Blood and Spectacles: On the Painting Desk: Speed Painting some Bad Guys

Well, you probably read my very inspiring and motivating goals for 2023. On that list, you saw that I had received several random miniatures from my friend, The Painted Dwarf. These miniatures were from the Hellboy board game, and featured a variety of "Deep One" style miniatures. I was particularly excited about the "Dagon-like" mass of tentacles, but was not looking forward to painting it!

I plan on using these miniatures in a variety of game systems. They make good, generic "adversary" figures. You might see them as I test out Darkest Knights, or in games such as Strange Aeons, Frostgrave, Broken Legions, or as minions in Supersystem.

In addition, I also got a nice new Armypainter Mega Speed Paint set for Christmas. I had previously used Speed Paints on an Eldar Corsair Kill Team, and had good results. However, the basic set had some color limits, especially for things like white, purples, and variant shades, The Mega set gave me a lot more flexibility and options in my color palettes. I was eager to give these paints another run out.

The first step was to properly prepare the models. This involved giving them an undercoat of GW primer using Clan Skyre grey. Then, I gave the models a dark grey wash using a watered down ArmyPainter Uniform Grey color, with 1 part paint to 10 parts water. This allowed the darker grey tone to flow into the recesses. Lastly, I drybrushed the models white.

I then sorted through the various Green and Green-ish colors and started undercoating various Fishmen to see how these tones turned out. I wanted to use these as the base "flesh" colors for my Deep Ones.

You can see a nice variety of colors! There is a darker green, a lighter green, and a middle green as well. I also played around a bit with colors on their clothing and weapon hafts as well. Here are some random thoughts:

1. These go on very easily and respond well to models with well defined detail.

2. They are much easier to get in the right place than a wash typically is.

3. I did not try to blend or mix any Speedpaints with other Speedpaints.

4. They are best applied to the primer individually, do not try to paint one Speedpaint directly over another, as that does not lead to good coverage.

5. If you do make an oopsie, I recommend painting over the spot again with grey/white and re-applying the speedpaint you intended later.

6. These take a bit longer to dry completely than regular paint. Therefore, give them plenty of time to dry before you go back and continue. If you go back to see, you will just wipe away what you have applied.

7. They go on thin, so handling will wear them quickly. Avoid handling painted portions and give them a layer of protection when you are done.

These are all done with Speedpaints only. I used Armypainter Matte Black around the edges of the base, and a Pure Red to dot the eyes. I also gave them a wash of Dark Tone to further define and grunge them up.

I then went on and painted up "Rasputin" and the Tentacle beastie separately. I finished the whole lot in about 8 hours total including priming, prepping and dry time, a quick and easy project for a weekend. This was about half the time as my usual "Prime, Basecoat and Wash" techniques.

Where is Rasputin?

If the purpose of Speedpaints is to help get an army or group of minis on the table quick and to a better than Pre-painted standard, I would say they were successful. I am more of a "workman-like" painter, and not looking to create masterpieces. I want tabletop quality and I want it fast. Therefore, these seem to work pretty well for me.

If I was interesting in more advanced painting techniques, I think the slow dry time, poor coverage of lower paint layers, and delicate coverage could be a bigger issue for more advanced painters than me. If you are at my level, then these are a good investment. If you are above my level, and want to go beyond tabletop quality; than probably not so much of a good choice.

I think these paints also lend themselves well for Fantasy, Sci-fi, and Supers better than historicals. The tones seem too bright and "comic book" for historical figures. However, I will have to give them a shot on a Historical mini and get back to you on that subject. They definitely work better on sharper, well-defined sculpts with deep edges.

Adding the Tentacle Beast and some sunlight on the issue

A quick 20 minis painted for 2023 now. Not a bad start. If only I could figure out what my "Big" painting project for 2023 was going to be. I could get started on it then!

I also found some old Foundry samurai that I found when organizing some miniatures. I had totally forgotten about these guys. However, they gave me a chance to try some speed paints on historical minis. I base coated them with a cheap acrylic pewter grey, gave them a wash of dark pavement, and then drybrushed them white. The undercoat was darker than my previous work, and I think it shows when I started to apply the speed paints. These guys came out rather dark. Anyway, here they are....