|
Faster and Better, how can you argue with that? Most people either paint their armies to a "gaming standard" (typically something like 3 colors and some flock on the base) or they spend hours on each model and (usually) don't get very far, having a few gorgeous models and a bunch of unpainted stuff. What if I told you I found a way to get results that look way better than "gaming standard" but don't take any longer? What if I told you that you didn't even have to send me 3 easy payments of $19.95? Well, dear reader, read on to find the secrets of the universe, or at least something that's way more interesting than watching paint dry. In case you haven't noticed, I really, really like Tyranids. Really. Most of my Tyranid armies (yes, that's plural) have had lots and lots of models. As I went along in 40k, I developed my artistic sensibilities and wanted to have better looking models, but I didn't want to spend years painting them and never getting to play. After scouring a lot of painting tips and getting quite a lot of practice on my own (Have you ever fielded more than 170 models in a battle? There's a lot of painting in them there army cases, I reckon) I came up with a really fast way of making your army look good without lavishing huge amounts of time on each model. I want to make it clear, I'm not interested in a beautiful paint scheme that will take forever. I'm also not interested in a crappy paint scheme that's fast and easy. It has to look really good _and_ be really fast. In this article, I will gives some approximate times for how long a step will take. Your first few models will take longer than this amount, but as you get used to exactly where everything goes, that time will come down. For this reason, I highly recommend that you do as many of one kind of model as you can stand at a time. (In other words, don't do 1 Tactical Marine, a Captain, a Rhino, a Marine with Missile Launcher, a Marine with a Flamer, a Landspeeder, then another Tactical Marine. Try to do all the tacticals at once, preferably all that are the same pose. It makes it go much faster, trust me.) First off, start by checking a few of your models of each kind for mold lines and flash. Generally, if one has them, they all will, and in the same places. You don't necessarily have to get every last vestige of them off, just get the big stuff and move on. This will generally take about a minute per model. (A few more in the beginning, but then the rest will be much faster since you already know where to look.) Next up, use a spray primer. Yes, I said spray. Hold the model up individually on a box or something and spray from about 12" away. Use tiny little puffs of paint, so that you can see individual paint specks on the model. The little puffs should dry almost instantly, so you can do it again. 4-6 puffs should get the specks to overlap each other so that you've got a smooth coat all over the model. If the main color of your model is something fairly thick (Chaos Black, Blood Red, etc.) you may be able to use that as both your primer and your base coat. If you can do so, that'll save you some time. Figure about 1 minute per model for this step. 2 minutes if you have to do a separate basecoat, but can still spray it. Note that when you are spraying, the model should never look wet. If you stick to the little puffs, it will be well worth it, trust me.
Then paint your second color on selected parts of the model. Usually this would be areas that are armor vs skin or metal vs cloth, depending on your model. (For example: a FireWarrior might be basecoated with the color of their armor plates, then you paint your second color on the cloth areas of the model. As the second color is usually still large areas of the model, instead of little details, this should only take a few minutes or so for the model. Call it about 5 minutes. At this point, you need to use a Glaze. a Glaze is a wash that goes over the whole model. The wash darkens the model, and it tends to collect in the lower areas, so it brings out some of the fabulous detail in our models. In addition, it does your shading for you. Some people recommend dipping, but I find two problems with that. First, the dip tends to collect in globs on large flat areas, so it sometimes looks pretty messy. Second, it offends my artistic sensibilities to not use a brush for these models. (That may sound snooty, but that's because I used to not care about my painting, so I am afraid that if I take the lazy route, I'll go back on all my progress as a painter.) I would highly recommend here that you use a tinted polyurethane resin (like Minwax Polyshades.) Not only does it make a very good glaze, but it also forms a protective barrier on your model so that it's less likely to chip or rub the paint as you game with it. If you use this, make sure to thin it heavily with mineral spirits and remember that it's very, very messy and doesn't clean up easily. Also remember that some of this stuff is flammable and all of it has nasty fumes. If you choose to use a more standard ink or wash for your Glaze, I'd recommend putting a tiny bit of Future Floor wax in it. This will lower the surface tension so that it won't pool on the flat areas or hold itself out of the low areas. With either method you can put the glaze over most or all of the model, so you can work pretty quickly. It generally takes 1-2 minutes to glaze each model, but then they'll need a while to dry. (You can use this time to work on other models, or simply go off and do something else, then come back to the painting later.)
At this point, you can put on a detail color or two. Basically, bring out anything that you want to highlight. With my Tyranids, this was their eyes and any odd vents or things on their skin. With my Tau, it was the red of their optics and the gold of their symbols. While this is generally not much painting, it's very small and _detailed_ so it takes longer. This step will generally take 2-3 minutes per model. Now it's time to really make it look good. It's time to highlight the model. Basically, you want to simulate light hitting the upper surfaces of the model. An easy way to achieve this effect is by drybrushing, but even painting highlights directly on doesn't take very long. If you need some assistance finding the areas to highlight, take a picture of the model under very strong light. Use that picture as a reference and highlight any area that appears brighter than the rest. To drybrush, use an old brush (not your good brand new one) and wipe almost all the paint off of it. When you brush it swiftly over the model, the little bit of paint left will only stick to the raised areas, it won't go into the lower areas of the model. (This is basically the opposite of a Glaze, by the way.) Wetbrushing is a technique that I use that is similar to drybrushing, but you leave about twice as much paint on the brush. (Still wipe some off, but not as much.) Then, carefully control the depth of your brush. (I move it swiftly back and forth, slowly inching toward the model, until I can just see the paint starting to hit it. This again keeps the paint from going into the crevices, but it applies more to the high surfaces with each sweep than drybrushing does. Since you've used a glaze that darkened your model, it's child's play to use the original or second colors that you painted to be your highlight color. Note that if you are highlighting something black, you can either use very soft graphite pencil lead, or you can use grey or white, just don't go overboard on it. This step will take about 3-4 minutes per model.
Finally, it's time to base the thing. The fastest way is to paint the base the same color as your flock, then just put a blob of PVA (White) Glue on the base, dip your old, ratty paintbrush in water and smear it around until the top of the base is covered. Clean the edge of the base and the model's feet off with a paper towel or your hand and then dip it into the flock. Shake it off, brush off any excess, then let it dry while you do another model. After it is dry, come back and add a single bit of terrain to it. It might be a rock, a clump of grass, a skull, a bolter, or whatever. Basically liven it up a little, but don't go overboard. Aside from drying time (which you should be using to work on other models or run to the bathroom or something) these steps should take about 1-2 minutes per model. One final thing that can really add a classy touch to the model and make it look more 'finished' is to paint the edges of the base black. Black Sharpies work well for this, or if you prefer to use actual paint, try using the side of the brush, not the tip. This will only take about a minute per model. Okay, so that works out to 15-20 minutes per model, not counting a couple of drying times that you could use to work on other models. That's 3-4 models per hour of painting. I think you could probably do it faster than that, but that's a good ballpark to aim at. That's about 15 hours of painting for an army of 50. If you've got 3 hours a week to paint, your army will be done in about a month. 3 Colors, shading, highlighting, detailing and basing, not too shabby. Now get to work, your army will thank you! If you enjoyed this, email me and let me know |
