Year in Reflection

The Year in Review

Not quite any more models completed yet, although a couple are very close, now that I'm back and recovered I thought a year in reflection was in order. Essentially I want to go back over the year of painting, if I achieved whatever goals I set, learned anything new in particular, and what I plan on doing next year.

Officially I have completed 50 models this year (and two more to be done in the coming days) so on average that makes one model per week, with a few caveats: a good number of the models were actually started last year, and Necrons make up a portion of models done. So while I can fudge the numbers and feel good about, the reality is that I didn't really paint as many as I wanted. There's nothing to really blame: I have been away quite a lot, but at the same time I'm incredibly slow to paint even when I know exactly what I want to do.

The "Project 20 Marines" taught me that I really cannot batch paint. It's just too demotivating to have so many lined up, especially when it's the older tactical squads where every model is as detailed as any characters and requires individual attention. Primaris Marines on the other hand are more similar and I have fewer troubles getting through those. With this in mind, I will very likely keep one or two Primaris on the go at all times as kind of "gap filler" between other projects.

The Ultramarine Lieutenant was a good deal of fun for something different and allowed me to play more with getting a good blue ready for whenever I paint a certain Primarch. The formula worked very well, giving an intense cobalt blue finish, but does rely on the airbrush. Covering up mistakes will be tricky but not impossible, and I'm certain that will be the approach I use on Guilliman. Further on the Ultramarine I attempted to use oils, and I've come to the conclusion that I don't like using oils on miniatures. They simply don't flow as nicely with fine details compared to acrylics (at least not for my experience level with each) and so I intend to stick with acrylics going forward.

Azrakh has not progressed since the last update, however I'm constantly looking at photos; the NMM effect really works on the model and I do want to explore it more. I still think the use of NMM is more limited to anything that looks part of a diorama where the lights sources are more controlled. NMM also helps define details with greater levels of contrast, but also takes an incredible amount of time to get done. I will continue with Azrakh soon enough, but it's a model that will have to be done in small stages. It should be noted that I'm purposefully replicating boxart, something I've grown more comfortable with purely because it represents practice with less mental heavy lifting.

The Crimson Court was a fresh break from Space Marines, letting me explore more organic shapes and the texture of clothing. Painting each in their own style felt more natural than attempting to give them matching colours, and ultimately lead to one of my favourite results of the year: Gorath the Enforcer. The dark moonlight effect really sells that model, and it just goes to show what can be done with a very limited palette. I'm keen to try something similar again, although with different colours, and have Cypher picked out for this.

 Tools

One thing I haven't written much about is any change of tools. I've been impressed so far with the new (white) synthetic brushes from Games Workshop, and they're now my go-to brushes for the majority of my painting. The bristles will form a slight hook as with any synthetic brush, but so far it's been quite manageable. One brush has started to deteriorate slightly, however I'm quite unkind to it and it's lasted far better than any other that's received such levels of punishment.

I mostly keep older brushes around to help transfer paint onto a wet palette now. This is helping to keep the good brushes from wearing out quite so quickly I've noticed, and also helps control how much paint is within the tip; more control of paint on the brush helps with more control over painting.

I've been starting to keep a small drop of flow improver on the palette and using that to thin paints rather than water. The flow properties compared to water are much more favourable with pigment manipulation, and it ends up saving considerable time in trying to get an even coat.

Lastly for tools, I now use a pair of magnifying lenses. They really help see details, and my eyes are not going to get better in the coming years so I'll take what help I can. Coupled with one of the fine tip brushes (a really good sable hair, the artificer series from GW are sufficient for me) and it makes painting details (especially eyes and lenses) so much more pleasant.

Next Year

I'm happy with a few select models forcing my painting skills to improve, and these won't be done in any hurry; I'll finish specialised models in months, not weeks, taking them well into next year. Equally, I want more practice in just getting through models without over thinking them - thus the intent to keep simple models going in the background at all times.

The big challenge for next year however will be some larger "miniatures". I'm dubbing 2023 as "The Year of the Dreadnought". I have many of those war machines to paint up (nine at current count) and I want to finally get some of them done. At least one will also be the focus of some heavy conversion efforts - the old plastic Contemptor variants could use a bit of reposing, despite the effort that will involve.

I'm hopeful that my understanding of the airbrush, coupled with a healthy dose of paint scheme inspiration from around the Internet, will help complete dreadnoughts more quickly than normal.

There is every chance that plans can change of course. I may simply be inspired to paint something else when the next round of models is finished, or travel plans can interfere, and so on. I'm not going to force anything upon myself: if plans start to feel like a chore instead of motivation then they will change.

-- silly painter.