Is Anyone Happy With What They Paint?

[moonunitParticipant 4505xp 4]

What I mean by this is does anyone look at a completed miniature and think “yeah, that’s done, I’m pleased with the results.” For me, even though I’m improving constantly, I rarely finish anything that I’m fully satisfied with, often going back to old paint jobs and seeing nothing but flaws. Am I alone in this? Am I just a miserable git?

[elessar2590 18207xp 2]

I’m a bit of both.

I recently painted a few crews for Legends of the Old West (GW Cowboy Skirmish Game) and I kept going back and fiddling.

But on the other hand I also just finished 150+ Sudanese for the Mahdist War and I couldn’t put them away fast enough.

So for me it depends on the amount of minis I’m painting and the size of game they’ll be used in.

[lawnor 25928xp 2]

There’s never been anything I’ve never been able to finish.  By the time I’m done I’m usually keen to move on to the next project.  There are models I’m not 100% happy with but been OK with.  There are times I’ve redone colours/sections before I’ve finished a piece.  Once something is varnished and put away I don’t think I’ve ever taken it back to the painting table, except to fix up damage.  Mind you, I am largely progress oriented these days.  If I ever get down to a handful of naked plastic I might start getting more fussy with my paint work.  I look forward to the day when I can do that.

As for pleased, some minis I am quite pleased with myself and keen to show them off.  Other minis, I’m content that I’ve done the best I’m likely to at my current skill level, or done the best with the time and effort the model deserves.  Some days I hate the mini and the paint job and I’m just happy to call it done and get it far away from my painting table.

[shredheadParticipant 5177xp 3]

I can’t recall even one mini or model I was 100% happy with. You just have to know when to quit and call it done, that is the artist’s lot in life 😉

I would also never touch a mini to repaint other than if it got damaged, that’s just not healthy. Move on to the next one and try to avoid the mistakes you made before.

[sundancer 42926xp 3]

What I mean by this is does anyone look at a completed miniature and think “yeah, that’s done, I’m pleased with the results.”

Yes, I do. Everything else would drive me insane.

Am I alone in this? Am I just a miserable git?

No and no but it may cost you your sanity 😉

[blinky465 17028xp 3]

I have about a million projects that are all in various stages of completion – actually getting something done and finished has always been difficult. I have a friend who burns through their projects, knocking a new one out every few days.

“How do you do it?”

“A finished project is better than a perfect one. Just get it finished”.

I tried it for a few weeks. I still haven’t finished anything.

“If it’s not perfect, how do you know it’s finished?”

 

Decide what is “finished” for you; get to that level. Move on. I’m still learning…..

[lawnor 25928xp 2]

@shredhead I can see an argument to say you can repaint when its 10 years later, you’ve finished everything else and you’ve learned a lot.  Those first models you painted that you obscured all the detail on and have wonky eyes in the wrong place that you can now make look awesome and still appear on the table next you your more recent works?  If you’ve not got much else left to paint they might be worth a revisit.  I know I have some ugly paint jobs from my early days or I bought second hand, but I have never reached this mythical repaint stage.  If it’s painted then its table ready unlike all that naked plastic over there.  I agree that people should probably avoid doing this while they still have vast piles of shame that need their attention first.

[moonunitParticipant 4505xp 1]

That’s really good advice, it’s better off finished than not. The comment about never going back to a mini was also good. I need to look to the next project and improve there. There’s also the fact that it’s only me that cares. My Escher gang haunts me with its mistakes, but I put it on the table and y friend said “nice colour scheme” and then barely looked at them again as he murdered them off the table.

[somegeezer 18431xp 2]

One way to look at this is if you’re looking at old models and thinking they aren’t as good as they could be shows that you’re constantly improving as a painter.

Another way to look at it is it’s good to put them down, varnish them and play some games. Keep going, don’t go back to touch up your old “inferior” paintjobs, and paint something new. There’s only one Angel Giraldez; then there’s the rest of us, not as good. It’s fine.

[torros 23813xp 1]

Its usually the basing I’m not happy with as it makes a big difference n the table when using 6mm

 

As for painting I use a pretty basic technique for 6mm  with no real highlighting and one wash as I just want to get them on the table

[shredheadParticipant 5177xp 2]

@lawnor I can see that, and to be honest I just now have 3 old minis of my friend (a commissar and two assassins) from the 90’s that I stripped, modified and will repaint. They were from when we started and had been painted with one thick layer of old Revell oil colours. But that’s me doing that for a friend because he wants to use them with his current army. I personally have so many projects I don’t have the time, and I also like how these old ugly minis represent kind of a diary of my progress.

One should also keep in mind that nobody will ever look at these minis like you do, 99.9% of the people will never notice the mistakes. And if you start redoing minis you finished a month ago you’ll never move forward, and you’ll just get more depressed and anxious about your own abilities. I’ll most likely never be as amazing as Sam Lenz. I can live with that. I will, however, just keep on trying to improve myself.

[moonunitParticipant 4505xp 1]

I wonder how much impact looking at amazingly painted minis online has on us. I may look at some awesome paint job on this Site or Pinterest or something and think all my minis need to be like that. But the fact is that those paint jobs may be the best that person can achieve and their rank and file miniatures are of much lower quality/level of finish.

[shredheadParticipant 5177xp 3]

Yes, in fact most of the really good painters only make one-offs that they invest a huge amount of time in. It’s also important to know that you will not be able to recreate certain effects without knowing the technique behind them. Knowledge and experience will add up over time, but there’s also that point at where you have to decide ‘do I paint that army/gang/squad in a timely manner to play with them’ or to create a piece of art that takes a huge amount of time. Your Eschers look great btw, very clean paintjob, you can definitely be proud of them.

[moonunitParticipant 4505xp 2]

Thanks, that’s appreciated. I think because they are such great minis I had higher hopes for them than my skill allowed, but they are tabletop standard at least.

[lawnor 25928xp 4]

Here’s a very morbid way to think about things.  I have 300 models to paint.  Ignore the fact that I gain lots of models every year.  I only really get to paint at the weekend.  Right now I paint a little  north of 300 models a year.  Lets say I wanted to paint to pro standard and each model takes 8 days of dedicated work (I pulled this number out of the air.  Maybe its too much but I suspect not.  Who knows.  Speed improves with quality and practise I suppose.).  That’s 4 weekends or one month.  That’s 25 years of my life to paint everything to a pro standard, ignoring the learning curve.  I might not even live that long.  Or I could paint as I do now, looking to balance quality and time, aiming for painting efficiency, and then I should have my current collection finished by the end of the year, again ignoring purchases.  The reality will be quite different but I am catching up slowly.

Is it worth sinking in the time to get the quality?  For all the models, probably not.  For a handful, perhaps.  It’s a decision we each have to make every time we paint but it pays to think about the scale of our hobby.  It’s easy to forget just how long it can take and how little time we actually have to do it all.

[Author]

Posts