Challenge
Published on October 9, 2016
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Dreadtober Basecoat Painting Challenge

written by Joe B

This is Challenge #3 of Dreadtober 2016! At this point, you built your model, and now it is time to start the basecoat painting for your miniature.

Challenge #3 Basecoat Painting

As we progress through the Dreadtober challenge, each week’s goal is to get you one step closer to accomplishing your pledge.At this point, you have put together your plan and then built the actual miniature. Now we move on to slapping down paint.

Challenge: Paint Your Miniatures

This week’s challenge: paint your miniature.

That’s it, just finish painting it all in a week.

OK, so unless you are one of those guys who can crank out armies in a day, this week’s challenge is simply to paint the main colors of your dreadnought. Skip the base, skip the details, skip the weathering.

Apply whatever ‘base colors’ means to your miniature and painting style, and get it done.

Result: A Basecoated Model

At the end of this week,  you should have your model painted as many would call Ebay ‘pro-painted’ level. Meaning it has more than just a primer and a few slathers of paint.

If you are worried about getting it done this week, a reminder of the next two challenges:

  • Building and painting the base
  • Painting the Details

But also remember, I only mean for these challenges to be guidelines and how I paint a model. So if you need to move thing around, want to take an extra week to paint the base colors because you can do the base in a day, or pre-paint 1000 layers of rust before any paint (ala Greg).

Helpful Tutorials

To help you get past hurdles painting your model, I’ve pulled together some articles on the topic of painting. Use what you need, try something new, and most importantly, have some fun!

Using an Airbrush

If you want to try an airbrush on your model but just getting started, I have a Watch This with OrcPainterNerd who demonstrates the basics of the tool and how to paint a model with it.

You could also check out the Watch This on painting a Morkanaught with Doctor Faust. It’s not only a dread but uses an airbrush for the main colors. Quick and easy base coating.

Doing Zenithal Lighting

Zenithal lighting is a technique similar to object source lighting, but at a much higher level. The idea is to prime the upper areas of a model with a lighter color than the shadows. Then, as you paint the model, the lighter and darker primer effect the overall look. Ron wrote up an excellent article on how he primed and painted in this style.

Picking Colors in Theory

The idea of color theory is that certain colors fit well together, others provide a nice contrast, and others create something as ugly as sin. Some painters put together their thoughts on it:

Painting Position

Keeping a steady hand is a major step in painting. Another article from Massive Voodoo, this one on how to brace your hands and use your whole body to paint.

Speed Painting

For those in a hurry (or perhaps joining us a bit late!), DakkaDakka has a helpful write-up on Speed Painting and some basic techniques to get models painted fast. The main takeaway for anybody: use the biggest brush possible.

Still Need Help?

Remember, this is a community event, so jump on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ and post your questions, a WIP picture looking for critique, or ask for opinions. I’ve found Twitter is the most responsive community (and I’m more active on there). Use the hashtag #dreadtober and we will jump in and help each other out.

Grab Your Brushes

This is it Meks, time to seize your brush and put some paint on those dreadnoughts, Kans, bugs, or Jacks. Post work in progress pictures on Twitter with #dreadtober, write up your progress on your blog and invite your friends to check it out.

Speaking of checking it out, if you want to jump in and join us you are more than welcome! Fill in the form below and I will send you an email with information on how it works. In the meantime, grab a dreadnought sized model that needs to get finished and start painting it!