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I have found that I get painters block when I see all the stuff I have to finish. I have just started putting all my minis that are left to be painted into their cases and only pulling out one unit or mini at a time. I don't feel overwhelmed and that the goal is in sight.

poda_t wrote:I will be blunt with you.

I have created the a tiny paint station adjacent to the toilet (I always drop the lid....). I don't know what else to tell you. Sometimes you just get bored as hell of painting the same thing, other times its... just... youre sick and tired of it and theres better things to do in that same time... hence....when on the toilet...................... you might as well do something productive... just.... dont make a mess.

Wouldn't work for me. That's where I do my reading.

The desire to paint comes and goes for me as well. I don't worry much about it. I know that when the desire to paint comes back, I dive into it head first and make good progress on my project of the moment. When I'm not in the mood, I take a break for a week or two and try not to dwell on it. I find that the more I think about it, the longer it takes for me to get back to painting. Sometimes I think that I just need a paint vacation, because while I like to have a painted army on the table, I don't really enjoy painting so much.

Edit: I find scheduling a painting night with some of my 40k friends is productive for everyone involved. I can get a lot done without dwelling on the fact that I'm painting and rather be doing something else, when I'm sitting around a table with three or four other painters, shooting the and talking smack about each other's evil wives.

Your desire will come back. Its just a phase. I used to get those spells a lot. What gets me going again is seeing other peoples' work, looking at my own previous work, playing games that involve the pieces painted or to be painted, or reorganizing your workspace.

Having a dedicated workspace certainly got me motivated.

Originally, I had to unpack my paints and stuff when I wanted to paint, and use the dining table. My fiancee got annoyed with it and after looking at painting stations, she built me one.

Haivng a permanently set up space really helps. I can leave stuff there for days without touching it, but go over and spend 10 minutes doing some painting without unpacking everything.

Bartlebad wrote:One of the BIGGEST things that makes me lose interest in painting is having a messy workstation filled with boxes of new stuff. Clean up your station and pack away everything except your current project. Works wonders for me!

Agreed with this one.

Something that helped me before was working out what I had left to paint then writing a schedule for it. So, for example, I might aim to do several similar models in a specific period, such as, say, painting a squad in three days and setting a start date to get this done. That way you can see what you've got left in the form of manageable instalments instead of an unwieldy mass, and, when you start painting again, on those days when you get on a roll you can end up ahead of schedule, which is very encouraging.

What tends to help me is painting something random. I've always had models that I've wanted to take a crack at, usually from Forgeworld, that don't fit into my army. Have a go at one of these, it's especially enjoyable I find if it uses a completely different colour palette from your army.

Bartlebad wrote:One of the BIGGEST things that makes me lose interest in painting is having a messy workstation filled with boxes of new stuff. Clean up your station and pack away everything except your current project. Works wonders for me!

Yeah this. If you've got tons of stuff to paint stacked up in front of you it can be quite daunting and demoralising. Also I find it's sometimes good just to paint something you like the look of, regardless as to whether it fits in your army or not. Believe me - sometimes I get really fed up with painting the red and gold of Khorne. So try and mix it up with something a bit different - variety as they say, is the spice of life!

My down fall was buying up tons of models and worrying more about painting and modeling and watching everyone else gaming…. Finally after all the “where’s your army” questions I focused on points… got 750 painted and played…. Got the fever and moved on to 1200… and so one.
Playing more than one army kinda helped me too… when I got into a “rut” I switched and painted a little of my new Cygnar army…. Now I’m dying to get back to my Templar so the Cygnar guys are moving along very quickly…..

I try to only play with painted figures.
If it isn't painted, I don't use it. Causes all sorts of trouble getting my Eldar to the table.

Yeah, I have my weeks where I never want to paint another mini again. Or I don't feel like it and wind up reading/watching TV instead. Don't sweat it, before too long you'll find you want to paint again. No need to force it, or try to 'inspire' yourself to do it, just let it come to you.

Having a permanently set up painting station is a boon. I spend 10-15 minutes many mornings painting before I go to work. Helps keep things moving even if that's the only time I paint in a week.

I'm probably going to take a painting break during October, but I tend to do a lot of Halloween stuff.

Beastmaster wrote:I dont understand how one cannot love painting. Just watching it all come together and then seeing the finished product is enough for me

Depends. After some things, you just don't want to paint for a while. For example, after finishing my true scales, an endeavour that took well over 100 hours of heavy converting and painting, I didn't want to pick up the brush for a long time. But now that I'm starting an Inquisimunda campaign with my buddies, I can't wait to convert and paint.

"Out of sight, out of my mind." Just put one of your finished minis in a place you will see it a lot.

I'm going thru a current, can not be bothered phase in my painting. Half the problem i feel is reading this forum every day, in all honesty i think it's putting me off the whole war gaming scene in general.

I know I go in and out of painting sessions, blasting thru a squad or two then leaving it for a few weeks, however my current situation has seen me not pick up a paint brush in two months now and i have no urge to get back to it and finish the half done models on my desk.

If you feel like painting, paint.
If you don't feel like painting, don't.

This is a hobby and you should do the things with your hobby you get enjoyment from.

If anybody gives you any grief, just ignore the idiots.

I look at my massive pile of stuff that's unpainted and my soul shatters.

I think to myself I need to paint this and it's one of the last things I think to myself when I go to beddybyes.

Then the next day comes and I look at my massive pile of stuff that's unpainted and my soul shatters.

Then I think to myself I need to paint this and it's one of the last things I think to myself when I go to beddybyes.

etc etc

deejaybainbridge wrote:. Half the problem i feel is reading this forum every day, in all honesty i think it's putting me off the whole war gaming scene in general. .

