Hansel Posted April 18, 2011 Report Share Posted April 18, 2011 Mind, I like it, but tonight I sat down with Goal: Finish Sonnia in my mind (didn't seem like it would take that long; she was almost fully basecoated). I painted for three hours, and at the end, when it became clear I wouldn't finish her tonight, painting ceased to be fun and just became stressful (plus; eyes. $$$$$$$$ eyes). I guess I just need to be more flexible (and realistic) in my day to day painting goals. I'm trying to paint as quickly as I can, because I have a mountain of metal. Anyone else find painting sometimes stressful? Any tips on keeping it cool? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeverEnding Posted April 18, 2011 Report Share Posted April 18, 2011 one of the more helpful things ive heard is to just walk away. Last week I painted my whole victorias crew with extras and made a whooole bunch of terrain. the only way I survived is with a lot of snack food breaks and music. Now this week I have 11 models to paint for a tournament on the 23rd. I need more snacks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osoi Posted April 18, 2011 Report Share Posted April 18, 2011 I did suffer from burnout about 18months ago and really I just learnt not to put a hard deadline on things plus always have soemthing else lined up, I am generally scuplting/assembling some other models on the side. I started painting in the morning before work for about 20-30min a day whilel I was waiting for my wife to get ready and found that eliminated pressure to get things done plus put me in a good mood and my eyes werent already tired after a long day at work. Usually I also try and paint models in a way that I do the ones I least want to do or Have to do first and then reward myself, at the moment I am finishing my Lady J crew and then rewarding myself with my Rogue Necromancy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hansel Posted April 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2011 Taking breaks is good. I took one for about an hour, had a beer & some food and was in a good mood and ready to paint again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sephiroa Posted April 18, 2011 Report Share Posted April 18, 2011 (edited) taking deadlines while painting is not smart (except when you have to paint them for a tourney or so) i paint when i wan't to paint and quit when i'm tired of it. sometimes i can paint 2 days non stop and sometimes i quit after 2 hours. it depends. don't stresss yourself. cause if you do. you will see it in your painting Edited April 18, 2011 by sephiroa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafruk Posted April 18, 2011 Report Share Posted April 18, 2011 I've had that problem in the past, you've got to be in the right mindset for painting and sometimes it's incredibly frustrating. I tend to paint a little and often and because of that I seldom target 'i'm going to finish this by then'. If I'm in the zone then i'll just keep going but it's not worth forcing it. That said I have found Malifaux models tend to captivate me and I'll end up trying to finish a whole model in a single setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePandaDirector Posted April 18, 2011 Report Share Posted April 18, 2011 Well right now there's nothing in the world I'd be rather doing than painting (possibly eating, which is also currently being denied to me). It took me 6 years of not painting to realise that I'd lost something incredibly important in my life. It might just be a hobby, but after a long day of work, or dealing with stressful situations and general day-day trials, I had nothing to relax me. Sure I'd browse the web, play a PC game, watch a film, etc, but they don't quite relax me, just distract me. I find with painting, creating the right space and atmosphere to be important. I like nothing more than to be sat at my desk, window open on a hot day, with a cool drink and a ton of snacks, painting slowly and purposefully and finding a rhythm that works to clear my mind, yet keep me focussed. Sounds like bloody yoga or something, but that's how I do it. I find that if you allow yourself a time slot in your busy day and use that time to completely step out of your usual motion and treat your work more methodically and patiently then not only will you feel more relaxed, but your work will likely benefit as you will make less mistakes trying to meet unrealistic deadlines. I also find the right tools go a long way as in if your brush is fraying and your trying to avoid buying a new brush, fighting past the problems of your tools/set-up just increases the stress. In terms of breaks, I think little and (fairly) often can work, every time you go to change your water, or pour yourself another drink or see to something else, take your time with it and use the time to evaluate your work so far and think ahead to what you'll do next. I'm currently planning a rough painting schedule, listing what I have to paint and thinking about how to break it up to avoid fatigue and repetitiveness (I've got the first installement of a Skaven horde army plus 2 Malifaux crew boxes to do in May, so you can imagine how that will pan out). Also knowing how you're going to paint, having a planned scheme, helps so your not stressing about what colour to blend to next, but then that's obvious. To avoid mistakes and the stress that comes with it, I now do at least one test for every major technique or scheme. For example I have a bunch of left over Skaven, so I'll test my colour scheme on one, practice metal and non-metal metallic on another, practice free hand on another (a banner bearer no less), etc, just so I'm never going into something blindly, because whilst I'm excited about my ideas and eager to see them