Hello

[montka]

Hello y'all

~I wanted to say hi and give a bit of an update on where I am. I wanted to contribute something more to the community than just 'where can I find this?' posts.

I have managed to stay out of hospital since May this year (Woo!)

I have gone back to my whore of a job painting commission models. I have learned how to squeeze a good bit extra money out of it so it is a real job now, although the quality suffers and I had my first negative feedback the other day regarding quality. What does he expect for £30 a Golden Demon winner?

I have found some well paid commissions though so I really have pulled through on this front, but it is a complete bitch to have talent to make something awesome, and people only will pay you to work at a level that is medium to quite good.

Also it is so lonely and stressful because I have to push myself to work more hours than I want to, and I have to paint faster than I want to, and I have to put up with shortfalls, and this frustrates the perfectionism in me that is the exact thing that drives artists to better themselves! Damn it!

I heard an IT worker on this forum say he was going to give up his job to commission paint. All I can say to anyone thinking of this is DON'T DO IT!!! It's awful!
Maybe on a team working to a high standard it would be ok, IDK. For me it's going back to a hobby as soon as I can afford to give it up, lol.

Ironically, I am going into IT now from commission painting.

I taught myself C from a textbook, enjoyed it, realized the careers potential in the industry, and now I'm studying a foundation degree in Computer Science Hence the need for money.

I love the course and it is fascinating me and has given rise to a desire for knowledge and science that I never knew I would possess.

I intend to program android phone games, and combine the love for art, the coding and the passion for 'dark' fantasy/sci-fi background worlds to make awesome games. I am going to start with simple 2D RPG, puzzle and arcade that I know a one man team can pull off, and I hope my l337 skillz in painting will help market the game to a wide audience so I can finally have some money.

I want to join the dark side of crazily well painted miniatures, but right now I have bills to pay and I am stuck with this bitch of commission jobs.

The best thing I have painted in the past few months (by a LONG way) are the privateer press models below.

PS How is Dragonsreach doing?

montka

 

[Dragonsreach]

Still beating & breathing, mate.
Hospital on 29th October, so long term sick from then until Jan-Feb, depending on recovery & side effects.
(after all its radiation poisoning).

Glad to see you're doing well yourself.

 

[Tercha]

Hi Montka ...glad to hear things are going better......even if i was good enough I could never paint commission work i would just hate painting!....so I work at what I enjoy and when not working enjoy painting.

 

[me_in_japan]

Heya montka. Glad to see you're doing ok. I appreciate that commission painting can be a pretty draining job, but a job's a job - whatever keeps the money moving, yeah? Those Khador are looking very nice. I'd consider them well above what would be expected of a commission job. Prolly about 7-8 on the CMoN ratings. As for not being able to spend enough time striving to improve - same here, mate. I'm managing about an hour a day, maybe every two days if I'm lucky. Whatcha gonna do, tho? Life is life. As long as you're ticking over, you're doing ok, I reckon. Keep the chin up and ganbarre and all that

 

[freakinacage]

Aye chin up fella, think of all the new models you can pay with your big IT paycheck!

 

[lono]

Glad to hear you are doing ok at the moment with the wellness.

You mention a forum person saying they were thinking of leaving an IT type job to become a freelance painter. Is that me by any chance? I took the plunge almost a year ago and I kinda feel I should offer up a different side of the coin to some of the things you say. I'm going to put some disagreements your way, but they come with the best intentions.

I left a job that I wasn't that into because I had been doing it for a while and was coasting. It was easy to me and paid decent money, but I wanted to try being my own boss and doing something different, something I'd enjoy more.

It's not been easy, not by any means, but all in all it's bloody great!

I get up when my body wants to (usually about 10am) rather than when I have to; I dictate my own schedule; I create things - things other people want and give positive responses to; if I want I do nothing work wise and can spend a day walking, swimming, hanging out with friends, taking a trip with my girlfriend or just dossing around; I have freedom within my own boundaries. That's a wonderful thing. Every day that I paint I create something new and tangible and then someone else gets to enjoy it. That's even more wonderful.

But, it takes the right outlook, the right attitude and a fair bit of mental fortitude and balance. I can't say I got it right from the outset, I messed up, I got a bit stressed, I let a few folks down. But gradually I've got to a place where that balance comes easier.

It's a case of identifying your strengths and playing to them to some degree. More than that though, it's about being honest and humble. You can't be too precious and you certainly need some support around you to keep you leveled out.

I may be wrong, but it doesn't sound like you quite have the balance right as far as painting goes. You don't talk with too much humility in your post and I think perhaps you hold your ability in too high regard. Saying 'it is a complete bitch to have talent to make something awesome, and people only will pay you to work at a level that is medium to quite good'... that's not right. You can't think like that. People pay you for what they want and what they believe you can provide. They are your customers, you are providing a service. If you're not able to earn what you think you should, or get jobs painting at the level you want - perhaps you simply aren't able to provide that top level standard.