I think there is something to this as well. Reading dakka every day makes me want to play 40k and WHFB less. So I stick to the P&M blogs, and the painting areas, where there is less negativity about...everything.

It also helped for me to start painting my FOW army, a bunch of Perry Sudan British, and other historical armies and models to play games like Hail Caesar and Black Powder.

But, as many have said, the painting doldrums come and go, and if you stick with it but don't push it, you'll be fine.

I wonder if part of the loss of interest in painting among some peiple deals with the fact that perhaps a too complex paint scheme was selected.

Part of the reason why my paint station is in such an... ahem.... ill advised location. It encourages me to do something with them every time I visit.

poda_t wrote:

Rabid Ferret wrote:

poda_t wrote:I will be blunt with you.

I have created the a tiny paint station adjacent to the toilet (I always drop the lid....). I don't know what else to tell you. Sometimes you just get bored as hell of painting the same thing, other times its... just... youre sick and tired of it and theres better things to do in that same time... hence....when on the toilet...................... you might as well do something productive... just.... dont make a mess.

Toilet paint station?

That is so very awesome and awful at the same time...
Part of me wants one... part of me thinks the wife would kill me. Also if I was single I don't think I could pull off explaining that.

Dakka? I love you guys.

I get a model done every morning

Either you are very regular and a MAD fast painter... or you should get that looked at.

Something tells me that a couple hours on the loo each day is a bad idea. *Hemmorhoids* *COUGH!*

When I go through spots like what the OP is saying I clean up. Bits go in their respective boxes. I put the paints and unfinished projects away. I dust and scrub my desk down and after all that I set some of my favorite pieces up. I also hit the galleries and try to get inspired. Last but not least I try and get a few games in with the locals and my friends. I find that gaming itself inspires me to paint my next model most of all.

Im ALWAYS in the mood for modelling, especially heavy converting, so as soon as i get something new I will sit on my desk for like 2 days and not leave it exept for eating/sleeping/s***ing. But Im never really in the mood for painting. Never. UNLESS I start something, then i will get the paint-fever and paint 2 days in a row. sadly one basic model takes me 6h, so im not getting anywhere fast

Paint something different. Painting is one of the key elements that keeps me in this game. If it were not for the painting and construction of said models I do not believe I'd keep at it at all.


That said my attention to the game comes from hobby model building; now that I have two armies slowly building in scale ((numbers are starting to get really up there)) I find it often annoying to be painting the same thing over and over and thus revert back to a non-GW model. The schedule I've come up with for myself that's been working well enough is one IG, one SM, one IG, one SM model. It keeps it just odd enough that I keep trudging onward. Once I have a squad of each done I do a non GW kit. Next on the table is a half nude Cowgirl, trust me I want to get this f*&^ing GW models done .

MrH wrote:I don't know why but I haven't painted in weeks, so far I've painted about 10 models total and I was really enjoying it but overnight all my passion disappeared. I have a half painted Ork Freebooter waiting to be finished but I just can't be bothered.

What do you guys do when you lose your passion? Does it ever come back? I spent a lot of money getting started on the hobby so I don't really want to give up completely.

Take a break. Do something else. It might very well come back.

I used to like painting with friends. It becomes a social thing which is more fun than painting alone.

If you don't care to become inspired right now, maybe it is time for another hobby. Can always come back to 40K later, right?

Everyone gets to this point sometime in their Wargaming Career. Of course it is fun painting 10 models. But the game requires hundreds - and with Orks, well, let's face it. Sooner or later, they all look the same and it becomes rote. I painted 100 Orks for a Green Tide last year and I was SO BORED of painting AOBR by the end. Thought I'd never finish. But here, sure enough, 1 year later, I am painting something else and the Green Tide is indeed finished. And BTW, it is awesome.

Give it some time. No need to force it. Sooner or later you'll look at those 10 painted Orks and you will know... you will just know... that the time for their Comrades to join them has arrived.

WAAGGHH!!!
Solorg

Try stripping to bare plastic/metal and repainting 200 orks. Twice. I know I am lazy and if I field an unpainted unit I'll never pick up another brush again. That is my motivation to paint. If it isn't complete it doesn't get to play.

I would need some deadline of some descripton like enlisting in a tournament which i still havent entered an official tourny.

or extreme excitement in how my army is going to eradicate my opponents but that wavers after time.

Simply I neither have the time or the will to paint an enire army.

I aim for buying the majority base army from an auction site and adding my own additions, thats the only way my armies get close to complete.

Bartlebad wrote:One of the BIGGEST things that makes me lose interest in painting is having a messy workstation filled with boxes of new stuff. Clean up your station and pack away everything except your current project. Works wonders for me!

QFT. Tidy up between projects.

Stoned: limitless painting, sober: about an hour and im bored.

Deathshead420 wrote:Stoned: limitless painting, sober: about an hour and im bored.

I really don't wanna know what my models would look like if I was stoned while painting them...I can barely keep my moments connected to each other in that state, let alone grasp the complexities of painting to any sort of detail.

I think motivation changes based on how you view your painting.

if you want painting to be a hobby that you enjoy, than you need to learn to enjoy it. A big part of that is just forcing yourself to do it, but to do so in a way that encourages you to grow creativiely. Try different models. Different color schemes. Adjust the background. Etc.

If you just want to paint to have painted models for gaming, than it's no different than any other chore: just get it done.

Either way, just sitting down and painting are the best approach.

Remember that The world doesnt end if you don't paint your figures.

The game and rules still function the same regardless...

Play some games and enjoy it. If you get excited about the game you just might find yourself getting excited about painting. And if you don't? It isnt a deal breaker...