I was recently asked the question as to how I am able to paint so quickly, to a seemingly reasonable standard, I'd never really thought about it before but I guess its equal parts preparation, technique and determination! That and employing slight of hand to get people not to look too closely at the figures 😀
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| The whole completed group of 20 Norman Knights |
When I look at the output of my fellow club member GrahameH - I'm staggered at what he can achieve, and they do look good close-up!
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| Half the group in line... |
Thinking about Technique - this can be learned and that is down to hours of practice and trying out ideas as well as these last few years watching YouTube videos on how other people do it and then putting my own spin on it. That's why I try and talk through how I paint figures in these challenge posts - so that in my own little way I can share what I've learnt over the years. That sounds a bit pretentious - sorry.
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| ... and the other half. Ooops! I just noticed I missed out the guy with the round shield! |
Preparation is key - this year I took the time to build models and then undercoat them prior to the challenge starting, leaving me with many figures that are just ready to go - paint wise. I have also digressed from my usual white undercoat a couple times, case in point being these Normans (and a batch of Norman Foot - also in progress). For these I undercoated them with a light grey primer (For UK readers - Halfords own brand car spray paint). Part of the preparation is to fix the undercoated figures to their bases and to check that I have the right paints at hand to complete the job.
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| Sunday night, 20 undercoated Norman Knights, fixed to MDF bases and spray painted in silver |
The other part of preparation is that I have multiple batches of figures on the go at all times, so that when I reach a pause in one group, I can switch my attention to another group - maximising my hobby time and allowing paint, varnish and basing materials to dry properly.
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| There he is! |
The final part is the determination to just keep slogging through the figures until done....
... Oh and I mentioned 'slight of hand', by that I mean highlight the bling - I use a bright brass on sword hilts and belt buckles etc. In these Dark Age figures that works well, on modern camouflaged figures its not so appropriate. So for these figures I also use colourful shield and banner designs too catch and distract the eye. By basing the figures well, such as adding tufts and the like, the eye is then distracted. It works well on wargames units but for character figures you just have to put in the time!
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| Another smaller group, lots of banners, shield art and colourful helmets always look good! |
I started this batch of mounted figures on Sunday, separating out those that are armoured and spray painting these with Army Painter Silver, leaving them to dry over night.
Monday morning was the time to get the main colours blocked in, starting with the horse flesh, I limited myself to four main colours - Black, Dark Brown and Chestnut and pale Brown, plus one White / Grey horse. By the time I got through batches of these horses, I was then able to go back to add black mane, tail and lower legs on most of them. I gave a couple of horses lighter manes & tails for added variety.
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| I got these guys from eBay in a lot of pre-constructed models, some had their moulded banners cut off but after a bit of work they look OK as 'furled' instances of the same. |
After lunch I returned to the horses to add white socks, and blazes to their faces and to dry brush the grey horse, so that it was predominantly white in colour. Next All reins, harnesses and straps were added - again in batches of colours, selected at random from the figures. Horse blankets and saddles were then added.
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| Another five little chaps, musician to the right |
This is where determination began to come into play, the rider's spear staffs were coloured in, tan leather details for the back of shields and footwear and belts was added and finally for the day sleeves and leggings were blocked in with a random selection of figures from another limited palette of colours for these detail,
All figures were left overnight and on Tuesday I went back to fix all of my previous mistakes (many!) and to add details such as sword hilts, buckles on bridles before starting with coloured washes. Army Painter Flesh Tone on all flesh areas (obviously) but also on the lighter horseflesh. Strong wash on most other figures but Dark Tone on all metal work and bark brown and black horses. A watered down dark wash was used to highlight the Grey.
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| A view of the whole group from their right side - displaying shield art! |
Figures were left to dry, with a view to apply Matt Varnish on Thursday, this was to allow me time to double check for any remaining errors / mistakes with a fresh eye and then fix them. Varnish will be allowed a day to dry and on Friday I completed the base work.
For this purpose I have a tester pot (225ml) of dark brown emulsion paint, to this I have added new paint as the pot runs low along with quantities of PVA glue. The pot is the best part of 7 or 8 years old now and the gloop in it is pretty grim, but it paints onto any base and sticks! I then add fine sand and electrostatic grass & tufts to task!
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| And a view from the left, showing the horse flesh. |
Wednesday saw me start the process over with the Norman Foot, some 40+ Victrix miniatures that I also undercoated and sprayed at the weekend. Yet another post of Zombies are in the workbench as well, hopefully for another bumper week next week. I'm thinking I may have bitten off more than I can chew with the Norman Foot, so their chance of completion is touch and go for next Monday.
The aim will be to slow down a little after that and concentrate on fewer but more detailed units etc for the rest of the challenge but hey, I may get distracted again!
Finally a video of the figures with a sneaky peek at a one-off 15mm model of Captain Nolan of 'Charge of the Light Brigade' fame at the end!
