Ultimately, we sacrifice our free time so that we can create extra
time for these aspects of our life. Our hobby time suffers from this, and we
often find that we just can’t find the time to put that nice coat of paint on
our models, especially those gamers who focus on playing the game.
As a
student, war gamer and blogger, I often find it difficult balancing my studies,
social life and my hobby. I am relatively young compared to most of the folks
out there, but every day is a struggle just getting that time in for 40K.
I kick myself whenever I see my big pile of models that I have spent a ton of money one, but never got around to completing. It’s quite de-motivating and I think it’s one of the most common reasons why people don’t bother with the painting/modelling aspect. You look at all those incomplete models sitting at your workstation; incomplete because of the lack of time. Then when you do find you have the time, you’re deterred from continuing because it’s a daunting image.
Here’s a couple of tips to help you find time and motivation:
-
Find a small amount of time everyday to dedicate
to your miniatures. You’ll be surprised by how much 10-30 minutes a day
can achieve.
- For those who are students like me: take a 20
minute break between your study sessions and go work on your miniatures in
that time. Not only is taking breaks between studying beneficial for your
studies, but it can also help get your models done. For me it looks a bit
like this:Study for 2 hours. Take a 20 min break. Study for 2 hours, etc.
- Start a blog. No doubt, the biggest reason I created this blog, is so that I would be motivated to work on my models more. You don’t even have to create a blog on Blogger or Wordpress. Well known war-game forums such as Warseer, Dakka Dakka and Heresy Online provide a place where you can create a blog. The comments and feedback you get will not only make you feel great (when it happens!), but it will be of great motivation.
- Go to sites like Golden Daemon and Cool Mini Or Not. The talent of some of the artists there are simply phenomenal and can help inspire you. I like to go on these sites when I haven’t painted in a while to get the fiery motivation up and running again.
- Buy new stuff! One of the greatest motivators is
to simply buy more stuff. A lot of the manufacturers out there make
beautiful models that simply makes you want to paint them. Of course if
buying new stuff and never working on them is a problem, ignore this
point…
Paint in batches at a time. Working
on 10 models at a time, stage by stage can be a surprisingly fast way of
getting them done and on the tabletop.
Hope it helped! Does
anyone have anything to add to the tips I posted?
The blog is a good way to record your progress, but be careful it doesn't overtake your modeling time.
ReplyDeleteThe only other thing I'd add is to set small goals for yourself. Lots of folks set goals like "paint my army" which is a huge goal. Instead, try something like paint this combat squad or paint that vehicle and go from there with smaller increments.
Ron, FTW
Yes, I sometimes find myself spending over an hour prepping a post. I'm guilty, I admit it.
ReplyDeleteAwesome tip! If there's a tournaments, gaming conventions, painting competitions can all help motivate you.
Any luck with Malifaux?
ReplyDeleteSadly no.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I've written this article, I'll be honest and say I haven't done a lot of these things.
Malifaux does look like an awesome game, and I'm intrigued by the combination of steampunk and fantasy elements. But so does Infinity...and 40K...
So many games, too little time! Perhaps I should go back and read over my article again for my self...