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Let's Get it Started!I've been having a hard time getting started on painting my new DeathWing army. I suspect it has to do with a number of things. Part of it certainly was that I wasn't sure about the paint scheme. Another part is that I've been busy in my real life. I've settled the paint scheme, but my real life is going to remain busy. To get around that, I'm going to have to be a bit creative. A while back I hit on an idea for painting a little bit at a time. The idea was to set up something so that anytime I had a few minutes to spare, I could put that time to productive use in painting an army. 5 minutes at a time, 3 times per day adds up to 15 minutes per day. Over 7 days, that's more than an hour and a half of painting. That's a pretty substantial chunk of time, especially considering that it's "found" time. I also have a few hours on Tuesdays where I'm not busy and if I can make the painting kit convenient to carry around, I'll be able to use most of that time to get more painting done. Another way to get motivated and stay that way is to set goals. Probably the easiest way to do this is to plan out a small army, but one that would be reasonable and fun for me to play.
Here's what I have to paint: Terminators, RavenWing Bikers and a couple of Dreadnaughts. The LandRaiders are already painted. I want them a different color, but they are playable as-is. I _have to_ paint the Terminators, the Bikes and the Dreadnaughts. I'll get started with a smaller list to kick start my motivation... 130 Belial, Master of the Deathwing
While this isn't the best list, it's something minimal that will let me play the army and start working with Water Warrior tactics. By leaving the LandRaiders as they are for now, I'll only need to paint 9 Terminators and Belial to get this army started. So, I'll put together a painting kit. Mostly I'll keep it by my computer desk and paint a bit at a time. It will be important to put everything together in one place and make it easy to move. I'll need paints, brushes, a water container, a few paper towels and the models. Then all I'll need to do is put some water in the container and get to work.
I'll still need to break the painting up into bite-sized chunks. My first question is: do I finish one Terminator at a time, or do I do step painting for the whole squad? In the past, one at a time has proven to be more effective at keeping me motivated to paint in spare moments, so I'll go with that. One at a time it is. I'll do one step on one Terminator, then put it away and do something else. Then I'll do the next step on the same Terminator. What are the steps? Priming, Hawk Turquoise, Adeptus Battlegrey, White horizon lines, Blending, Extreme highlighting. That's 6 steps per Terminator, ect. Next up, how fast is a reasonable expectation? I'd like to get more than one done per week, is that reasonable? I think that it is. I have several hours between my Taekwondo class on Tuesday morning and teaching classes in the evening. I should be able to get at least one completed then. Over the rest of the week, I should be able to squeeze in enough time here and there to complete another one. That's two complete per week. That'll get me a full squad in two weeks and another full squad in the next three. With another week for Belial, that'll get me my minimum army in 2 months. That's my short-term goal. After the minimal army is finished, I'll want to get started on the Dreadnaughts. I won't put a timeline on them until I've gotten through the Terminators, though. After I finish the Dreadnaughts, I'll paint up the Ravenwing Bikers to give me some more options in putting together my army. Once that is finished, I'll tackle the LandRaiders. I think that I might try some freehand painting on them, but we'll see when that time approaches.
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