SirDibblet Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 (edited) I see posts from various members of the forums with new works seemingly every day and am wondering how long in general one might take to paint a single mini. For myself, It takes a REALLY long time. I am a perfectionist (which is a flaw ironically) and cannot rush and really try to work the finest details of my mini and try and make sure my painting is as "perfect" as I can make it. As of now I think I average about 1 mini a month since I began painting. Now a lot of that is because of just general life responsibilities but a lot is also due to my meticulous nature. I am just curious to how others operate, I know there is no "right" answer here. Edited May 26, 2016 by SirDibblet 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Popular Post Darsc Zacal Posted May 26, 2016 Moderator Popular Post Share Posted May 26, 2016 I'll let you know once I finish something. 24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sirithiliel Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 (edited) I can clear out a group of 10-15 minis in a 3-5 hours if I am just doing quick, table-top quality painting Bigger things are iffy. I did Nethymaul, working painstakingly to do as good of a job as I can, in under a week while my Kaladrax took me months of off and on work Edited May 26, 2016 by Sirithiliel 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SGHawkins09 Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 For me it depends. I have finished a quick table top in about 6 hours while the one I just finished for competition took probably 20-30 hours. I have found that I have gotten stuck in competition mode as I call it and am now trying to train myself to switch between the two. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvervane Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 I can clear out a group of 10-15 minis in a 3-5 hours if I am just doing quick, table-top quality painting Bigger things are iffy. I did Nethymaul, working painstakingly to do as good of a job as I can, in under a week while my Kaladrax took me months of off and on work Agreed in that depending on the quality your looking to achieve. A Table Top I could probable finish in a day or three (I'm a slow painter as well). If I want to do a quality job much longer, a month or more is not unheard of for me. But I tend to paint in bouts of 30+ mins on work nights. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inarah Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 I can speed paint a figure in under an hour, to tabletop quality. That includes eyes. There are figures that, after a year or two, I am still working on very slowly. I would say that the average figure takes 4-8 hours depending on the detail and how much work I want to put into it. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ub3r_n3rd Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 For me it depends. I have finished a quick table top in about 6 hours while the one I just finished for competition took probably 20-30 hours. I have found that I have gotten stuck in competition mode as I call it and am now trying to train myself to switch between the two. This is pretty close to me too. I can kick out a good tabletop quality in 4-6 hours with scenic basing and most of my display/competition pieces are 15+ hours (per mini and not including the basing). 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasonator Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 For me it depends. I have finished a quick table top in about 6 hours while the one I just finished for competition took probably 20-30 hours. I have found that I have gotten stuck in competition mode as I call it and am now trying to train myself to switch between the two. This is pretty close to me too. I can kick out a good tabletop quality in 4-6 hours with scenic basing and most of my display/competition pieces are 15+ hours (per mini and not including the basing). I fall in the Ub3r scale with the exception that I don't attempt to do table top. The slow down for me is the "Inspiration of color", mixing the colors, and then I TOTALLY slow down for the basing. Sometime the base takes longer than the painting of the mini. 20 hours minimum for me to base something.. (I over shoot, then have to scale down my vision). 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kheprera Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 Ask anyone around here... I can take years. Current project: sitting at 6 months. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gadgetman! Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 Eh... on a good day I can get priming and basecolour done in an evening... Then add days or weeks to get the paints I think I need to finish it... In total, I probably spend 10 - 12 hours on something that approaches tabletop... I think... Not that I'd time it. That would take all the fun out of it. Just been spending the evening adding details to the table of the 'Scribe of Vesteros' mini. That mouse is a pain... the paper is yellowed, the feathers are white, and one of the cats is black. (This one is going to be a gift, so needs to be as good as I can make it) Added a bit of verdigris to my Stone Golem, did a bit of filing on another mini... You know, having fun and not caring what time it is, until the lights went out. (Smart house tech, to stop me obsessing all night) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghool Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 I consider myself glacially slow. Base coating for a dip takes me around 2 hours per figure. High TT quality usually takes me anywhere from 5 to 20 hours. Competition pieces have gone from 20 to 100 hours or more. Lately I've been painting a single model to really high standard, then blast through 20 board game minis with a dip. It gives me a greater sense of accomplishment that way. Being a painter, and having not a single board game of mine with painted bits was starting to get to me. I find it allows me to take a break and just slop some paint on some models, which is easy and relaxing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegazus Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 My problem isn't the amount of time to paint a figure (really proud of that 45 minute lizard man; have spent a lot longer on lesser end-quality paint jobs), but finding the time to paint. It can take me three months to squeeze in ten hours of painting. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72moonglum Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 Yeah, finding time to paint can certainly be an issue which is why usually on the weekends I try to at least one day get up by five for a few hours of uninterrupted painting. It seems my painting style doesn't have much variation, I only paint at one level, which I would classify as "kind of okay"' and at that level, probably somewhere in the six to twelve hour range, plus another hour for a basic base. Lately I've been painting similar models at the same time, so doing three dwarves right now, and that seems to make me more efficient. Maybe I save a few hours that way. Right now that I've been painting more intensively, I've managed to get more done by the end of May than I do typically in the whole year. I usually don't count hours per figure, but rather figures per year, and for me 26 per year is usually about normal.. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruunwald Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 I suffer from the part of inertia where it says that things standing still tend to continue standing still. I'm not lazy at all. I'm just... inertial. That said, when properly motivated, I can paint pretty darned quickly. When I am at a con, running a table, I can crank out two or three quality tabletop commissions in the space of about four to five hours. I'm even faster with terrain pieces, as that tends to be my focus. Even for contests or higher end commissions, I've found I've done most of my best work in the zero hour. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammer570 Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 I, too, fall into the perfectionist trap and often spend 15+ hours on models I don't even know when I'll end up using in a game. Recently I started painting up the minis from a board game (The Adventurers: The Pyramid of Horus) and I've tried to limit myself to 45mins-1hour per mini which has been a lot of fun. I'd like to continue that strategy for the monsters of Bones KS3 when it arrives, though I'm sure I'll still spend a long time on NPCs and even more on PCs. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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