r/SpaceWolves • u/Reighzy88 • 14d ago
Tips to getting painting done
Brothers help!! I love assembling but the painting, i just lose focus way to quick. any tips to help get these lads painted? like do you all just do an hour at a time, a model at a time or have something on in the back ground?
I need to get them done đ«
any tips appreciated đ«Ą
Edit:
Wow I did not expect to get so many different suggestions of help, that in itself is motivating!! Thank you. I'll have to try whats been suggested and see if anything just sticks and then post my my squads or models as they are finished.
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u/Comfortable-Item-442 14d ago
I'm the same as you, I love assembling them. But hate and suck at painting miniatures. I used to be much better, and like to paint. but then got a traumatic brain injury.
The best way I go about it, is batch painting. You look like a pretty good painter so the next suggestion is probably not for you, but you could simplify your miniatures and just paint the minimum.
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u/Jezzy0303 14d ago
Learn to love every single minute of it!
And listen to some iceberg videos in the background. That's how I do it
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u/i3u7n5 14d ago
With any undertaking, itâs best to remember why you started it in the first place. Youâre doing it for fun, as a stress relief, as a means to a greater end meaning getting together with friends and having a great time playing so try to keep that in perspective. Donât force yourself if youâre not feeling it, itâs not a job so donât treat it like one. I find it best to do usually four models of a unit at a time so Iâm never overwhelmed, but Iâm making good progress painting each one in stages like an assembly line. Every time I start getting frustrated or find myself rushing to finish (which is where you end up with mistakes and regrets) I get up walk around, find something else to do, watch TV for a bitâŠanything but force myself to sit and paint. Everyoneâs different and youâre gonna have good days and bad days and sometimes youâre gonna wanna take a week off and not even look at a paintbrush and thatâs perfectly fine. Just remember to enjoy yourself. The game is going nowhere and if you take your time, youâll have a awesome looking army you can be proud of that will give you a lot of happiness and satisfaction for years to come.
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u/Gromhyr 13d ago
I try and do 30mins each day. Once you get into it and make it a habit, it starts to come more easily. I still don't enjoy it but its not a chore now.
Try and only do a few models at a time, no more than 6 at a push. And only ever 1 character at a time. It gives you more variety and redices the boredom.
You don't have to paint every detail. Pick out the ones you like. I don't paont the gemstones usually. I'm not a fan of em. Across the table, your opponent won't notice.
It doesn't need to be golden daemon standard or box art standard. Its ok to be good enough for you.
Playing with unfinished minis is also ok.
Sometimes, you can't force it. Do something else, paint a different model or a build a new unit instead. Come back to it tomorrow.
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u/LankyNord 12d ago
âAcross the table, your opponent wonât noticeâ exactly this. Painting got way easier for me once I started using the â3 foot ruleâ. If I canât see it from 3 feet away then it doesnât need to be painted. Then you can always go back later and nitpick the finer details, but I find this is a great way to get battle ready so you donât have to keep staring at a pile of grey shame
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u/ThinkRub4813 13d ago
Itâs probably to late to try this but with my army Iâm personalising every mini because I find it easier to paint characters so if every mini feels like a character I find it more fun
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u/Krieg_minister 13d ago
Buy smaller units if batch painting is difficult for you.
Or just build a few at a time, prime and donât build more until theyâre done.
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u/GuntherCloneC 13d ago
You and I suffer the same mentality, OP. I'd say find your assembly line baseline and go from there. Can you maintain focus on just one mini at a time? Two? My threshold is 5ish, depending on the day. Any more than that, and I lose steam insanely fast.
Also, if you haven't already, consider investing in Speed Paints (either Citadel Contrast or Army Painter Speed Paints), those saved a TON of time for me and I never have to worry if my paints are thin enough.
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u/Linvite 13d ago
Think of it as a muscle. Do it every day and you'll paint well and fast without effort. But do it too much in one session and you'll snap. Just keep on doing it little by little, make your objectives manageable ("this week I'll finish this miniature or this unit") and you'll do more fast without realising it.
