A Bit About Painting

- By Mark Plant

Painting figures, in simple terms, is a matter of putting paint in the appropriate areas. Everyone does it differently and with varying results, and much of the difference is not related to technical painting ability but the peripheral matters. The following are some of my thoughts on the subject, other than the actual painting itself.

Before you start

There is no getting around the fact that armies take a long time to paint. Like all big tasks, the first decision is whether you actually want to invest the time in getting a good result or just want to finish the blighters. This decision must bear in mind the eventual tedium of that last spearman and any likelihood of you deciding you would prefer some other army. However, even if you elect for finishing with minimal effort, some parts of the process cannot be usefully hurried.

Choose a style of painting before you start. A 'theme' is often very effective - in my current army all the troopers are in blue, green or purple and only the leaders are dressed in red or yellow. A theme, well chosen, takes much of the effort out of deciding what colour to use on a figure. Even historical armies can be made to look different, say by electing to go for a 'toy soldier' look or to making an effort to stick to certain colours or tones.

Sometimes, if I wish to try a new technique or to practise doing something I haven't done before, I arrange to paint someone else's figures on a contract basis. Then, I am not left with the first unit in my army painted differently from the rest because I had not refined my technique when I started. The best bit of this is that people actually pay me to experiment!

Set a routine for finishing the job in the time required. This will necessarily involve sacrificing some other activity unless you like painting. Console yourself with the fact that few people like painting. It is unlikely, Dear Reader, that you paint slower than me on a figure basis (at least an hour a figure for 15mm and twice that for 25mm) but I get the job done because I set a routine. If I am painting an army, rather than finishing the odd figure, I try to paint an hour a day. Arranging a regular painting evening with a friend can be effective.

Painting in bursts is less effective because you lose the rhythm gained by doing it on a regular basis. It also tends for many people to encourage half finishing units, because when you come back to your semi-completed unit, long since forgotten, it is too tempting to start a new one.

What you need

Find an area to call your own. If you don't have a desk or similar, keep all the materials on a large tray. This saves time because you don't spend half your time unpacking and repacking. I have labelled the lids of most of my paints and store them by colour to assist finding them (but then I have 100 assorted pots and tubes to sort through).

Get a light. A really good light. Even if you want to do a rush job, a good light will mean that you can see what you are doing. Daylight is fine, but normal room lighting is not. This is the most important part of making the job easier, and the importance of good lighting is hard to over-stress.

Daylight light bulbs give a much truer indication of colour than normal bulbs, although they are a little more expensive. Normal fluorescent lights are notorious for affecting colour. Ideally, the light should be arranged to come over your right shoulder (if right handed). I use an Angle-poise with 80 Watt bulb directly overhead and back that up with the room lighting.

Buy the best paint brushes you can (reasonably) afford. An expensive brush treated properly will still wear out, but will keep its point far better. I keep a $25 brush separate for fine work. Brushes finer than '0' are often no good with quick drying model paint, because the small amount that they hold dries before it can be applied.

Try to keep the paint only in the tip of the brush. When paint dries in the bottom half of the bristle it is almost impossible to clean out and begins to clog the brush. If you want to put a lot of paint on a brush, use a bigger brush rather than overload a small one. Clean brushes regularly and thoroughly.

I always paint with two brushes on hand. The second is an old brush that I use to correct any errors before they have time to dry. Old brushes are also used to apply varnish and to dry-brush.

I have a collection of small plastic trays on which I put the paint from the pots. I use toothpicks for stirring and extracting the paint and mixing it with solvent to ensure it is the consistency I want. Painting directly from the jar is tempting but encourages paint build-up around the rim, which can lead to a poor seal and the paint drying up prematurely.

Fixing the figures

For cleaning the figures of casting flaws I have some small files (purchased for $2) and a small hobby knife. Many people give this little attention, but particularly in highly visible areas, such as the top of the head or the shield face, it can ruin an otherwise good result. Do not think that people will not notice your laziness -- they might be too polite to mention it but they will notice if the tops of all your helmets have a casting flaw.

