"How "Fast" Are You As a Miniatures Painter...?" Topic

…At least as far as *wargaming* minis are concerned. Anything from a reasonable "looks fine in mass" up to "perfectly fine for a rulebook/magazine", whatever floats your boat.

Mind you, I mean not how fast do you complete projects, or how much *time* you have devoted to painting.

Relative to either what you have seen of other painters, or just your own (presumably reasonable) expectations, how would you rate yourself?

what what sort of question is this? I guess everyone that bothers to paint figures are pleased with the results, to their own standards.

There are two (at least!) methods of painting. There are those who paint one figure at a time, and there are those like me who paint in lots of 40-60 figures at a time. "Tonight is red, and if I'm lucky maybe some horses."
Expected completion times vary sharply.

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I've got absolutely no idea how I compare to other people, but I generally aim to get the toys on the table asap so I use production line methods.

In line with the precepts of LEAN and the Toyota Production System, I have optimised the rapid delivery of customer value whilst maintaining sufficient quality:)

Not very….

Molasses

Production line average 25 to 39 minutes per figure for decent looking figures.

Like through a funnel….

I do about 20 28mm figures a month. This worked out well with uniformed troops, who were, conveniently, in units of 20. Vikings, and other one of a kind figures do not paint up so quickly, perhaps 8-10 a month. I suppose either total represents about 15 hours painting time.

Cleaning up mold lines, priming, and any conversion work are in addition to this.

When I painted up some 15mm WWII figures, I was getting 40-80 figures painted per month.

The last year or two, I find myself going back to touch up places where I got sloppy, which can slow me down.

Grelber

I've averaged 100+ a month for a couple of decades. A mix of 15-28mm figures with the odd tank or building thrown in. To that end I'd guess I average 6-10 hours of work a month, which includes cleaning, priming and basing them.

Shoot!! I didn't know it was a race ;)

I spend about 30-40 min per figure and try to get 1-2 dozen painted per month.

what what sort of question is this? I guess everyone that bothers to paint figures are pleased with the results, to their own standards.

That's not the question. I suppose I could have phrased THAT portion better- I mean, not Golden Demon class, display miniatures that presumably aren't really intended to be used for gaming. That's a whole other concept.

Your 36-man Napoleonic regiments may be utterly drool-worthy masterworks, or they may be base-coated and dipped. Everybody here has their own standards, abilities, desired effect, whatever.

I'm asking what YOU think, with realistic assumptions, given the time you invest, of your quantitative output. Brush in hand.

Painting Ninjas, I can blaze through a figure every ten minutes at most. Painting irregular, individual troops, my goal is under 60 minutes per fig. I am often under half that. I cheat though, I skip a lot of little details. A friend of mine once accused me of making my paint jobs look better than they actually are by knowing *which* details to paint and which to paint over…

I think I am reasonably fast, but all my gaming buddies dubbed me "The Machine" so I must be pretty dang speedy. 8)=

Glacial is a good term to describe my painting speed

I try to paint on average around 24 – 25 figs a month, using "production line" work.
Same method as Winston Smith.

I hope to paint faster some day. The Lead Mountain is really huge…

As long as it takes to satisfy me. Usually, longer than it could be but it gets done.

Some things such as tanks or a relatively simple building, maybe not that long. Even my 6mm Adler cavalry suffer from my "if it is on the figure, it is getting painted" mania and that doesn't begin to cover rigging 1/2400 ships or putting pennants/flags on 1/3000.

I try to average a figure per day. Probably spend 40min to an hour painting almost every day. Mostly 28mm, but 1/600-700 scale ships and 1/300 scale aircraft too.

"Fast" and "painter" are two words that do not belong together in any description of me.

Slow. Want to get faster.

The 12 packs of Splintered Lght fantasy 15's I bought after Christmas are completely done.I got ahold of some 15mm Minifig Hussite this morning at a small local con and 48 are already mounted for painting.

Depends…on number of figs, scale, how much sauce consumed and if something newer and shiny crosses my vision ? :0

I with Kyoteblue; long gone are the days of a 28mm figure an evening – more like one a week these days.

Yes. I never eat when I am painting miniatures.

Depends. If I'm painting for an event (Con, etc.) I can get a couple hundred 15mm ACW or Napoleonics done in a week of evenings. Biggest issue is the motivation. I have a bunch of projects that are waiting for "the push".

I am moderately fast but I suffer from too much real life work, being easily distracted, and having too many other things I am attempting to do. I decided recently to try and earn a little side money painting figures for other people but have quickly realized I do not like painting other people's miniatures as it means mine are not getting done.

Once upon a time I was cranking out a 15mm WW2 infantryman every four minutes using the ole production line.
Most of my painting is 25/28mm and takes maybe an hour per fig.

Not fast enough.

My hobby is wargaming, with miniatures.

Painting is for artists.

Rick

I'm quite picky – but what I lose in pickiness I get back in tenacity.

Phil

WhenI set my mind on a goal, I can churn out high quantities fairly quickly. I am always inspired to do so when I have a clear goal in mind.

Molasses comes to mind