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Offline Term`

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Painting Dilemma
« on: June 29, 2007, 07:55:07 AM »
Hi guys,

Bit of a general one for you all.....

I paint to a reasonable standard, I've won a few local competitions and done a fair few commisions,  (head swells slightly)

anyway,  I often spend time at work browsing these forums looing at peoples work, and on occasion passing comment, I also spend A LOT of time on CMON,   gettin ideas and general inspiration. I find myself gettin pumped up and really wanting to do some painting, I love the doing the initial concept then the modelling, the mass of plastic metal and greenstuff, all coming together for a unique piece of work, then spraying with base coat to unite the individual parts and create the model of which I will paint. Then the various stages of painting I'm sure your all too familiar with. I cant wait to get home, sit at my desk and get painting.
But,  once i get home, I find myself lacking effort, and I just cant seem to get into it, I find I spend most of my time going back redoing models trying to bring them up to my latest standard of painting. But whatever happens I just cant seem to gather the effort to really get stuck in, paint and let my creative juices flow.

I think this is partly due to the following.  When I started I really did start at a low standard, and my army colour scheme was basic, using metallics and a simple range of colours that stem from few paints due to lack of money. However as always I have progressed and moved on, my techniques and standards have matured and developed, and I look back and cringe. But I try to stay true to my initial concept of my army, and the colour scheme. However it isn't a colour scheme that lends itself to showcasing skills, I find myself looking for areas to inject some extra interest, like display screens, or cloaks, where I spend 2 or 3 hours gettin the balance of tones correct. 

Does anyone else suffer from lack of enthusiasm in this way ?

Do you find youself bound or restricted trying to stick within your army, when infact you wanna just go mad and paint models?

Do you find you spend more time going over old models trying to bring them upto your current level of skill?

When I started writing this I had a clear idea of what I was trying to put across,  and I think it got a bit blurred and I lost my way,  but thanks for reading and please share your views.

many thanks

Term`
« Last Edit: June 29, 2007, 07:57:47 AM by Term »

Offline Alexander's Son

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Re: Painting Dilemma
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2007, 09:10:01 AM »
 Hey Term, I am really glad I will give you the first one off my friend...

 Now I believe others in too have the same problem. When they are in the hobby store with their buddies have the inspiration and the need to paint to an exceptional standard. But when they return to their houses... well it is not actually that the inspiration leaves through the window but the everyday works someone has to do at home are getting in the way of painting.

 I know this first hand this week. I want so much to paint my Spartans and my Nurgle but when I go to home I have to wash dishes and clothes, clean and all the works you have to do to have a decent house...

 You just have to focus on the painting, Close yourself into the painting room, open the Hi Fi with your favorite music and let the inspiration flow through you...
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Offline Plague Tower of Nurgle

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Re: Painting Dilemma
« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2007, 09:40:03 AM »
Does anyone else suffer from lack of enthusiasm in this way ?

Do you find youself bound or restricted trying to stick within your army, when infact you wanna just go mad and paint models?


my largest and most hindering problem is that when i started i built the models entirely and then tried to paint them, i used a very very basic color scheme and it worked for the most part. When i got my Tau however, i chose a more complex color scheme and decided the best way to paint my models was to do them in pieces. my infantry was assembled minus arms and weapons, the guns were seperate from the arms and my tanks were painted one part at a time. i enjoyed the tanks so i finished them first but the rest of the army i could never get into, maybe it was looking at the pile of unpainted/unassembled minis to do.

my nids started to go the same way but i have decided to just do 4 or 5 at a time instead of a full squad at a time or all of them at once.

i love painting vehicles and usually paint them first and i put so much time and effort into them, when i come to troops it becomes a daunting task of painting alot of the same thing.
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Offline Term`

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Re: Painting Dilemma
« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2007, 09:51:56 AM »
I dont paint many vehicles, I dont really play the game much,  I just collect and army for the purposes of painting, but yeh, I know what you mean,

it gets to the point where u see a big pile of grey plastic and think,  "thats gonna take a while,  maybe I'll paint another HQ"

Offline StraightSilver

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Re: Painting Dilemma
« Reply #4 on: June 29, 2007, 10:58:49 AM »
I have to say first of all thank God it's not just me then!! ;D

I know exactly where you're coming from, I too quite often find it hard to get motivated to paint. I also find some bits of painting more exciting than others. For example I find base colouring tedious and monotonous, but love blending and highlighting.

I have been collecting and painting now for about eighteen years, and just to let you know that in all that time I have yet to completely finish painting an army!!! :-[. I have a half finished Space Wolf army, a half finished Dark Elf army, a barely started Tomb King's Army, a half finished Witch Hunter's Army and a just started Black templars Army. However after three long years I am finally close to finishing my Cadian Imperial Guard!! At least I have the excuse that this is a BIG army. ::)

The main reason for this is I suspect the same as yours. I am also a pretty good painter, having done it professionally for some time myself. The trouble is that quite often painting for other people can make painting more like work, and less like a hobby, so when you get around to painting for yourself it seems like a bit of a chore.

