Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => Workbench => Topic started by: marrony on February 14, 2010, 05:22:18 PM
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Hello LAF's.Hope the weekend is being kind to you.I would like a little advice of help? My painting recently has been in the doldrums...cant seem to get motivated or inspired.Last few days I've just sat at my table.....and nothing.Zip.Nada.With some much great work going on here in all the different branches I just wonder how my fellow fanatics deal with the meh feeling and how to get the wicked spell broken? :'(
Good luck in whatever project/ painting/ work domination plan you are working on now.
Graham
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That's an easy one: Do something different.
If painting turns out to be more hard work than enjoyment, drop the brushes and better read a book, watch TV, take a walk, anything. Inspiration is somehow similar to love - comes and goes quite unexpectedly. Just don't force it.
Sorry for not having any magic bullet for you.
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If I don't feel like painting, I sculpt, or look up uniform references for future projects.
Once inspired, I continue with a new thing and go back to the old thing once I'm bored of that.
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I flip between painting, building and converting stuff... which is why it's taken me roughly two years to make some hedges...
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Clean up your workbench and sort out some miniatures. It always works for me.
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yeah, go and do something different, clear your head.
If I'm desperately in need of motivation i'll read some books, watch movies or take a trip to a museum or art gallery. Theres usually something totally un connected to what I want to work on that makes me want to jump right back in and create!
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GET A GRIP YOU PUSSY!!!!
;)
Sorry - not being much help am I? :)
Seriously, we all get those doldrums occasionally, so fear not.
Totally agree that clearing, cleaning and re-setting your workspace is an essential first step. Then find a couple of figures that are maybe a bit different, but that you really LIKE and think you'll enjoy painting.
That'll get you going again.
The killer is when you have to wade through numbers of figures you don't really like, just to get projects finished.
So like Mad Doc says, swap to something totally different to find your mojo again. Good luck!
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I guess my three step formula was:
1) Do something you really like.
2) Keep the projects small.
3) Finish them!
Step 1 is quite obvious when it comes to motivation. For example, getting stuck to a massed combat system can force you to paint something you don't actually like. Step 2 makes it easier to get something done soon enough. I used to think big and start stuff that would take half a year of dedication, at least, optimistically thinking. Then real life showed its ugly face, and I ended up with piles of half-finished junk in my drawers. Which takes us to the point 3.
A half-finished mini is not really finished at all. It's another unpainted mini, only with the difference that you have wasted plenty of valuable time on it. Try to find that extra hour to call it done, truly and completely. Your project can be ten minis, three or only one. It's still something on your "completed" list. You can post it on the "what I painted" forum or something. That kind of fulfillment keeps me motivated nowadays.
I repeat the previous advice: Bury the extra clutter somewhere, take a small handful of your favourite minis on the table and paint them. That's it, really.
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Have you tried posting your problem on a miniatures/gaming forum to see what advice you get ;D
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Yeah, keeping projects small is good too!
I am painting 1 unit of 6 Orcs, 1 unit of 3 Rabbitmen, 1 unit of 5 halfling, 1 Dwarf mounted on a pig and a unit of 8 Toadmen. All for flintloque, but changing it around really helps.
Normally I do them in units of 12-24, but by keeping it small it makes life easier!
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I sympathise with your plight, I have done almost nothing in 6 months. One night I sat at the workbench for at least two hours spinning the turret on a steam tank lacking the motivation to actually do anything constructive. >:(
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Clean up your workbench
:o
HERESY!
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I usually choose something simple like a peice of scenery or a creature that requires alot of dry brushing get it done quickly and hopefully that normally re-inspires me.
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Put the old stuff in a box and buy something new ;)
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All good advice and I don't have anything to add on getting out of a slump. However, taking a day off each week keeps me out of the slump. A regular day off seems to keep me fresh.
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Clean up your workbench and sort out some miniatures. It always works for me.
Just did this, hopefully it will get me out of my own paintingless rut... there were 20+ 28mm dinosaurs, almost 40 28mm humans and three or four terrain projects all in various stages of completion on my painting table, and no place to actually work.
Now there's the dinos and about 10 figures; terrain exiled to the other workbench or packed away; almost all the barely-started figures tucked into a box to come out piecemeal as I find time and motivation. I don't usually buy large numbers of figures, having sixty-something 28mms cluttering my table was intimidating...
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I am in the same boat I just stopped painting. i got 1000s of projects in the works and new stuff I have just got but just in a doldrum at this time. Thank God the Olympics are on to keep me occupied till I am back.
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Clean up your workbench and sort out some miniatures. It always works for me.
Something I desperately need to do. Instead of tidying up the desk, I ended up buying a TV tray and moving things into the living room.
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I flip between painting, building and converting stuff... which is why it's taken me roughly two years to make some hedges...
Thatīs exactly my way to go. I always handled it like that.
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I have to say, I agree with taking a break from it. This does not mean take a break and start another project :p Although that seems to be the way things are heading for me!
I don't think I've completed one project to date :o
But I have resolved not to buy anything else... this helps.
Also, maybe find someone to share the hobby with? Have a painting session with some friends?
Other than that, enjoy it, ya mug. You could be working.
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Put the old stuff in a box and buy something new ;)
Oh! I like that one! lol
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...Last few days I've just sat at my table...
I don't have time to "just sit." No one has. Time is our enemy; the sands are running out. Get up from the table and do something else. Anything else. Do something. Read a book, go for a walk, prep some figures, have a conversation (as a last resort) but do something and do it NOW!
Hope that helps. ;)
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From a similar, earlier post
(http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=11011.msg126426#msg126426):
What I do or try... (in no particular order):
1. Play a game to get your juices flowing again
2. Go to a convention (and play some games)
3. Base some figs -- easier than painting and eases you back in
4. Paint something else like a building or vehicle -- same
5. Read a book (or watch a movie) about what you want to paint -- get geeked about the period again
6. Paint something other than what you *have* to paint
7. Paint something of lesser quantity -- in case you're overwhelmed by sheer numbers
8. Volunteer to run a game at a convention -- then you have a deadline
Good luck!
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8. Volunteer to run a game at a convention -- then you have a deadline
That one I can promise you works like a treat!
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Want to get the juices flowing again? Buy a porno rag and spend some quality time with it in your bathroom. When finished you should feel refreshed and ready to get on with your hobby once again lol
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Thanks everyone.....some excellent ideas.Going to try something different for a few days...catch up on my reading and potter about tidying my creative braincells doing a bit of research(what camoflage REALLY looks like etc). Nice to know the meh factor can strike down the best of us too.Thank again and 1 project at a time...and finish it. Best of luck on your endeavors. :D