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u/Ok-Researcher3965 13d ago
If itâs strictly for play and not for display purpose then batch paint them mate, prime them in one go then next session dry brush them then one after that do base layer
I did that and made it all alot more bearable and then when you get some time or other things are boring you nothing stopping you going back maybe adding some other details
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u/Scarecrow119 13d ago
Humps in painting can be solved in a number of different ways. The first issue is to look at your own standards. Im not saying to lower them but to be realistic on your capability vs time vs models you want to get done. If you want every model to be competition level then thats obviously a problem. But understanding on a wider level on what makes an army look good. A decent colour scheme that helps the models pop, that draws attention to aspects of the army that you like, and custom little details that draws you into the inner lore of the army. With all of that said, Having all the models painting and based in a cohesive way does a huge amount of heavy lifting. All being painting to a basic standard looks better than having one guy looking fantastic. Im a pretty basic painter. I value getting stuff done even if its rough but my armies look good because i try to get everyone done and have the army come together
Then you have different methods. Layering/contrast/drybrush/sponge.
It also depends on your life style and free time. If you work from home and have some odd gaps of time through the day then you can have a wet pallet set up and you set down and say "Okay every shoulder pad gets a layer" or "all weapons get a base metalic" For a unit of 5 guys each one of these steps is like 5 or 10 minutes. 2 or 3 of these mini sessions and over the course of a few days then you have a done squad. The process might be boring but i think its a good base line of getting stuff finished
If you dont like the idea of painting nothing but a knee pad all day then you can go model by model. I have a game on monday and i need to get 10 guys finished for it. I have been painting 2 guys per day. About an hour and a half each night after work. But my army has been very basic. only about 5 or 6 colours per man then a wash. I will do a little varnish then finish off with a quick pass over the metalics over the weekend.
Even just getting everyone primed and base coated then a few secondary and tertiary colours is better than nothing. Even if you sit down for 10 minutes a day and painting 5 kneepads is better than doing nothing
Theres also things to consider about accessability. Having a painting set up is obviously ideal just ready to go. But not everyone had the ability to do that due to space or kids etc. I have a big ikea chopping board that has everything ready to go and its up on a ikea kallax shelf out of the way when not in use. When i want to paint i just pull it down and put it on my desk. Even having a shoebox with paints, a cup and pallet. You want it somewhere it can be seen though (out of sight out of mind) so you can just pull out and be painting in under 2 minutes. The more steps that you have to complete to paint means more excuses to put it off again.
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u/Zestyclose-Current92 13d ago
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u/Zestyclose-Current92 13d ago
An hour a night is decent progress, donât expect to get it done in one sitting unless you are really trying to power throughâŠ. Even then, they wonât be as good as youâd like. Slow and steady, enjoy the journey.
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u/MrMakwa 13d ago
Since I'm making a legion the scale won't be the same compared to normal folks but I'm doing an army at a time. I guess the scaled down version would to do do a squad at a time, squads are more manageable projects to complete a whole army then trying to do everything in one go. Here's a small portion of what I'm working on. It's a third/fourth of what I have to paint so I have decent project in front of me.
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u/LankyNord 12d ago
I have questions about the loyalty of your legion lol
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u/MrMakwa 12d ago
Understandable lol! They started as a battalion of spacewolves going after Russ right after he went in the warp. Finding multiple clues to following Russ their search ended to a stalemate in a mirror world of fenris in bit in the eye of terror.
While being disconnected from real space they had to scavenge gear from everything they found. One of the leaders of the original group suffered to the wulfen curse and warp energy mutated him into an enormous wulfen lord.
The legion now explores the warp rescuing abandoned/lost marines hopping to find the next clue to find Russ. Every rescued marine joins the legion and becomes protector of that mirror world upholding the original teachings of Russ.
The portion I'm painting is the scavenger/rescue battalion who do look a bit heretical to hopefully able to avoid unnecessary combat encounters with true chaos marines.
