You’ve seen so many WIP Ultramarine posts on the blog, I thought I’d use this one to talk about batch painting. I’m a batch painter. I paint as many models together at the same time to finish a squad to the same painting standard as quickly as possible. This makes so much sense to me and it baffles me when I talk to other painters who say “Oh no, I have to paint them one at a time, I can’t batch paint”. It makes no sense to me whatsoever. How do these people paint whole armies? Are they petrified of painting horde armies and only collect small elite forces?
Are you a batch painter or a single figure painter? How do you justify your choices?
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I do not go for the wargaming aspect of WH miniatures, so there's no rush for me. I try to come up with the best possible work for all my minis (they're not dirt cheap to be honest) and thus take my time. That, combined with the little time I can spend on minis makes batch painting a no-go.
For infantry I batch paint the base, and some of the larger details, like shoulders and aquilas. But when it gets to the detail work I go dude by dude, to keep the quality up.
My things like bikes I batch paint those in the stages that I'm building them.
I have an attention span of about 3 minutes. If I can get 2 models with the same color done in 3 minutes before my attention is drawn to something else, I get 2 models color on them.
I find it hard to batch-paint, I need that gratification of actually finishing a model and it's just easier to paint one model at a time and ride that feeling of accomplishment.
I'm not incapable of batch-painting, of course, but I find myself losing motivation when I see a whole squad of WIP-models in front of me instead of finished ones piling up.
I am a batch painter to the core. I love horde armies and painting one model at a time it would take years to complete one instead of months. The largest batch ever was 60 slaves. I just started working on possibly the smallest batch, 10 Temple Guard. Unlike some of those above I actually find my technique improves by the time I reach the end of a batch. That whole practice makes perfect thing.
I prefer batch painting, although I find it very, very difficult with Dark Eldar. And my maximum is ten models, less is even better. Daemons work fine 😀
I always batch paint, it saves so much time when you don't have to change colours and can use the same technique over and over. Most I've ever done in one batch was 40 orks, and although it was boring during the middle of the process, it feels great you when go from having 0 painted orks to 40 in one day!
I often have to batch paint and it can be really tough sometimes. Especially if the models are fiddly. For me personally I think Space Marines are pretty relaxing to do, but things like High Elves that have a lot of detail can be painful. An airbrush is useful for batch painting. I've had times when I have walked into my local GW and seen people sitting trying to batch paint models by brush and it looks like torture 🙂
I batch paint whenever I can. Often times, even with characters, I'll have at least 2 models I am working on at once. One model at time makes me feel like I am wasting time.
I prefer to paint individual models, but if I am painting a squad, I'll do them in small batches as it stops the quality of the brushstrokes slipping as I get towards the final few.
I almost always batch paint, I have an infantry heavy IG army and it's the only sensible way to get it done. I do enjoy lovingly painting single models more than painting a batch so I tend to paint 10 at a time and paint a character or vehicle in between each batch to break the monotony. There's also something very satisfying about finishing a batch and looking at a completed squad, gives me a more tangible sense of progress.
I think ten models at a time is my max.. I tried doing goblins and well I stopped painting for a few months after that haha. I'm painting my wood elves now and even trying to do ten at a time gets boring sometimes.
I can batch paint, but only up to 3 models at a time. If I try to batch paint more, the quality of my painting decreases.
I used to be a batch painter when I worked for GW sorting out store armies for cabinets in store etc but find that now I prefer to work on single models at a time. Whats worse is its single models for different forces! I've been trying to get a painted army for each system up and running and I seem to be going backwards!
I'm a batch painter through and through.. nothing short of 20 models at a time if I can help it though, and no more than 100 at once 🙂
Hi! I´m a batch painter usually, except with the characters.
I love this vintage squad 🙂
I can't batch paint. I just find the process of painting the same colour onto so many models for hours so repetitive I find myself rushing to get that stage finished and not doing as good a job. I agree with you that batch painting makes the most sense and I really wish I could do it, I just can't