot that you use to help keep you motivated in batch painting?

Watch a movie/tv show while you paint.

Also try doing only 5 guys at a time so you can paint with more colors faster.

With horde armies to tabletop standard, it's just a case of gritting your teeth and getting on with it. Put on something you're familiar with enough not to need to pay full attention to (I find sitcoms are the best as most of the gags work on just being heard). Don't keep going if you don't want to, but it is just a case of slogging through it.

Another thing I like doing is laying out a painted and unpainted section, and moving each batch across as I finish it. This makes the progress you make far more obvious and can be a good motivator.

I think my record is something close to 100 guardsmen in a 36 hour period, all to good tabletop standard. So it's certainly doable.

break up your work. Work on a batch of 5, do a color or two, then take a break and work on a different model. After an hour or so, go back to the batch for another color or two.

Do a search on "motivated" or "painting" etc.

Don't feel bad...this comes up....a LOT.

One of the things said in many of the other threads is indeed breaking up the work, and making the batches smaller if need be.

I do not try to do two of the same unit in row for example, or any batch larger than 10 or 12 models.

Also, making smaller goals helps - as you can see progress faster, which inspires you to continue.

Finally, my friends and I share hobby goals and keep each other updated - the soft commitment of saying "I am gonna paint this tank and this squad this month!" helps, along with seeing what others are getting done and and encouraging each other.

Other obvious tricks during actual painting sessions are listening to favorite music, or talk shows, or old movies you are not too invested in (don't have the screen where you can see it....that will be a distraction).

Thanks guys, a lot of really good tips. I have a lot of Raven Guard to paint this year so I'll be putting them to use for sure.

Yeah its tough, doing 100 guardsmen, damn Paradigm has brushes of steel!

I limit it to a batch of no more than 10 or so as others do, and listen to audiobooks, TV shows etc. Music sometimes. You just gotta be somewhat committed to the final result, and know that you'll get much more consistent results doing it in manageable batches.

Trying to paint 100 guardsmen individually....OMGZ that would be awful.

My best advice is to pour a glass of scotch and crank up some music, or fire up a TV show.

The best "motivation" I've ever had is following the rule of: if it's not fully painted, I completely flat out refuse to put it on the table. End of story.

The easiest way to do assembly line painting is to paint in batches of 3 and use colored spray primer or an airbrush to do the base color. The longest assembly line step will be that first base color so that is why you get bored of painting 5-10 models all one color. If you spray or airbrush and get this step out of the way quickly, it becomes less tedious when you only have to say, wash 3 models at a time, or paint small details on 3 models at a time.

I am currently in the process of painting 90 guardsmen, and I am batch painting ALL at the same time. It's tedious at certain moments, but remember it is the absolute most time efficient way to accomplish your goal. I've been working on them for a couple of months. It took me 3 straight days of work to just get 180 decals on 180 shoulder pads lol.

The trick is to, like others said, watch tv or have something else going on while you work on your batch.

The most important thing is that you don't start cutting corners because you want to rush to get them finished. Keep working at a steady pace, keep your quality and concentration up at all times. For the love of the Emperor don't half-as$ it!

I have a load of skeletons to paint for a VC army for early February. I haven't even received the mini's yet!

I intend to prime with AP bone, add two spot colours and metal, then nuln oil or sepia the feck out of them - quick dry brush on the bone and bosh - done!

In theory, that is... but much like the OP, when I see a mass of dudes all lined up waiting to be painted it can be really intimidating. I have roped Mrs monders in to helping out though...

 Cave_Dweller wrote:
Yeah its tough, doing 100 guardsmen, damn Paradigm has brushes of steel!

I limit it to a batch of no more than 10 or so as others do, and listen to audiobooks, TV shows etc. Music sometimes. You just gotta be somewhat committed to the final result, and know that you'll get much more consistent results doing it in manageable batches.

Trying to paint 100 guardsmen individually....OMGZ that would be awful.

