How long should it REALLY take you to paint your miniature? YOU NON-PAINTERS YOU!!!

[Greylock]

I realised I am a lousy figure painter, and started farming out my minis.

Two weeks is a good turn-around, if I don't ask for modifications, and if the fellow who paints them (for free, I must add, and does it for the love of mini painting in itself) doesn't have more important issues to deal with.

If the latter applies, I give him two monthes and don't say a word. I use whatever I have at hand. If two monthes passes, I give him a new mini to paint and start the cycle over again, because by then my char is either dead, the campaign has changed, or the char has wings or something now so I have to add another two monthes for mods.

Good friends are the best friends Greylock...

 

[Marchen]

Hours. Usually 2-3 for average results.

 

[megamania]

When I used to paint a lot I would do about 10-25 at a time.

Fin & flash 2 min apiece normally

prime 5 minutes for the bunch

paint armor figures could be a simple 1 minute job - gray with colored ink after or 20 minutes if I get crazy with detail or don't like a color and have to redo a section

dry for 24 hours

hard coat once, wait a bit then hard coat again. 15 min for the bunch

Add tattoos and names if a specific PC/NPC

Pack into box for later use.

 

[pogre]

It depends for me. I have picked up the Confrontation habit and most of those figures take 8-12 hours for me to get them looking decent.

I can speed paint. In fact, I wrote an article about it a couple of years ago Speed Painting Article at d20 Magazine Rack. The article details how I painted a couple of humanoids in under a half hour - including basing.

There is no question I could beat the DDM standard in under ten minutes.

Monsters usually are a little quicker for me. It's easier to blend large areas.

[off topic slightly]
I plan on painting our entire D&D party after football season ends. I will make numerous modifications and take my time - but I really enjoy this part of the hobby. In fact, I have promised to create articles about the process over at d20 magazine rack so stay tuned.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I have painted minis in the past...but the VAST majority of my metal minis are gloriously unpainted, and have been since I got into the hobby in 1977.

Why?

Amont other things, I'm an artist and a perfectionist.* While I liked some of my early efforts, most were, IMO, glech. Some of them, I even stripped of their paint jobs.

Every once in a while, I think about getting back into it, then I remember...I'm an artist and a perfectionist. Since my early days when I didn't have much choice- not too many minis available in Manhattan, KS- I have always tried to buy the best- Old Heritage and Grenadier, Ral Partha, Reaper, the Chainmail minis, and a TON of Confrontation...and many more.

Were I to try painting something, I'd have to give it my best efforts. Of course, with more than 29 Chessex boxes, and 4 Sterlite 53 L plastic tubs of minis, I'd have a lot to work with to hone my skills. (That's right- my collection outweighs you!)

Still, someday, maybe...probably when I'm bored with everything else I do...which will be when I'm so old my hands will be so messed up all my minis will be one color with random splashes of color.

*I had some of my work considered for a permanent collection at my undergraduate university. Unfortunately, the works considered were done in an unstable medium, and disintigrated before they could even be documented (beyond my grades). I'm currently limiting my creative outlets to things like jewelry design, and my sketchbook of heroes from genre fiction...

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I don't know. I don't paint much, only very occasionally. For RPG, I mostly use the prepainted, plastic D&D Minis. I like to paint the occasional figure, but I wouldn't want to spend hours on end painting whole armies, even if I could spare the time. I'd rather spend that time roleplaying.

 

[Frostmarrow]

If I have one hour of spare time I sit down and paint one mini. So it basically takes me one hour to paint one miniature up to my own standards. -Which pretty much means I will show it to my wife and say it didn't turn out very good, and then she'll tell me she likes it.

 

[sjmiller]

I do not paint miniatures because, quite honestly, I am allergic to most paints except for water colors or tempra paint. So, I leave painting figures to those who can. I like the pre-painted ones you can get these days, I just wish I could buy them individually (and reasonably priced) as opposed to randomly. Sure, I can go to a secondary market and buy them, but the prices start getting a bit outrageous pretty quickly.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

How long does it take you to paint a mini?

