La famille s'agrandit!

Efficient painting

Basic points

-Have clear objectives
Why do you want to paint? Do you want a specific army ready to play? Are you going to a tournament that requires minimum painting standards? Do you want to win the "army presentation" prize? I've won those with "speed painted" armies. What I did was look at the criteria: Must be completely painted with 3 colors, must have some conversions, coherent theme, basing. I hadn't the best models overall, but all my units filled the criteria. Having a goal inspires painting. So give yourself a realistic objective (500 pts, 2 troops units and a commander, etc...)

-Organize yourself
A messy workplace is a source of confusion. Looking for that paint pot you need not only is a loss of time, but a source of distraction and possibly loss of interest. Your paint scheme (see later) will include few colors. Have those handy. Have your brushes in a cup or brush holder so you don't look for them all around. A clean, well lighted and well organized work area inspires to paint while a messy one doesn't. Have a roll of paper towels, good brushes (no need for high end brushes, but cheap brushes will mess up paint on you model. Aim for a 4-5$ per brush), clean water and a paint palette (I like the plastic round ones with 8 shallow holes):

-Know what you want
Questioning yourself on your color scheme while painting might not be the best idea. Once you've started painting, you have to get straight to the goal. Take you time at this step. Browse forums or painting websites (Cool mini or not, is a good example). Look at your codex, GW usually put quite a few paint scheme in there. Once you've firmly decided, there will be no going back! Apart from some "elite" squad (SoB celestians, Death Company, etc...), no squad should diverge! Go with a simple scheme. "Quartered" marines, "forest camo" guards aren't the best choices here. Go with a darker color (base color) and a contrasting paler color (contrast color). The darker color can be dark red, dark blue, dark green, black, etc... The paler color could be light blue, blood red, orange, pale green, pale gray. Avoid white or yellow as they are too difficult to paint rapidly. Then, choose an accent color. An accent is a deeply contrasting color that will have details stand out. Metallics (bronze or gold) can be nice for this, but very flashy colors are also good. Do not make dark accents! A few scheme examples would be: Dark green with blood red and gold accent, deep blue with pale gray and orange accents, Black with light blue and neon green accents, etc... The reason we use the darker color as the base color is that a final wash in the painting process will cover mistakes you can make while painting on the lighter color. Once you know, make sure you have all the colors you need!

-Get a colored primer if possible!

Obviously, priming your models with the darker base color is a huge time saver. Instead of using the usual GW black primer, try Tamiya colored primers that you can find a some hobby or modeling stores. Also, some art stores might have colored primers like the Plutonium G series (http://www.plutoniumg.com/). Although not technically a primer, I've had good experience painting over it.

-Do small batches.

Nothing is as disheartening as contemplating a huge pile of models and thinking "Oh boy, I've got to paint all this". Doing small batches varies to job to break the tediousness. A squad of troopers, then an HQ, then a vehicle, etc.. Alternate between assembling a unit, then painting it, then assembling something else...

Assembly

Although the main focus of this article is efficient painting, some assembly tips are necessary. When assembling the model, it's a good idea to use liquid "brush on" glue rather than "model glue" in a tube. Tamiya brand is not messy and applies easily. First, fix the model lightly to the base. The reason for this is that after painting the model, you will want to take it away from the base in order to do the basing. Do not assemble the full model. Some areas on a fully built model can be hard to prime and paint as they are obscured by some parts. A good example is the Space Marine Tactical Marine where the bolter will make it hard to paint the breastplate. The best way to assemble the model for efficient painting is to assemble the legs, torso and head. After that, prime the model, paint the base color and the contrast color. Then prime the arms, bolter and backpack on the sprue before you glue them on. Finally, add the base and contrast colors to the arms. The model is now ready for the finishing touches (see later).

Painting

All the following steps should be done on batches of 5-10 models. Do one step on all the batch before moving on to the next.

-Once you've got your half-model glued to the base (remember not to glue the parts that can hide areas!), prime the model. Let it dry completely. Then do a faint dry-brush using a lighter tone of your base color. It will bring out the details on the models. This is usefull for two reasons. First, it makes it easier to see where you need to paint the constrast color by making the diffent surfaces more obvious. Second, it will give texture to the base color areas.

Here's a Fire Warrior with a color primer on:

Now, here's a Fire Warrior drybrushed:

-After dry-brushing the model, paint the contrast color. Choose some obvious parts that you want to bring out: armor plating, trims, helmet, weapons, etc. This should represent less than a third of the model's surface to keep it simple. Use a paint that's thinned to the thickness of milk. It should cover the surface in 1-2 layers, but not obscure the details. Best way to go about that is to use your plastic palette, add a bit of water to the cup then add some paint. After that, you add a few drops of water or re-dip you brush in the paint as needed. After a while, you'll get the hang of it.

Here's a Fire Warrior with the contrast color on:

-Highlight the constrast color. This is done by adding a lighter tone of the contrast color to your mixture in the palette. If you do not have the lighter color, add some white (but very little!). At this step, the paint in the palette should be a little more liquid that milk and should leave a translucent layer when applied. Use it on ridges of the contrast color surfaces.

Here's an higlighted Fire Warrior:

-Paint the finishing touches. Now is the time to add your accent color to those small details you want to bring out. It's also at this step that you'll paint the flesh parts of the models. No need for complexity. A dwarf-flesh undercoat with an elf-flesh highlighting on the ridges. The wash will correct the rest and give the impression that the face is detailed.

Here's a Fire Warrior with accent colors:

-Use a wash on the model. This step is crucial. The wash will have multiple uses. It hides the mistakes where the accent color might have spilled on a base color surface. It will create a "shadowing" effect to darken the deeper areas of the face and fabrics. It will detail fine lines on the models (ie like on Tau armors). It will blend your highlights, etc... Apply it liberally and then "mop up" areas where there is too much or where you don't want your accent color too colored. Don't be afraid to use more than one wash (ie a brown wash for face/skin areas, a red wash for red areas, etc...)

Here's a Fire Warrior with the wash applied (it's still wet!)

Basing

Strictly speaking, it's not painting, but basing your models will bring a huge improvement to the overall look off your army. Yet again, no need for complexity. A simple basing will suffice!

-Start by taking your model off the base (gently!).Then glue whatever material fits your basing need: sand, dirt, Sodium Bicarbonate (for snow), static grass, etc. Then, reglue your model over it.

Here's a finished Fire Warrior:

Of course, non of that will win you a Golden Daemon. But, hopefully, it will help you put a fully painted army down on the table. And painted good enough that your mates will congratulate you!