Stressed with the hobby?

[Hinton]

In another thread, Frustrated Father mentioned getting stressed with painting minis and decided to take a break. I've seen others mention something similar, so I was wondering if people are (or have gotten) so stressed with the hobby that they've just quit painting. Not so much dropped out of the community, but just put the brushes away for awhile. (I'm posting a new thread to avoid a hijacking).

So, to anyone that has done it or is contemplating it:

What was it that caused you to hang up the brushes? A specific mini? A painting technique that caused you headaches? Low scores at CMoN? I'm just curious.

There are some seriously talented painters here and I wouldn't want to them hang up their brushes because they got stressed and started hating a hobby that they loved so much before.

@FF: Sorry to hear the hobby got stressful for you.

I told myself (and so far it's still true) that if I posted over at CMoN, I wasn't going to worry about the score. I only post there to get feedback and I usually get it. Some people over there seem to stress more about improving their score instead of their painting techniques. Although, to be honest, I do have my ranking in my sig there. I'm in the top 4,000! ( yay! :clap: ) and perfectly happy with that.

[gi6ers]

Painting is s'posed to be fun, when I don't enjoy it I just stop for a week or two. The forums I visit - here, FOD and FU:UK usually make me want to run for the brushes again.

No point getting stressed with CMON, it's just somewhere to keep your pics in chronological order, if you aren't in the in-crowd you'll rarely score more than 7.5 anyway - especially if you don't use NMM or post stuff on the forums.

[cdukino]

I have periods of stressed out from painting (and sculpting and drawing and in fact all things creative I do). It never lasts long though. But I'm kinda in one now.

I gave my all on the last Rotten Harvest, tried to improve nearly all aspects of my painting and spend way to much time doing that. I think I succeeded and I'm very happy with that (though I'm still in slight shock from my results in the competition). But somehow I feel I spend it all on that competition (and some other paint stuff)... including enthousiasm (though I had a lot of fun actually making the entries, but fell into a dip after them). I had to do some commisions after that as well while not really feeling like it.

And everytime I try to do something now and really try to improve again... I'm hitting my ceiling and just can't seem to break through. In fact at the moment I'm feeling I'm going backwards again.

This is a very normal circle for me... and pretty sure giving it a week of 2-4 I'm back in action again. Though I seriously doubt I will make nearly as much entries for the next Wyrd competition.

[Nathan Caroland]

Well I initially fell into the trap at CMON as that was the first place that I found miniatures online and was what got me back into the hobby seriously and did at first fall into the whole routine of the score, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, not the smartest thing, but I did.

It was a real tickle to see my scores continue to rise as I made progress but eventually I hit my plateua to to speak and I found it aggrivating. I would spend more and more time on a miniature only to get it tore up some times or for me to obsese over a stupid score and I particularly got stressed out when things just were not going right for me when it came down to a local competition that I would have blown away if I just bothered to enter but got so pissed off about 'snow' on my bases which wasn't really working out (I still hate baking soda ..).

That being said, once I stopped posting my works and just painting for me, I enjoyed it quite a bit more and didn't really give a hoot who or where I was going with my painting and actually gave quite a bit of it away to friends online or sold it through ebay.

Now, I actually have the want to paint, pretty badly, but right now I'm so busy with real life, running Wyrd and dealing behind the scenes that it just isn't feasible for me to go break everything out of the closet, spend half an hour setting up everything and sitting down to paint. I am going to setup a spot out in the garage soon though so I can just walk out, pick up the brushes for a few and then walk off as I feel the want/need.

I also have it on good authority I just about ruined Ritual here a bit back.

[supervike]

I am in a burn out stage right now....

The thing that really ruins me is that I have a vision for a mini, and I get very excited for it, but by the time I actually finish it, I have 'settled' for a much lesser vision. I sometimes start off by thinking "wow, this is the best Idea I've ever had, and end up thinking...well, maybe its just time to move on to the next mini...."

I also am not disciplined enough to paint the way I really would want to. I end up taking shortcuts....I have found that painting for others (scores/approval/etc.) almost always ends up in me being very burned out.

But, my hobby is so ingrained into my life, that not a day goes by without me thinking about it or doing something with it. Whether its just posting here on Wyrd, or looking at some of my unfinished minis, or reading a book...it all comes back to miniatures for me.

