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Does anyone else have this problem? meanng the problem whereby you won't finish modelling/pianting untill it's perfect (by your standards).

I am under the impression that I still haven't reached the peak of my ability with pianting and modelling yet, to the extent that I will discard models I have made If I think I can do better. For example I am currently trying to find a colour scheme for a new marine army and have stripped one model about ten times now. Sometimes I can even say I've finished come back the next day and change my mind completely.

To be fair, I wouldn't be in the job I am (graphic art) if I wasn't like this, but it's getting annoying when it comes to painting and modelling.

So does anyone esle have this problem? Any way of dealing with it?

while i don't really get that way about my models, pretty much anything i do digital i endlessly find something i could have made just a touch better.
probably why i have so many versions of everthing i make in photoshop......illustrator......maya.....so on and so forth

Hi all.
My problem is my talent never reaches my expectations... .

So I just set a realistic time to 'finish' a project.
Then move on to the next, and judge the' improvment over time'.

This way although things are never 'perfect', you can see progress towards it!

If you keep re doing the same project, over and over just kills your enthusiasm to create.IMO.

TTFN
Lanrak.

I set a relatively low standards for my figures.

I know I don't have the time and patience to get my models up to Golden Daemon grade, and I don't think it matters when they are on the table for a game.

I just paint them to my own satisfaction. That way I get them finished for games quicker, and they don't get very good Paint appreciation scores in the gallery.

This is partly because coming from a Historicals background, which games are often played with much larger numbers of figures than 40K, it is impossible and unnecessary to paint figures to the highest standards.

I have the same problem as lanark,I strive to do lots of cool things and try to get my minis just right in my eyes.However my skills are sometimes too few and I don't know enough techinques.Yet I use it as a driving force to try and better my painting skills/minis.

Interesting note about the gallery there. My gallery thing for example is lacking particularly when it comes to painted minatures (the only one in there is my comp entry I think, which I don't even like btw). Thing is I could put tons of minis up there, but I don't because I know I can do better and I don't want to show off something I think is bellow my standards. Is that vanity? maybe. Thing is I want that god damn thing to be full. I want to churn out stuff at the rate insaniak, migsula and the like do. I just want to be proud of it at the same time.

I don't think it's vanity,that's the exact same reason I have no pics in my gallery,I don't want to put any thing in there that I think is bellow standard.I to wish I could put out minis with the same quality of migsula's stuff,I guess it's back to the painting room for a practice then.

I know I can't paint to GD standards so I don't bother.
Table-top ready is fine by me (3 colours and some highlighting/shading) as well as based.). I've never been pinged for paint at a tourney (0 painting score) as all of my armies are painted, with a coherent and unified style. They just aren't painted well enough to win the trophy.

Modelling-wise - if it does the job, it's in. If not, and can be salvaged, I'll try again. If it can't be salvaged and is metal - into the pot. If it can't be salvaged and is plastic - into the bin.

I used to be a perfectionist. Deadlines in a pro FX studio cured me of this.

Lanrak wrote:Hi all.
My problem is my talent never reaches my expectations... .

totally know what your talking about i've recoated my nidz sooooooooo many times there always seem to be reds,white,black,purple or grey were it shouldn't be i usually just take my brush till its fixed leave it then notice other problem when i'm looking or playing with them

I'm a total pragmatist. These are playing pieces for the game. It is the overall game that for me is the spectacle, not the individual models. I don't spend ages pouring over nice paint jobs, and while I enjoy painting, I get bored painting the same model for more than a few hours. For me it is strictly: basecoat, wash, highlight, drybrush, move on. I don't have the time for anything more if I want to enjoy the spectacle of decent games, and enjoy trying out new models for games, and even entirely new game systems.

Lets face it, when you are playing, or these things are stored in a cabinet, no one looks that closely at them. So "perfectionist" paint jobs are a waste of time for gaming models. Sure if you have only one army and love showing it of at the local store, I can see why someone could be bothered. But that's not me. I play tons of different games, and spending too much time on bringing one army for one game up to a super standard would take too much of my limited time, time that I would rather spend doing other things related to the hobby - such as building nice terrain or painting another army for another game.

At some time you have got to learn to say enough is enough otherwise you will end up wasting your time on unrewarding activity. If you have loads of time to waste, then that may be acceptable to youy. But for me I get maybe 6 - 10 hours a week to paint, max. I'm not pouring all that away on one single model! Life's too short!

My advice is that if you really are an obsessive painter, give up pretending that a playable painted army is an option: just pick a model you want to paint because it looks lnice, and spend the rest of your time painting that one model.

