Painting Times

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Mikeyboy9000

New member
Hi, i\'m new to the forum, so without further ado
:what i was wondering was how long do you take to paint a mini to a certain level?

I\'m new to this and just begun my first mini i seem to be taking a very long time for the \'level\' of what i\'ve done. I mean i spent maybe 2 hours, HOURS painting a cape.

I will try to finish up the mini i\'m working on tomorrow and post a picture but if anyone could give an image and a rough timeframe it took them i\'d be much obliged.
 
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Mikeyboy9000

New member
Wow thanks that certainly helps to show the difference you get between a 10, 25, 40+ hr piece.

As a side - when painting with the GW paints i use 1:1 water paint and find that it almost washes away when i paint, it\'s almost coloured water that i\'m pushing around with my brush. With a few coats ( 5 - 7 ?) it eventually covers a black basecoat thoroughly.

Is this too much thinning of the paint?
 
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DaRat

New member
Keep in mind that everyone paints at different speeds and has different skill levels. I\'ve seen some painters paint a mini in an hour which is better than I could do in 8 hours.

As far as thinning goes, it depends on your technique. Some people go for the very thin with many, many layers technique (letting the paint dry between layers). Others go for fewer thicker layers.

Key question for both is whether or not you are happy with the results and time spent.
 
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Kester

New member
It really depends on what you intend to use the mini for and how much detail you want on it. As an example the figure I took to Golden Demon this year took about 50 - 60 hours (for all the good it did me blah blah rant rant...) but for gaming I tend to knock out about 4 or 5 a day.
 
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Kester

New member
As for thie thinning of paints, I tend to go for a dilution that has the consistancy of spilt milk and apply several layers
 
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generulpoleaxe

New member
being quick only matters when you are being paid.

it doesn\'t matter wether it be half an hour or a hundred hours, as long as the painter (or customer) is happy with the results for the intended purpose of the piece then the job is a good one.
 
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Ko11

New member
The father of a friend of mine had this to say on a related subject: \"When laying down a stone wall, take whatever time it takes you. When people see the wall, they\'ll ask \'Who made that wall?\' and not \'How long time did he use?\'\"
 
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Mikeyboy9000

New member
new and improved

Well i spent another hour on my mini (a marine, sgt i think) today doing some of the final smaller details before giving highlighting the armor a shot.

And i must say for anyone else reading who seems to have my same \'problem\' of a loooot of painting for not really getting anywhere that things seem to be picking up. painting seems to be easier, and faster. Looking back at the cape i think i could do that now in next to no time.

I will post pics as soon as i get some time during exams to finish off everything but the armor.
 
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Sauce Devil

New member
Hi Mikey, what colors are you using? Some colors just won\'t show up against black unless you put an intermediate color underneath (to paint orange on black you might first apply a coat of brown).

I\'ve never understood the appeal of using black primer, it\'s great if you\'re using fairly dark colors (or metallics) but it\'s a chore having to add an extra undercoat so you can paint it in yellow or pink or orange.
White primer is pretty much all I use now.


I\'m still a total slow-mo compared to most of the regulars on CMON but I\'m definitely getting faster as I gain experience, I think my speed had doubled in about 4 months.

Some miniatures take longer than others, I almost have a phobia of multi-part models because I hate the process of pinning and gluing; 90-second epoxy resin seems to be the best thing to use because it\'s much stronger than superglue and sets in under 4 minutes.

It\'s all those little details that take the extra time; little bits of jewellery and buckles and things.. if you\'re not painting to a display standard you can give most jewellery a slap of metallic paint instead of trying to render realistic glass effects.

You\'ll develop techniques and shortcuts as you practice which will make painting the same minis much quicker the next time you try them; I know some people can paint a squad of Space Marines in 90 minutes (not including assembly) with their eyes shut because they\'ve done it many times before.

BTW: Does anyone know where I can get some 90-sec epoxy that doesn\'t come as a double-plunger? It squirts out 10x more than I need (probably a deliberate design fault).
 
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Mikeyboy9000

New member
Well for the most part the colours i\'m using are bleached bone, grey\'s, scab red, boltgun, all of which have seemed to need multiple coats to really get anywhere.

Something i was wondering though was: i\'m using shadow grey for what i would call the \'coil\' that you see between two pieces of armor on a SM and it\'s very bright and all one colour. I struggled to paint the ridges and leave the depths alone so i was wondering how to add some depth to the area.
 
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ScottRadom

Shogun of Saskatchewan

I swear by a 5 minute epoxy product called JB-Kwik Weld. It\'s in two seperate tubes so if you\'re just putting a head or whatever on I just pull a teeny amount out with a toothpick from either tube. Bonds real strong. A guy I know who\'s a heavy duty mechanic in the Canadian military uses their 24 hour product to help hold together our military vehicles, so if you\'ve got anything that can lay immobile that long I always reccomend either of those products.
 
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Sauce Devil

New member

I swear by a 5 minute epoxy product called JB-Kwik Weld. It\'s in two seperate tubes so if you\'re just putting a head or whatever on I just pull a teeny amount out with a toothpick from either tube. Bonds real strong. A guy I know who\'s a heavy duty mechanic in the Canadian military uses their 24 hour product to help hold together our military vehicles, so if you\'ve got anything that can lay immobile that long I always reccomend either of those products. [/quote]

Thanks Scott, sounds like good stuff. :)
I\'ll order a pack on eBay.
 
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Sauce Devil

New member
Originally posted by Mikeyboy9000
Well for the most part the colours i\'m using are bleached bone, grey\'s, scab red, boltgun, all of which have seemed to need multiple coats to really get anywhere.

Something i was wondering though was: i\'m using shadow grey for what i would call the \'coil\' that you see between two pieces of armor on a SM and it\'s very bright and all one colour. I struggled to paint the ridges and leave the depths alone so i was wondering how to add some depth to the area.
Click to expand...

I\'ve never tried Bleached Bone over black primer but the last time I tried Red Gore (similar to Scab Red) it went on okay.

The coils/ridges between the armor joints I would wash with a dark blue (might take three layers to make it neat) and then gently drybrush with Space Wolves Grey or Fortress Grey.

I\'m sure someone has a better recipe than that though. :]
 
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rocketandroll

New member
I feel I\'m pretty slow, but possibly because I don\'t usually have the attention span to keep painting for more than an hour or so at a time without a break... and I\'m easily distracted :)

This one:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/202671

Took me about 7 - 9hrs to model and then probably another 30 - 40hrs or so to paint over about a three to four week period.

I don\'t really paint anything other than models for competition... so it\'s hard to have a balanced view of how quick I am... but as others have said... it really doesn\'t matter how quick or slow you are... it\'s the finished result that counts :)

I\'ve heard painters say that a slayer sword winning model was painted in a week... but I think that week involved 6 - 8hrs a day, and possibly a lot more in the last day or two... so I think 30 - 40hrs for a comp model is not far off the norm.

Paint at your own speed.


Ben
 
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ScottRadom

Shogun of Saskatchewan
Originally posted by Ko11
The father of a friend of mine had this to say on a related subject: \"When laying down a stone wall, take whatever time it takes you. When people see the wall, they\'ll ask \'Who made that wall?\' and not \'How long time did he use?\'\"
Click to expand...

This sounds a lot like the philosophy of the workers renovating my store front.

96 days behind schedule and counting (it was a 3 week job).
 
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Bigdennis52

New member
lol 96 days behind schedule... thats hillarious


anyway, I stopped using games workshop paints because i felt they were too thin.
 
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