My wife jokingly said I had a one track mind about sex, but the sad fact is its a one track mind about miniatures....I could actually live without the sex....LOL

[wiccanpony]

Painting for me is relaxing and soothing ...real life is what’s stressful for me. Taking some time with my paint and brushes is a Zen moment to be treasured.

as for CMON’s scores, I have the hide of a woolly mammoth. I know my skill level and value comments from those I know, or have a reputation in the field.

wisdom from Yoda : let the “Force” sweat the big stuff, young one...now did you remember to get me that wrinkle cream.

[gi6ers]

Taking some time with my paint and brushes is a Zen moment to be treasured.

Hear hear!!!!!

[matty1001]

Well i got really stressed out a few month ago, some of you may remember my thread over on CMoN, i was trying soooooooo hard to reach specific scores on CMoN i was getting upset because nothing was turning out the way it was meant to. Then Torn Blue Sky, (Mick) sent me a couple of minis down to paint, one of them being a squig hopper. So i decieded to chill out and just paint it to my level, that was my first 6+ and it only took an hour to paint. So after ;chilling out' iv managed to let a painting style and speed come to me, instead of me trying to hard to reach it. And now, im 90% happy with everyhting i paint.

[Duende]

Stressed with the hobby? Yes!

My problem is just like many other people's here. When I pick up that paint brush and start to paint, the discouraging thoughts start through my head. About how everyone else will see it and all the flaws especially when I take the pictures that seem to blow up every brush mistroke and every rough spot to ten times as bad as they are. It's gotten to the point that I drag my feet when painting anything, and my pile of "start and stop"s (as I call my partly done ones) has been growing. I used to be able to take a mini, start it and finish it in a fair amount of time before I started another.

I guess my problem is that I need to find the place again where I'm not painting thinking about how everyone else will see it, just how I see it, and that's something I'm still trying to do.

The odd thing is that I seem to have moments of inspiration, where I get something that just, I don't know how to say it, trips some kind of wire in my head that I get in painted and done in a relatively short time and it turns out better than I expected. My cases of that have been my Forgeworld Asurman, my "Fruit Bat of Carnage" (Rackham Master of Carnage with 54mm Reaper Sophie's wings), my Wyrd Wereshark Contest diorama, my Reaper Warlord Gladiator Minotaur, and, most recently, my Rotten Harvest entry, the Wyrd Apparations, which I received in the mail around Oct. 19th and had them done in time for the contest with a couple of days to spare. Considering the long burnout streak I've been on for the past year, that was amazing.

At least my ranking at CMON can no longer bother me since my gallery has disappeared, only the two pictures I uploaded directly to cmon remain (the rest were remotely hosted). So my falling rank placement can haunt me no more. Great!

Now, I'm hunting another mini to inspire me, and hopefully my "start and stop" pile won't get too big before I find it.

[LavronYor]

Like everyone, my interest level waxes and wanes. I have recently thought about writing a tutorial on ways to deal with burnout. The key points will include balancing real life with hobbies, uncluttering to unleash creativity, practicing to improve skills ( not specifics ) and the many ways to improve your desire to paint better. Once I finish this round of Iron Painter, I will work more on specifics.

The one thing to remember, is it supposed to be fun. If it is not, take a break.

People don't realize how much mental energy true improvement takes, but in the end, it is usually worth it.

[Stupidcow]

I have been painting on & off for a very time, almost 20 years in fact with a break of 4 years at one. In the past, there were no internet and any form of guide/reference is close to zero. No one else in my group of friends shared nor appreciated this hobby so it was really passion that brought me this far.

CMON is in fact my biggest motivation and source of reference. Scores started out with 5-6, then moved on to 6-7 and finally broke the 8 barrier only last 2 years or so. With the constant increase in the level of painting I find it rather hard to keep up nowadays. However, don't get too discouraged by the scores but infact study what others have done and try to acheive what others have. However, don't try to do stuffs like insane SENNM, complicated freehands or OSL but get the basics right or you will be killing your passion really soon.

If you find yourself stuck at a certain point, eg. couldn't get that blending to be seamless, couldn't get that skintone to look right, stop painting for a few days. Surf the net for inspiration then pick up your brushes again. Pauses in between painting cycles gives you some time to look back at what you have done, what could be improved & to recharge. Lastly, keep painting!

[Thryth]

Well, I don't think that my story counts as frustration or burn-out, simply life. Back in the late 80's/early 90's I painted some miniatures (somewhere around a total of 50). Very low quality by today's standards (perhaps even by that day's standards ), I mostly just wanted to have miniatures for gaming.

