Painting Figs - the splodge process

...or perfection by degrees, whereby Prinz Albrecht of Wittenberg describes how he goes about painting his toy soldiers ...illustrated with watercolours showing some points in the painting process ..

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Stuff what I use:

Undercoat: Acrylic Black Gesso
Paints: - Acrylics, mostly Games Workshop, Crafters Arcylics and some Vallejo (occasionally some Humbrol enamel)
Brushes - a real mix, of manufacturers; I tend to stick to Humbrol ones with a few cheapies for undercoating. May occasioanlly buy some expensive brushes if they are on special offer. To get the brush head side I want for fine work I trim down the brush removeing the bristles with a small pair of nail scissors.
Bases: 1.5mm Daler mounting board for 25/28mm and the 'penny piece' round size for singles; for my 40mm figures I use 2mm thick cardboad usually from damaged or retired A4 box folder lids and the 'two penny piece' round size for singles.
Varnish: Humbrol satin spray varnish

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Usual order of activity (for infantry)....20 steps to delight ...

step 1 - tidy up figs (remove flash etc) and stick to painting 'blanks' - I generally use offcuts of foamboard, sometimes cardboard or plastic bottle tops for single figures.
step 2 - undercoat - slop on the gesso

step 3 - brown splodge - paint hair, muskets etc. If uniform is red or white (or light shade) the whole figure receives a brown undercoat.

step 4 - If main colour of figure is white or light colours, then I apply a first coat.
step 5 - paint over the flesh areas - hands, face etc

step 6 - trousers/waistcoats
step 7 - coats
step 8 - hats, boots and gaiters

step 9 - brown, touch over the brown areas if needed (usually as I splodge).
step 10 - facings
step 11 - paint bases of figures (snot green)

step 12 - hat trim/grenadier mitres
step 13 - buttons
step 14 - metal - swords, bayonets and gun barrels
step 15 - belts
step 16 - touch in: I work through starting with flesh, then dark to light sequence - amending any fluff-ups during painting
step 17 - Faces plus black line detail. Faces- I add dots for eyes, (sometimes eyebrows) plus moustache. Sashes etcs show some idea of the folds. For this I use a fine permanent marker.
step 18 - remove from painting blanks and fix to gaming bases
step 19 - paint gaming bases
step 20 - spray with satin varnish 

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For cavalry, similar scheme as above for the riders, horses done separately in approx sequence

h1 - brown overall splodge
h2 - tails, manes & hoofs
h3 - harness and straps (black)
h4 - gold - for brass bits on harness
h5 - white 'socks' etc
h6 - figure bases
h7 - touch-in
h8 - fix to gaming bases