What is your personal opinion on model painting?

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**Brother SRM**

I spend more time painting than anything else in this hobby. It's pretty much how I relax.

**snurl**

Smacks wrote:
I've been thinking about this a lot lately.

At some point in my life I must have wanted to paint miniatures. I must have thought that painting miniatures sounded like something fun, that I really wanted to do. I must have, because I went out and bought miniatures and paint.

I can even remember the first guy I painted (after getting back into the hobby). I had a blast painting him, and he turned out awesome...

Then something went wrong. I started buying more miniatures at an alarming rate, digging out old poorly painted miniatures from storage and stripping them for repainting. Picking up new Fantasy Flight games, Space Hulk, SDE and Zombicide. Now my to do list is probably greater than my life expectancy... When I look at all the miniatures I have to paint, I just sort of curl up into the fetal position and rock back and forth, sobbing and mumbling the phrase "it isn't possible!" into the darkness.

I'm not sure why that is the case. Why owning many miniatures makes it harder to paint a few. It's not like I worry about having to paint miniatures that I don't own. Maybe I just feel guilty because I know that if I want to paint them all I'm going to have to lower my expectations down from Golden Deamon winner, to something more realistic like one colour and maybe a dip...

I think I do still love painting. But unfortunately the big workload makes any amount of painting seem futile. It's like some kind of learned helplessness syndrome. I'm trying to work through it now, but I'm sure I'm not alone in this. Maybe I should start some kind of Dakka Painters Anonymous group. Where people that can no longer cope with the stress and guilt of having to look at all their unpainted miniatures can go for support.

Remember guys: "One miniature at a time" *hug*

Try what I did. Make a list of your different generes of figures. Number them and roll an appropriate dice. Then pick out 10 figures from that group and roll again. Winner gets painted first.
Example:
D4 -
1-WWII
2-ACW
3-WHFB Dwarves
4-WHFB Undead

Result of 3 =
1-Ironbreaker
2-Longbeard
3-Slayer
4-Clansman
5-Ranger
6-Slayer Pirate
7-Thunderer
8-Crossbow
9-Roman Legion
10-Character

A result of 2 got me started on my Longbeards. That regiment is now done.

**Eilif**

Edited. my last response was ill-thought.

I like the way this poll is setup. I'm definitley indifferent to the actual process of painting. I don't hate it, but it's probably my least favorite part of the hobby. However, I love having painted models and only play with painted models.

**ced1106**

Smacks wrote:
Remember guys: "One miniature at a time" *hug*

No, no -- Assembly line painting! (:

Eh, I'm buying more miniatures than before (thanks, KS!), but just started to paint when the first Reaper KS ended. I have 3.5K+ mini's to paint, although I hear that's the low-end compared to some folks!

I think grouping them helps. Reaper mini's, frex, are meant to be painted. Boardgame mini's not as much. The 20+ year old mini's that have appreciated in value (anyone want to buy a Warhammer Fantasy 5th ed Starter Set?

I have an excuse not to paint.

I finally got my Dwarven Forge tiles and, after a quick drybrush, did two sets plus two sets of stretch goals in four nights. Set up a diorama. I'm not a display-level painter, and you really *can't* see all those details at a distance. Looks great. Big esteem improvement over storing them in boxes!

Glad to see how many of us are indifferent / dislike painting on a forum dedicated / biased (?) towards painting!

**Eilif**

Smacks wrote:

Then something went wrong. I started buying more miniatures at an alarming rate, digging out old poorly painted miniatures from storage and stripping them for repainting. Picking up new Fantasy Flight games, Space Hulk, SDE and Zombicide. Now my to do list is probably greater than my life expectancy... When I look at all the miniatures I have to paint, I just sort of curl up into the fetal position and rock back and forth, sobbing and mumbling the phrase "it isn't possible!" into the darkness.

I don't have any real solutions for you, but here are two suggestions.