Then my priorities were elsewhere and I was simply too busy to keep the hobby. I tried to take-up miniature painting again in 2002 and got as far as painting 4 of them that year. They were better than what I did ~10 years before, but again I was too busy. This year I started again. I bought some bases from the Wyrd store and (I think) FF emailed about the Wyrd competition at that time, so I got one done and entered the competition. I won a random prize and have been sneaking-in painting time here-and-there since then. I use competitions (almost entirely the Wyrd ones) as the motivation that I need to keep at painting.

I don't know if that even comes close to addressing your question, but it felt good to say in any case.

[Maestro]

Hi, my name is John and this is the first time I'm speaking about my 'problem' in public..

My biggest problem in painting is a racing mind full of ideas. There's just só many models/armies/warbands that I want to paint up and I want to do them all to my highest standards. Have you EVER done a Warhammer army to your highest standards?? It absolutely kills your motivation as you see no progress in the army.

Then when I'm painting up one thing, I get ideas to do something else and want to do that, which means the mini I'm working on gets to be a chore instead of a pleasure.

Painting can indeed be very soothing and relaxing to do and luckily the other people in my gaming-group know they shouldn't push me into painting something against my will. Nowadays I paint what I feel like painting and try to finish what I should be painting inbetween..

John *who feels like being at a AA-meeting for painters (AP-meeting?)*

[Ritual]

I only get stressed out when I have things to paint up for others or if I do things for competitions. When I'm just painting for my own sake, which is most of the time, I don't get worked up about it. Either it turns out good, and then I'm likely to finish the mini, or it turns out less good, and then I will most likely put it aside (and maybe continue on it later) and work on something else. No need to get stressed up about it, and scores on CMON don't interest me. Like gi6ers said, it's a place to put up your work and maybe get some feedback on it.

Like Maestro, I too get more ideas than I have time to fulfil, but I don't let that stress me out, either. I paint for the fun of it and thus the important thing is that I can sit down at evenings and paint and work on one of my ideas, not that every single idea I get becomes realised (some of the ideas aren't even that good in hindsight ).

I have had times in my life when I decided to put my paints and brushes away for good, but stress was never a factor then. It was always a case of me believing I had to stop because I would need the time for more serious things, and of course, now I know better. I don't think I will quit the hobby anymore as long as I have the physical ability to keep it up.

My thoughts on this matter is that you should, as with many other things in life, always focus on the primary reason why you're into it in the first place. Hold a firm grip on that knowledge and brush other things aside! Don't fret over things that aren't really important!

PS. On a side note, while I agree with gi6ers about not fretting over CMON scores, I have to disagree on his comments about CMON and the so called "in-group". I don't know what that in-group is? Is it the forum members? Is it the well-known painters? In my experience it doesn't matter if you post your work on the forums or not (I'm talking about scores here) because the majority of the CMON members and voters are not forum visitors. You will get a score based on the quality of your work AND of your photos. Some well known painters may or may not get fanboy votes, but that's always the case no matter what area we're talking about. Remember, that on CMON your work gets compared with that of most of the master painters and if their work is the top of the grading scale, it should not be a surprise that most people will score lower than that. As I said, most of the CMON members aren't part of any group at all, they just post their work there. Among them are most of the higher scoring painters and thus, I find it unlikely they receive their high scores due to being part of an "in-group". They are simply good painters! Furthermore, the idea that certain techniques must be used in order to gain high scores is also wrong. Look at the Spanish and lots of the French painters, for instance, who almost always use real metallics and gain some of the highest scores. Other techniques like freehand, OSL and such can be a help to raise your scores if you do them well, but in the end it's the overall quality that counts. Plenty of the highest scoring minis have none of these techniques, but are simply brilliant miniatures!

[gi6ers]

@Ritual: Well if you are going to start talking sense I'm not going to argue with you

[Ritual]

Hehe... I'm just used to CMON being slagged off on other forums for those very reasons. It's sometimes difficult to judge when they are being meant seriously or not.

