Gaining confidence painting

[Major_Gilbear]

I find it interesting to see the always paint/paint only when you're int he mood arguments here! Whilst I see both sides, I do also think that some of these things depend very heavily on each person.

For me, I find that doing something regularly keeps me on task to complete the model. If I let things drift, I can lose months without painting anything. Sure, I don't want it to feel like homework or a chore, but if you have a variety of projects, and if you have a variety of modelling/painting tasks, you can always find something to do most evenings.

When I am doing something monotonous like basing or cleaning mouldlines, I find that having some form of music or TV entertainment helps me power through.

When I'm painting faces, I do these very early on like FramFramson; if the worst happens and I have to strip them, at least I've not lost much work that way. Besides, bodging faces is always a bad idea as they are the focus point of many models and can spoil an otherwise nice paintjob. So do them first, and don't be afraid to start again on them if they look poor.

I also like to have models and bases prepared so cleaned up, washed, primed, and ready to paint), so that if the mood strikes me strongly I can just get on with painting.
These prepared models are stored away so that they don't loom intimidatingly over my other projects, but they are still there just in case - if I can use "oh, but these aren't primed and the weather's not right to get that done now" type excuses, I find I get nothing done.

For me, the hardest part of miniatures painting is details - it takes me forever to do them. I mostly (almost exclusively in fact) paint Sci-fi and Fantasy models, and these invariably come with myriad details that cock up any sort of painting schedule and which can often clash with my chosen paint scheme.
I normally have to "do a deal" with myself that if I do one or two of these elements really well (say, the guns), then I can rush through the others with just one or two colours using basecoat-highlight-wash and that's it.
I'm a bit of a perfectionist otherwise, and am prone to super-detailing things like a belt buckle that nobody will ever see once I glue the rifle across the model or such!

I also think it's important to have the right tools and a good comfortable place to paint. If you are stressed by your surroundings/inadequate equipment/physical discomfort, you will not get much done (and what you do really will feel like a chore!). Relax, be patient, and try to "lose" yourself in the task.
Relaxing and being patient will produce much bigger ability leaps than almost anything else you try. Sure, practice makes you better at doing what you've learnt (i.e., you paint faster), but you only really learn new things with patience (i.e., your skills show improvement).

Finally, and this can be a tricky thing to get right, you need to judge for yourself what level of painting you are happy to reach, and how fast you paint. I have been trying to improve my batch-painting skills so that I can complete one squad or regiment in one go.
This suits me, as I can go significant periods between units, and this method keeps all the models in a unit more uniform than trying to do them in smaller numbers - I don't mind a slight variation between units, but too much variation within one unit can look a bit jarring (and matching something I did three years earlier always takes much longer than it's worth).
However, I have a friend who paints one model at a time, and even fully paints each area of a model to completion each session. He prefers this as the progress is more visible after each session, and he feels a greater sense of achievement/motivation from this.
Finding what works best for you is therefore also important, for your general enjoyment and progress if nothing else!

[vodkafan]

Lot of good things I agree with in there Major Gilbear! I think we have a similar approach to our painting.

[Dr. Zombie]

Like everything in life the only way to get good at something/gain confidence in it. Is to practice.

I am so privileged that I have my own workshop. I have set myself the goal to spend at least 30 minutes a day in my shop. Sometimes it is only 30 minutes other times it turns into several hours. If I don't feel like painting, I clean up my workspace, prepare minis for painting or build some scenery. But all of it moves any given hobby project forward. Even if it is a teeny tiny amount. It is still more than if I had spent those 30 minutes watching TV or writing long winded posts on LAF.

And it really helps to keep up momentun. I am at a point where I have a lot of small(ish) things finished if not every day then every week and it really builds confidence to actually finish something.

Part of this is to also set attainable goals. Don't set out to paint something at an award winning level first time out. Cut all the corners you can at first and then gradually challenge yourself. But also try and keep it simple if you are painting massive blocks of infantry it is perhaps not neccesary to pull out all the stops for every mini. Jou can cheat a bit by really going to town on the front rank and then having the rest be a bit more on the plain side. Heads, shields and weapons tend to be focal points when you look a models/units, so do them up nicely and no one is going to notice that you have not blended in 5 different colours on a belt, pouch or shoe.

[vodkafan]

Again good advice Dr Zombie. I am really on the same page as you with the momentum thing. Like today the light is terrible I will get no painting done, so I am going to drill out some shoulders of some minis ( to pin new arms) and assemble a wagon.

[Hobgoblin]

 

When I'm painting faces, I do these very early on like FramFramson; if the worst happens and I have to strip them, at least I've not lost much work that way. Besides, bodging faces is always a bad idea as they are the focus point of many models and can spoil an otherwise nice paintjob. So do them first, and don't be afraid to start again on them if they look poor.

I - operating at a much lower level than either of you - do precisely the opposite, but broadly for the same reasons. I always start with metallics (weapons, armour, belt buckles, etc.) and work my way in. So, clothing next and then, finally, skin. I have two motives for this. First, I do far more work on the faces than any other part, so I like to leave it until last - when the hard/rewarding part is done, the whole thing is (unless it has a shield - I always do those right at the end). Second, because I'm a fast and sloppy painter, there's a risk of getting metallics or clothing washes on skin if that's already finished. Because the skin is often lighter or more delicate than the armour, the former is more likely to be adversely affected by pollution from the latter.

I also like to have models and bases prepared so cleaned up, washed, primed, and ready to paint), so that if the mood strikes me strongly I can just get on with painting.

I'm much the same. I tend to base and undercoat in much bigger batches than I paint, so I always have odds and sods kicking around that can be started on a whim.

[Severian]

From an even lower branch of the painting tree (or rung of the ladder) I'd concur with Hobgoblin: faces last, or at least later than armour and other metallics.
Those always go on first, drybrushed over a black undercoat and followed by an ink wash and then a bit of extra drybrushed highlighting: all of this, done in my slapdash way, tends to make a mess of any neighbouring areas and that usually includes faces.
I may add a flesh basecoat when the clothing basecoat goes on, just to give some character to the figure; but the face highlighting and detail if any goes on towards the end.
Sometimes, though, if there's minimal metallic stuff, I'll do the face first or early on - but only a basecoat and wash, to bring out the character.

Undercoating is a separate preliminary operation for me too - not least because it tends to get done at the kitchen table over an old newspaper, either late at night or during the children's supper. I brush it on (lost patience with sprays a good while ago) and the collateral damage to half-finished figures when I used to do it near my normal painting table was horrible to see...

[The Voivod]

One thing that really helped me the last months is:"Prep your next project before you current one is finished.'

I've noticed this really keeps momentum. I haven't done this much painting as this years since I started the hobby, or enjoyed it as much.

Once a project nears completion, I choose the next one and, during a hobby session, clean it and undercoat it.
While doing the finishing touches on the last project I get things like undercoat out of the way.

This means that while I'm feeling good for finishing a project, I can immidiatly start doing more fun parts on the next.

[Elbows]

One thing that really helped me the last months is:"Prep your next project before you current one is finished.'

I've noticed this really keeps momentum. I haven't done this much painting as this years since I stared the hobby, or enjoyed it as much.

Once a project nears completion, I choose the next one and, during a hobby session, clean it and undercoat it.
While doing the finishing touches on the last project I get bih things like undercoat out of the way.

This means that while I'm feeling good for finishing a project, I can immidiatly start doing more fun parts on the next.

This is solid advice.  Sometimes I'm on a roll, or I want to paint and then I finish something when it's dark out or raining - and I'm stuck with naught to do!