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Ever feel you are not painting to your potential? The more I think about it, I realize I have been lazy with my painting lately. I don't think I have been pushing myself as hard as I could. Now I have good reason, painting a whole army at your best level would be crazy. And I have cranked out some nice single pieces, but still, I wonder how well I could do if I really took my time.

I am going to do that with a 5 woman squad of Dominators I have converted. I am going to do the white and purple colors I worked out on a earlier squad, but I am going to take my time and do all the thin layers and everything.

So here is the squad ready for me to start. I will post my progress after every session I work on them. I'll continue to use my phone, but I will see if I can borrow a decent camera sometimes as well.



If your are interested, here is the squad I painted and want to do better than:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/594002.page

Anyone ever tired this, painting a squad at your max skill just to see what you can do? How did it work? How long did the squad take?

Good question, and certainly one I relate to. Prior to starting my last couple of armies, I would go for a full-effort job on HQ choices and centrepieces, but what I would now consider mediocre paintjobs on my troops.

The turning point came with 2 armies, my Pre-Heresy Imperial Fists and my Ultramarines Battle Company. In the case of the former, it was because I was spending £4 or more per model, so I'd better make them look the best I can. As such, I went from 30 minutes per model to 2-3 hours each. With the Ultras, it was linked to the choice to make the army as fluff-accurate as possible, and hence every model is converted and with freehand.

So now, I try and paint everything to the best standard I can manage. With the lower amount of games I'm getting, painting has been a bigger part of the hobby, and as I have less time, I figure painting 100s of low-quality models is not as good or fun as less but better quality ones.

Good luck with your project, it should be rewarding.

Looks like a great project! And what nicer minis to work on than those.

Your title struck a bit of a chord with me... Until the end of last year, I didn't realise that I was not painting to my full potential! And then I read this article on the Infinity forums...

http://infinitythegame.com/forum/index.php?/topic/4785-some-simple-things-to-improve-painting/

I cannot stress enough how much a difference using a wet palette has made for me. If you take the leap and use one, not only will you use less paint, you will paint much better, much quicker, and with far more enjoyment. Why not give it a go (assuming you don't at the moment) on your new project?

I have heard a lot about wet pallets and how they are useful, but yet to try one. I need to do that.

Wet pallets are a fantastic tool. I made my own and use it all the time. Best thing to do is grab a tupperware container and a sponge or two get the sponges damp and put parchment paper over the top.

Citadel static grass clumps come in a Tupperware container that perfectly fits a kitchen sponge with very little wasted air space, it is also very easy to cut a p3 wet pallet sheet down to fit.

Best thing ever, takes some getting used to though

E: also this is a great thread, reminds me of doing a crap job. I seem to cut corners when I get bored of painting, if I could stop doing that it would make a big difference

Ouch! I think I was trying too hard there, white base coat is something I have almost never worked with. It was going well for a while, but I just did not have the depth I wanted. They are soaking in the degreaser now. Well, I will try again in the morning.

You gotta try a wet palette if you haven't. I still consider myself a newbie and I see dramatic benefits to using one. My paint stays thin, doesn't dry, I rarely need more paint, and I only get an hour or two to paint on days that I do get to paint, and day after day the paint stays in good condition.

I like your project; I'm actually doing something like this right now. I'm doing a foot-guard army with Vostroyans painted up 30 or so models in my original paint scheme before getting tired of assembly line painting and wanted to make them all special. I wouldn't care how often I lost if my opponent can't get over a well painted horde army. I decided to break my remaining models into themes that would paint to best abilities:

One ten man squad of nmm models with black, gold, and silver colors. This is to practice nmm. Currently I only have half of a model done and it took me over a week but I love it.

One have a squad of Cadians I'm painting with camo to practice freehand.

One squad of Vostroyans stationed on Mars with an admech theme. I'm modelling breathing masks on the models that don't have them. This was to practice basing, battle damage, and heavy use of washes. I have a great martian basing system that I would love to post on here some day...maybe after finals. Obvious this one is my favorite right now. I have 4 models done with two more almost done.

I love painting, it's something I never tried before and honestly I always hated the idea of painting because it was two dimensions. Then I painted a mini and loved it. I have to justify the cost of new models somehow and the best way is that putting everything I have into one $4.00 model takes hours and hours of enjoyment.

I'm excited to see what you come up with, have you decided to make yourself practice any difficult techniques like freehand, nmm or detailed basing?

Well, here they are after the first session. I am just working on the white armor at the moment.

Good start!

You should turn this into a P&M log to encourage yourself to post updates.

If you want to paint to your full potential I suggest that you take your time painting and when it gets difficult to concentrate on your work take a 15 minute break before continuing. When you get impatient you will begin to make mistakes that will lower the quality of your work. Just my 2 cents.

Slowing down is hard when I settle down to paint. I have made some nice progress and when I get home from visiting my mom I will post pictures.

(Don't forget to call your moms today everyone!).

I have decided to do the robes in blue to separate the squads. Here they are so far:

Got an update on this? I was keen to see how you got on.

Also, for some constructive criticism, I think their eyes are letting them down a lot - what method are you currently using to do them?

I'll try and get some pictures. Sorry

I an being cheep with the eyes a bit, just painting them black and doing two white dots. I can do more, but that is what I have been doing lately.

That seems to go against what you were trying to do here with painting to your full potential.

Obviously do whatever you want, but you clearly have skill, slightly mong eyes don't do you justice

True, true. I'll see what I can do without getting the paint too thick. I may be able to clean then up some. I'll try to post pics this weekend.

Thanks for the honest input.

Really digging the conversions. Hadn't thought of using the inferno pistols in a combi-bolter, consider that idea borrowed. Nice to see some else using converted Seraphim as well. And what are you using for heads, a couple look non standard.
As for the painting, the eyes are as kb_lock stated 'throwing me off'. And the white looks in the close up... off?, chalky? to my eye, not sure how best to describe it, maybe it's just the picture (or me), but in the distance shot they look to be needing a bit more shading around the hoses and the corset. just my two pence.

I did some work on the eyes, but I think they look pretty nice in real life. I may call this squad done and try another. Don't want to do too much. I tried to take my time, but I think they are done. I'll try better on the next squad.

Thanks

That looks so much better mate, makes me appreciate the models much more. Great job.