[jondalar]

I go through stages with my painting. I've had periods where I haven't painted for upto 2-3yrs. Mainly because life has interfered, girlfriends haven't given me the space or time to do it, I haven't been able to afford to buy models or there's been no models that have been to my taste. Only knowing about GW's miniatures for such a long time meant I was reliant on them bringing out new stuff I liked. I also seem to paint alot more during the winter, as in the summer I'm out till late most evenings or away camping. Since discovering the huge plethora of manufacturers and the huge variety of models, my enthusiasm has shot up, and I'm painting more models than have done in years. In last 2 months I've done roughly 30/40 miniatures with more in the pipe work. These forums have encouraged me in many ways, both with having people to share an otherwise, in my experience, quite isolating hobby (no-one I know locally paints) and seeing the standard of other peoples' work, which gives me something to aspire to! So thank you!! I agree with Ritual's comments about CMoN, I've only posted one model on there, and obviously I was hoping my work would be quite highly placed, but looking at the other work on there, and looking through unbiased eyes I can see my work actually isn't that high a standard. Which is fine, because it has stopped me just using the same techniques I've been using for years and actually push myself to improve more. Which in the long run can only be a good thing.

[Hinton]

Well, I haven't been over at CMoN very long, but I haven't seen an "in-group" or clique. People there, much like the other forums I belong to, have been nice and made me feel welcome. Sure, there's the "Freak Bar" for those with 1,000 posts or more, but some of those people still reply to me and other "newbies" and give some great feedback.

For those of us that are new to a forum it can seem like we don't belong since we are new. It's like meeting new people: you don't really know them or anything about them. They also have people that they've known for a long time and know quite well, so you may feel like an outsider; not part of the group. The best way to get over that feeling of being outside is to just talk to people. Post replies, comment on people's work, or, best of all, ask them questions ("How did you get that effect?", etc). Sometimes they'll reply; sometimes they won't. At least you're making yourself known and that's the biggest step.

The only time I'll ever leave a forum is when the people start being rude. That hasn't happened to me yet and hopefully it never will; here or anywhere else.

[jondalar]

I dunno if it's just a personal experience, but no-one's left comments to my work. People have voted, but without feedback I'm left guessing as to why score is what it is. I know it'd probably put alot of people of voting, but it's a shame that if you vote you have to leave a comment, even if it's just a few words.

[Ritual]

@jondalar

That's unfortunately an effect of the ever-growing size of CMON. In the beginning, when there weren't as many miniatures posted, people used to comment quite frequently. Now, however, with over 80000 miniatures, a lot of people have stopped commenting because it's simply too overwhelming and rather than picking out a few ones to comment upon and leave others without they comment on none. Others comment as much they can, but there's just so much they can do...

The best way to receive constuctive comments and feedback on your work is to find a forum with people whose opinion you respect and post your work there. Those who post their work on the CMON forums usually get much more comments, both in the forum of course, but also on their mini post. Sometimes I find it more rewarding posting in smaller communities, since in a large one such as CMON you will get a lot of useless and redundant comments from people just echoing what others have said or just agreeing or something equally useless.

[gi6ers]

@jondalar: Just post it on here or if it's FOD related chuck it on there, if you ask for feedack specifically then you'll get it.

@Hinton: Don't ever post on FU:UK if you aren't a fan of rude!

[LavronYor]

While I disagree with Ritual about cliques, I feel there are some there, you really shouldn't let that stop you. If you want real criticism, enter your pieces in contests here, or at CMON under WIP. People at least know that you are asking for advice and generally offer it.

The biggest problem is that we really get so used to looking at a mini while we paint it that we CAN'T be objective, at least not for a while. IF you photograph it and study the pix, you can see many areas for improvement. Still, at some point, you should be happy with it and call it done. just my opinion

[Ritual]

@LavronYor

I didn't say there aren't any cliques on CMON, just that they have no substantial impact on the score a mini get (only initially, when all of your clique, if you have one, have voted on it and hardly anyone else... but eventually the clique-votes will be very few compared to the total number of votes) and that you don't have to be in a clique to get high scores.

Also, if we're talking about cliques a lot of those exist outside of CMON. For example, if I paint a Hasslefree mini and post it on CMON, then post it on the Forum of Doom with a link to my CMON post, then a lot of the FOD members will head over there to vote even though they might not be regular CMON users themselves.

[LavronYor]

You're right, you don't have to be in a clique. I do think that there are people in the top 100 mostly because of who they are and who they know. Still, I prefer constructive criticism like the type we get here. It is actually helpful. I guess that since the thread is on stress, though, we should emphasize that scores are only that, scores, and many factors are involved. Like you said, photography is very important.

Also, fans aren't necessarily cliques. I mean, who doesn't love a well painted hasslefree beauty? Especially when someone like you does it justice.

[callumrice]

My god Lavronyor, youd think you were sucking up to supervike! shocking. You would think you were still in a painting comp where supervike is one of the judges. Oh, you are?.....

:tongue2: