How to motivate your painting...some tips!
When painting anything that requires redundancy, especially in the creative arts (and yes, painting miniatures is an art form), it is very likely you'll get bored at some point along the way and need some inspiration. Creative people tend to have a little (read: a lot) of A.D.H.D. when it comes to inspiration, and if you're like me you dive headlong into a project, only to have your eye wander off onto something else halfway through the current batch of models sitting on your table.
Here's a couple ways I push back the urge to move onto something else and continue head long towards that elusive goal called 'completion'.
Painting a lot of similar models is very tedious; painting 80 similar models in one sitting is madness. So, here's how I'm dividing my workload so I can keep my motivation high, and my urge to move on to my Dark Elves sedated (for now anyway hehe).
I painted my horde of rats in batches of roughly 20 models, and just to clarify, I'm talking about the rank and file horde rats, that all look pretty similar and all share a common color scheme. After I finish a batch, as a reward to myself I'll pick up a unique model - such as a Weapons Team or Lord/Hero. They give you a chance to: #1 paint something different; #2 Toss a little creativity into the unique/semi-unique model, #3 still work towards completion of your army without deviating onto an entirely new project.
So basically I treat those unique painting opportunities as a present to myself for sticking with the boring stuff.
Case in point: Here we have the last of our Clan Rats - 2 Herders and 18 rats to be exact. The light is visible at the end of the tunnel now, which, in-and-of-itself, is inspiration!
But even this may not be enough for you to keep going, and trust me - I feel your pain! So, what can we do to further our quest to complete this army, and to build the motivation to do so?
I joined a few message boards a year or so ago, and add a new one every so often. Each one of these are threads created by fellow artists, and the topics range from showing off complete works, to tips and techniques and/or "How To's".
A thread on miniwargaming.com, which is moderated by fellow model painters, has a section in it devoted to posting your pledges for completing your works for the week. It also has a little topic called 'Weekly Deathmatch', which is basically a forum dedicated to presenting your works for comparison against other painters. Sometimes the competition is based on a 'theme' or 'scheme', and other times it's model specific.
There really is no way to lose when you elect to participate in a thread like this. You'll motivate yourself to paint your projects, and no matter your skill level, you'll learn something along the way.
Anyway, I've based and started dabbing on the base coat for these little guys and will finish them off tomorrow.
Until next time,
Casey
Here's a couple ways I push back the urge to move onto something else and continue head long towards that elusive goal called 'completion'.
Painting a lot of similar models is very tedious; painting 80 similar models in one sitting is madness. So, here's how I'm dividing my workload so I can keep my motivation high, and my urge to move on to my Dark Elves sedated (for now anyway hehe).
I painted my horde of rats in batches of roughly 20 models, and just to clarify, I'm talking about the rank and file horde rats, that all look pretty similar and all share a common color scheme. After I finish a batch, as a reward to myself I'll pick up a unique model - such as a Weapons Team or Lord/Hero. They give you a chance to: #1 paint something different; #2 Toss a little creativity into the unique/semi-unique model, #3 still work towards completion of your army without deviating onto an entirely new project.
So basically I treat those unique painting opportunities as a present to myself for sticking with the boring stuff.
Case in point: Here we have the last of our Clan Rats - 2 Herders and 18 rats to be exact. The light is visible at the end of the tunnel now, which, in-and-of-itself, is inspiration!
But even this may not be enough for you to keep going, and trust me - I feel your pain! So, what can we do to further our quest to complete this army, and to build the motivation to do so?
I joined a few message boards a year or so ago, and add a new one every so often. Each one of these are threads created by fellow artists, and the topics range from showing off complete works, to tips and techniques and/or "How To's".
A thread on miniwargaming.com, which is moderated by fellow model painters, has a section in it devoted to posting your pledges for completing your works for the week. It also has a little topic called 'Weekly Deathmatch', which is basically a forum dedicated to presenting your works for comparison against other painters. Sometimes the competition is based on a 'theme' or 'scheme', and other times it's model specific.
There really is no way to lose when you elect to participate in a thread like this. You'll motivate yourself to paint your projects, and no matter your skill level, you'll learn something along the way.
Anyway, I've based and started dabbing on the base coat for these little guys and will finish them off tomorrow.
Until next time,
Casey
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