Motivation and inspiration

[evl hmr]

Hello folks, I'm here ask for a bit of help/advice/guidance. I've recently changed jobs so I have more income yet less time. What I have been doing is buying lot of figures that I couldn't afford before, but now I have a load of really nice unpainted and assembled figures, and I'm finding it so daunting that I don't know where to start. Also, due to the lo get hours I'm working I not have an hour or so free each evening. My issue is how do you all cope? What motivates you and ensures you get painting? Would it be advisable to put all but 1 figure in a drawer and work one at a time? Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[cassar]

get married then you wont have any trouble motivating yourself into the workshop and locking the door behind you lol.

 

[Milosh]

sometimes when I don't really have time to get a good painting night in I will clean & assemble the figures I want to paint next. This creates a little motivation and excitement for the next project. Doing this ensures that when you get the time to put a few hours in of painting the figure is already ready.

Congrats on the new job and extra money, but don't sacrifice happiness for money it is a brutal trade off.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Yeah long hours per day don't equate to ease of painting.
I'm in a similar boat as my working day means leaving home 06:00 and not getting back until 19:00. (Sometimes later if traffic 's a bitch)

Normally I've scheduled my Sundays as my painting day, which means I can concentrate from about 10:00 - 16:00 on what I want to. (Current circumstances mean it's not quite that simple)
Try to allocate yourself some "downtime" like that even if it's only an hour or two and work one figure at at time as there is nothing more disheartening than 250+ half completed projects.

 

[Wyrmypops]

Having a dedicated painting area helps. We get into different mindsets in different areas of our home.

Feeling overwhelmed by a lot of stuff needing doing, I'm with you there.
You can try to ignore the amount of stuff. Just do a short session whenever you can. You will dent the amount that way, and will establish a more productive mindset.
Could associate a time of day with the activity. Say, when that soap opera (or whatever) is on you'll be sat at the painting table. Having a time of day can remove the need to think about it as it'd become routine.
The hobby has a lot of different stages in it. Many are somewhat dull, but neccesary to get to the fun stages. You could do the dull stages (cleaning minis, basecoating) while watching TV, and keep a figure on the go that's at the fun stage for when you're more able to focus on it.

 

[freakinacage]

I've taken a leaf out of supervike's book. I assemble and prime everything I can when I can be bothered. Then when I fancy a paint, regardless of what I fancy painting, there is something there that I'll be in the mood for

 

[Einion]

How are you fixed for time on the weekends? Could you prioritise doing something mini-related for a good chunk of either or both days? If not, maybe put aside one weekend per month where you spend most of your waking time on the hobby. If you can only do stuff periodically like this it's hard to keep momentum going but it can be done; doesn't suit everyone though.

Not sure from what you posted if you have about an hour free each evening and if that's less than you're used to but I'd suggest rather than approach things in a seat-of-the-paints way try to plan out what you'll do, maybe even sketch out a workflow, to help utilise your limited time more efficiently.

IME if limited time is a major stumbling block to getting anything done it's not really about the time, it's more of a motivation issue.

Einion

 

[lono]

Motivation will probably ebb and flow depending on all sorts of circumstances. I certainly find that the more I paint the more I want to paint. Don't underestimate the amount you can do in a small amount of time either. Speed painting is a valuable thing to do as it will help you crank models out and develop all sorts of new skills and techniques. I think that although my speed paints aren't competition standard by any means, the process of doing them has equipped me with confidence and a vastly improved grasp of tone, contrast, colour, etc. If you only have two hours, try and finish a model in that time every so often, from start to finish. It may not look amazing, but I guarantee that after doing it a few times you'll be amazed at how you improve and how good you feel about the prospect of your next painting session.

I tend to pick what I feel motivated to paint and am happy to flit to another project if I get bored. I used to be the opposite though, I had to finish one model before going onto the next. Just do what works for you. Hell, I've picked out 12 minis then rolled a die to decide what to paint in the past.

As I don't have a full-time job now I don't have so many limits on painting time. When I did I took files, drill, blade, etc. Into my work and instead of just faffing online in my lunch break I'd prep minis. May not be possible depending on the specific nature of your job, but you probably have periods of wasted time in the day where you can fit stuff in. Identify them and make them productive.

 

[RuneBrush]

I consider myself quite fortunate now as my other half leaves before I do and generally arrives a good 2 hours after I get home. This means when I get in, I can get some 'chores' done and then crank into painting, when she arrives home we tend to eat (around 8:30 ~ 9:00) and then we sit on the sofa and watch a bit of telly before bed. Of course I sit there preparing a model or green stuffing something

However it's not always been that way! When I lived with my mum it was a nightmare getting motivated as was when I first moved out.

If you aren't able to have a dedicated space, buy yourself a plastic GW paint station, wooden cutlery tray, lap tray or some similar container that you can work out of (just put it on your lap or a table). This way when you do get a few minutes you have everything ready at hand and you're not wasting time getting tools, paints, materials out. Equally you don't need to wind down five minutes early to put it all away

Try not to spread yourself too thin. It's so easy to get a bit bored with what you're working on and pick up something new until you end up with a mountain of part completed mini's (we're all guilty of this) and no idea what to do. Set yourself a goal "I want to achieve X". Unless I'm working on a 'project piece' such as my GD entry, I will have one "under assembly" model and another "being painted" model. This way I have two things to keep my interest and if I get home and can't be bothered to do any painting then I've some modelling to do and visa versa.

Forward plan your sessions - this will help build up keen (this includes having discussions to yourself over what you want to achieve and how you might go about this). This morning I managed to get about ten minutes worth of painting in before I left for work, simply by having my lunch pre-packed, showering yesterday evening and having the paint and model out on the desk. Planning also helps to make sure that you achieve other real-life tasks such as eating and the house work (boo-hiss). As I mentioned above, I tend to get home and after changing will spend up to an hour doing some house work or similar before I allow myself to do any hobby stuff. If you keep a decent balance between real-life and hobby you will likely be more inspired to keep up on the hobby front (including sitting up until midnight as you're enjoying yourself).

 

[evl hmr]

Hi everyone

Thank you for the advice etc. I appreciate this isn't in instant fix and I am taking on board the best / most suitable advice for myself and trying to change my 'free' time.
Oh, Cassar I am married but no shed or garage only a spare room I think that a wife, trying to get/stay fit and 15 hour days of work/travel really takes it out of me.

This past weekend, I took myself to Ikea and bought a little desk w/ shelf unit for about $100. I managed to spend a nice chunk of the two days setting up a lovely little paint area, and I'm pretty happy how it looks, everything to hand, and a nice paint rack from back2basix on the top shelf too.

I am now pre-packing lunches and ironing shirts in the evenings rather than sitting in front of the TV for an hour. Free's up my mornings too, thanks Runebrush.

In the past everything was stacked in tubs and boxes and bought out when required. Problem was forgetting I had a colour or paint or mis-rembering and thinking I had a colour of paint and spending way too long looking for something I was sure I had, only to find out I probably didn't! Tidying up was a real joy for me , as I realised I had so many paints, I even found a couple of old GW metallic's (unopened) I have no idea how long I've had those, but I'm sure over 15 years!

I'll stick up a couple of photos of what I have done as soon as my wife comes back from her holiday with my camera (new job meant no leave for me) I have drawn up a little calendar too and I'm aiming for about 4-5 hours of hobby time a week, maybe a little more on a quite weekend too. I assume once I get back into the flow (so to speak) of painting, not only will I hopefully start to improve, but I will get some fun and enjoyment back. I really enjoy buying a making the models, but the painting has lost its appeal, which was the main reason for me getting into the hobby!

Last night I cleaned up and undercoated nigh on all of my figures, only a couple of Kingdom Deaths and a BaneLord to tidy then undercoating on Thursday evening. I also bought a couple of
cheap figures off eBay to try speed painting. I have 3 plastic GW Ork warbosses, trying to paint them and eBay them by the weekend, nothing anymore than tabletop, but want to set myself a goal.

Off topic, I have a model that so far has a deep, dark purple cloak and silver/gold armour, but I'm stuck with what colour to do his trousers/pants. Colour wheel points to green, but I'm not feeling it.

Cheers

 

[Einion]

Off topic, I have a model that so far has a deep, dark purple cloak and silver/gold armour, but I'm stuck with what colour to do his trousers/pants. Colour wheel points to green, but I'm not feeling it.

Assuming there is a green opposite the hue of the purple you've used - check* - this is only if you want to go with a complementary colour; they can be very jarring (depends on the chroma of both colours, dull one or both down and they'll work much better) and there are lots of other ways you can go, including split-complementary and analogous.

With split-complementaries you find the opposite hue and go off to each side a little and use both of those (the angle being equal usually, but doesn't have to be). For an analogous scheme there are a couple of variations you can use too; one is to go off to each side of the starting colour and again use both of 'em, e.g. a more blueish violet and a red-violet, but you can go in just one direction e.g. a more blueish violet and then blue, or red-violet and then magenta.

Or you can use some combination of these two. Another simple trick is to use two versions of the same hue, one higher in chroma and the other duller - a dull colour nearly always goes very well with a vivid colour of the same hue.

*Use a full colour wheel to do this properly. Notice that green-yellow is technically opposite violet, not green. If you have any difficulty with this and you have PS or GIMP you can just fill a file with any colour and then invert it, that's an absolutely reliable way of finding out the correct complementary hue (180° different).

Einion

 

[evl hmr]

Hello, well this is what my little painting area now looks like. I realised I do enjoy the mess, but I am / have put in a drawer the figures on show, only have the 3 Ork's and Lion Knight (he is the purple dilema)
Thanks folksView attachment 15396

 

[HodRod]

Just saw this so I apologies for jumping back on topic. What works well for me to get motivated to paint, is entering a competition. It gives you a deadline so you have to actaully force yourself to think ahead and make sure you can get enought hours in before the deadline, which makes you start finding time where you never knew there was any. The other thing a competition does is make you want to paint to your best ability and challenge yourself, which makes any experience more entertaining and enjoyable so you associated good feelings towards the experience which increases that drive to do it. Just my humble thoughts on what I've experienced.