How long do you spend on a figure?

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dburford

New member
I\'m a newbie painter -- been doing this about 4 months now, and I just finished my 40th mini. I\'ve noticed if I do just one, it takes me about 4 hours. If I do a unit of 3 or 4, the whole unit will take me about 8 hours. I\'m painting these for use in games, so I feel a bit frustrated that it takes me so long.

Is this normal? Am I spending too much/not enough time? Just talking about human-sized 28mm here, not huge display pieces. How long do you guys generally spend? Any tips on going faster?
 
L

Legacy Account

Active member
How long is a piece of string?:D

It all depends on what quality you\'re after. I can paint a mini in 2-3 hours and do a reasonable, tabletop job on it. I have been known to spend 20 hours on a human sized figure...:(
 
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ralfmetal

New member
Originally posted by Spacemunkie
How long is a piece of string?:D

...twice the length from the centre.:D
as for painting depends on the standard as mine is low usually 3hrs for gaming pieces..... display ??? when its ready.
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Naukhel

Active member
I\'ve got the one in my gallery done in under two hours, which is hanging around a table-top rating of 5, give or take a couple tenths of a point.

And I\'ve also spent as much as 48 hours on a single one, mostly having to re-do bits or something.

Right now, I\'m working pretty steadily, but am trying for higher quality, so I\'m taking longer with each piece I try to take on.
 
A

Albert Moreto Font

Member
i paint for showcase only, not for playing, and if i have to enter my models in Golden Demon i spent like 6 or 7 months, which mean from 2-4 hundred hours ;)
 
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Jabberwocky

New member
I would say 15-18 hours, but I tend to be a perfectionist (not that you could tell...lol). I paint for show and don\'t game with my pieces, so I try to individualize them. I also am constantly fiddling with new techniques as well, which adds to my time.
 
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Rodnik

New member
I\'ve got over a hundred hours in one I\'ve painted----back when I was still a NoOB (now I\'m an uber-noob).

Most of the time it\'s probably around 20 strong hours.
 
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Ritual

New member
Mostly 10-20 hours for a 30-ish mm mini. That gives me a pretty high standard. I don\'t paint for gaming. Occasionally I have spent up to 40 hours on a mini if it\'s for a competition or so.
 
L

Legacy Account

Active member
I still contend that anyone who spends more than three figures in hours painting a single model needs their head testing.

It\'s bordering on obsessive compulsion or autism. Plus if I didn\'t win with something that had taken that long I think I\'d go on a gun toting rampage!

I am from the other end of the scale. I have the attention span of a gnat. And the patience of an angry rhino!lol
 
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Ritual

New member
Originally posted by Spacemunkie
I still contend that anyone who spends more than three figures in hours painting a single model needs their head testing.

It\'s bordering on obsessive compulsion or autism. Plus if I didn\'t win with something that had taken that long I think I\'d go on a gun toting rampage!

I am from the other end of the scale. I have the attention span of a gnat. And the patience of an angry rhino!lol
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lol

When the total time spent on a mini starts going above 20 hours, I really have to FIGHT my own impatience to not put it aside and start on something else! :innocent: But then, I\'ll probably never win a demon either. lol
 
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Wolf_Fang

Guest
for my tyranids ive been averaging about 10 hours or so painting just one.. this is for an army mind you... altho i personaly think they are painted a bit higher then gaming standard. if i was going for gaming standard i could prolly paint one in about 3 hours or so?
 
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Godlikebuthumble

New member
Pffffft...

From mere hours to bloody ages I\'d say!

Honestly. I\'ve done a 20-man unit of Empire Swordsmen in about 8-9 hours. That was a commission and fairly simple (like 5-6 quality), not counting the pauses (God I hate deadlines!). But I can (and sometimes do) spend well over 20 hours on a particular piece. I\'m not (yet) into competitions, but if I find the mini worthwhile/fun to paint, I try to squeeze a bit more out of it. But then I don\'t really count hours on stuff like that.
 
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Ogrebane

Active member
I once did a 20 man unit of Men at arms in 4 hours. I have also painted a character mini in 30 minutes which would rate a 6 to 6.5. Depends on the mini but 1 hour per figure for table top is about right. Ive painted over 1000 minis and for gaming 4 hours per 5 is about right.
 
C

cadboy

New member
semi long in comparison

roughly 10 hrs on rank + file, and 60ish on GD entries and heroes. not too bad in comparison it appears.
 
Einion

Einion

New member
How long painting takes can be answered in any number of ways.

As long as it takes
As long as you want it to take

Both of which are really variations of the \'how long is a piece of string\' answer. I know it\'s not very satisfactory but this is pretty much the way it is.

Excluding all prep work and priming, and particularly if you\'re production-lining the painting procedure, you could paint a simple figure in about 10-15 minutes to a very basic standard with practice; they won\'t be up to much but you\'ll build an army up pretty quick. If you want to have basic shading, neater edges and some detail then an hour or two per figure sounds about right but this is working pretty much flat-out with no interruptions.

Originally posted by Spacemunkie
I still contend that anyone who spends more than three figures in hours painting a single model needs their head testing.
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Don\'t you think that depends on what you\'re painting them for? As well as the size and detail of the model of course.

Einion
 
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