You've got some great colours going on in there, what's your method if you don't mind me asking? Are these the new fangled Contract Paints by any chance?...
Thank you. I manage to paint about 30-50 minis per week consistently. So far my best was 70 swordmen in one 24h session.
All brushwork, no airbrush.
The trick for me is when to know to cut corners and where to speed up the process.
If I may humbly give some advice that has worked for me:
- No-one is going to look at every little detail on the guy in the third row. Limit your color pallet. Fight the urge to highlight his satchel flap and metal bootstraps. No-one ever is going to notice in my experience. Its all in your head.
- USE A LARGE BRUSH! I tended to overdetail everything already in the first step. On basecoating. Sections where you are going to paint over anyway. Use a large brush and slap it on. Detail work you can always correct later.
- I would call my painting style "Contrast +". Here is what I mostly do on rank & file. Prime in Wraithbone for those nice warm colors. Contrast Paint large sections. Yellow Works well (albeit somewhat orangy sometimes, Snakebite Leather is great, Wildwood is awesome, Skeleton Horde for parchment/paper/etc. Then use your Highlight color of choice and pick only on visible highlights. Drybrush/Wash where needed and where some additional color transition can work great.
- On larger models or characters I go the traditional basecoat, wash, highlight, highlight route but rank and file - you gotta crank them out.
- By rule of thumb: Dont spend more than 20minutes on a rank and file dude. You have to paint literally hundreds. If you need an hour per mini its going to kill your moral, enthusiasm and spirit to do it.
- Again: 30-50 minis per week is my average. I have to accept there will be MUCH better looking minis out there but I can field a complete painted army at least every game consistantly.
- Heads and Bases, if you get those right, you win. Draw the eye away from the sloppy areas.
Thats my short 2 Cents anyway.
Looking really good. Bright yellows, black that looks like black. How did you do the black, any tricks?
-Z
I find black is about the hardest to paint, my method isnt great but its FAST. Thats all that counts for me (see above rant).
Rank and File Black:
Basecoat Wraithbone
Contrast Black Templar, be generous
If you want it darker, apply Nuln Oil in 50/50 mix with Lamian Medium (in order to cut corners, prepare a LOT in advance of this stuff)
Highlights in Eshin Grey where needed.
I see more Nordlanders!
I kinda feel the same a little with this regiment. All my regiments have same colored plumes/feather for looks and so I can identify who goes with whom. When I went with the bright blue I kinda noticed it drew the eye to the bright yellow and away from the black. This gave them a Nordland-ish look. I tried to dull down the blue with another wash and drybrushing a more mellow blue on it but in the end it didnt help that much.
Lesson learned but among all my other Averland troops the affiliation is clearer. Anyhow, I will refrain from that bright blue in future.
And also: HOW DARE YOU
That is some neat painting. The ogre is really cool.
Sorry for throwing more salt into the wound GP inflicted but, that is a lot of blue...
Seeing as they spend a lot of time on salty waters, throwing more salt in a Nordland comment is kinda ok I guess.