Put off painting?

[ThePenitentOne]

I've found the community here to be super supportive. I too am a slow, weak painter. My most productive years painting would have been 88-92 and 2008-2010; but even then I wasn't a great painter- I just forced my self to get a quantity of models on the table.

 

Now I'm older and the eyes aren't what they were; painting is hard. But today is payday, so I'm ordering a magnifying desklamp and a fair bit of paint and brushes. I have TONS to paint. Like the entire BSF and Spacehulk collections, all of Tooth and Claw, the GSC start collecting box, a 1200-1500 point Daemons of Slaanesh + Start collecting CSM and a dozen or so old metal Noise Marines, and so many sister and Inquisitors that it's overwhelming to list them. 6 mortifiers and a Penitent Engine + Karamazov!

 

So yeah, you're in good company. I've decided though, once the lamp and the paint gets here, I'm really going to push my skill envelope. Even in my prime, I never pushed hard to be good- there were always so many models waiting that I was always stuck with the dilemma- put a highlight layer on this playable model, or make another gray model playable. And getting models playable always seemed to win out.

 

But now the models are just too damn good to shortcut.

[Fajita Fan]

I wish I had been watching Duncan's painting videos when I met him (to be honest I had no idea who he was at the time) because I'd have thanked him for making a series of paint videos that really take 5 steps back from all the fancy overproduced stuff you see on YouTube now.  His techniques without an airbrush or amazing brush control have been a huge help for me.

 

I love the styles of guys like James Wappel and Darren Latham but I will grow a horn out of my head before I have their abilities and brush control.  I also don't get to play much so it's hard to stay motivated.  

[Lexington]

Y'know, I was in this exact position until recently. As in, a couple of weeks ago. I spend an inordinate amount of time on conversions, and an even more inordinate amount of time not painting them, because while I've been hacking miniatures up and putting them back together in pleasing shapes for the better part of two decades, I've been painting for almost none of that. Like, sometimes. Occasional starts, stops and stutters. Learn a trick or two, mess something up just a little, then put the brushes and paint down for the better part of a Presidential term. It's been like this for so long, it's kind of a joke to my entire gaming group.

 

Recently, for whatever reason (perhaps because I'm perpetually stuck inside and my wife has monopolized the Switch for Animal Crossing purposes), I decided it was time to kick this bad habit. Sprayed down a bunch of mono-pose Orks with cheap primer, picked up some Contrast and washes and basic paints that had been sitting listlessly since August, and just started experimenting. No expectations, no real pressure (I hate those AoBR Boyz, ugliest poses), just seeing how well I could match an old color scheme from the 3rd Ed Ork book. It's been hugely freeing and fun, and now I'm painting almost every day on Orks that I actually like. Just a confidence thing the whole time, really. Start the habit, learn to trust yourself a bit, and it might just work.

[Schurge]

You said you play Ultramarines, Well, Ultramarines combined with contrast paints were created for people like you. Zenithal highlight, blue contrast paint, gold highlight for the shoulder pads and you're good. If you ever want to make things a little more complicated you can always come back later and do it.

 

I prefer the kitbashing / conversion aspect as well. I'm a decent painter but I dislike the first half of the process (getting all the base colors down) and hate painting blocks of infantry. I just slowly chug through it and mix things up a lot, especially when painting infantry. I'll take frequent breaks painting other kinds of models.

[Ahzek451]

Apologies if this in the wrong forum section!

 

I’ve had something gnawing at my mind for a while now and just want to see if anybody has ever found themselves in the same position.

I have collected 40K since I was about 8 years old, I’m now 24 and I have still yet to paint and finish a full 2000 point army. It’s not that I get other projects in my head and get distracted, I’ve been a firm 30K Ultramarines fan for about 5 years now so you would expect me to be able to at least field a 2000 point army fully painted up, and yet I can’t.

I love the building, converting and kitbashing side of the hobby and making fluff/lore up in my head for my army, and yet when it comes to painting it I find myself with no motivation.

For years I put this down to me being a lazy sod, and yet lately I feel like I have come to the conclusion that I am scared of painting. I am worried that I have spent hours converting up a miniature, and that when I come to paint it I am going to ruin it with a sub-par paint job.

 

I was just wondering if anyone else has felt like this before and how you got yourselves out of it and painting?

