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So, I'm right in the middle of painting a miniature for the Liverpool Daemon competition at my local GW. Initially, I was focussed, motivated, and seemed to be moving at a really steady, but productive pace. I've been painting for three days straight, and it has to be done by Saturday. I'm about 50% of the way to completion, and it is now 1.56 on the Thursday before the miniature needs to be due.

Allowing for sleep, and work, this leaves me an ample amount of time to get it done, but by this point, I've realised that I have hit the painting equivalent of "the wall". I just don't have the attention span nor the capability anymore, to get the job done.

So, I really need some help. Has anyone else experienced this phenomena? How did you get through it? Is it really just a case of soldiering on?

Anything to make this bearable would be so useful, haha!

(PS, not sure if this should be in P&M or not, if so please move)

I'm really not the person to answer this as I've got some projects that have been on the back burner for years, let alone a few days.

However, what I have done in the past when I really want to continue is to do something completely different, but hobby related that will make it easier to finish the job you are doing.

Something like, re-organise the entire desk / paint station. Condition / clean all your brushes. Pack away (or unpack) old miniatures.

Things that have nothing to do with painting the mini / diorama you're stuck on, but will only help in the long run and give you a break from the "work". After you've done a few of these activities you will probably be itching to paint again.

If you're sure you have lots of time you could try starting something else

push that along a bit until you get bored, and you may then be ready to return to the first mini, this tends to work for me, but i've not tried it in such a time pressure situation

(you do need to keep an eye on the time if you try this)

Clear your desk, dont have anything else lying about on it, like other unfinished models, these only mock you

Have just the piece you are working on, and relax before, dont think "oh i HAVE to have it done by X" get your other odds n sods done when you go home, cook, have a tidy, whatever. Then when you sit down you have nothing else pressing.

I would say do a different model, or kit, but your time is limited. Put on some music in background or audiobook or whatever you normaly do when painting. Take regular breaks.

remember your goal, and get a bit finished off so you turn the model inot stages, completeing each is a goal leading to completion.

see the trees not the wood as it were.

Somethimes you have to dig deep and just break through it, if you are enjoying the figure it will come back, and the knowledge you will be in with a chance of possibly winning something etc.

Hope that helps, its what i did when doing my GD entry last year, just keep at it.

 Surloch wrote:
I'm really not the person to answer this as I've got some projects that have been on the back burner for years, let alone a few days.

However, what I have done in the past when I really want to continue is to do something completely different, but hobby related that will make it easier to finish the job you are doing.

Something like, re-organise the entire desk / paint station. Condition / clean all your brushes. Pack away (or unpack) old miniatures.

Things that have nothing to do with painting the mini / diorama you're stuck on, but will only help in the long run and give you a break from the "work". After you've done a few of these activities you will probably be itching to paint again.

In addition to providing a break, these activities have a clear, defined goal and finishing them provides a sense of completion and accomplishment. Insignificant though it may seem, having an unfinished project, especially one in which you are struggling to find motivation to finish, is a source of stress. Successfully completing a task with a limited scope, defined parameters, and a visible end result helps to alleviate that stress.

You can also mentally break your large task into smaller tasks and tackle them one at a time. Blend the cloak. Sculpt the base. Add OSL.

Another trick is to take a mental break by doing something completely different. You could play a video game that you haven't picked up in a while, go to a park, and so forth. You can then return to the project with a fresh perspective.

When I get burned out on nonstop painting I just do something else for awhile until I feel the need to paint again.

Read a warhammer related short story, it might give you inspiration to finish, Ill read a chapter from a HH novel or play a few games of Space Marine and it gets me back to painting faster then when I do something unrelated to wargaming.

Rick_1138 wrote:
Clear your desk, dont have anything else lying about on it, like other unfinished models, these only mock you

Have just the piece you are working on, and relax before, dont think "oh i HAVE to have it done by X" get your other odds n sods done when you go home, cook, have a tidy, whatever. Then when you sit down you have nothing else pressing.

I would say do a different model, or kit, but your time is limited. Put on some music in background or audiobook or whatever you normaly do when painting. Take regular breaks.

remember your goal, and get a bit finished off so you turn the model inot stages, completeing each is a goal leading to completion.

see the trees not the wood as it were.

Somethimes you have to dig deep and just break through it, if you are enjoying the figure it will come back, and the knowledge you will be in with a chance of possibly winning something etc.

