Your thoughts on painting levels.

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GreenOne

I paint my thumb.
Hi Y\'all
I see that quite often on the forums and presentation texts...
\"Painted at my highest tabletop standard\"
\"Painting level 3/5\"
\"Top tier\"
And so on...

I have only one standard, to painfully try the best I can and fail (Kidding, I\'m actually proud of my progression.) but I understand if I actually want to complete armies someday I need to change something in my approach to painting.
So I was wondering how other people view this. How does painting for gaming or display affect the tecniques used, dilution rates, preparation, etc.
 
alextheartist

alextheartist

New member
I have three levels.

Tabletop. As i dont have armies i don\'t use this very often unless i am working on a comission. This is fairly good standard, but i do tend to thin my paint less.

Fun. If i am a bit stressed i just take a mini and paint it for fun.

Display. For competitions and commissions. Use all my painting ability to produce something to the best of my ability.

Alex
 
Aliengod3

Aliengod3

Active member
When I paint table top quality I paint alot faster. I dilute my paint less and do not use as many transitional colors between highlights and shadows. If I am working on display I paint alot slower, dilute more, and use as many layers as I can to create a blend. I will also use alot more color variations in the highlights and shadows, like blues and purples in the shadows and yellows and such in the highlights.
 
A

arogers907

New member
Originally posted by Aliengod3
When I paint table top quality I paint alot faster. I dilute my paint less and do not use as many transitional colors between highlights and shadows. If I am working on display I paint alot slower, dilute more, and use as many layers as I can to create a blend. I will also use alot more color variations in the highlights and shadows, like blues and purples in the shadows and yellows and such in the highlights.
Click to expand...

That\'s pretty much how I do it, too.

For tabletop minis (the majority of the stuff I paint) I pick 3-5 pots of paint and that\'s pretty much all the minis get. I might add in an extra color or two for an accent or part of the base. I\'ll also thin my paints a lot less and do less in the way of smooth transitions and freehand.

I haven\'t done much in the way of display/competition stuff. When I do, I\'ll take tons of extra time. I\'ll thin more. Use a lot of glazing. Plan to use more freehand. I\'ll try other lighting effects. Essentially, I\'ll use any trick I know or am currently learning about to pull off the best mini I can produce.

One thing I\'d like to do more on competition minis is to step away from them from time to time. I think it would really improve the final result if I took a week or so off a time or two before the mini was done. But alas, there never seems to be that kind of time, though. /sigh
 
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generulpoleaxe

New member
i have, rank and file (two models at once)
character (single model painted to a nice standard) and finaly display (takes as long as it takes and people pay through the teeth for it.

most are happy enough with character standard.
 
G

Gi6ers

Member
I paint to relax, sometimes that means I take my time and put real concentration into it, sometimes I chuck the paint around and take lots of shortcuts. Either way I\'ve enjoyed it, for me that\'s the only way to paint.
 
freakinacage

freakinacage

Well-known member
Originally posted by Gi6ers
I paint to relax, sometimes that means I take my time and put real concentration into it, sometimes I chuck the paint around and take lots of shortcuts. Either way I\'ve enjoyed it, for me that\'s the only way to paint.
Click to expand...
thats a good description.pretty much the way i do it. either its for a comp and i take a while on it (and usually dont finish) or its a rush job. i finish a lot fewer than i start!
 
J

jahminis

New member
i paint to two different levels...
one is for commissions, the other is for competition...

when paintin\' to commission, there is most often a deadline, and a brief...
the minis have to be painted in certain colours, and the bases have to mtach previous minis...
for these minis, i put out a lot of effort, and they\'re painted to the most basic standard that i can be happy with(which is not very basic at all by most people\'s standard)...\"i call it high tabletop standard\"...
if something is gonna carry my name, i want it to look good...

for competition, there is the chance to pull out all the stops...the base can be over the top, compared to gamin\' bases, and the lack of a deadline means that i can work on any little idea that pops up...

unfortunately, the last 5 years, my schedule has been full of payin\' work, with all it\'s restrictions...
right now i\'m paintin\' my first competition mini in years...it\'s excitin\' to put into practice all the things i\'ve learned from bein\' surrounded by great painters these last few years...

we\'ll see if i\'m as good as i think i am:twisted:...

cheers
jah
 
A Luna

A Luna

A Lunatic
- Display
- Army painting
- omgwtf (I pick up a mini and just throw colour onto it without thinking about colour scheme\'s and stuff.. they usually come out as an ugly ..... )
 
mattsterbenz

mattsterbenz

New member
I have four, but that\'s mainly because of the commission business. I\'ve been thinking of dropping level 1 and sticking with 3 levels total.

Level 1- Good. Blacklined with zero or one highlight. Clean paintjob that looks good on the table. Most of my customers go with this for the bulk of their army.