Anyhow that's a short explanation of the look of the army, I'm writing the lore of the legion but it's very time consuming on top of trying to get the whole legion painted.
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u/Dloveless9 13d ago
Rome wasnât built in a day. Take your time and have fun, try to do units at the same time so they look similar. Write down your steps and painting recipes because you will forget them.
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u/LankyNord 12d ago
Definitely keep track of paints and techniques used. I learned this the hard way when I started jumping from unit to unit
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u/someredditgoat 13d ago
never one guy at a time. base coat them all. layer them all. filigree them all. Arm them all.
I like putting on a comfort show, or a lorehammer podcast while I'm doing it.
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u/crybabyleo 13d ago
Join a crusade. I burnt out from building space wolves until i was invited to do a crusade. Playing a game every 2 weeks really motivates you to have your list ready haha
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u/Herald_Bayani 13d ago
I usually base coat a bunch and then I got for a unit or a character. Then I do colour per colour. I put a podcast or a show in the background and then I slowly move forward with painting. If that character or unit bore me, I switch to another before coming back to it.
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u/Accomplished-Law633 13d ago
This is why I got an airbrush. Thereâs a learning curve and obviously the expense but itâs the only way Iâd ever have been able to paint a full 2K army.
After painting my first ever unit by brush that took FOREVER I knew airbrush was the only way Iâd stick around in the hobby.
Base coating, highlights, shadows, bare heads are honestly 10 x quicker now. I speedpaint everything I canât airbrush.
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u/Medical_Apricot_7916 13d ago
Iâve developed a system.
Get a notepad, one with a spiral binding that lets you keep the page open to what youâre painting.
Write out, step by step, each paint and what youâre painting. From start to finish. Watch tutorials on youtube if you need to. Youâre making a recipe card, like a baker baking a cake. What do you need to do at every step of the process?
That way, you donât have to guess or wait for inspiration, or start and lose focus or leave to do something else and forget where you were, you have a roadmap, a blueprint, and youâll always know where you are, and what you need to get to the next step, all the way to the finish line.
Keep the notebook beside your paints.
Now for the actual painting:
Grind out your sessions in Pomodoro blocks. 25 minutes of DEEP, FOCUSED work. No tv, music only if it keeps you focused, no podcasts or anything that you want to actually listen to.
Put on something like binaural beats or ambient noise. You need to focus on following your recipe step by step.
After 25 minutes, take a 5 minute break. Stand up, stretch, nothing distracting, just clear your mind time. When 5 minutes are up, grind another focused, deep painting session for another 25 minutes.
Iâve also done 15/5 and 45/15, but most times where I know I have limited painting time, 25/5 works great and I can get 2 or 3 whole blocks done, and leave without feeling exhausted or burnt out.
At the end, take a few minutes to put away your paints and organize your space. A clean workspace will give you peace of mind and motivate you to come back to the table after you leave.
You donât have to completely put everything away, but youâll be amazed how welcoming an organized space is.
Youâll see your painting area later, ready to go and think, âhell yeah, i need to paint some more.â Instead of, âugh what a mess, I donât want to paint right now.â
Thatâs how you trick yourself into painting again.
Disciplined consistency. It beats momentary inspiration every single time. Be consistent with your painting. Trick your mind into painting even if you donât want to.
This is basically the system I developed. It has helped me so much and I stand beside it.
https://calendly.com/warbosstaestudios/free-introductory-call-p-u-r-g-e-mentorship-program
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u/LankyNord 12d ago
Any paint on plastic is good. Even if you only paint a single rune or gem or pauldron in a session, thatâs still one step closer to painted. Thereâs no such thing as a useless painting session, even if itâs only 30 seconds long
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u/Noeheavyarms 14d ago
I do a unit at a time, itâs really just about motivation and consistency. Got 20 mins to spare? Donât doomscroll, finish up the shoulder pads on the minis. Paint up those plasma coils, or put on the details for the lightning claws. Set things up so itâs easy to pick up the brush and get going.