I also find that I want to have display standard armies. I wouldn't want to speed paint an army, or not put in as much effort as I can as I know I will not appreciate the army when it's finished. The trouble is this takes time, and quite often when I'm half way through painting an army for myself a nice new one comes out and I think "Ooooh I want those too" or "ooooh those models are so much nicer than the ones I'm painting now, and my ones are now way too boring!". And as you say, painting an army means that you can't go too wild on different color schemes, as you need to keep a unified theme.

My best advice is to not be deterred, keep going it will be worth it in the end. As far as motivation goes I have discovered a few new techniques that have helped.

I find that once you get started it's easier to keep up the momentum, and the boring tedious stages are soon forgotten if you just work through them. I try to paint every day now, but only in short 20-30 minute stints, usually before or after work. This means that although it's only a brief painting session, you get about 3-4 hours painting a week done. If you then combine this with a couple of weekend sessions you're time spent painting each month soon builds up.

Play more Games. I often find that I get the urge to paint more when I've been playing with my minis. I hate fielding unpainted minis, but get bored of continually playing with the same ones, so it's motivating to get new units painted up to surprise your opponents. ;)

Set yourself deadlines or enter tournaments or painting competitions. I got the most painting done this year in the two weeks before Conflict. I had to have a fully painted army for this event, and wanted to try to win best painted army. The fact that there was only a finite amount of time to finish meant that I had to sit down and paint, and for once I enjoyed it. Or you could set yourslf personal deadlines, I am sad and have an excel spreadsheet that tells me what I need to paint and when!! ::) Or gradually increase your army in 500 point blocks. this means that you can control the amount of painting that needs to be done, but don't go off on a tangent painting all the exciting stuff first (we all do it!! ;))

Paint with friends. My gaming friends often meet up for games at the weekend, but now and again instead of gaming we paint instead. This means that you can share techniques, learn from each other, but also get a full day's painting in! If your mates have travelled far they won't let you slack off and miss out on valuable painting time!

Introduce your girlfriend to the hobby. Believe it or not this can work (if you're lucky enough to have a girlfriend that wants to get involved ::)). I find that painting together can be fun, but also means that you don't feel so guilty or get such a hard time when you're sat painting and not giving your other half any attention. Having a girlfriend involved also means that she then becomes aware of how much this hobby costs :'(. This has meant that I am simply banned from buying any more figures until I get what I have assembled and painted :o. I'll tell ya, that's motivational!!! ;D

Just stick with it, and before you know it you'll have it done, but you're not alone in this. I think all of us have bits of the hobby we enjoy, and bits we don't, and this makes it difficult to get motivated, but the end result is well worth it. :)
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Offline Skeeve

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Re: Painting Dilemma
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2007, 07:59:53 AM »
I wish I have your problem, because mine is just the opposite. I would love to paint but more often then not I don't have time.The end result though is the same - bunch of unpainted minies which could be really frustrating at a time.
Here is how I try to I deal with this.

1) Set limited goals that could be achieved in say 1 hour. Such as... well Today I paint guns of that one squad, I am not painting all of them, I am not painting that other squad that looks cooler - I am painting GUNS OF THAT ONE (or die trying), and if by the end of that hour you still have time can also basecoat their loincloth so much the better. When I was painting that green wave serpent in the other thread I was limiting painting by plates - two plates in 2hour l

2) Switch activities. This I learned the hard way. For some physical reason I cannot paint for more then 2 hours straight, by the end of the 3rd the paint in elbow joints becomes too distracting :(. However... I can switch to building from painting and then back to painting and it doesn't have to be the same thing I painted before.

3)Switch activities #2 - this requires specific setup ;). I often paint in my local GW. They have painting stations and gaming tables in the same room so from time too time (usually determined by said elbows) I stop painting and either play,watch the game or annoy other painters/players by chatting nonstop :P)

4)Never look back. I never, ever under any circumstances repaint my minies (well, that ugly snake will be an exception) even when I know for a fact that I can paint a better one. Just paint another one. You kill two birds with one stone, really - you paint a NEW mini and you increase the number of troops in your army and you can actually see your progress with time  ;)

PS. Spend less time on COMON. While it an amazing resource it could be also very depressing, unpredictable and insensitive. Most people post there only the best they paint without actually telling you how much time they put to achieve this or another techniques/. It creates an illusion of easiness. I actuallyadmire Natasha's Melnik (a girls who can probably arm small detachments with her slayer swords) decision to put there some of her minies that she painted way back. You can really see what a person can do if he/she puts some efforts in this. Of late I use COMON mostly when I need to make sure that whatever I am planing to paint/build hasn't been done by somebody else
« Last Edit: June 30, 2007, 08:12:09 AM by Skeeve »

Offline Term`

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Re: Painting Dilemma
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2007, 10:31:03 AM »
Well I must admit to also having limited time to paint,  my work and family now takes up 90% of my time.

But yeh some good points there,  think I need to start settin targets, certainly as far as commision work is concerned,

I know what your saying about cmon,   but I wont stop using it, I love viewing peoples work, I see it as a source of inspiration, and love seeing people's work.

cheers guys, your views are all worth while to me, and of great help

 


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