Finding motivation

[BlodVargarna]

I have probably hundreds of models unpainted and unassembled.

 

I've been distracted by another sci-fi miniature game based in a galaxy far far away and a long long time ago.

 

Everytime I think about getting back into 40k I get discouraged by the sheer work involved to get my miniatures ready for the table top.

 

How do you guys get find motivation to start painting?

 

I need help!

[JeffTibbetts]

This question comes up from time to time and I think, based on the answers, it's very personal. I won't try to tell you what to do, but I will say I'm in a similar situation in that the vast majority of my stuff is unpainted and I have other hobbies/distractions that keep me from working as much as I want to. 

 

I guess, for me, thinking of it as one project at a time really helps. That said, I go between maybe 3 or 4 big projects, and I have no problem leaving one half done if I feel like working on something else. Right now it's a Storm Talon because of the Facebook painting competition GeeDubs is running. Before that I was working on a Land Speeder Storm and a Land Raider which are now sitting half-painted. I finished a full squad of Sniper Scouts somewhere in there, as well as a few 'side projects' like a Space Hulk terminator, Overkill Dark Angel, the 30th Anniversary model, etc. I guess it's always fresh in a way, because I never force myself to do something. Frankly, I rarely play games, so this is little motivation for me. I'd rather enjoy the process itself. I do know that I've done some quick assembly work on things I wanted to game with, and that's sort of fun on its own once in a while. 

 

The painting IS the fun part for me. If I were playing another game and didn't feel compelled to put these on the table, I think I'd continue painting them anyway. I just like it. I also don't get a lot of time to do it so I never get 'burned out' from batch-painting infantry or anything like that. 

 

If you don't really enjoy playing right now, I think it's okay to let the 40K stuff sit for a bit or just pick them up for a break here and there. 

 

But, if you're really looking for motivation, make yourself accountable online. Joint the ETL or another painting competition. Last year I did Dreadtober, and it was a lot of fun to feel like I HAD to do that one model because people were (pretend) counting on me. 

[Iron-Daemon Forge]

I don't know how much this would help.  But someone taken video of a seminar/demo where Mark from Forge World discussion getting models painted & just getting into that mind set & to make to most of your time.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x1uNh0teko&feature=youtu.be

As said there, possible having deadline?  ETL start on Sunday or if you've got a game arrange it might be worth aim to get a set model or unit painted in time for that.

I also find when I'm painting my own models, I tend to go to my local store & a few my friends will also be there.  I find it really good as you can get diffrent idea & tips/views.

 

 

[Kabbala]

For me, the playing is the motivation to paint. Prior to getting back to playing regularly, I'd barely paint a thing as it was always something I'd put off for the exact reason I wasn't playing. Once I made the decision/commitment to play again I make time because fielding painted models looks awesome on the table, maybe a couple hours every day to paint something and alternate between armies to keep things fresh.

 

My gaming group even has a house rule that unpainted models confer the Hatred USR to the opponent to further incentivize us to paint.

[Grotsmasha]

Having a set goal always helps, even if it's a simple as "Today, I'm going to spray my base colour, tomorrow I'll do the wash/shade on unit x". I've also found listening to a Black Library audiodrama also helps to maintain my interest while painting. I almost always assemble in front of the TV/YouTube. And lastly, batch paint wherever possible, save the extra detail work for characters.

 

Cheers,

Jono

[Bloody Legionnaire]

My motivation really picked up after I got my airbrush. Painting lots of models especially repetitive things like Marines get's boring real quick... however being able to do my basecoats and highlights so quickly and easily and being able to do batches at one time is really fun.

Jumping back and forth between the armies I'm working on helps too. As I lose interest with one I gain interest with another.

