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Hey I am having a hard time getting to paint some stuff and was asking the dakka community what you guys do when you have painter's block.

Buy something thats so awesome you'd commit suicide if you didn't paint it!

Steelhalo wrote:Buy something thats so awesome you'd commit suicide if you didn't paint it!

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I'd have to agree. When I get burnt out on painting the same model for armies I go out and buy a character model for an army I don't play. Breaking the tedium takes the edge off nicely.

Yeah, if I'm getting bored painting whatever I'm working on, I grab something else and paint that instead.

Of course, I've got so much stuff sitting around waiting to be painted I don't have to go buy something new... but I sometimes do anyway...

Force myself to paint. I paint in short, infrequent bursts, so the same half dozen models tend to sit on my desk for weeks (if not months...), waiting to be finished. If I haven't put brush to model for too long, I just have to force myself to paint a bit. Once I've put in a few minutes and see some progress, the end seems closer and I'm more likely to go back to them sooner than later.

Set up priorities based on what i like and hate. For me, painting guys is tedious. Painting vehicles is fun.
So I sit down and force myself to paint a squad completely. That also includes the extra models that fill out special weapon choices (flamer, meltagun, plasma gun). Once completed I reward myself by painting their ride. Something to look forward to.
Once done I start on a second batch of guys...although I may mix them up...scouts instead of tac-marines, then a tank, then Terminators, then another tank, then a 2nd tac squad, etc...

Well, that´s the advantage of having ignored the pledge (to paint more than you buy that is).

I have 5 different armie to choose from when deciding what to paint (3 Fantasy, 2 40k) so I have enough variation to keep motivated. The time is the only problem...

Anyway, bring in some variation and reward yourself for work done. For example, my next bigger project will be my Gnoblar Horde for my Ogre Kingdom army. That means at least 50 of those little buggers.

I´ll most likely paint them in batches of 5-10, and after each patch I´ll reward myself with a nicer model that needs some more detail. A character from one of my armies, a war machine for my Dwarves or a Dino for my Lizards. Maybe some Space Wolves or Orks for my 40k armies. Just something to paint something different.

Find a fellow painter and have a joint painting session.

Im stuck too...

The last thing i tried for motivation , was joining another dakka memeber's motivation thread
where every week we MUST set a goal and complete it. And we would encourage each other etc etc

The 2 tips here that work for me are to stop when I feel the work I am doing becomes a choir and paint something quick that I want to paint instead, and to have friends over for painting sessions.

Sitting in silence on your own is a massive motivation killer if you are painting something that you need to paint and don't necissarily want to. Sitting with a friend doing the same makes a massive difference.

Have to agree with some of the suggestions here, especially painting with a friend, it really helps. Painting a diffrent army with diffrent sets of colours helps too, I noticed how good this worked when I went from Iron Warriors to Tyranid Leviathan.

Painting with a tv show in the background is great. If you get bored of painting, you watch the show.

Foxtale wrote:Painting with a tv show in the background is great. If you get bored of painting, you watch the show.

I tried that my paint dried up when i was too focused on tv >.<

For me (and for many) the toughest part is getting started.

I put on an audio book (just listened to the hobbit), or a 40k Podcast (Independent characters is my fav), or even my Last.fm station ...and just sit in my chair and do it.

Occasionally I get on a painting block and I just dont want to do it anymore. Thats why ive started playing multiple games to kind of keep the edge down.

Typically what I do is I go play a match at my FLGS And find somone who doesnt have any of their models painted. Watching my army fight a bunch of greys really reinforces why I love painting. and for no other sake than to have a really GOOD looking Battlefield. I'm not claiming to be a particularly skilled painter, I just know that from Game Table Distance. My stuff looks good. And it really reinforces why I like painting.

If that doesnt work and i need a break in the monotony, I typically go and do a scratchbuild for an army I dont play. The last time I did that I did a rough mockup of a fightabomma and I ended up starting an ork army 2 weeks later. I then finished my marines a few months later.

