Do you paint in groups, like with your friends or anything? I've never but I'd like to. Is it easier to paint in groups or is it more fun or what?

I find it's helpful to paint with others. You get less accomplished because you spend as much time socializing as you do painting, but you learn a lot.
Even the least accomplished painter can teach a trick or technique to another, plus it's great for keeping your enthusiasm and inspiration high.

Well I thought that it would be more of an incentive to paint because at the moment I tend to put it off everytime I want to, mainly because I have other stuff to do.

I thought if there was a set time every week to paint, I would finsih models faster.

I don't like to give myself a set time frame to finish a paint job because that makes the hobby feel more like a chore. If I tell myself, from x to y every week, I am going to paint, my painting will suffer, because there is no guarantee I will be in a painting mood then.

It generally takes me an evening to paint a single Space Marine, unless he's a special character or a Sergeant, because I paint very slowly. My Wraithlords each took me over a month. The most models I ever painted in a single session were four bases of Necron Scarab Swarms.
I know that it'll take me forever to get an army done, but I feel better knowing I am fielding a good-looking army.

I think if I ever hung out with my friends while painting, I would either A- get nothing done or B- do the best job ever.

Right now it takes me a month to paint a single squad of firewarriors, even longer to base it and get it just right....

I don't think it'd be too productive, because I'd be too busy chatting and stuff. Plus with all the chatting and laughing, it's harder to keep a steady hand.

Yes, laughing does unsteady the hand!

I like working in groups as it makes the time go by faster. In my estimation, there is about a 30% loss in speed when I start talking while painting.

Shawn G.

There is definitely a loss of time - but usually the whole point is to have fun. I find that the other issues you have with painting in a group is a lack of your whole painting arsenal. IE - all your paints, flocking material, etc. etc. etc. (unless I suppose you don't have much or have a large transport for everything).

I have had a few occasions where I would go to do something and remember that I forgot to bring it! :)

Cheers,

-Mike

Yeah i find it great to paint among others.But i dont really like to when im doing really hard details or something that takes alot of concentration.And another thing is you learn alot and can observe some of the very skilled painters and see some of their techniques etc.I have found that painting in groups has helped me learn more techniques and tips and has made me a better painter.
Cheers,
Tycho

Well I hardly paint anymore. Well I get spurts of time where I just am in no mood to paint. This could last a few weeks! I don't know why though. I thought maybe if you do it with your friends once a week it would make it more interesting.

I don't see painting the main part of WH.

Painting isn't the main part of a wargaming hobby. It's a fun part, but there really is no one main part. Some like to do nothing but paint and can't be bothered to play, others are the opposite.

Heck there are even people for whom the extent of the GW hobby is being on this board. They just want to talk about WHFB or 40K.

@Tycho: I know what you mean about having to paint alone. When I'm painting in groups, it's usually my Blood Angels, or Imperial Fists. They're mostly easy, but when I have to paint the shoulder pad emblems I take the black paint, the white paint, and the supefine brush and go into another room. Everytime I try and paint something really detailed while others are present, they always make a joke that cracks me up. :)

Nah.. none of my crew IRL even has heard of this game.. haha.. it's just a weird hobby on the side I have that everyone looks at curiously, but not that curiously :D

Besides, I hate painting.. I usually paint while some movie I've seen a hundred times is playing in the background..

I paint in groups lots, it may be a little slower but it is a nice social sort of activity. My kitchen table almost always has some painting going on: newspaper down, brushes out, and a bunch of different stuff in various stages of conversion or painting spread out all over. When gaming friends drop by we just sit and paint and drink and BS (unless we're going to play and drink and BS). Some of my friends always carry at least part of their armies with them, but if someone shows up without anything to paint (especially a non-player) we can always dig up some unpainted figs or a terrain peice for them to mess around with. Or sometimes I go over to other friends houses who have the same sort of set up, and paint there. I wouldn't want to make it a regular, attendance-is-mandatory sort of thing though. That would really suck the fun out of it.