Level 2- Better. Blacklined with one or two highlights. Very clean paintjob that generally gets used for unit champions, elite units, etc...

Level 3- Best. This is the quality that my Bretonnians and Eldar are painted to (in the wip section). Blacklined with 3 or more highlights/shades.

Competition- For commissions I stick with an \'Eavy Metal style of painting since it\'s faster (because I charge hourly for competition stuff) unless the customer specifically want\'s to pay a lot more for something like my Sigvald.

-Matt
 
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JoeGKushner

New member
Hard to say.

When doing figs for friends who ain\'t paying anything... theys get a single layer, two at most, and a dip and then some anti-shine.

Doing for armies, they get a little more love.

Doing for myself or to try something out, I\'m not like the \'top\' talents in that 7 layers is usually my limit and to be honest, after the first four I\'m thinking... gee, there\'s nothing left of the original two...

A lot of it I think depends on the figure and the colors selected. I find that good color combinations will help bring out an average paint job just as much as poor color selection and hinder a fantastic paint job.
 
obsidianpainting

obsidianpainting

New member
I do a few different levels... for commisions and myself.

i could do like 6 for commisions.. but level 1 is dropped since its essentially just like.. one highlight or shade.

level 2 - 2 levels of highlighting or shades

level 3 - 3 levels of highlighting or shades

level 4 - 4 levels of highlighting or shades + embellishments

level 5 - 5 levels of highlights or shades + detailed embellishments

level 6 - 6 levels of highlights or shades + 2 or so detailed embellishments. (or 4 non detailed embellishments)

then for myself i just paint to the best of my ability. Unless im doing my army.. in which case its a little more dulled down! lol

So yah...

Gary.
 
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Matt Cexwish

Member
I have only one Level... Mine...^-^...

Never seen the point in painting someting \"worse\" then one´s best...:]...

I think every miniature should be a step... A small part of the whole progress... any you can only develop if you do something new (to you or in general...)...
 
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uberdark

New member
i can see the point of it for those that lack the time to paint all the huge details or dotn paint as fast as some. however for myself i paint at a high level for everything. if i am off of work like i am during the summer i can paint a 2,000 point army in about 3 weeks to the best of my ability. albeit, i also am a slovering fiend at the end of the 3 weeks.... but i can do it if i get a commission. conversions and other things would put me back and take more time however. so i guess i do have two levels.... non conversion and conversion.
 
noneedforaname

noneedforaname

New member
unfortunatley due to my current profession pretty all my painting is done at high speed GW crappy cabinet standard, yay to getting four hours to paint ten temple guard wtf??? still hopefully im gonna get back to doing some nice stuff for myself these will either be my version of tabletop, which comes out quite nice even if i say so myself lol ego :D and im going to make a start on some high quality stuff to get my eye back in for golden daemon uk. I\'ll say this though always try to paint to as high a standard as time allows if you constantly paint to a low standard then your ability will suffer, i feel this has happened due to my work :( and therefore nothing posted in ages :( the more you push yourself and experiment the better standard you will achieve and as you improve this will motivate you. nothing more demoralising than painting to a lower standard than you can achieve normally trust me :( today at work i will be painting a stormlord start to finish and a modular gaming table all in about six hours yay not :mad:
 
Crayfish

Crayfish

New member
always doing my best, not finishing it of course (Im a miniaturepainter not a construction worker). And if i do finish it, I say to myself \"Well that is one ugly miniature, down in the acetone you go!\" and sometimes i actually laugh at my incompetense or get a .5 seconds pride for actually finishing a model hehe!

The thing with levels i think is that most people cant see that is what they can do, they think they can do better so they cheat themselves, by calling it \"only tabletop\". That probably is not the case but, its pretty useless with levels. Commissions should get extra care! You are actually getting paid to do something! And if you are better you get paid more!

If you are doing an army i guess it is tabletop.

My five cents... Strive to do your best, and if you have a deadline try figure out a faster way to make your pieces bling! Or say to the costumer that you cant make it all that fast since you want to do your best, well... perhaps there are people out there that want tabletop painted miniatures. Then i would find out a way to make my TT bling!

I dont see really the point of taking on commissions if your not willing to do your best effort... WELLL I\'ve said my part, all you commissioners tear my post to shreds!
 
G

GreenOne

I paint my thumb.
Thanks for the clarification folks :)
I must say i am a VERY slow painter so I must find some ways to cheat around when it comes to units and armies. Never really had deadlines with the aquaintance that request me to paint their minis, but a couple years is surely not good for business!
Even the singles I paint can accumulate 50 hours easily, if their not mounted.

Other point that hasn\'t been covered, do you rely more on washes and drybrush when painting more around tabletop level?
 
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