Brushes of steel, an Only Fools And Horses box set, and literally nothing better to do.

I made sure I had a quick scheme worked out beforehand. It was basically 2 browns, gunmetal and red armour, followed by a quick highlight on the red and then liberal application black wash on everything! The fact they all had fully enclosed helmets was a boon, as 100 faces would have driven me insane.

I did them in batches of 10, and by the end of it I could get a squad done in around 25 minutes. Never again, though, and I've made sure my next project (Ultramarines/Inquisition) is far slower, with freehand and more detailed shading/highlighting on every model rather than 'shortcuts' like using heavy washes.

By the end of it, I did have 1 worn out brush, half the black paint I started with, and a sore wrist, but on the other hand I had 2 more full platoons to add to the table. I doubt I'll do another horde army any time soon.

I am painting a Raven Guard army and basecoat those bad boys with chaos black in a can, so that's out of the way. I sat down last night and gave some of these tips a try and found that 3 models at a time is the method that works for me. I think that mainly has to do with being slightly ADD and my excitement to see a finished product before I get distracted by something else, which happens easily.

So 3 is where it's at, which isn't too bad. If I can sit down a few times a week to work on them then I can probably bust out a full squad every few weeks.

I used to try and paint a few marines at a time but i too got bored and now try and finish one guy at a time. I still primer them in batches.

As mentioned try watching or listening to something as well as painting. Works a treat for me.

Not everything is faster in batches. Spraying anything obviously is faster in batches, and if you're constantly opening and closing paint tins then you might save a few minutes batch painting, also if you find yourself waiting for paint to dry, batch painting is beneficial. But other than that, batch painting isn't really a huge time saver.

The benefit of batch painting IMO is it makes me work longer sessions. So instead of painting for 3 hours on a weekend and only getting 1 model done then realising I can't be bothered doing any more, I'm more inclined to paint for 12 hours to get 4 models done if I'm batch painting them.

I've timed myself batch painting vs not batch painting and the different is pretty insignificant. My friend almost never batch paints because he likes to see a model finished before moving on to the next. Do what you feel most comfortable with.

I do batches on the little guys to get them on the table. After doing lots of gants, and some vets though, I'm thankful for MCs and tanks...

try listening to radio or podcast: Nerdist is pretty fun to listen to. Also, to knock the edge off of batch painting, I'm painting multiple batches. The reason it's efficient is because you're working on the same thing across multiple models, so stuff doesn't get missed, or, if it does get missed, it's consistently missed. Also, by working on different batches, you get to mix up the colors so it's not as monotonous.

Airbrushing basecoats after primer helps a ton. Dry brush then wash, detail, clear coat then wash again. Seal. Usually do about 5-10 at a time depending on the models. Guardsmen's are a project since they have sheer numbers. Make sure to take breaks in between dry times.

I prime, base coat, wash and dry brush base coat color on the entire squad. From that point, I work on three at a time and leave the command figure (sgt., justicar, whatever) for last, since I like to take a little longer with them. It helps with the tedium, and you see the squad come together three men at a time, versus one at a time. Most importantly, if you just don't have it in you to paint, don't. I find my work is always sub-par when I force it.

I really like to paint in batches of 3 or 5 or 10 depending how I'm feeling and not for more than 2 hours. As other posters have said, small goals help. Like basecoating all models, doing the purity seals on all models. every boltgun or area with the same colour etc etc.

Also I find putting on some stand up comedy helps, the time flys by. GL and dont worry about not being motivated happens to everyone.

I'll routinely have 40-50 minis on my table at a time, divided into groups of 4-5. One batch gets a basecoat, the next is getting armor drybrushed, the next is getting eyes done, then skin, then hair, then clothes, and so-on. I do one color on one group, move to the next group and do one color, and so-on, and so-forth. By the time I'm done with putting one color on all of them, the paint's dry on the first batch and I get the next color on them.

Needless to say, I do layering and not wet-blending...