Don't get me wrong, you paint well, but there are freelance painters out there who are leaps and bounds above you (and me) and they can demand higher rates. I know, I've commissioned some to paint models for my own miniature range. What they do is amazing, beyond my capablities by a very long way, so I find a niche elsewhere. I still enjoy painting but I mix it up. Sometimes I'll bash out some things quickly, other times I'll do a high tabletop commission, then I'll simply paint something I want to and stick it on eBay on a buy it now.

You can make it work if you want to, but you need to have the right mindset. I couldn't have done it 5 years ago, I just didn't know myself enough.

It's good you have found something else to put your energy into and it sounds like you are getting the excitement from it that painting's not providing. That's great. But, once again you seem to be a little over zealous in your expectation. There are ferociously talented coders out there, thousands of them. Going beyond that into game design, art design, making a marketable product. You're going to have to learn so much. You won't learn it unless you realise that you aren't l337. Be humble!

I've done the gaming industry thing and without exception the successful folks in it are the most stressed and hard working people I know. Making a half decent game, hell, even making a fairly average Android game is a reasonably immense task. Very few can pull it off and make it profitable, far less people can do it as a one man team. Those who do are even more stressed and hard working than the rest! They abandon their lives completely for years sometimes to create their projects.

And none of them truly do it on their own. Make sure you surround yourself with creative people, realise that you can learn from all of them, never ever think too much of your abilities and you'll be in a good place.

Good luck and don't write off the painting thing too much. You're not a painting whore, you're just someone doing a job, like folks do the world over. Figure out how you can enjoy it - you have the option to change it and make it work for you - most folks in jobs don't have that opportunity.

And if all else fails, spray 'em and dip 'em!

 

[RuneBrush]

Just read through this, fantastic news on the hospital front

First off, good luck in your degree. I've been meaning to do mine (business & IT most likely) but just never got round to it.

I'd recommend two things if you're after getting into programming of any kind - I'm speaking as somebody who has been working in the industry for well over 12 years. Although I'm primarily a web developer part of my job is bespoke applications such as an ePoS system I'm developing.

1. Jump in with both feet and learn as much as you possibly can. Learn all the variants of your chosen language (C++, C#, etc) and how they interact with different platforms. Using C++ to program an iPad is a completely different kettle of fish to programming the brake controller for a train or an internet fridge. You won't be able to learn every aspect, but need a broad understanding.
A programming language is as complicated (more so) than a spoken language.
Also remember it's very easy to learn to code but you will never know every single aspect of a language, you will always meet people who are better than you doing something and equally worse.

2. Now my second recommendation you might not like - get a job as a trainee programmer. There, I've said it. Learning to code and do a degree is one thing, however if you're trying to create a profitable company (albeit one man), churn out quality games (with good graphics) and market those games you're going to kill yourself. I've begun down this road and stopped because I knew it wasn't possible.

Finally - there isn't as much money in computer programming as people think. It's the owner of a games company who makes the money - who in turn employ the programmers, they don't code themselves!

 

[montka]

Thanks buddy, I needed to hear this sort of realism

The truth can be a bastard hehe

I feel afraid on two different fronts like what if I sacrifice too much to pursue these mad ambitions and miss out on 'normal life' in the process.
Then there's the fear of failure.
Then there's the opposite side of the coin. What if I take it easy and then miss out on what could have been greatness? I'm sure no one makes it to the top of their game without making sacrifices along the way.

I think of the 'LimpBizkit' line: "You can take a ride through this life if you want, but you can't take the edge off the knife, no sir..."

The bottom line for me is that I know I can't compromise my mental health, and I'm winning the battle to live in a balanced way.

@lono, I think perhaps I didn't communicate too well in my post the paradox - I could be getting to a higher standard of painting, if I wasn't painting average models all the time.

Excuses, excuses, I know. But mine are good excuses!

 

[RuneBrush]

I'm a firm believer that there are times when you need to just take the bull by the horns and make a change. My own job has got to that 'tedium' stage. I love what I do and enjoy doing it, but there are times where I just struggle to keep focussed and randomly waste time which doesn't help the work load! Around 5 years ago I moved jobs and went from IT support & domain admin to full time web development. It's a move I don't regret. I think that I'm going to have to give it another year to see if any of the new ideas kick off and if they don't (and there's no payrise) then I'll have to look at changing. I've got a mortgage now so it's actually more difficult to change than last time.

You do seem to have your priorities right though which is a very important step. You never know you might find something that really interests you in the course of your degree and decide to go off in that direction