I have a problem, which is I tend to paint very slowly, and I feel progress is glacial overall. I do not have an airbrush, nor the option to use one. I can spend 3-4 hours on a single mini sometimes, and just to achieve decent results. I also go long stretches without painting, as the task seems so tiring sometimes. Please offer me some advice on how to paint quicker, get over the fear of imperfection (this holds me back a lot to be honest), and produce miniatures for the tabletop that look decent enough. How can I paint, say a Zhanshi , in roughly 1 hour? Is it doable? My goal is to paint up my Yu Jing vanilla / ISS finally. My strategy is to paint 4 minis at a time, starting with 3 zhanshi and the gui jia pilot to get the colour recipe down on relatively simple models. So, I'm looking for a total of about 4 hours for the 4 minis as a target. I think I have developed my skills to the point that I could focus more on speed now, but I need some tips on how to get a lot of minis painted and ready for duty as quickly as possible. Some of you are prolific painters, so please, any and all advice is welcome. Advice on how to focus is also appreciated!
I have similar problems, but I can help with the last bit at least, the focus! Put on either music with a decent tempo, or a movie/tv show in the background - I've actually found it helps to have the media at least vaguely related to what I'm painting, for example putting on episodes of Ghost in the Shell SAC when painting my Aleph, particularly the non-Steel Phalanx, but that might just be a quirk I have. Before finding this, I could only paint in the company of people who were doing their own thing, whether that be a friend doing something mini-related or a family member doing cross-stitch or craft of some sort. We would periodically show each other what we were working on, and each make the appropriate noises of encouragement. But once I found that music or something on the tv helps, I got much more assembling and painting done, as I didn't need to time it with when other people were available to get together and work. Slower-paced music doesn't seem to have the same effect, but neither does the really fast-paced stuff. Something that's just the right speed, however, lets me work to the beat and get more done in less time than I realise until I look at the clock. I'm still tremendously slow compared to some of my friends, but I'm faster than I've ever been before. If using something on the tv, it gives me something to distract myself with whenever I'm feeling crushed by how little I've gotten done, how long it's taken, and how much is left. Once I watch a little of whatever's on, I'm ready to get back to work, and don't get the mental fatigue I usually do.
It's a good idea. It helps divert the negative thinking, which i also get. "Ah , I still have so much more to go..." which can drain your motivation quickly. To only pay attention to the mechanical aspect while your mind is distracted seems like a good way to accomplish monotonous work in general. I'll put on some podcasts or movies next time!
Yeah, I forgot about podcasts! I was just coming back to edit that in - I've found podcasts are often a better option for me than music, no matter how good the music, although their relative value compared to a movie or tv show varies. I got almost all of my Cygnar finally painted while listening to Dan Carlin's Hardcore Histories, just in time for me to lose all enthusiasm for the game system as I played more and more people who cared about shavings of a millimetre and things, who seemed to constantly be in preparation for tournaments, no matter how far away the next tournament was, and generally made the thought of packing my models and going to that game store a chore that I dreaded. I continued to play occasionally against some good friends, but eventually even that stopped. Then we found Infinity, and it was both fun and tactically challenging! And the local community was made up of good people! And no-one played so ruthlessly that it felt like you were adversaries rather than opponents! And we've been sold on Infinity ever since, for all none of our number of games are that high for the amount of raw time since we started.
I listen to Audiobooks when painting, it keeps me focused and isn't as distracting as the idiot box. Though I'm working through the Honor Harrington novels at the mo, which is tempting me to pick up a naval space battles game.
where do you get your audio books from? I tried to use audible in the past and hated it. It felt so scammy and terribly designed.
