When NOT to sketch

I talk a lot about sketching.

About getting ideas onto the miniature quickly, seeing the light and volumes early, and keeping things loose in the beginning. That approach still works 99% of the time.

But on my latest Necromunda project, I started somewhere else.

I painted the face first.

The reason is simple: the face sets the standard for the entire piece. On this model, the eyes are extremely small, and once the surrounding areas are painted, they become very difficult to adjust. If the face doesn’t work at a high level, the rest of the model doesn’t really matter - especially when painting for competition.

This kind of workflow comes from Golden Demon painting. When the goal is finish quality above all else, some parts of the miniature need to be resolved early. Not because it’s efficient, but because it removes uncertainty later on.

In this case, having box art reference also helped. I wasn’t searching for colors or mood - I knew my colors and what parts of the paintjob I wanted to expand on. That allowed me to work slowly, with very thin paint, building smooth blends from the beginning.

In the lesson, I show how I paint the face this way, and then apply the same approach to the skin on the stomach. Both areas benefit from patience and slow restraint, especially at this scale.

This isn’t a workflow I’d recommend for most projects. But for tiny focal points where polish matters more than speed, it’s worth understanding.

The full lesson is now live on Patreon.

Hope to see you there!
// Malte