1) Sell old miniatures. Even if it's selling a bunch of minis for cheap to maybe buy one really neat miniature, it can feel really good to get old minis into new homes.
2) Play some games. Just about the only thing that gets me painting is having a game coming up. There are lots of fun small games that can make use of minis in your unpainted collection.
-I painted up a bunch of battlemasters figs and old Ral Partha to play Kings of War
-I've painted up dozens of old fantasy figures to play Song of Blades and Heroes.
-I got a bunch of mecha models I had painted in order to play Mech Attack in 28mm.
Even if you only play a few games, trying a new game can be enough to get a couple dozen models from your backlog finished.

**timetowaste85**

I got into this hobby because of the painting. And the building. The games came after. Time though...it's a fickle b***h.

**Alfndrate**

timetowaste85 wrote:
I got into this hobby because of the painting. And the building. The games came after. Time though...it's a fickle b***h.

Not so much, timetowaste huh?

**Da krimson barun**

I love my LOTR dwarves,Goblins and uruk scouts.I love my orks and orcs.I love painting my LOTR.I HATE paint my orcs and orks.I don't know why...Is it the heroic scale/Huge amounts of flesh?

**Alfndrate**

Maybe it's the number of orks and orcs that you need to play in each game.

**Da krimson barun**

Well I won't be playing fantasy anytime soon(To busy grabbing LOTR before..Well you know..)10 orcs and 2 painted since august..

**furryblueelf**

I prefer "I enjoy painting, and I like the resulting cool model." however I would need to modify the end to "resulting sub par painted model as my will far exceeds my skill."

**timetowaste85**

Alfndrate wrote:
timetowaste85 wrote:
I got into this hobby because of the painting. And the building. The games came after. Time though...it's a fickle b***h.

Not so much, timetowaste huh?

.... >.< dammit, Alf.

**Alfndrate**

Yay I made the funnies!

**fishy bob**

I don't like painting and think that everyone who do are elitist neckbeards with no social life.

Spoiler:

**Alfndrate**

Huh, I'm sorry thread I forgot to weigh in.

I am indifferent to painting, but I like how a painted model looks. I love seeing 2 fully painted armies on a fully populated board going toe to toe, it really makes for a fun game. Sadly I get bogged down in my lack of skill, and the details. So I tend to go for a a look that says, "Oh crap I have a week to get things painted" usually it comes out okay. My Brushfire Chugoku army was painted and based in 2 weeks, and it looks a lot better than my Trollbloods army which was done in a similar time period, but I painted the trolls a year and a half prior to my Chugoku army.

**Crazy_Carnifex**

For me, the hobby basically is painting right now- it's much easier to fit 1/2hour of painting into a students schedule than to go find a game.

**carmachu**

Hate it. Hate doing it, don't care if its painted. Rather play with a good opponent with bare plastic then a well painted army and jerk of a player.

**Da krimson barun**

carmachu wrote:
Hate it. Hate doing it, don't care if its painted. Rather play with a good opponent with bare plastic then a well painted army and jerk of a player.

YEAH!All people with time to paint are jerks!

**carmachu**

Da krimson barun wrote:
YEAH!All people with time to paint are jerks!

Well only you....

No seriously, jerks are jerks. Having a painted or unpainted army doesn't make the game better. My point being, which still stands, is that having a painted army doesn't make the game better or worse for me. Its always been about the guy across the table. Doesn't mean that all folks that love painting are jerks(although given the plethora of threads like this one, there are jerks in painting folks) but having a painted army doesn't automatically make the game better.

**carlos13th**

Smacks wrote:
.

Then something went wrong. I started buying more miniatures at an alarming rate, digging out old poorly painted miniatures from storage and stripping them for repainting. Picking up new Fantasy Flight games, Space Hulk, SDE and Zombicide. Now my to do list is probably greater than my life expectancy... When I look at all the miniatures I have to paint, I just sort of curl up into the fetal position and rock back and forth, sobbing and mumbling the phrase "it isn't possible!" into the darkness.

Same thing happened to me. Realised I had way more miniatures than I could realistically paint or play with. I picked a project to work on with what I already have. (Kings of War using Samurai miniatures.) I divided what I had into, will probably paint and play with (Most of my mantic stuff, my Dark Angels ect.) Stuff I may paint and stuff I probably wont paint.