through, it's worth the extra time to avoid ruining models I paid good money for and the pain of starting again. I think it's safe to say I've got a lot of time on my hands... time I could spend painting grrr.... grumble grumble Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoboStele Posted April 18, 2011 Report Share Posted April 18, 2011 I've had that problem in the past, you've got to be in the right mindset for painting and sometimes it's incredibly frustrating. Yeah, I've had this problem a little bit lately. Partly because I can't seem to figure out exactly what I want to do with a couple of models, and am having trouble visualizing the color schemes for them. I find that it's just best to switch to doing something else for a while. Build scrap counters, or go play video games, or take a break for food, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDSampo Posted April 18, 2011 Report Share Posted April 18, 2011 It sounds odd to talk about a hobby activity as being stressful but it is a real phenomenon. I used to be stressed out about the huge pile of 40K minis I had built up in a "you spent all this money you should be painting them" kind of way. I don't get a lot of time to paint and the idea of spending my precious hobby time painting yet another dozen space marines like an assembly line just didn't seem like fun. So I decided not to paint them, put them in a box and stopped worrying about it. Now I'm painting whatever I want and spending as much time as I need. Took me five weeks to paint my Lucius box, lavishing as much attention on each one as I would a character model in other games. Doing the same with Warmachine now. Admittedly, I'm not really active in tourneys so I don't have that pressure but pressure isn't something I want in an activity I do for fun and relaxation. So what's my point... paint only what appeals to you and chuck deadlines like a bad habit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scurry Posted April 18, 2011 Report Share Posted April 18, 2011 i feel the same about 40k models, i have had a case full of models for about a year that i cannot be bothered to paint because i will be painting around 100 orks all the same, as soon as i get a malifaux model it is basecoated and painted since they are all different and can be painted as such Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Alleycat Posted April 18, 2011 Report Share Posted April 18, 2011 Relax and let the mind go. Take breaks,and make sure to eat and drink enough to keep you rolling. And remember,when your painting..to every now and then..stop and let a model go for an evening before you pick it back up. Your eyes get used to things,and if you let them rest then you will see things you might have missed. Alternately you could ship some of your extra work my way lol *grins* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darguth Posted April 18, 2011 Report Share Posted April 18, 2011 Y'know what alleviates painting stress? Getting someone else to do it for ya I generally dislike painting. So rather than buy MORE minis I wouldn't paint, I took my spending budget for a couple of months and shifted it towards painted commissions of my existing crews/armies. I still get awesome hobby stuff for my dough, and a good artist friend of mine gets some supplemental income. Win-win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dahli.llama Posted April 18, 2011 Report Share Posted April 18, 2011 I keep a constantly rotating stock of models for painting to fit my mood. I am currently working on a Space Wolf army for 40k, I have Guild and Resurrectionist crews that are in progress, a Sorylian fleet and now a Menoth army that I'm starting on. That and my desk also houses my gaming PC, so if I'm not in the mood to paint, I'll fire up WoW for a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafruk Posted April 19, 2011 Report Share Posted April 19, 2011 Another thing I find important is variety. Recently I blew through most of my Lady J box in a weekend but the judge didn't quite get there and it's taken me 2 weeks to get back into the mindset to pick him up and put a brush on him. In that time I've painted a bunch of Epic stuff, built some some warhammer figs, played about with my basing on a few things and played a few games. I finally sat down last night painted up a couple of eldar tanks for epic, looked over and saw the judge and inspiration hit me, I picked up the model and just started flying through what I had left to do on him. He's now sat proudly beside the rest of the crew and I'll try to get some pics up soon. That does bring me to desperate times though, I've only 1 unpainted malifaux model left, I forsee another spending spree! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendecatope Posted April 19, 2011 Report Share Posted April 19, 2011 Like Panda Director, I paint for the relaxation of it. I also set no specific goals or deadlines for myself. I will just put a metal CD on and paint for as long as I feel like. I max out at about one hour/day when I have the time to paint. I really enjoy concentrating and focusing my mind on the details. When I get frustrated, I just stop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvatarForm Posted April 20, 2011 Report Share Posted April 20, 2011 Music and frequent breaks... Or, paitning with a friend also helps me... they provide feedback (especially if you tend to be hard on yourself) and tend to offer alternate opinions and viewpoints you may not have considered... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mriverakc Posted April 20, 2011 Report Share Posted April 20, 2011 Painting shouldn't be stressful, but I understand. What I do is that I set a timer for 10 or 30 minutes and start painting. It was been pretty effective for me. I have a wife and three kids, so time is precious. I have a hard time building stuff and I have a friend who has a hard time paint, so we trade of building and painting for one another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lono Posted April 20, 2011 Report Share Posted April 20, 2011 I can completely understand finding painting stressful. I used to find it nightmarish to motivate myself to just sit down and begin painting a model. Once I'd begun, I was rarely satisfied with the speed and quality of my output. It was a grind for me for years, until eventually I quit altogether. Recently, I picked up the desire to have a go again though, and now I'm very much seeing things from the other side. I find it relaxing beyond belief. I don't know if this will work for everyone, but by painting regularly for a short period it's become a meditative part of my daily routine and driven me to paint more. It started when instead of staying in bed until the last minute before work I got up at the same time as my girlfriend, saw her off, showered, then spent an hour painting. I only planned to do it for a few days at first because I wanted to paint in daylight, but wasn't getting home until it was dark, and I had a terrible lamp in my room. Well, thank god for the bad lamp, because I now follow that routine just about every day. It gives me a period of enjoyment and release before the daily chore of heading to the office and somehow it relaxes me completely. It usually leaves me wanting for more once I get home too (I have a daylight lamp now ), and during the periods where work's getting me down, I find myself thinking on what I can do with the model, what's working, what I may need to change etc. Balancing that against my job - I just can't see anything but pleasure in painting models these days. It's driven me to prolific (for me at least) numbers of miniatures painted in a time frame I never thought I could manage. If you can make it an enjoyable routine without 'must finish this model by this date' chains around your neck, you may find that the deadlines you would have imposed go from being horrible burdens, to achievable, to unnecessary - because you are just getting things done without any need to put pressure on yourself. Worked for me at least. Only problem now is fitting Malifaux models in when I have so many older GW things to get done. :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hansel Posted April 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 Worked for me at least. Only problem now is fitting Malifaux models in when I have so many older GW things to get done. :/ Oh man, now that has to be the definition of stressful painting: having 70 gray plastic Space Marines to paint. After my Sonnia issue, I've been having a great time painting & building rudimentary bases. I try to paint every day, but I don't always have the time--at least, these days, I will either be doing some modeling (building bases, scraping mold lines, etc.--I usually have time and space to do this at work, funnily enough!) or painting pretty much every day. Even if it's just a little bit every day, or a larger amount of time every other day, it really produces stuff fast: I can usually do about a model a week (which has been given lots of time and detail work). On an unrelated note, wanna buy some gray plastic Space Marines? ;P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafruk Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 I just bought over 200 skaven, but no worries, there's no rush. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePandaDirector Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 Just look at my sig... My current fantasy army is Skaven, my Warmachine army Cygnar, Infinity is Haqqislam and Wyrd... well there's Ortegas, Showgirls, Collodi, Seamus, Hoffman.... Do I find not being able to paint stressful? Yes Will I enjoy diving into the sea of models I've built up? Hell yeah As long as I don't rush I should be ok. There's a reason why many skilled painters use the zenith technique Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvatarForm Posted April 22, 2011 Report Share Posted April 22, 2011 I just bought over 200 skaven, but no worries, there's no rush. I see your skaven and raise you 297 Goblins... I painted them to tabletop and based in 48hours. Friday - Sunday of the same weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hansel Posted April 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2011 I see your skaven and raise you 297 Goblins... I painted them to tabletop and based in 48hours. Friday - Sunday of the same weekend. I don't think you're lying, but...I just cannot conceive of how this is even possible. Can. Not! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hansel Posted April 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2011 Just look at my sig... My current fantasy army is Skaven, my Warmachine army Cygnar, Infinity is Haqqislam and Wyrd... well there's Ortegas, Showgirls, Collodi, Seamus, Hoffman.... That's quite the collection! I got into minis gaming this November, 2010. I started playing 40k, built up 1500 points by mid-March, with ONE painted Space Marine (I was spending a lot of time stripping, trying out spray paints, etc.). I bought into Malifaux on St. Patrick's day, played a few games, realized I was never going to touch my Space Marines again, and put 'em up for sale. I have time for one minis game, but that's all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Alleycat Posted April 22, 2011 Report Share Posted April 22, 2011 Well glad to have you around Hansel,and I do think you chose the right choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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