 

James

 

I know exactly how you feel. I spent the better half of my time in this hobby sticking to the modeling side. I enjoyed cleaning the models, conversions, putting in LED's and magnets and coming up with all sorts of new ideas when it came to modeling. But, like you I put so much effort into modeling (and money) that I was nervous that I would screw up my models. So I got into a bad habit of having too much grey and sometimes primed only minis. I think what really kicked this off for me, is the timing of my entry into the hobby. Back then, there was hardly any info on how to paint GW minis. The only hint we had was a small list of colors on the back of the box. But most of us know now that those are just a generic list, and in most cases not a comprehensive list of paints used on the box photo. So my first models were painted horrendously and I was having a fit trying to put transfers on shoulder pads. No youtube, no guidance or instructions. And I didn't have a natural painting talent. years later, like 10+ things finally changed. It took a combo of GW finally opening up with more how-to guides, and wonderful videos by Duncan....and Cancer to kick my butt into gear. My job has very demanding hours so this was one of the first times in my adult life that I received some extended down time. So now I finally have 2000+ plus of marines, 2000+ of necrons, and a lot of thousand sons completely done and ready to rock. With a paint job I feel pretty proud of using a lot of techniques learned from Duncan and co. And I am pretty picky for myself, I like to go as far as I can which is beyond tabletop ready. But never at the level of the professionals. 

 

I can also say that personally, I need to work into the mood to paint. I often can't do that unless I get a few consecutive days like a weekend to myself. And it's like going to the gym. Once you stop, it can be difficult getting back into it. 

Edited May 8, 2020 by Ahzek451

[battle captain corpus]

Apologies if this in the wrong forum section!

I’ve had something gnawing at my mind for a while now and just want to see if anybody has ever found themselves in the same position.

I have collected 40K since I was about 8 years old, I’m now 24 and I have still yet to paint and finish a full 2000 point army. It’s not that I get other projects in my head and get distracted, I’ve been a firm 30K Ultramarines fan for about 5 years now so you would expect me to be able to at least field a 2000 point army fully painted up, and yet I can’t.

I love the building, converting and kitbashing side of the hobby and making fluff/lore up in my head for my army, and yet when it comes to painting it I find myself with no motivation.

For years I put this down to me being a lazy sod, and yet lately I feel like I have come to the conclusion that I am scared of painting. I am worried that I have spent hours converting up a miniature, and that when I come to paint it I am going to ruin it with a sub-par paint job.

I was just wondering if anyone else has felt like this before and how you got yourselves out of it and painting?

James

A good friend of mine always reminds me that a deadline is amazing for a painting mission. Maybe this is worth looking at?

 

On the other points: there's nothing wrong with painting your minis to a basic standard to begin with. Say you just get 500 points at a time, paint them to an OK standard. Then if you're happy move on and if you have time go back and add some other highlights gets etc?

 

Also...this maybe controversial I know....but maybe the painting side just isn't part of your hobby? You're passionate about the fluff and background plus kit bashing so don't worry about the painting side? Hobby your way ;)

 

Either way, never feel bad or guilty about it. It's a hobby after all and just do what you want to do. But if painting is a thing that bugs you I genuinely think that setting a mini deadline to get X done by X day will defiantly work. And whatever level you paint to is still awesome! My Black Legion are my churn out and game with army. I to spend a lot of money and time on parts etc for them and kit bashing. But painting wise? I just do them to basic tabletop as that's all that matters for me as a gamer. My Golden Daemon painting days are in the past. XD

 

Let us know how it goes! Oh and drop into the Age of Darkness forum sometime to chat about your 30K. :)

 

BCC

Edited May 9, 2020 by battle captain corpus

[Rogue]

I think it's already been said up thread, but I'm going to repeat it for emphasis - things like the 12 Months of Hobby Challenge (or other more faction/forum specific challenges) can be an excellent motivator.

 

The low bar on the Hobby Challenge is an easy way in - basing one model could be your target for the month. It's not much, but it's more than nothing, and you can always go on to paint more.

 

I've also found that a slight competitive element helps - the Hobby Challenge currently has a three-way inter-faction campaign going on, with completed models adding to our forces. Even when my painting mojo is low, I want to do enough enough not to let my team down...

[Firedrake Cordova]

I have collected 40K since I was about 8 years old, I’m now 24 and I have still yet to paint and finish a full 2000 point army ... I’ve been a firm 30K Ultramarines fan for about 5 years now so you would expect me to be able to at least field a 2000 point army fully painted up, and yet I can’t ... I feel like I have come to the conclusion that I am scared of painting. I am worried that I have spent hours converting up a miniature, and that when I come to paint it I am going to ruin it with a sub-par paint job.