Look inisde yourself at what you enjoy about the hobby: Is it the painting, the playing, the collecting, the trying out a completed army? What is it? Focus on that and instill in yourself the self discipline to move on if what is holding you up isn't achieving that goal. Getting bogged down in unecessary detail is the bane of many a gamer! Don't get hung up on others' expectations of the hobby, or worse still GW propaganda. Enjoy the hobby for what YOU want out of it, not what other people tell you that you "should" want out of it! Free your mind!

I used to be quite quick at building and painting models. I could get a good result with tried and tested methods. But as standards rose, and I was exposed to more high quality work on the net, I found myself increasingly trying to better (or at least match) what I saw. This is particularly true of my Ork models, which have become very drawn-out projects because I'm never happy with what I've done. I also find myself discarding things I've spent hours building, simply because they don't look as good as I'd hoped when viewed in the cold light of the next day (I discarded 2 scratchbuilt turrets for the tank I've been working on for the last 12 months; the 3rd version only just avoided being consigned to the bin because I'd run out of that particular thickness of plasticard). The result is a row of heavily converted models which are never quite finished, and which I keep changing. The fact that they've all needed updating and re-styling to incorporate the look (and rules) of the new Ork vehicles hasn't helped.

I haven't painted anything major for a while, and I think that's part of the same problem - I know what I do won't match the standard I've set. It's stupid, because I can paint stuff to a decent standard. But it's become a bit of a vicious circle.

haha Everything I paint is an attempt at golden daemon grade except my ork infantry (i'd lose it i tells ye) The downer of this is you never finish anything, ever! ever!

Tailgunner wrote:But as standards rose, and I was exposed to more high quality work on the net, I found myself increasingly trying to better (or at least match) what I saw.

Oh I get that too. very true.

Sirius42 wrote:haha Everything I paint is an attempt at golden daemon grade except my ork infantry (i'd lose it i tells ye) The downer of this is you never finish anything, ever! ever!

This.

I've given up on entire armies (that I've purchased!) because I started painting them and realized it would take forever. Sadly, I haven't really been able to finish an army. Even one of my best creations; the Emperors Children, have 2 models left in the army and I can't bring myself to complete them. WOE IS ME!

Recently, I have raised the bar on myself and find that I am trying to make each mini as close to perfect as I can take it. I don't strip minis very often as I like to see the progression of my painting skill. It might be something really small, like perfecting gem stones, but I like to see my progress.

But you have to draw that line between gaming figs (rank&file cannon fodder) and the attempts at masterpiece or you'll go completely nuts and never get anything done. Practice painting/modelling techniques on the guys you don't care if they're dead by turn 2 and try to master said techniques on the guys you want winning the game for you in Turn 5.

whatwhat wrote:

Tailgunner wrote:But as standards rose, and I was exposed to more high quality work on the net, I found myself increasingly trying to better (or at least match) what I saw.

Oh I get that too. very true.

In fact I've just had it again after looking at anticitizen's gallery, damn you!

I know that I could paint much better given the time/inclination but i'm an underachiever, always have been, always will be.
I occasionally paint a model 'just for fun' and tend to be dissapointed put the model to one side and learn from my mistakes.
I'm getting better, just very slowly!

My paintjobs on armies are never spectacular but I get my armies finished with pennies in flocked bases et all.
Thousands don't.
The look of awe on 80% of my opponents' faces makes me happy.

chromedog wrote:I know I can't paint to GD standards so I don't bother.
Table-top ready is fine by me (3 colours and some highlighting/shading) as well as based.). I've never been pinged for paint at a tourney (0 painting score) as all of my armies are painted, with a coherent and unified style. They just aren't painted well enough to win the trophy.

Modelling-wise - if it does the job, it's in. If not, and can be salvaged, I'll try again. If it can't be salvaged and is metal - into the pot. If it can't be salvaged and is plastic - into the bin.

I used to be a perfectionist. Deadlines in a pro FX studio cured me of this.

He he he.

As a producer, I find the phrase "good enough for jazz" rather useful.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/49/messages/56.html

Yeah, I'm definitely in the "Good enough to play with" category. Year in and year out, I play my old, decently painted armies against opponents that have a handful or more of beautifully painted models and a bunch of primed stuff. It's gotten so bad that I once one best painted at a tournament where you could bring one allied unit, and mine was the only army with a fully painted and matching allied unit.

I wish I could paint better, and I wish I could do the real high level stuff I see, but as a player first and a painter second at this point, I"m just happy to have a couple of big painted armies.

I won best painted at a small club tourney once - only because mine was one of only 4 (out of 18) armies that were painted (counting the primed ones, too).

Two of us had armies with 3 colours and some detailing.
14 armies were either partly primed, or still bare plastic.
Some were still to have weapons added. *facepalm*.

I won't field an unpainted model. At all.
Never have.