Here's what comes out from my own experience. I usually spend a bit more than 4 hours painting "something", but that "something" goes from 3 basic troopers (securitate or zanshi) at a time to one bigger or more complex model (HI for example). But i think i might give you some general advices : 1- Have a permanent workspace : do you have your own workspace for painting, without having the obligation to store everything after your painting cession ? That is what really made me improve my skills and speed at painting : when i had to unpack my stuff everytime i wanted to paint, the motivational aspect was already an issue before even throwing any paint on my models. Now that i have my place, everything is ready to go, even my airbrush, drilling tool, all that is already plugged and ready, which saves me a tremendous amount of time ! And BTW, if not already, use a wet palette : no time wasted making your paint mixes again and again and again... 2- Batch painting : you already have the good idea to paint 3 zanshis at a time, that's the way to go to save time ! As an example i painted my Tunguska starter this way : 3 securitates then heckler+hollow men and finally the kriza borak. i think it took me 40 hours (split over 3 weeks as i can't paint every day) 3- Base color -> wash -> highlight (after a good undercoat, of course) : block paint all your base colors, then choose a single tone for the shadows, then go for highlights (from one single highlight to as many as you feel necessary, but 2 to 3 highlights will give very decent results. 4- Avoid mixes. Most paint brands now offer hues of colors that are ment to be used as highlights and shadows for a given color. 2 advantages here : faster painting, and more consistent color (which is 90% of your army's quality for miniature gaming) 5- If you can afford an airbrush, give it a try : just for the undercoat it is timesaving, and you can do most of the basecoats with it (even highlights and shadows with a bit of practice). I don't know what "painting level" you want to achieve for your army, but remember that in army painting for tabletop games the consistency of your scheme will have much more impact on the overall look of your troops than the smoothest gradient in your highlights. Anyhow, it's the quality you want to achieve that will have the most impact on your productivity : we all have to make choices between speed and quality. Hope that will help. Best of luck for your painting !
Thank you for some detailed and motivating responses ! I already got started painting a few laters of skin tone on my 4 minis. This is motivating and encouraging. Sometimes that’s all it takes. I’m aiming for a “looks good “ quality level. No one will say “wow amazing!” But the minis will look solid, clean and good for gaming. So speed is the top priority .
I'm no quick painter (especially when it comes to Infinity models) but I recently made some progress for speed or mass painting lately because I had no choice (Massive Darkness KS and still almost a hundred minis to paint). So first, I had a motivation because of that (you seems to have yours) Then I try to plan what I willl do. I batched tasks (cleaning minis, assembly, priming ...) and I batched painting (similar models or with common colours will be done together) like the Zhanshi. I don't know if your painting time is mostly during the week-end or on a specific day, then try to preform the preparation tasks above bit by bit the week before, it will reduce time loss for the painting session. Try also to identify tasks that can be quick to perform but force you to wait once done, like drying (be it water, primer, wash .... so you can spend only a few minutes on this without going in the heavy process of "starting a painting session". Batch your bases. If you have to do some research on the painting scheme, the technics you will use or if you need advice, do it before and keep trace of what you found so you'll have everything available when starting. Also you can reduce the amount of what I call the "nothing's done syndrome" when you start to loose your motivation because you not seeing it going anywhere. I use the following : rush several minis to the point they are all OK but still deserve some touches and put them aside. Then I do batch touch later. I is very gratifying to see something decent within a small amount of time. In my specific case, I was able to reach the average one mini per hour rythm or more but I know I will still spend more time for Infinity minis. Lessons learnt: - even if globally I'm still above the 1h per mini, it is definitely more efficient than before. - don't expect to go from 4h+ per mini to 1h- in one week, but if you reach 3h at your first attempt it is already a lot - when painting non essential minis try new things if miss, it's not important (I achieved a 10 minutes mini with results way above what I expected first just by using pre-shading and inks) and you will learn a lot.
I think a big factor for me is to be proud of my work. It's always a slog if I dislike what I'm painting or how it looks. Although this is just a factor of a different issue others have been touching on which is motivation. I always break up my mini into "parts". I'll do the legs, then the body, then the arms and finally the face/helmet. This may not be the most efficient way of doing it but it gives me a good idea of how the mini will look when it's completed. I like to see the highlights and the blocking come together. I think pre-planning can help as well as project management. set goals for yourself! Having good entertainment helps too.
I do use the Audible app on my phone, but I listen to Audiobooks when I'm driving shopping, before sleeping, and sometimes at work so the subscription is good value. It's worth noting that you can still download and listen to purchased books without a subscription.
I find that the more you paint the better you will get but you must stay consistent, you don't have to paint 4 or 5 hours a day, you can paint for 20 minutes a day, and just doing that on a consistent basis you will see yourself getting better in do time, the key is stay consistent, you also can pick up tips by reading books and checking out painters on youtube, what every you do, don't stop.
