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So I'm back from a decade or so away from 40k.

One thing that seems different from my fond memories is how long it takes me to paint a model. I'm collecting Astra Militarum and it works out between 1.5-2 hours per guardsman. And its not even a complex colour scheme.

I'm not sure if its because I have alot more patience and attention to detail than I did when I was younger. I'm currently doing them in batches of 3 men at a time.

Are there any tips that people have to speed up the process. Would better brushes help (i've noticed my gw brushes dont keep a point very well). At this rate its going to take an eternity to paint an army.

1) Prime white
2) Use watered down paints (paint that is as thick as milk) of a slightly lighter colour than you want to end up with to colour in the main blocks of colour
3) Use washes to darken the blocks and add shading
4) Add in details

Some Eldar painted in this way:

Keep painting!
After returning after 10 years I found it took me longer to paint, but I was thinking about it more and have painted better minis as a result.
Production line works best for me, so for example I'll prime and base everything with the airbrush or spray paint then work in batches of 5 doing one colour at a time. After finishing the first 10 I find I speed up as I already know what colours are going where, it becomes less about thought and more like autopilot, and always have a treat waiting after you complete a certain amount of chaff. Ie a tank if your painting guard at the moment, it helps prevent burnout.
As a testament to this I started and finished a 1000pt shaven army in a month for a tournament and placed in top 6 for painting.

40 clan rats
30 plague monks
Plague furnace
20 slaves
Warp lightning cannon

You can check out the dipping method. From Thearmypainter. When I first restarted and wanted to finish up an army fast, that helped. Now that I'm just adding on, I take my time to wash shade and highlight.

For rank and file, I use a variation on the dip and it saves a ton of time.

First block in all your colors and make them slightly lighter than you think they should be. Then slather the whole thing in Agrax Earthshade. Let it dry and go back to touch up any details.

It's a quick easy way to get a lot of grunts done quickly. Obviously you can use Army Painter strong tone, or Vallejo's washes, but the concept is the same.

I would find a colored primer that is as close to your base color as possible. If you are doing the standard green cadians, primer with Rustoleum/Krylon dark green, drybrush with a mid tone green and then give the model a wash of nuln oil. Re-apply highlights as desired.

So a few hours a night since sunday has netted me these 5 after the first one was a test as I remember how to paint etc. My poor lighting and gakky phone camera make them look strange but you get the general idea of the scheme. It just baffles me how I take so long. I start at around 10pm then before I know it its 2am and time for bed! Time flies when your painting


Armour is a bone colour with the cloth being black.

Now the black cloth doesnt take long at all because I prime them in black. Cloth is just eshin grey with shadow grey highlights then nuln oil brings it back down to a nice look. I can be sloppy with this as any overlapping is painted over anyway thus saving time.

The armour is a bit more effort with 2 layers (im to lazy to get the paints out now and remember their names) and a wash followed with a heavy dry brushing of white (which gives a nice effect when not on a phone camera) Then it takes me nearly as long to paint the skin, metals and golds as it did the whole armour. I might have to time myself and see how long it takes me to do each stage of the next 5.

Although the Tanks and Transports will be mostly bone colour so I wonder if I could save time and prime them in that colour?

One of my models has edge highlights but the effect is so subtle I didnt bother on any of the other models. These guys are to play with (giggidy) not show off. I dont yet posses the skills to paint really nice stuff like i see on these boards.

EDIT: I dont remember mould lines being so prominent when I was younger! My next batch I will definatley assemble better!

Well, white I believe is hard to get as nice as you have gotten it! And very patient painting but the results are worth it.

And finally, I'm amazed you stayed up till 2, what with that comfortable looking couch in the background. I would have crept off to dreamland in a jiffy.

 milkboy wrote:
Well, white I believe is hard to get as nice as you have gotten it! And very patient painting but the results are worth it.

And finally, I'm amazed you stayed up till 2, what with that comfortable looking couch in the background. I would have crept off to dreamland in a jiffy.

Aww thanks man. That one comment makes me feel like the time was worth it. And this couch is horrific for painting as its got a backwards decline so you are always hunched over and I dont have a lamp to hand so have put extra bulbs in my light fitting so I can see My girlfriend will go ape gak when I get paint on it. Lets face it...its gonna happen.

I've got another box of infantry in the kitchen waiting so going to prime those white and see if its quicker.

prime the color or near color of the clothing, put wash over eyes (it sheds about five minutes of each model), maybe use army painter quickshade http://usshop.thearmypainter.com/products.php?ProductGroupId=1
hope I helped.

Those look good but the white boots make me laugh.

I'm just imagining the drill sergeant yelling at everybody, every day: "Dammit, maggots! Don't you every polish your boots?"

Poor guardsmen trying to keep those looking good.