Losing interest in painting

[Mike X]

I think I've reached my painting limit.

It took me three years to fully paint my 2000pts army. During my painting, I had to deal with a rule book change and a codex change. And now, I think I've reached my capacity. I can't seem to get into painting anymore.

I'm still all about the gaming aspect, that hasn't run dry at all. But although I need to paint new units and models for variant lists, and so I can improve my primary force, I just can't get myself to start any new projects.

When I play video games (Battlefield 2142, Fallout 3, Doom 3), I get inspired for new terrain ideas... but nothing army-wise.

Anyone else feel this way? How do you deal with painting boredom?

And for those interested, this is my current army:
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/98/l_5452ae78091d4d7782ca85ba8d61a60f.jpg
Mind you, there are a bunch of spare models not shown, due to codex changes.

[plasticaddict]

I'm on my third IG codex and just finished painting a 1500 point list. I know exactly how you feel, I paint in spurts. I got an inspiration for one of my Warmachine armys and painted up eight warjacks, four full units of troops and six solo models. Now I need to finish but I can't get motivated to do it. It happens to a lot of us that love playing but aren't big into the painting aspect of the hobby, I have several friends that are in the same boat. Just take your time with it and do what you feel inspired to do, sooner or later you'llfeel the paint brush bite again.

[Matthew Rider]

Painting mass amounts of Guardsmen is what drove me away from the little buggers lol

Bad I know but I prefer armies were I can individually create each guy- I colllect Iron Hands and Emperor's Children, and these are extremely fun to paint because of the attention to detail I can put into every Marine

[Cryl]

Try a different army... I got bored of marines about half way through a battlecompany (I don't paint to a particularly high standard) so I went and tried some Eldar and some WotR models. When I got bored of black and silver on my Gondor force I went back to my marines and practically finished them off.

chopping and changing what you're painting / building / modelling might help keep it new and interesting for you.

[deadmanwade]

For me, painting is a war of attrition...which I am losing badly.
I seem to buy 10 models, make 7 and paint 1.
I actually enjoy painting, its just difficult to find the time to sit down and do it. I also prefer doing detail work and find base colours the most boring part. If I paint 2 or 3 different models at a time, I am happy. Its when I have to paint a unit or more at a time (tournament or some other event) that I feel like quitting.

[pgarfunkle]

Since rejoining the hobby at the begining of the year I find I enjoy the painting side far more than I did previously. I find I'm in a similar situation to deadmanwade though, finding the time to sit and paint is difficult. Also I hate painting the basecoat too, which is why I got a spray gun recently. Now if I could just find the time to use it lol.

[Darkriver]

Cryl advise is probably the best, change the model/colors of what your currently painting. Helps break up the monotony of doing that same thing over and over and over again.

Or if your interested in seeing the tournament side, sign up for just a little small one that sounds like more fun than power gaming. It gives you a goal with a deadline to try and make. That is what is giving me the motiviation to get 2000pts of Wolves done in 4 months. One squad of Grey Hunters and one Redeemer down, 35-40 models to go with just over 94 days till deadline.

[Aldramelech]

Goodbye

[Duke]

I paint very similar to what Cryl was saying. When I get bored with my Blood Angels I paint my Eldar. When I finish my Eldar I build/ paint terrain. After painting huge building I am usually itching to paint my Blood Angels again.

The simple rule I have learned is this: Paint when it is fun and stop before it isn't fun anymore... That usually means I do about a half hour- an hour of painting once to twicw a week. That way it is always fun for me.

Duke

[david5th]

limit yourself timewise and if you have other models that need to be built, take a break and start them. I found that my interest in painting was waning so if i bought multiple kist i would start one halfway through another.

This is pretty much all i can do at the moment as the weather here is awful. Spray gun inside is just about accepted but spray cans - no way!

Also take tea breaks and have radio etc on to help.


ADDITIONAL - Also is anybody getting

This forum requires that you wait 20 seconds between posts. Please try again in 20 seconds.

I have this even though you have waited longer to post, including restart time for a windows update.

[Herald of Nurgle]

I do 5 hours a week paining... I mean, painting!
It's an acquired taste. My paint schemes are simple - as my Nurgle force makes evident on the good old Blog - but, to make it easier, I also strand myself in the most godforsaken of all stores... GW. Thankfully I don't get mobbed by a triple wave of savage staff advertising stuff. Lmao.
I also purchase each 2 months and have 8-12 painting sessions per month which helps lol.

It certainly helps to do what david (above) posted lol.

(And Cryl - where in the Midlands are you, sir?)

[entendre_entendre]

ADDITIONAL - Also is anybody getting

This forum requires that you wait 20 seconds between posts. Please try again in 20 seconds.

I have this even though you have waited longer to post, including restart time for a windows update.


you too huh? the first time i was thinking it's been at least a minute, but i passed it off as site maintenance.

OT: i find just do it when you feel the urge to, and it'll be more enjoyable. also i've found that if you start to paint something try and finish it, as you don't want that half-painted land raider sitting on your shelf for 6-8 months lol.
if you don't mind me asking, what conditions do you paint in (alone vs. group, in silence vs. listening to music, during day/evenings/late night, etc.)? if you change one of these factors, you may enjoy painting more.

[fuzzbuket]

find some kind of fun symbol to paint e.g. with my BA i paint little hooded angels takes 5 mins now used to take an hour

for basecoats BIG BRUSHES!! (though i dont like tanks)

and do somthing diffrent:D

[McMurdoc]

Like mentioned before, change to painting something else. Ever tried painting an Ork mob ? After a couple of dozen boyz you're really glad to have something else to paint. That's why I always have 2 units on which I'm working : something orky and something from my daemon army...

[Aldramelech]

Goodbye

[Duke]

Yep, reported to BigRed who is trying to solve the problem as we speak. Apparently its a problem with the sites anti spam filter.

I talked to him too, seems it is forum wide.... Hopefully it is fixed by tomorrow.

Duke

[therealjohnny5]

Yeah, i have to second, or third, or fourth what most are saying here. While i have a bit of time on my hands and have a large goal for an army i want finished, i have to paint a lot in a day. What i have gone to is probably painting 3-5 days out of the week depending on my schedule. I'll do a unit, say a tac squad, and then next i'll assemble a squad or at least a few models. Sadly i'm pretty slow bc i'm very detail oriented, so i may take me all day to finish a tac squad, but by God it's done! and i'll also switch what level i paint, so i'll paint a dev squad one day, assemble a tank the next, then paint a HQ\ character model which may take me 3 days depending.

Also while i have the GW spray gun and it works like poo bc of propellent issues (i'm looking to remedy that), spraying can dramatically increase your productivity. I just don't use mine more bc it gets irritating. Once i secure a compressor...it's on! This especially helps me as my RG are based in grey then washed down to black, so thats like three coats of wash...spray gun helps...as does netflix and hulu. lol. Been catching up on my Die Hard and cheesy sci-fi shows when i paint.

[tommox]

I normally play a pc game that doesn't involve too much monitoring so that i can paint and when i get bored i just fool around with the game until that starts sucking then i start painting again. Although if a project really grabs me i can't put my paint brush down. At other times i just stare at my hobby area with utter hopelessness. I've got about 5 armies still in their boxes and i flit from one to the other just looking at the sprues and dreaming of how cool they'll be once i paint them

[Súil Dubh]

Listening to music, podcasts, or audiobooks can help make the job less tedious.

For me painting and music go hand in hand. I often have a backlog of new albums I haven't heard yet, and painting for three or four hours is a good excuse to sit down and listen to all of them.

Saying I paint while I listen to music is just as true as saying I listen to music while I paint.