Fools way of using Speedpaints

 I have gotten several questions (not to mention expressions of amazement) over the results I get from mainly painting with Army Painter Speedpaints, so I thought a short (ish) tutorial of how I do it might be of interest. And since I just painted a batch of Irish with this method...

First step is quite simple: assemble the mini, put it on a base (optionally: cover up the "puddle" with some wall filler), and prime it all white

I tend to refer to this as a "pre-shade". Basically, but a dark brown wash over the entire miniature (althought not necessarily the base). In this case, I used Games Workshop Agrax Earthshade, but Army Painter Strong Tone should give close enough to exactly the same result.

Grab a drybrysh, and drybrush white all over, to enhance contours and lines, and provide some shading once the speedpaint goes over it.

Last step before Speedpaint, paint the base a suitable color (in this case, dark brown)

Now we're onto the Speedpaints. Starting from the inside and going out, skin is first (incidentally, this is Army Painter Crusader Skin, which doesn't look nearly as good over a straight white primer, but with my pre-shade, it looks just right).

Next layer up, his pants and cloak (Irish are thankful in this way, very few layers of clothes). If there were more layers, just keep going from the innermost layer visible and outwards. Since it's Speedpaints, errors are hard to correct, so make sure to keep the belt and other leather details clean

And then, those leather details, in a mix of various browns (Army Painter Hardened Leather, in this case), even if it can be hard to tell).

Last Speedpaints, the hair on the mini (or beard, in this case). If I may offer a few tips, Pallid Bone makes for good blond hair, and Hardened Leather is surprisingly good for redheads. Other than that, the usual mix of browns (try not to overlap too much with their leathers), and Grim Black.

The one thing I find Speedpaints a bit weaker for, is steel, specifically steel sheets (such as swords, axes, shield bosses, and breastplates). So here, I am back to an old method, and "normal" paints. Vallejo Air offers excellent coverage with just one layer.

Once the steel is painted, it is time to glue on the shield (that's been painted separately for ease of access).

With the shield on, the mini is almost finished, and it is time to start the basing. For these, I'm going with a texture paste (Vallejo Dark Earth), straight over the "ground".

Once the texture paste is completely dry, it is time for another wash, just over metal bits and said texture paste (for some extra contrast on the ground).

Once again, wait for it to be completely dry (I usually leave it over night), then grab the drybrush and go over the ground, as well as the lower part of the shield, and possibly the legs as well, with a good, dusty beige (I swear by Army Painter Skeleton Bone for this, but most similar-ish colour should be good).

The last painting step is to just paint the base rim a suitable colour. I usually go with a discrete black, but everyone has their preferred way of doing it, from discrete to garish

To finish the mini off, glue on some static grass and/or tufts.

 And with that, he is done. I can usually punch through 12 of these in about a week, doing 1 or 2 paints a night (ideally, with the speedpaints going on over the weekend, since they dry "enough" fairly rapidly). Brush control is important, since it can be tricky to reverse spills, but once you've got that, it is a very rapid way of getting an army table ready.

Hope you found it useful

/Fool, Out