I personally prefer to replace spears and javelins because the cast weapons are always out of scale. It also allows a good figure with the wrong length weapon to be corrected. Replaced spears survive far better in the long run, especially for lances and pikes. The weapon is cut off at the hand and a small hole drilled. For the soft metal used a hand drill, a 'pin vice', is suitable - or borrow a friend's drill. I make my spears from thin brass rod (available from modelling shops). I squeeze the end flat with a smooth-faced pair of pliers and then file the end to a spear tip (a small sanding attachment to my drill speeds this up considerably).

Gluing of figures, such as spears or riders to horses, should be done with PVA or, if you have the patience and don't mind the smell, 5 minute Araldite or other epoxy resin. Again toothpicks are used to apply and mix the glue. Cyano-acrylate or 'super-glue' is not particularly useful, because whilst it forms a strong bond it tends to be very brittle and a sharp blow will break the bond. PVA will tend to 'give', absorbing the blow, whereas Araldite is just plain strong. Sure you have to hold or clamp the figures for a while, but it pays in the long run when your figures stay together. When gluing large models, such as 25mm chariots, using Araldite will give a much stronger model than super-glue.

The figure should be glued to a suitable base for painting. PVA is most suitable. Remember to file the bases of the figures flat before you glue them down to ensure a good contact. I use the old 2 cent pieces for 15mm and spare round GW 'slotta bases' for 25mm because they can be reused endlessly. Some people prefer to use old paint pots, because it gives a bigger 'handle' to hold on to.

Undercoating

All figures have to be undercoated. Many people use a spray undercoat, which is quicker, but I prefer to use an old brush as it ensures no hard-to-find spaces are missed. I also use the time to think through the colour scheme I intend to use and identify what all the bits and pieces on the model are.

The colour used to undercoat is pretty much irrelevant if your top-coat paint is opaque. Some lighter colours, especially yellows and flesh tones, come up better with light undercoat, whereas dark colours are more forgiving when you miss a spot. Many people assume that only black and white are suitable, but I undercoat in sand or dark brown generally. If a figure is largely clad in blue, for example, then there is no reason why blue cannot be the undercoat colour. More important is the type of paint used as the undercoat - it should provide a thin coat so not as to obscure detail but allow further coats to bind properly.

Paint

Choosing paints is a personal matter - like most people I use acrylic because they are not smelly and wash out in water. I use Tamiya to undercoat (cheap and strong) and hobby paints such as Testers or Poly S for most colour work. These are found in most hobby stores. I find the Games Workshop range is useful for unusual colours and for the wide range of flesh tones.

For fine detail, such as braid or heraldry, I use the artist acrylics in tubes found in all art shops. They dry slowly, particularly if you mix them down with water, so that the detail need not be rushed, yet a single coat gives a strong colour result. They can also be more easily mixed for any specific colour required than hobby paints. These can be purchased in 'Student' ranges for considerably less than the normal ranges (Liquitex, Windsor and Newton etc).

I find that actual ink is better than the hobby inks as they are both cheaper and less likely to run later. Large stationers usually stock Windsor and Newton inks, or try the art shops.

Varnishing is a matter of taste. Its primary purpose is obviously to protect the figures, but some varnishes give other benefits as well. Choose the varnish with care - many give results worse than not varnishing - such as yellowing all the whites. I use a product made by Liquitex, 'Matte Medium', which is a surface preparation for paint canvasses. This forms a strong film, is soluble in water, does not smell and is only very slightly glossy. Its prime attraction to me is that it reacts with the acrylic paint, smoothing out the end result. It does, however, make some paints 'run'.

Finally

An excellent book on the basic techniques, called 'the 'Eavy Metal Painting Guide', can be obtained from Games Workshop. It has a tendency to show how to paint by showing stage 1, stage 2, and 'here's the finished result' ie stage 50, but covers practically every area of figure painting and preparation.