Possibly stolen by Dr. Evil
I have my painting station and lights set-up and ready to go, but can't seem to muster any inertia to paint. I built/primed and began painting 20 Necron Immortals with Tesla Carbines... and put them unfinished back into their case (stasis chambers). I've painted just a single Necron HQ model
this month - I placed all 3 new release Necron HQ's on the shelf and walked away.
Am I going to have to wait until the
6th edition comes out to rekindle my interest?
What motivates you to sit down and
paint and what brings you back to the gaming table when you’ve been away?
For the response that most inspires me to get back to the painting table: I'll purchase and mail you a Finecast Space Marine model (of my choice).
For the response that most inspires me to get back to the painting table: I'll purchase and mail you a Finecast Space Marine model (of my choice).
I feel your pain. I stepped away from the game for nearly fifteen years. It wasn't until I found my brother's Eldar in a box at my mom's house that my interest in the miniatures and actually painting them was rekindled. I was never what you would call a good painter. I was definately the more hardcore gamer of the two if us. My brother, on the other hand, had a gift. He was layering and blending, drybrushing and shading while I could barely find my primer. When I saw the Howling Banshee he for a contest at Riders when he was ten, it actually pissed me off! The old sibling rivalry we had had from day one was brought back. I dug up all my Marines and did, what was then, my best. Most of you saw the end result; the Void Hounds settled a lot of unfinished business.
ReplyDeleteMy advice to you would be to step back and start at the beginning. What unfinished business do you have?
I wrote a huge long response and f***ing Blogger ate my post.
ReplyDeleteBrief summary: 1)It's a hobby, not work 2)Get into the fluff 3)Go for a varied theme - paint 5 of one unit, 5 of another 4)Try out new paint techniques 5)Paint something completely unrelated, like an RPG mini or a historical tank 6)Listen to some great music while you paint so you can "unfocus" on what you're doing and just paint.
Take two weeks and just dont think about or touch minis. Now, you will still end up thinking about them, but I find that I feel refreshed after a break and that I am better able prioritise my goals and really remember what I love most about the hobby. Dont worry, we all get frustrated.
ReplyDeleteTry to wwitch it up and paint another army/game. I go through my rotation of Blood Angels, Tau, Dark Elves, and Retribution of Scyrah to keep things interesting. I try to not to force myself to paint when I don't want to.
ReplyDelete>Cerberus: I started in 1984/85 and then stepped away until 2010 when I started playing again at Gamers Sanctuary
ReplyDelete>Phi: The Blog-dog ate your homework? I tried painting just a single model (HQ) and it took me longer than 30 warriors.
>Old School Terminator: It's been more than 2 weeks and I walk by the table every day - and don't sit down to paint.
>tau4eva: I pulled out my new High Elf army, laid out a unit to build and paint - they sat on the cutting mat for a week and I put them away without building a single model. :/
Well, you can always try my newest inspiration; kids! Oscar's desire to play Warhammer with me has me branching into some greenskins and excited to start my Lizardmen (dinosaurs to him). Also, I'll be building a little "kill team" with scrap models with my kids at work. They are all excited to break out the paints and give them a spin. If you want, I can send one of them (the kids, not the models) your way...
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, if you can't find your mojo with one of your own models, I'll send you a few of mine. With any luck, they will also rekindle your desire to start a third 40k army. They should help you stretch out your skills and explore colors that your Necrons and Cryx could only dream of. I think you know what's coming...
Are you interested in any other forms of art? Often times when I get "fed up" with the mini's. Ill start grabbing scraps of paper and start doodling (I like to sketch) it helps a bit. I'll also start reading a fantasy/sci-fi book/series. Sometimes thinking about some of the characters in the novels make me think about how I could make a (insert model here) look like that guy.
ReplyDeleteAlso, some people are inspired by browsing other's paint jobs. Ill often hit up Massive Voodoo . com, CoolMiniorNot, Reaperminiatures forums etc...
and start browsing through others paint jobs. This often will have me come upon a model that I look at and think ... That is frickin' cool! I gotta try that.
Just a few suggestions from an old guy who likes to paint mini's.
-Grim
I often listen to blogs about the force I'm painting. Listening to how they perform on the table often inspires me to get them painted onto the table quicker, especially if they are a unit that I haven't thought were worth the time before. This is a bit easier for most Warmachine/Hordes units/models as single soldiers have more of an impact on the game unless it's a big bad HQ but the same theory applies to GW.
ReplyDeleteCorrection: podcasts not blogs.
ReplyDeleteI got back into the hobby after a decade absence and was a painting machine. Then I discovered AdeptiCon and painted even more to have a fully painted army for my first wargames convention. At AdeptiCon, I saw all the wonderfully painted armies and it drained me. I was hobby exhausted from painting so furiously and frustrated with my painting level. I didn't paint a model for 6 months afterward. Then I tried to force myself to paint a few things; some different armies than what I play and some stand alone models. Trying to paint a Skaven force from Isle of Blood probably didn't help. I don't like painting hoard armies. I had done some minor painting and modeling leading up to AdeptiCon this year, but my heart really wasn't in anything. At AdeptiCon this year, I saw a ton of well painted stuff and was actually inspired. It was a complete 180 from last year. The first thing I did was select a model that I've always wanted to paint. For me, I've always wanted to paint a bluish daemon prince (like the one on the cover of the 'eavy Metal Masterclass book) and I've always wanted to paint Be'lakor the Dark Master. I started following the steps in the book and I'm really pleased with the way he's turned out. He will be part of my 10,000 point daemon army I'm creating for my group's annual Apocalypse game and now I've moved on to the rest of the army.
ReplyDeleteI guess that's a long way to say: take your time, leave the brush down for a while, find some things that inspire you (all of the entries above are good), and then paint something that you've always wanted to. Even if it doesn't fit your army or even your game. Paint a model you've always wanted to and paint it well. Hopefully that will help.
> Grimwolf: As an engineer, all of my artowrk tends to be straight lines and geometric shapes. I've surfed a bunch fo the mini websites and have not found inspiration.
ReplyDelete>Darkness358: Sounds like me; I re-started playing and selected a new army, and began painting furiously to complete everything for each weeks GS campaign (no unpainted models ever found their way to the game table). The it was a mad rush at the end of the campaign to paint up everything for the big Apocalypse final game. Picking up the Privateer Press painting DVD helped a bit, but I could not keep the momentum up. I've stopped painting for about a month and signed-up for a 70.3 mile half-Ironman Triathlon.
>Happypanda: I think we might have a winner here, I turned on a 2 hour blog about Necrons, put on my headset and sat down to paint. I actually finished a vehicle and didn't dread the task! Now if I can just find enough interesting blogs to keep me going!
The contest to inspire me will close at the end of this month Thursday, May 31st.
I'm not a player, I'm a painter. For me, I work sometimes 60-70 hours a week. To be able to not have to talk to my co-workers or deal with the work drama and to be able to sit with brush in hand on a figure that appeals to my visual sense... that gets my mojo going. To know that I want to paint the models is a bit easier ahead of time than knowing I have to do it for some game. Now on the other hand, if you need motivation for your army in terms of that, have you considered trying some of the dreaded short cuts? The Army Painter has a steel plate primer and a quick blast of that with some strong dip and most necrons are done.
ReplyDelete@Happypanda> Congratulations! You are the winner of the find my mojo contest. Listening to Podcasts while painting has kept me motivated to stay at the painting bench! I will be contacting you shortly to get information to send/deliver you a new Finecast HQ model!
ReplyDelete@Cerberus> I look forward to adding your models to my paint que.
Thank you to all who stopped by to add suggestions to help find my painting Mojo.