1. I don't try too hard. I just paint well enough for tabletop use, not to win competitions. This isn't hard, and I can complete lots of models fairly quickly, so I don't get blocked so easily.

2. I focus major efforts around events I am going to. I got my Tyranids painted in two massive bursts of activity for the Platinum Devil competitions. I booked the ticket and hotel, then I was committed to going and that made me complete the models I needed for the army.

One thing that helps is having a dedicated painting area. Not having one now really holds me back as there is so much damn time wasted on set-up and clean-up that the effort doesn't seem worth . . . while there's a PS3 that can be turned on and off so, so easily.

I've got a box of bits I call my "mutant bits box" that's full of parts from a large range of GW lines.
When I feel any kind of block, whether it be converting, painting or whatever, I break out the box and assemble some mutants.

Had a over 2 dozen until just recently, when I traded a bunch of them off for some other stuff.

Eric

I get some non army related figures from various ranges and try out various painting techniques on them. I think the block comes from painting the same colours over and over again, it is easy to get bored.

Sleep, school/work, eat. Basically keep on going (doing whatever it is you are doing) until something comes up that is not vital but worse than painting and then put it off for a while and paint. Or if you can do some extra revision/work overtime this can really help as you have something you hate more than painting to get you motivated.

I just start on something different. Last week it was Dark Eldar. This week is Skaven. Next week will probably be fisher price planes converted into Ork Fightabommas.

I have about 5 armies that I work on a little at a time.

As a lot of people have said, a partner is key, in my case it's my roommate, but when he's not available I turn on a tv series, sometime we do that as well as paint together, silence is a huge motivation killer for me.

in the many on and off years i've been painting the one thing i find makes painting far far easier is indeed a partner.
the key is to not concentrate on just the model your painting, conversation as well as films/music can really aid you and break up the cross-eyed nature of staring at a model for imperfections.
also having a partner there is great for showing off your work and getting feedback.
Pete

I am to one of the millions of players with painter's block and Unfortunely I have no paint partners but the best way around which I deal with it is listening to music on my mp3 player. Tv/Dvds are too much of a distraction.

I to do like dkellyj do some troops then do a tank or a walker I found this the most effective way for me. But everyone’s different in the end.

Best of luck finding away around painters block thehod and anyone else who has it now.

Use a character model or vehicle as a "reward" for painting a squad or batch of troops you dont enjoy painting as much


Dan

I have the same problem. What I'm trying to do now is paint in batches of 5 for one unit then moving on to a different unit...I get burnt out very quickly with repetition. Also, some suggested finding a painting buddy. This always worked well for me in the past and I actually came close to having fully painted armies but alas there is no one that I know where I live now that games. It is very helpful though.

Lord Scythican wrote:I just start on something different. Last week it was Dark Eldar. This week is Skaven. Next week will probably be fisher price planes converted into Ork Fightabommas.

I have about 5 armies that I work on a little at a time.

Off topic, Do you have any pics of the Fightabommas? I would love to see what and how you did that! Sounds cool

When I get painter's block I just sit down and say " paint this model dammit "

I leave my paints out at all (reasonable) times so it's on my mind. When I get really stuck I usually have a bath for a few hours with any of the Horus Herasy books and then see how I feel when I come out. Then put on talk radio or some sort of sport/cartoons (anything that you don't have to concentrate too hard on) to take away the silence. Then on I go!

Not to hijack but I'm having my own painting block atm. Mine isn't the unwillingness to paint neccesarily as much as its the fact that I just got my airbrush and compressor in and i'm afraid to use it for the first time. I've made scribbles on paper with it but the next step is my extremelly expensive Space hulk and GW assault termies with forgeworld BA Shoulder pads. Something i Really don't want to screw up on haha. I'd paint them by hand but the airbrush was bought for the sole reason of trying a new method on models and then following with my tanks.