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Would have been interesting to see how many don't paint at all too...

All of the above.

but for all of them i also spend a LOT of time planning.

Personally I've always prioritized clean, fast paint jobs.
Clean, meaning I "paint inside the lines" and avoid accidentally placing paint on something unintended to be that color.
Fast meaning I never want to spend more than a few sittings on any batch of models.

Over the years and well over 1,000 models later (I used to commission paint) and I feel like the quality of my painting has vastly gotten better.
I now paint faster, better, harder, stronger than ever before.
Ironically, my most recent projects that have benefited from this skill aren't actually models I play: Marines.

Just check my Sig.

But my Eldar models don't get as much effort because I have older models that I still like and want everything to be consistent.
So I often "paint down" any new models I get just to finish them as fast as I can. But only slightly

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#3 but only because #1 is too little even for me. I go for what I consider tabletop standard so my army doesn't look like a sea of grey. I'm not really trying to get them to look good though, just get the paint i there, within the lines and good to go.

I generally start @ 3 color minimum(to play on table) for a unit/model, then continually working on it until I think it's "done". whenever I start a new army I pick out 1 character and 1 troop to figure out what needs which paint where. it really helps to develop the procedure for the rest of the army. Certain models like my Salamanders Relic Contemptor & Lts' are intended to be high grade so they still need work.

Not as much as I used to, I've gotten lazy in the last few years

My goal with painting is to get consistently better results out of consistently less effort. I find that as you practice and get your system dialed in, you figure out where you can save yourself a step and still achieve your desired effect, or you just get more efficient overall. So while I try to get better than table-top standard results on each model, I am also spending less time and effort per model than I was to get worse results when I was just starting. I chose #2 because I think it best fits my personal philosophy of finding a balance between quality and speed.

Paint as best as I can with out spending crazy amounts of time

But 'as best as I can' isn't very good! I only recently started using washes, and while my initial results varied, I am getting better (painting for about 9 months thus far).

I'm mainly in this for the painting, so I like to take my time on each model and do them all well. But at the same time I want to get a reasonable number of miniatures finished rather than having just a handful of exceptional examples, so I don't go all out on everything.

Two thin coats and a splash of agrax earthshade.

 BaconCatBug wrote:
Two thin coats and a splash of agrax earthshade.

Indeed. Washes and drybrushing is your friend. If you can do those 2 techniques, there is no reason not to have decently painted minis.
They are also very quick and easy ways to batch paint.

In my experience, those techniques are very easy to learn and mastering them with practice can take your painting to a new level

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Can confirm.

Basically everything I ever paint is just drybrushed Ceramite White over black primer and then has various colours of paints thinned-down to almost, but not quite, the consistency of a wash splashed over the top.

It'll never win an award, but it will allow you to field an acceptably painted army, quickly.

What is the difference between option 1 and 2 ?

Karol wrote:
What is the difference between option 1 and 2 ?

Option one is literally just slapping 3 colours on randomly, option 2 is just a quick paint.

Does that fly in tournaments?

If I spray a Marine black, paint one pauldron white and the other grey, does that suffice?

That would technically be three colors, but each TO probably specifies what they are looking for in painting standards. If they don't and just specify "three colors" I don't see how they could disqualify a SM army with one base color and two different color shoulderpads.

As a Necron painter a -1 penalty to whatever level I think I am painting at should be applied.

Depends what I'm painting, if I'm painting custodes I'll spend as much time as needed, but if its just guardsmen then I won't spend as much time as in reality the guard wouldn't and I can't be bothered to paint 500 guardsmen to custodes standard.

I paint to the best of my own ability, usually spending what I consider to be crazy amounts of time but only ever get reasonable results. Painting is hard...

I do the best I can without spending crazy amounts of time. My skills are not good enough to achieve amazing results even if I spent more time, so why bother? Eventually I might be capable of doing "showpieces", but not currently.

I paint to table top standard with everything based. My armies went from pretty meh a few years ago to actually good when I discovered the very basic thing of washes. Seriously, makes even like mono-colored marines look better. Basic and obvious to most but surprisingly didn't occur for me to do early on. Screw highlighting though, aint no one got time for that. Drybrushing or nothing. Though, that means my models will always just be stuck at table top standard.

Too much time.

I first paint everything 'keeping within the lines'. Followed by washes. Followed by bringing the colours back up (keeping the shades). Followed by highlights. And this for every little detail there is to find.

Don't get me wrong, I'm having fun. But usually the end result looks 'worse' than someone painting the striking parts of model neatly and not paying attention to too many details.

So I should be following the 'less is more', but I just can't get myself to do less of a paintjob .

Previously I did the best I could but quick enough to also meet deadlines for tournaments etc. I'm currently building an Ork army that will take as long as it takes :(

0 effort. I'm lucky enough to be in a playgroup that doesn't enforce painting standards and painting the models don't make them play better so I don't bother.

Somewhere between 2 and 3.

I first batch paint everything, skin, armor, larger metal pieces, then wash and highlight. Later, after everything is done, I go back and pick out the finer details, going towards 3. However, my 3 in terms of time investment is probably closer to 4 with my current skill level.

What if 1-4 are the exactly the same for one because the best they can do is a somewhat tolerable table level?

I cannot stand painting. I have won a Players Choice Award...so if I am forced to paint I can.

I normally paint under pressure.

2 Armies I painted over the summer. I worked 14 hour days...every day...but everytime I had a 10 min break I would work on a squad. At the end of the week I was done with that unit.

I did my DE and PDF over 2 summers that way.

All my Eldar stuff I only paint to get ready for a tournament.

All my Resin Tanks/Titans I only paint for a big event with my pals.

Do you see a pattern. If I don't have a need to get it done....IT IS NOT GETTING done lol

GW Give us starter pre painted units. Just about 4 or so for each army. Then the hobbyists will emerge for those that want it....and I bet as more and more units are added to those armies...more players will want to learn to paint.

For me, it takes what it takes. After priming, it seems it takes me about 12 hours ( 3 days of 4 hour paint sessions) to do up a 10-man squad. I can Tyranids or undead much faster.

Oddly enough, most of my paint schemes are based on 3 primary colors (my marines are green/white/gold-yellow, my Admech are red/cream/black, nids are orange-red/blue/bone, Eldar are red/white/black), but I do shading, highlighting and some dash of other colors depending on the model.

 vipoid wrote:

 infinite_array wrote:
I use the Three Foot Rule for all my miniatures. They look good but don't take an insane amount of time to finish.

Three Foot Rule?

It's basically reminding yourself as you paint that everything you do is going to be seen at arm's length or further away while playing, so don't get bogged down in the details. What might not look amazing on the painting table will likely suffice for the gaming table, especially if you're using a black undercoat.