Batch painting, in a word: Sucks.
I'm really notta fan, and I don't think its all that fun. However, as is so often seen on the Mordian7th blog* its the best way to get a bunch of minis painted up fairly quickly. For example: Nine and a half months into 2018 I've fully painted, from start-to-finish the following:
January:
Cadre Fireblade
February:
Kushial's Leviathan Dreadnought
Rebel Ghar Commander
30k Black Shield
March:
(4) WHFB stone walls
An IG hillbilly
April:
Rainbow Warriors Predator
May:
Wreck-Age Technical
Ork Kommando
June:
Salamanders Primaris Sergeant
30k Blackshields Medusa
Ork Nob
July:
Awesome Battlemech
August:
Grymn Vanquisher battle tank
Over the course of 8 months, that's an average of 2.125 miniatures painted per month. Yay?
That brings us to September:
Whilst nothing has been fully painted yet...in just three painting sessions spread over as many days, I have EIGHT minis about 3/4 painted. All that remains to be done is a light dry brushing of their clothing to soften the inking a bit, then dirty 'em up (again), pick out a few colors for pop (eye lenses, hoses, etc.), base 'em, and clear coat. I might add a decal or two if I'm feeling froggy, but don't count on it.
That's entirely doable for this week or at the worst, this month. So, even though I'm not fond of batch painting I'm thinking that this may be the way to at least grind through some of the basic minis, and then I can lavish a bit of extra time on the squad leaders, heavy/special weapons' troopers.
Or...knowing me, I can stop at this point and paint some other random mini cause that's what I usually tend to do.
*Mordian's in a class of his own when it comes to batch painting!
6 comments:
It certainly ain't as fun as treating them all as individuals, but it's the best way to get a bunch of similar Models done fast, with decent quality. Especially stuff like Culties, where there are going to be a million of them, so they'll never really stand out anyhow.
These ones are looking good so far. Heck, add some basing material, and I'd put those on the table no problem.
I agree, batch painting is the way to go for squads of models. You can take your time on vehicles and characters, but in a bulk army, you really need to get more than one model done at a time.
Lovely work, man! Absolutely, batch painting is not fun or exciting, but when you hit the finish line with a whole mess of matching finished models it's a good feeling! The trick is finding your threshold for tedium, 8-10 is really a good number - paints are dry when you come back around to the first dude in the group, but not so many that you're bored to tears by the end of the line. I'll get cocky and do 20-30 at a time and it rrrrrreally becomes a slog. You can do it!
@Westrider: 'tabletop' quality is all I ever shoot for anyways. On the occasions where a mini comes out really good, its more by accident than design. I worked on 'em some more last night and all that's needed now is the matte varnish and 'Ard coat on the lenses and the few spots of blood.
@Mike: Indeed this does seem to work best, only 22 more to go...
@Mordian: Yes it certainly does...or at least I vaguely recall that it did it, its been awhile in my case. Oh, and speaking of...um, can I borrow your paint servitor? That would make things easier...
Haha, welcome to hell! My batch painting size has gone down over the years from 30 to 5. It still sucks!
lol! I've done it a few times over the years, hoping it'll get better. It hasn't, though its still effective.
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