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When you're in the middle of painting a squad of miniatures, do you ever stop and think to yourself, "What the hell am I doing with my life? I should be knitting! If I hadn't wasted all that time and money on miniature painting, I could have completed 200 sweaters by now!"

I really enjoy painting time, but there are definitely moments where I'm doing something more because I feel I have to instead of want to. This is particularly true when the backlog gets piled up, which is a big reason why I've really started to cut back and only buy things if I'm going to paint it immediately. Removing the sense of obligation from having a backlog makes painting more fun and frees up time for video games and other things.

To be honest I feel that way more about playing cmputer games. With physical models you have a physical asset at the end of the process that isn;t really going to wear out, and provides an interesting window and memory back to the time you were working on it.

I look at my older stuff and it helps me remember what I was doing and where I was living at the time.

I get that much less with grinding the next few levels in the game du jour, knowing that at some point the digital rewards will be so much ephemera.

 Flinty wrote:

I get that much less with grinding the next few levels in the game du jour, knowing that at some point the digital rewards will be so much ephemera.

I don't play games that are work anymore. Level and gear and what not aren't fun or memorable. I just play to the end and often the experience is better for it by being a more interesting challenge.

 Talking Banana wrote:
When you're in the middle of painting a squad of miniatures, do you ever stop and think to yourself, "What the hell am I doing with my life? I should be knitting! If I hadn't wasted all that time and money on miniature painting, I could have completed 200 sweaters by now!"

Nope! I like painting miniatures, and I don't like knitting.

My other creative outlet is cooking, and I get to do that every day.

 Talking Banana wrote:
When you're in the middle of painting a squad of miniatures, do you ever stop and think to yourself, "What the hell am I doing with my life? I should be knitting! If I hadn't wasted all that time and money on miniature painting, I could have completed 200 sweaters by now!"

Can't say that I ever have.
And at the speed I paint I surely wouldn't be anywhere near completing 200 sweaters....

When I am in the middle of a squad of miniatures, I do sometimes ask myself why the hell I'm painting a squad, since I generally prefer skirmish games with individuals these days. I don't wish I was doing something else other than painting while I am painting, however. The converse, though, is not always true; sometimes I'd rather be painting than doing whatever other chore I'm doing.

Eh, I find painting to be relaxing and fun. Sure, painting a big block of infantry can be a slog, but I break it up into smaller bits and paint other stuff in between.

I really love painting, and I also love sewing. Painting is more of a break though with it being a much smaller scale project and if something gets messed up it is much easier to fix a painting mistake on a gobbo than it is cutting the fabric wrong or seam ripping yards of stitches. So sewing may be the more "productive" or "practical" hobby I have but it is far less stressful to paint a mini, and each time I do I feel a lot more relaxed. I do only paint one figure at a time though and always try to give them some character.

Also (I really hope one day) to play games with other people, so it's more of a community/friendship thing. So like I enjoy the painting and things a lot, but then I doubly get to go use those things I painted to have fun with friends. (I don't particularly think that'd work with sewing and I'd hate to drag my sewing machine with me on the bus somewhere lol).

I really like what Flinty said about it being a trip down memory lane. I only have a couple minis from when I played TTRPGs a lot more, but they always take me back to that game, those people, that time and place. I really hope my little skirmish armies I'm painting up can do the same down the road.

I think painting can become work, and I've know people that it has become that way for, so I really try to avoid that feeling and just enjoy it.

I don’t need 200 sweaters.....

OK OK I don’t NEED 200 models either but I know which I prefer. The pile of shame NEEDS to be shrunk faster .....

I had this thought when I was 18, but it was a period of life changing events and it came down to the fact I couldn't afford to buy paint, let alone buy minis at uni.

Not had a negative thought about painting since as it is more the gaming side where I have these thoughts. "Gee, if I hadn't wasted 4 hours playing someone's cheese list in a crusade game, I could have painted more minis!".

My thanks for these very interesting responses. Great stuff all around.

I agree with LunarSol about the slog part being a drag, and I should probably just take their advice and sell off chunk of my backlog. But I do find painting relaxing, and in some contexts, it can even be social. A local game store has paint meet-ups every Sunday, where people just sit together and chat and paint, the miniature painters' version of knitters' "stitch and bitch." I've done a couple of these paint n' chats virtually on Zoom with fellow Dakka-ites as well, which has also been good fun.

The mnemonic element Flinty brought up strikes a chord, too, as well as the point about video gaming. I go through cycles with video games, playing them intensely for a while and then not playing anything at all for a while. I'm currently in a long "not playing" phase; I think being on a painting streak is crowding my video gaming out, and i can't say I miss it.

As far as painting vs. knitting specifically, that was a bit tongue-in-cheek. My wife is a knitter. I don't plan on following in her footsteps, but I do envy her productivity. I can paint for hours, but after that I lose focus and have to stop. She can and will steadfastly knit all day long, if she has the day off. She hasn't hit 200 yet . . .

Hate painting. Luckily, I don't care about having an elven or human army (or halfling or dwarf). With undead and humanoids, you don't have to paint pupils or get the skin tones right!

No, but I do feel that way about home remodeling, car repair, and lawn maintenance.

I get done, look at the result and think, "I could have spent X and had it done in half the time and with better results; while doing something I actually care about instead."

 Talking Banana wrote:
When you're in the middle of painting a squad of miniatures, do you ever stop and think to yourself, "What the hell am I doing with my life? I should be knitting! If I hadn't wasted all that time and money on miniature painting, I could have completed 200 sweaters by now!"

What about the opposite? Does my wife look at her knitted sweaters and dresses and think she should have spent the time painting miniatures, looking at my armies?

Nahh, probably not.

I thought this was going to be about walking in to your hobby area and realizing you left a GW paint pot open or worse, knocked over. And it’s agrax. No, not the current crap formulation. The good stuff you have been rationing like air on a spaceship with a hull breach.

 privateer4hire wrote:
I thought this was going to be about walking in to your hobby area and realizing you left a GW paint pot open or worse, knocked over. And it’s agrax. No, not the current crap formulation. The good stuff you have been rationing like air on a spaceship with a hull breach.

What happened there anyway? It's all so glossy now.

I’m pretty sure the fans demanded it.

Flinty wrote:To be honest I feel that way more about playing cmputer games. With physical models you have a physical asset at the end of the process that isn;t really going to wear out, and provides an interesting window and memory back to the time you were working on it.

I look at my older stuff and it helps me remember what I was doing and where I was living at the time.

I get that much less with grinding the next few levels in the game du jour, knowing that at some point the digital rewards will be so much ephemera.

Same for me. I used to spend hours and hours on computer games, but now I always feel like that time could have been better spent.
Painting unwinds me more and the sense of accomplishment is more tangible.

The social aspect of tabletop games is also a huge bonus.
I'm not a very charismatic or extroverted person, but connecting with people has a great positive impact on my mental health.

I do often find myself wondering, "Why am I painting more instead of playing with the stuff I already have?"

In the past, I always painted my own stuff because I couldn't afford the cost of having someone else assemble and paint it. Now, not having to spend the time doing that and getting to instead actually play with these toys is more valuable me.

I dislike painting and it's one of the reasons I have such a huge backlog; I can always come up with something better to do with my time.

 Insectum7 wrote:
What about the opposite? Does my wife look at her knitted sweaters and dresses and think she should have spent the time painting miniatures, looking at my armies?

Nahh, probably not.

Definitely not, if she's anything like my wife. Don't mess with knitters.

My wife would probably have preferred to be painting miniatures.

We just got a package arrive with three massive monsters for her.