Hope that helps, its what i did when doing my GD entry last year, just keep at it.

This.

Clear the desk and think of that reward.

Dig down dep and sling that paint.


Get back in the hole!

I use purchasing rewards to incentivize painting. Can't buy something until another project is built or painted.

I also reward painting new toys to incentivize painting rank and file. No new model I just got until the project on the table is done.

A lot of it is personal discipline.

It is also harder to work in the winter. I need daylight and ability to go outside for easy spray can stuff as well as stripping models. I can get home from work and paint for 5 hours in the summer and have no where near that time or energy when the sun sets at 4:45pm.

nkelsch wrote:
I use purchasing rewards to incentivize painting. Can't buy something until another project is built or painted.

I also reward painting new toys to incentivize painting rank and file. No new model I just got until the project on the table is done.

A lot of it is personal discipline.

It is also harder to work in the winter. I need daylight and ability to go outside for easy spray can stuff as well as stripping models. I can get home from work and paint for 5 hours in the summer and have no where near that time or energy when the sun sets at 4:45pm.

This!

All of this helped a lot! I read a bit of LotR: Return Of The King, cleared my painting area, then sat down and utterly blitzed it. I now have two skulls to paint (according to GW's 3 skulls per mini minimum...) and I'm all done.

Thanks for the support guys!

Rick_1138 wrote:
Clear your desk, dont have anything else lying about on it, like other unfinished models, these only mock you

I like to have one finished model of the type I'm painting in view, if at least to motivate me to get it to that state.

Other than that, as others have said, paint something else. I've got 3 projects - Tyranids, Vampire Counts and Infinity Haqqislam. Just depending on my mood, I'll paint something from any of them. Though right now I'm kind of puching myself to get my Infinity stuff done.

I have the same problem. Right now i have a drop pod and some sternguard staring at me, but when i start painting i loose all interest.

 -Loki- wrote:

Rick_1138 wrote:
Clear your desk, dont have anything else lying about on it, like other unfinished models, these only mock you

I like to have one finished model of the type I'm painting in view, if at least to motivate me to get it to that state.

Other than that, as others have said, paint something else. I've got 3 projects - Tyranids, Vampire Counts and Infinity Haqqislam. Just depending on my mood, I'll paint something from any of them. Though right now I'm kind of puching myself to get my Infinity stuff done.

Actually i do this too if its a squad or unit, as having a completed model to carry on the unity of pallette in your mind is handy.

At the moment its a GK Purifier squad, white helmets coming along great

Most important thing I've found is to take breaks. Seriously. With my tervigon it's taking me the better part of two months to paint the thing, and I'm only just finishing the body. But you know what? I'm not getting tired, and when I feel frustrated I step away from the project.

With my mawloc it was the exact opposite. I tried to push through time and time again, and I swear that model almost ended up mimicking a fastball more than once. Even now, I can't stand to look at it and I don't even like showing it to others, even though the paint job is probably just as good (in some ways better) than my Trygon.

Just pace yourself, do something else... paint something else, preferably nothing you care about or are attached too. When I'm not working on my tervi, I'm working to try to improve some of the horridly painted terrain at my local GW so that we have something nice to use on the table, rather than slowly push it under the rug and pretend those pieces don't exist.

Yeah I always recommend stepping away for a little bit. Especially if you're painting for competition and need to ensure a high level of quality through out.

I understand your issue, and I can relate. I started a Nid army some time ago and I have been pushing myself to get it done before a upcoming battle with a friend, I did struggle for a bit. Although I love the models, faced with this problem I dug out my old copy of Baldurs Gate and played that to death for a few days. Problem solved

I find that if I have a "Deadline" set for myself (ie get this model to a decent standard for next week, or something similar, at the moment I'm going to get my Lelith Hesperax model painted for next week) I will paint in a frenzy until then. Without such a goal, then nothing happens and I end up lazy and turd-like.

Doing something else is also good. If you listen to one of your favourite albums from maybe two years ago (I'm listening to Ixnay on the Hombre by the Offspring at the moment) whilst painting, you're not just painting but you're appreciating something else at the same time. If I listened to my current favourite album (Burzum's Belus), because I've listened to it so much, I'll lose interest and steam.

Get a new paint pallet. There's nothing more motivational than that first blob of paint.