Perhaps an approach to try would be to get your army base-coated first, and then go back and do the highlights, etc?  That way, you're building up your brush control and "paint brain" doing the easiest part, and by the time comes around for you to do the first highlight, you'll have built up some skill and confidence?  Plus, a base-coated army looks a lot better than an army with one fully-painted unit, and the rest in ... "GW factory camouflage grey", which might give you some motivation to carry on?  

 

If you've got a local GW store, it might be worth having a word with them, and see if you can get a painting lesson?  At the very least, you should come away with one of the easy-to-build Intercessors you can use as a sacrificial model for practice (industrial alcohols like IPA and ethanol are a good paint remover). :)

 

Really (as has been said), there's no substitute for regular practice - it builds up skill, speed, confidence, and intuition.  As an example, I've been painting today for the first time in a few months, and despite thinning the paint a fair bit, I was getting fine brush-strokes after a couple of minutes - it turns out that due to the weather conditions (25C, 50% humidity), the paint was drying on my wet pallet in about 10 minutes and I'd not noticed (doh).  Simply adding some retarder to the paint stopped this, and well, lesson learned.  I'm sure if I'd been painting more regularly the last month or so, I'd have known to do that straight off. :)

[ThePenitentOne]

Just put in my paint and brush order today. Also studied up a bit on method, so I think it's a well informed choice. Actually starting to look forward to it; hopefully I can stay motivated.

[Bung]

Well i havent really started painting my miniatures after a few years ago and years after i started with 40k in third edition.

I have found joy in painting after visiting some painting workshops where i had seen i can improve my skills.

On the other site i recently started to build and paint a bigger army for 30k cause i have alot of motivation due to the other players.

Maybe you could find a copy of this book:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1560579763/armies-and-legions-and-hordes/description

 

Its great about army painting and includes a chapter about motivation.

[ServoBadger]

I also struggle with painting and I'll be honest, sometimes it gets me really down. I play in a small group and I am the worst painter by a considerable margin despite having been painting models for the longest - the first I painted were the original RTB01 Space Marines.

 

However there is one thing I can hold on to even when I'm most depressed:

 

No matter how basic the paint job, painted models ALWAYS look better on the table than grey plastic.

[BitsHammer]

I went through a bit of a burn out and honedtly still haven't fully bounced back. I spent years painting the GW method (which I fully approve of if you want a nice high level table top) but I wasn't able to take it further.

 

So I started experimenting with light and shadow and trying to see if I could take things further.

 

And oh boy did I fail a lot. But I also learned a lot. But after spending several months struggling with yellow power armour I just had to step back and admit I needed a break.

 

What changed recently is actually the ability to pick up a model I've always wanted, a Chaos Reaver Titan. With such a centerpiece it becomes a shame to not paint it, pushing me to crack out the brushes and even try a few new things.

 

Of course I'll need to build it first, but every journey starts somewhere. Now it's got me spinning my wheels to try and work out a force to support it so it can march across the table and crush things.

[Grim Dog Studios]

I just wanted to thank you all for the advice and support throughout this thread once again! I've been watching the Hang out and Hobby streams over on the Warhammer Twitch channel, and that combined with you all in this thread, has egged me on to actually get some painting done.

 

I've started on a test mini for my 30K Ultramarines, thread and post of the test mini over here for anybody that is interested: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/357598-the-atrocity-at-calth-true-scaled-ultramarines/page-2

 

Thanks again!

James

[jaxom]

Something I haven't seen mentioned is that some techniques may resonate more with you than other techniques and how important you may find (semi-)immediate results. This is similar to exercise - some people can't stand gyms but love sports, etc. Experimenting with techniques to find what works for you in terms of "it felt good to paint this"and not just "this looks good" is important. I keep a little painting journal with recipes I like and notes on how it felt.

• I have a recipe for power swords that I only use on special characters because it's all glazes and I don't get that immediate "this is coming together," I need to stay motivated when working on a squad.
• I feel good edge highlighting cloth, but I get really impatient edge highlighting armour.
• If I have to edge highlight armour, I prefer to have a broader highlight and then tie the colors together with a wash.
• The scalloped lens method doesn't work as well on models without a sharp separation of lens from background when the lens is small.
• A medium bright metallic followed by an ink looks fine for most helmet lenses when viewed on the tabletop; huge time saver.

Etc.

 

The unexpected benefit of keeping the journal is that it's a physical reminder of how far I've come as a painter.