Depends greatly on the mini but 30-60 minutes is probably typical.

Do you think you take too long trying to make it more perfect than it really needs to be?

Not really, but the more detail you can get onto a mini the better it looks. I mean I can just throw 4 colors onto any mini in 5 minutes but it'll look like CRAP. Details molded onto a mini that make it look GOOD need to be brought out with seperate colors and minis in general need to be fairly bright rather than dark or earth-tones (learned from long experience). But then again, too much detail is a waste of time. Minis get used and abused. They accumulate scrapes, dirt and oils from handling, etc. You also generally view it from 3'-5' away where you can't even see REAL details like shading on the face or color of pupils or silly crap like that. Paint those if you want to but I have neither the time, skill, or inclination.

Does the 'standard' of the pre-painted D&D mini chagne things?

Yes, by ensuring that VASTLY more of the minis on the table are actually in color. Since the great majority of minis seen on the table are monsters and NPC's that means that it's the minis that the _DM_ uses that really strike the tone of painted/not painted.

Is it more impolite to paint a mini at the table while playing or to NEVER have a painted mini at the table (considering all the work the DM puts into the game?)

Well if it's impolite to paint minis at the table then I and plenty of others I have gamed with are exceptionally rude people to each other. As long as you continue to participate in all ways in the ongoing game session it is generally seen by myself and those I know that painting of unpainted minis is to be ENCOURAGED at all times. If that means that if the mood to paint minis strikes mid-session then so be it. It is also contagious. When one person paints a mini then others at the table will often spontaneously take up a mini to paint as well.

What are the 'social' norms on this sort of thing?

Well it was long ago that I read with reasonable consistency that like tabletop wargaming with napoleanics and micro-armor that it was to be considered "Bad Form" to use unpainted minis. Something tolerable but to be discouraged. Some people just don't have the skill or inclination to paint minis. I have painted plenty of minis for players over the years when I got tired of seeing a shiny, not-even-flash-trimmed mini being used week after month (and since it was very often a mini of MINE that they were making use of anyway...)

Using unpainted minis is hardly a crime but it can certainly be a detraction from the (pardon me looking down my nose here) gaming experience. I heartily encourage players to paint the miniis they use for their PC's. These days, with all the plasticrack I bought, it is quite infrequent that I have to resort to unpainted minis. But there is also a realtionship between using a painted mini and the way in which the character it represents is perceived in the game.

Monsters and npc goons can be unpainted and substituted for easily by inaccurate minis. They just aren't going to be around long enough to matter. But player characters are a little different. When other players interact with your character they are looking at your MINI, not at YOU for the most part. An odd little observation I've made. When they look at your unpainted mini they will TEND to treat your character as being more bland and lifeless. Players themselves will be less "into" their character when the mini for it is unpainted. However, painted minis draw more attention, add more life to ROLEPLAYING interaction, and can even bring a player to take a stronger, more intimate roleplaying interest in his character.

YMMV.

 

[Odhanan]

How long does it take you to paint a mini? Do you think you take too long trying to make it more perfect than it really needs to be? Does the 'standard' of the pre-painted D&D mini chagne things? Is it more impolite to paint a mini at the table while playing or to NEVER have a painted mini at the table (considering all the work the DM puts into the game?) What are the 'social' norms on this sort of thing?

- It usually takes me around 8 hours to paint a miniature. I can paint several at a time, though.
- I don't take too long. I just take my time and enjoy the painting.
- The "standard" of D&D minis doesn't have much to do with it.
- It's more polite to use an unpainted mini than paint at the game table
- Social norm? I guess ours would be that when you play the game, you play the game. You can joke OOC and stuff, but you don't start watching TV, playing the PS2 or painting a mini during the game... that's just rude.