[Soldier of Dorn]

One of the things I find motivates me a lot to paint is to build models I really want to paint, do lots of cool kitbashes and conversions that I think deserve paintjobs. I tend not to worry as much anymore about building and painting every kit I have lying around, because I've got a metric :cuss ton, as I'm sure all of you also do, and I know I'd burn myself out long before completing the majority of my hoard, so when I assemble models, I make sure that they're the very best I can do in terms of posing, kitbashing, et cetera and then when I realize that enough of them are unique enough that other people won't be painting that model in my place, I think that motivates me a bit more.

 

Also, a suitable mood helps. I've got the first five season soundtracks from Game of Thrones on my PC, along with a bunch of Two Steps from Hell albums, the Undertale OST, and a bunch of other soundtracks from various things that I generally listen to while painting. I find that those really get me in the mood to paint, there's just something about that particular sort of epic film music that inspires me, but I also mix more light-hearted things like Undertale and jazz pieces into my playlist too, since I like those too. I understand your musical tastes might differ from mine, but I think the same principle applies. Listen to and absorb information that inspires you to paint, whatever form that might take.

[WarriorFish]

I can't add much more than to support what has been said. Motivation comes from within, but there's nothing like a deadline to put the boot up you! Either because you want to use the models for a game, or because you'll fail your ETL vow ;)

 

Personally I would add that I won't play with unpainted models. Aside from being a general rule once you see fully painted armies on the table it's difficult to go back. It just looks so good. Last but far from least is participating on the B&C. Sharing your progress is a great motivator as others will give you advice and tips to help you improve, or sometimes just encouragement to keep going :tu:

[Interrogator Stobz]

Success breeds Success...... Finish something first, feel good about it, repeat. Don't let long breaks let you forget that feeling of completion, be regular.

[Strength 10]

One of the main problems is people often have multiple armies (I used to do this when I was in the hobby 10 years ago) - this means you lose focus and never get any one force really close to being finished. My advice would be to pick one army and make a 1500 point list, including all options, wargear, characters etc that are gonna be in it. Buy half the models (if you don't have them already), do some test models and figure out a great colour scheme and painting workflow and then start painting up / building one unit at a time. Once you're almost done with the first half buy / order the next half of the army to finish that off. If you need to airbrush do them multiple units at a time but finish them up separately. Don't try painting 40 marines at once, this is for pro painters or the super motivated - most people will get bogged down and end up with 40 half painted marines they never finish off.

 

After this you can move onto another army/project, but now any time you want extra options or to add new units you have a core of 1500 points painted already. Painting the odd tank or unit for your first army can be a nice break from painting stuff for the second. Painting one unit at a time is really important I find, that buzz from completing something and it turning out nice goes into motivating you to complete another like Brother Stobz said.

I restarted the hobby from scratch about 18 months ago and started off with an IG army using this method and have probably 1500-2k points painted up. I'm now 2/3 of the way through painting up 1500 points of Grey Knights. After that it's Khorne Daemonkin, Ravenwing, Saim Hann, or Admech.... Lots of interesting options for projects, but not gonna touch them until those Grey Knights are done...

 

Another thing that might be helpful is never allow yourself to play with unpainted models, or have games where you will only use painted models. If you wanna play with it, paint it up. Try and find other people with fully painted armies to play against also. Another thing: Make sure you totally finish off your models. Base them, apply transfers, paint the edge of the base black - it's really important to finish something totally so you don't have to go back to it and you can enjoy it being finished. Having half finished stuff bogs you down almost as much as the stuff that's just undercoated I find.

Finally: Paint stuff to the best of your ability, don't treat every model like a golden demon entry, but try and produce something you can enjoy looking at and be proud of, whatever your level. Those are just my 2 cents, thanks and good luck!
 

[ShadowSong7007]

I had a super long post planned out with pie charts and stuff but then I thought better of it. I'll just tell you what works for me. 

