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When I first restarted 40k couple of months ago, the painting motivation was strong... basically all the free time I had went into painting up miniatures and I was always hankering after painting sessions with my friends.

Now, several months in, I've completely lost the urge. I can't paint models at home by myself, and when over at mates' generally tend to either game or model, and avoid painting in general.

This could be due to either sheer laziness or lack of tangible deadlines (subconscious fear of painting models badly?). I really want a painted army, though.

How do you motivate yourself to get painting?

Figure out what part of painting is holding you back.

Find a way to make it easier or at least "different".

Try smaller/larger batches see if that makes it feel better.

Try painting a couple models start to finish or assembly line a bunch and block paint all at once and fine detail paint all at once: see what feels better.

"Hide" the unpainted models (depressing) and have fully painted ones out in easy view (inspiration).

Have completely different models on the go and switch if the one you are working on is irritating.

Make the environment as comfortable and entertaining as possible.

Listen to music, podcast, radio whatever can distract a bit.

Set a reasonable goal the next game on XXXXXX I want a fully painted XXXXpt army to play.

Worst case option: have your friends make fun of you as they paint 30 models at a time on a daily basis.

I take breaks from painting entirely. I painted marines for an almost a year and just got burnt out. So I took a couple month break. Then I got a new army and painted them and now I don't wan to stop as I started a 3rd army. I also started doing more conversion stuff to keep myself interested.

1) Audiobooks.

2) 10 minutes checking out the P and M showcase.

3) Keep your workspace clean.

I play TT when my urge to paint is fading. It gives me ideas on what my army needs next, and this spurs me on to finish what I've started to make room for the new!

Might only work if you don't have a pile of models to paint already, though...

I only use fully painted and based models to game with. So if i want to use that shiny new unit, i better get to painting.

I second AesSedai's comment about audiobooks though, it gives you another reason to sit down and chill out.

Mix it up a bit. Squad of 10, a character, vehicle, another squad of 10, terrain. Not only will it help manage the painting rut, but you can have some fun with kitbashing and trying out new techniques.

Realize that there's only two ways to have a painted army, and one of them costs a lot of money.

I binge-watch netflix series while doing the tedious stuff. So far, just this year, I've watched seven seasons of The West Wing, one of Borgia, six of Weeds, one of House of Cards, and a couple of others.

Don' get all angsty about how you feel about it, just go do it.

Make sure you have something entertaining to listen to. For me it's been the TGS podcasts and TB and Jesse Cox Terraria videos so far. After that I have wheel of time audio books lined up and so on.

My motivation wanes towards the detailing part of painting, and any time I'm learning new techniques since I want them to be great and I'm hesitant to paint. If I know what I'm doing I'll blow through them happily. Also need to make sure don't have too many projects on the go. That always turns into "too much to do, better not do anything" for some reason.

I think having goals set up for the month will help to. I was super motivated when I got back in, then hit a slump for a couple years (when I was out of state for college and distracted by girls).

Now I hide the unpainted models, keep what I am painting on my desk, and change up what I am working on. Currently on my desk I have a squad of DA marines, a squad of IG, and 2 warmachines in various stages of paint. I have 2 blackwater gulch gangs being put together, along with a bunch of mantic undead, and small bits for my valkyries to kitbash. I can change projects quickly for something that suits my desire more.

Also I have been watching the new Thundercats series as I work currently. It is amazing how many shows you can get threw when modeling. Also, I try to clean my desk every few days to keep space to work... it kinda works at best.

I'm in a similar situation, returning from a fairly extended layoff from actively gaming.

I set a goal to paint something every week, and started a blog to keep myself honest. I don't set overly strict goals (paint x or y models) I just make sure that I keep the ball rolling every week. Over time, I get a lot of stuff done this way.

I often find that watching painting tutorials gives me the urge to pick up the paintbrush. It's possible that a short time spent away from the hobby will refresh your motivation.

I find my motivation go down fast if I paint one single model that im not happy with. I can fix that by painting a new one or making improvements to the failed one.

Listening to epic music helps me a lot, and keeping my workspace clean.

My problem is I got de-motivated, then I switched scales completely (to 15mm). While enthused about collecting stuff for the new scale and the myriad of games we planned on playing with them I went on a frenzy buying an airbrush, models, paints, pigments, etc.

To do this, I had to start selling stuff on eBay. Now my garage AND dining room table is in complete disarray. I've started a massive cleanup effort, but to make room for my game stuff I have what looks like a trip to the dump and one to the electronics recycler. I'm in IT, so I've been hoarding computer parts for literally a decade. My problem is I'm motivated, but I just can't sit down and do any painting until I organize and clean stuff up. Sux.

Oh, and the Missus ain't none too happy about it. Especially the dining room table.

 Redbeard wrote:
Don' t get all angsty about how you feel about it, just go do it.

I find this is essential advice for success in most things in life.

A deadline can help. I've had a couple of armies that only wound up being finished off when I wanted to use them in tournaments...

Otherwise, just picking up something completely different to paint for the fun of it can help break the mid-army painting blues.

I know what you mean. I always seem to lose my "mojo" on the last model in a unit. Probably because I paint the interesting ones first. Try painting the boring "space filler" guy first.

The first sentence tells me that you over did it and burned yourself out. I need 1-2 weeks in between projects to keep my motivation. My projects consist of long stints of painting...it's not a model here an there. Music does help or tv...also put you paint table in a frequently used room so your not secluded from the family.

Thanks for all the advice! Motivated me to paint solo for the first time in weeks. Great advice here.

I'm flat broke this week so having nothing else to do but paint will also help!

For me it was about finding a scheme that is unique and I can do well, to make me want to complete the army to show off. I tried ALOT of different schemes, and have repainted 2/3 of an army it took me a long time to paint initially, just because I really want to. Find something that makes you excited to take your model to the game shop and show them off.