August painting project "Speed Techniques"

Alright my July miniature a day project was a bit of a bust but I still finished quite a few more minis than I have on several previous months so it wasn't a total loss. Now I've decided to do another speed oriented project exploring the usefulness of various speed techniques I've encountered over the years. I'll try a different technique each week and I'll try for about five models per technique.

Dry Brushing
First up will be dry brushing. Now dry brushing is considered a very basic technique and it's often looked down on by contest and display painters but it can be a very good way to achieve quick and dramatic results. I will try to paint five models using entirely dry brushing as a means of highlighting and I will try to get the best results I can as quickly as possible.

Minwax Dip
I've never actually tried this technique but I've seen it used in several tutorials. Basically you block in the colors on a miniature then dip the mini in a pot of Minwax finish and shake off the excess paint. I think the trick to this technique is to use colors a shade or two brighter than you normally would to get the best results. I'm gonna give it a try anyway.

Emphasised Washes
This is a new technique I've never seen but it makes sense. I first heard of it on the Reaper forums in the speed painting section but the origional article was posted on Cool Mini or Not. I've not tried this one either so it will be a first. Here is the article.

Tanks and Trolls Wash and Highlight technique
I've been using this technique a lot lately although I think I've been taking it a bit further than the origional article. Still it's faster than doing different color washes for each color. I'm going to see if I can't cut back a bit and do some more like the origional article.

Miniature or more a day update.

Well sadly all good things must come to an end. I just can't keep up. I'm now four days behind and I had better quit before I burn myself out. I still managed to get quite a few minis done than I did last month and I may paint a few more by the 31st but I'm not going to push myself to get 31 done. I've just got too much going on between working full time and running a weekly game not to mention family time. Perhaps some day I'll be able to do it again and do better but right now is not the time.

Miniature or more a day 18

Well now I'm two days behind. Weekends are in reality the worst days to get minis done. I run my Serenity Campaign on Saturday and Sunday is usually housework day. Today however I went to a birthday party 15 miles out of town then make a 120 mile trip to take my mother, who was staying the weekend with us back home. I just managed to finish one mini over the entire weekend. Another Copplestone babe.

Miniature a day update

Well tonight things just didn't work out. I just had too many things to do after I got off work. I only managed to get to the wash stage but I'm going to go ahead and finish this mini up tonight and if I can finish it and another by tomorrow night then that's just going to have to do. I think I'm just going to see if I can manage to get 31 done by the end of the month.

Miniature a Day 17

Well I'm getting a bit burned out on the project which is ironic because my speed is getting better. Getting myself to sit down and paint every night is getting harder and there are other things I need and want to do. I'm still trying to stick with it until the end of the month but after that I'm going to have to do some terrain or something totally different for a couple weeks.

Here's a scavenger from Copplestone Castings Future Wars. He's begging to get written into a zombie game sometime in the future but for now he'll probably play the part of random gun toating NPC in my Serenity RPG.

Miniature a Day 16

Here's number 16. Another one barely under the wire. Couldn't quite manage to get it posted until after midnight. Sorry the photo is not so hot on this one. I don't have time to re-shoot it at this time though.

Miniature a Day 15

So here is my July 15th 11:59 pm miniature. Another Copplestone Casting Babe with Gun from my paint table with love.