 

 

Don't force the issue, if you're not feeling it then you're not feeling it. I play Warmahordes and Kings of War along with 40k. My paint table has numerous minis that need love but I paint what I feel like. Right now it's 40k, the ETL helps with motivation plus I game with about 8 other people on the regular. It helps to find motivation to paint for the game you are playing. If you're playing a game in a galaxy far far away then paint those models and don't worry about 40k. If you try to force it you'll just wind up putting it off even longer. When you feel like playing 40k you'll find your motivation to paint those models will be easy to find. 

[Halandaar]

I don't really enjoy painting as much as I do the other aspects of the hobby, which means I tend to put it off if there's something else I can be doing, but I do love the satisfaction of having completed models.

 

With regard to motivation, I benefit from deadlines, especially externally set ones. If I set my own deadline ("paint these Terminators by next weekend"), I just won't do it. Everything else will be more important and any hobby time I get will be spent either building/kitbashing other models, or playing video games. The painting contests on B&C are really helpful to me; the "pressure" of impending failure spurred me on to finish my first 30K Alpha Legion on the final day of L&T. In the end I was quite happy with them and now I have a basis to work from, I think it will be easier to get myself going on other units in the force.

 

Where you've mentioned that you've got a lot of models to work on, it might be helpful to break them up into manageable chunks. ETL has really helped me with that; I organised all my unpainted Minotaur models and costed them all up into vows of roughly equal size. The "pressure" of having publicly said I'll do something will be a real motivator to me to get it done; plus there is an element of competition there too which I find useful! That boost of enthusiasm means I've already started on my first batch of models only a day in to the event.

 

The main thing though is, I'm only doing these things because I do actually want to do them. If was playing another game extensively and not really bothering with 40k at the moment, I probably wouldn't be taking part in these events. Don't compromise on your hobby time, you're supposed to enjoy it, not worry about it! 

[BlodVargarna]

My motivation really picked up after I got my airbrush. Painting lots of models especially repetitive things like Marines get's boring real quick... however being able to do my basecoats and highlights so quickly and easily and being able to do batches at one time is really fun.

 

Jumping back and forth between the armies I'm working on helps too. As I lose interest with one I gain interest with another.

Thanks for everyone's thoughtful replies.

I'm going to try to incorporate a lot of the ideas presented. The first step is going to be to start small: I'll assemble a 5 man squad and get it ready for painting.

I'm also going to try to work on an unfinished project I have had sitting around for a long time.

 

One thing that seems like it would help with my backlog would be an airbrush. A lot has been writen in this forum and elsewhere on the web so I'll not try to ask too many questions about that.

 

But one question I feel I need to ask is: there's a Masters set with compressor and airbrush (gravity fed dual action) on Amazon for $80 shipping included. http://www.amazon.com/Master-Airbrush-Multi-purpose-Dual-action-Compressor/dp/B001TO578Q

Would this be a good buy for someone looking to start airbrushing miniatures?

[JeffTibbetts]

That set's not a bad start. Depends on your budget. That compressor is tankless (I have the same one) and it cycles on and off constantly while in use. While it's not very loud, it can get a little annoying. It's not too hard on the machine, and I've been using mine for a couple years with no issue. The airbrush itself, as you might have already guessed, is junk. It 'worked' fine for basecoating for quite a while, but the trigger required almost constant work to keep it clear. That meant spraying really hurt my finger after a while, as I was pulling the trigger back and forth, back and forth. I know that seems like a minor concern, but it's enough of one that I really hesitated to crack it out for most projects. I picked up a Sotar 20/20 on sale on Amazon for under a hundred bucks, and that thing is a pure dream in comparison. I'm far more willing to use it, and try different projects with it, than I ever was with the Master one. 

 

That said, under a hundred to get started with AB is well worth it. Just remember, if it's a pain, you can pay for 'upgrades' here and there once you've got the basics down. I'd say go for it! You'll be shocked how much faster you can get the 'boring' steps done. :D 

[Halandaar]

I'd say go for it! You'll be shocked how much faster you can get the 'boring' steps done.

Agreed! Having owned an airbrush for only a couple of months, having to go back to basecoating by brush this weekend was horrible.