Reply To: I paint every mini like it's my last!

[phaidknott 7250xp 0]

Of late I’ve found painting 28mm a chore, getting all those details, layering, shading etc etc to get the mini looking how I want it (regardless of how many I’ve got to do).

But I’ve found moving down in scale (6mm, 10mm and 15mm), suddenly the joy of painting is back as I can still do detail work on the minis but now I’m batch painting multiple minis and more importantly reaching that critical mass where I feel that I’m progressing forwards through the lead mountain.

Black undercoat, “patch” painting (leaving the back undercoat showing at the edges of each colour to add definition), wash and a very light drybrush and I’m done (in 15mm, 6mm get the undercoat and patch painting only).

I think every time I’ve gone and done an army in 28mm my enthusiasm just slowly drains as I wade through them trying to make them look as good as I can make them. When I move down in scale I find it easier to do a more “workman” type of paintjob (where it’s still tidy, but not overly fussy). I think the urge to spend more time on a mini is directly related to how much I spent on that mini (or I just can’t skip corners on a mini that cost me £8 vs a 15mm figure that cost me £0.50p).

So cheaper figures actually bring back the joy of painting (been doing some Heroics and Ros Ancients), whereas those expensive masterpieces where the mini is just SOOOOO good just end up on the to do pile as I’m scared of messing the damn thing up and prevaricate painting them until I “hit the zone” in my painting with recent practice and effort.