Most of the stuff I probably won't paint I am selling or trading in order to expand my Samurai for KOW. The stuff I may paint I will only trade for something I want more. The stuff I will probably paint is kept at least for now.

So I have written a list for KOW and will be working on the Samurai until I have at least 1000 points and have the rule that I cannot purchase anything new unless its to help complete this project or I abandon the project completely. I am going to stick with this as I am working towards a completed army I can use for kings of war. I will probably make a start on Deadzone along side this as it gives me a variety of different factions to work on if I burn out painting Samurai ect.

Too answer the original question, I like painting its the reason I got into this hobby. The large amount of time you have to put in during a session to make it worth while setting everything up puts me off at times.

**George L.**

I really enjoy painting, so much so that I currently make a living from it and hope to devote my proffessional life to it. I do sometimes get frustrated with my finished work but the fact that I can produce something material and through it clearly track my development as a painter really makes it a worth while hobby/job. One of the other things that makes me love painting is the community. For the most part its an extremley positive learning environment. There is also the tournament/.con scene that brings the whole hobby together on a more personal level

Reading some of the above posts I would encourage folks not to get demotivated buy the masses of unpainted models clogging up your house. You can either sell some of it for a fresh start or just look at it as a whole pile of fun you havent had yet

... personally id sell some off

**Frank&Stein**

I love converting and scratch building. It relaxes me.
Painting on the other hand I absolutely

hate, I find it to be a chore.
I do like the look of painted models however, so I keep at it.
But as you can imagine I have lots more unpainted than painted models.
If I had the cash I'd love to get them all painted by some professional service.

**TheAuldGrump**

I love painting.

I love the smell of a fresh bottle of Vallejo, the feel of a brush in my hand, the taste when I mix up which was the rinse cup and which was the drinking cup....

I like painting in public - my favorite place to paint is in the Burger King dining room, waiting for my girlfriend to show up, then painting miniatures together with her.

I like answering questions about what I am doing, how I am doing it, and why.

I like placing the painted models on the table, in serried ranks.

I like crushing the enemy with my painted forces.

I like being crushed by the enemy, knowing that I am the one that taught them how to plan, and sometimes how to paint.

I like finding just the right figure for the big-bad-evil-guy in my fantasy game.

I like hiding the figure for the big-bad-evil-guy behind my screen, knowing that the figure alone will be enough to make the PCs worry.

I like painting miniatures for commission

I like the look when somebody gets the miniature that they have paid me to paint.

I like looking at other folks' paint jobs and going 'I can do better than that!'

I like looking at other folks' paint jobs and going 'I have got to learn how they did that!'

I like miniatures.

The Auld Grump - year to date, I have made $2,800 painting commissions.... After promising myself that this year I was going to focus on painting my own stuff....

**Shandara**

I enjoy painting, it's calming and feels good to be busy with a manual task. I also enjoy seeing the results.

**kb305**

it's awful. the only good part is the end result.

**Alfndrate**

I like seeing painted forces on the board, I like when two forces face off against each other and it looks realistic. I'm a garbage painter compared to what I've seen on Dakka, but I do my best to put something on the field that's painted.

**sarpedons-right-hand**

I plug away, being mostly mediocre. I'm not too bothered about how the finished mini looks, it's more about the effort that I put in. If I put 100% into the mini it's worth it IMO...

**Da Boss**

I generally enjoy painting, and considering I haven't played a game in over a two years now, it's a good thing.

I can paint to a reasonable standard, but recently I've been trying to power through a large chunk of my backlog through quick methods (pre shading and washes, mostly). I have to say the results are encouraging! I need to crack on and finish my Dark Vengeance set though before the end of the year.

**conker249**

I love painting and challenging myself. Working on Imperial fists right now. Yellow has been a good lesson on painting., it is VERY time consuming for me...sooo many layers... I need to learn to paint yellow faster/better/more efficient.

**NuggzTheNinja**

Mostly indifferent to painting. There are a lot of things I'd rather do with my time, but having a nicely painted finished product is very rewarding.

Usually I find that booze makes the time fly when I'm painting. Painting sober is like fishing sober...you could do it, but it would be boring.