Patience with Painting

[Brokenblade]

Ok, so i know a lot of us spend a long time on each individual painting project, whether that be because we want to get it as good as possible, or just because we\'re slow painters But lately i\'ve noticed how only about 50% of my painting projects actually get finished before i start something else, i\'m not exactly sure if this is because im not patient enough to stay on one project or if other projects seem much more exciting so i move on to that one.

For eg. recently (within the last 6 months) i\'ve started, and not finished, a space marine command squad with large scenic base, a golden demon entry for next year, a bretonnian army, an ogre army, a converted nurgle lord and various lotr miniatures.

Thing is this isn\'t like a painting backlog of models i\'ve not started yet (don\'t even start me on that subject ) Just models i start and never finish!

Am i the only painter to suffer from this weakness, or are there others who have the same problem, please tell me i\'m not alone

 

[praetorian0_1]

I just have patience problems when it comes to the computer part of my pics of my minis... argggh.
Ya, I got that start one army, start that other army problem too. Guess it comes with having about 7 of them.

 

[frenchkid]

I usually finnish a mini befor moving on to the next, but I think that you\'ll find you\'re not alone. You should go check out the artisan edge, he has a nice shot of shelfs full of WIP

 

[tidoco2222]

I have more unfinished projects dotted about the house than finished ones, this is because the mini making industry keeps making minis faster than I can paint.

 

[james9487]

I think it is also motivation that may be the problem. That is what it is for me I think when I move on to new projects, leaving others to dust away. If I choose something not very interesting, then I had better paint it quickly or I will lose interest. How long can you stare at something that you lost interest in long ago? I think the trick is to motivate yourself and set a goal for that painting time you are about to have, and when you are done, feel good that you did what you meant to, or keep going and feel good for doing above and beyond the goal. I hope this isn\'t old news for you.

-James

 

[Legacy Account]

I suffer from \'painters block\' quite a bit, so will leave a mini for months or years sometimes before going back to it. I must have near to a hundred half finished minis. It used to be more, but I stripped a load of them!

I am forcing myself to finish the stuff on my \'in progress\' shelf before starting anything else......... Maybe

 

[Frustrated Father]

Im starting to run into that a bit as I get frustrated with a particular miniature or I find something about it I don\'t care for. Or more recently, when something shiney and brand new arrives in my mail box.



Mainly though, I keep at it until I\'m done, otherwise it will irritate me to no end eo just stare at them half finished. Got two celtos eyeballin\' me right now from the shelves.

Hrmm, almost accusingly I would say ..

 

[Astonia]

The only thing that can make me finish a mini is painting for a competition or commission...

 

[Ritual]

I always have plenty of work-in-progress minis on my desk. I try to keep the number down so that I have time to finish as many minis as I start, but the number of WIP\'s slowly rise... :innocent:

I do think it\'s good to have many minis in the works simultaneously, since you can always find something that feels right to paint. Unless, you want to start on another, of course ... If I would force myself to paint one mini only until it\'s finished I would have painter\'s block a lot more often.

 

[Margo]

I like working on more than one projects at the same time (Gemini, remember? ) -- whenever I get bored with one, I switch to another. Helps a lot. So I don\'t think of multitaking as of a patience problem, I actually think it\'s a good thing.

 

[Frustrated Father]

Ya\'ll are probably right about the switching about until inspiration hits you on another miniature, but something in me just \'grinds to a halt\' when I leave something undone and has a tendency to irk the hell out of me.

Ah well, each their own I\'m thinking. Though I think if you were painting an army or something, that multiples would work out much better for color cohesion and the such. Heck, I just tried NMM gold for the first time on my last posted miniature and you can see the differnce between the belt and everything else. Hell, that was on the same miniature - couldn\'t imagine it with multiples.

 

[Orb]

I tend to have a number of projects on the go but they slow down and dry up! I do have a problem with finishing!

someone described it as \"Paralysis by Analysis\".

I find myself spending more time thinking about what colours to paint, how to do it...........than actually painting!

 

[supervike]

no staying power...

I was just thinking about this. I have so many started/half realized projects it would be funny if it weren\'t so damn annoying.

Not to make light of it, but sometimes it seems I have a form of painters attention deficit disorder....I cannot stay focused for any real period of time before I move onto another project....:flame:

 

[Wolf_Fang]

personaly i have few minis so dont have this problem... so instead of moving off to more this happens...
(please note i dont have near that many lol)

 

[EricJ]

I\'m kind of the exact opposite. I get really into the mini I\'m painting and almost obsess on it until it\'s done. The only time I won\'t finish a mini is when I\'ve decided I don\'t want to ever finish it, and usually strip it or something. Other than that, the only partially done mini in my house right now is the one I\'m working on.

I don\'t think the this is really a libra trait, but I know it\'s anti Gemini, so that\'s enough for me!

Of course with the time I\'ve had to paint lately my current project has sat half done for quite a while. And which my paint aid project, I may, for the first time, leave her unfinished while working on something else! *gasp*

-Eric

 

[Joshua]

at the beginning i had only like 20% of my minis on my desk done and people started to fret about the fact that 5 out of 5 minis u upped were wips i think
right now i virtually force myself to finish a mini before starting another and saying that, painting a mini you just begun that stood around for 4 years when 2 new packages of super cool new minis arrived is torture!

 

[Avelorn]

It\'s hard to finish off sometimes.. but I\'ll give some advice that works for me. well.. not all of them perhaps..

1. Don\'t see every project you start as a cool mini you\'d like to paint. Because a cool mini tends to get very uncool after 40h of work. Find another reason why you should do it.. I\'m finishing figures to practise a specific thing. I have several goals with my painting.. I want to win a golden demon.. I want to be ranked within the 100\'s of cmon. etc. These are goals helping me to keep my favourite hobby a productive one. I need to finish figures if I\'m ever going to reach these goals. And also it helps me through the hard times.. when I fail with a specific figure or when I get bad criticism. Because then I return to the reason why I painted that figure.. It was for practising NMM.. or freehand painting. Did I practise NMM? Yes.. so the mini was really a sucess.

2. Tell everybody your going to paint that specific mini and maybe even what you\'re going to try out.. and then just submit for the pressure!

3. It\'s nothing wrong with having different projects at the same time.. if you\'re really stuck with one figure.. start painting another one. BUT schedule time when you have to paint the first figure. Okey I have 3 hours of painting, I start painting 1 hour of this really boring mini that I have to finish.. and then I give this other really cool mini my next 2 hours of attention. This will require a fair amount of self-discipline.. lol okay.. you can skip this point maybe..

4. Picture the things you will achieve when you\'re done. How cool everybody will think it is.. and the satisfaction of putting it on display! Then when somebody maybe thrashes it, maybe you\'ll feel more depressed.. then just remember that other reason why you painted it. Yesss.. it was for practise!! I entered the golden demons for practise.. so I can get better. I don\'t care I travelled from Sweden entered all categories and failed to make it into the second rounds with any of them. I just did it for practise.. (well not actually happened.. but it could!)

5. Ask a friend to give you a fee if you don\'t finish it in a reasonable amount of time. (okey.. it works for the stingy ones.. not me)

6. Just let it be. You have your entire life to finish off figures..! and maybe in a year or so. You maybe have this really cool idea.. and pick the mini up once more.

Cheers!
Sven

 

[benjers2]

My trouble is I buy for armies, bidding a few times on different ebay bits, mailordering others, an impulse buy at the shops.... then I find I have a 5000point army lying around in draws, on shelves, in boxes, under the settee (couch, sofa, chaise longe, whatever).

Then I have to paint some up to sell to pay for the rest of the army, and by the time that huge army is done along comes a cool new army, or better (OR WORSE) still new cooler minis for the same army.....

.... and THEN I find my painting has fallen behind the times......

personally I love all this though, it means I\'m always learning, always striving to improve.

 

[Modderrhu]

Hmmmm, patience. I know I have that problem, but I also know that I always want a new challenge - something new to try. That leads to many WIPs.
1) There\'s a horse which I\'m trying to make look like a blue roan, that\'s on back-burner till I have another idea on how to do it. *glaring at Astonia*
2) A Dark Elf noble conversion on a dark pegasus... I\'m waiting till I got that horse right before I make a concerted effort.
3) Some Tomb King heavy horsemen converted as centaurs with \'saddle\' cloths. I started them \'cos they looked like (and are) fun to do.
4) Some skeleton warriors, because I\'d never done skellies before.

And those are quite apart from all the conversions that are calling my name.

 

[Astonia]

Hehe, who me? :innocent: