Motivating yourself to Paint/Assemble?

Mr.chair I agree watching TV and painting works well. Although I sometimes I miss things on shows and have to watch them again, but if you are watching a Show or a Movie you have seen before it is a great way to enjoy the show or movie and paint.

Or listening to soem talkshow on the radio. I dont know, TV and radio (not music!) have a soothing effect whenever I paint. I think that is becasue painting (holding your breath, trying to paint a line of highlight around the eyes of a 28mm model slower than can be perceieved by the human eye) is actually pretty darn boring!

But man, the release when you have finished painting and is happy with the paintjob; its a rush

SiliconSicilian wrote:

Turquoise Dwarf wrote:

also painted units seem more lucky but it might just be that you look after them more.

Although I am not terribly superstitious, I can vouch that my painted units have never been beaten by unpainted ones. Maybe there is something to this or maybe I just use better tactics subconsciously when playing against a non-pretty unit.

We got sick of unpainted units on our tables, so we made a house rule that basically had it so that any unpainted unit / model was at 1/2 stats. Needless to day most got a coat of primer really quick!! Howz that for motivation ..ehehe

For my part, playing, playing, playing. That's what makes you want to paint more. I actually paint a lot more than I play, now, but that's because I don't have many opponents so there's not really anything else to work on. However, like most I got tired of either having or facing an unpainted army, so I try to get things done before they're going to hit the table.

Also, while this may not be the most helpful advice (certainly my wife and my wallet will disapprove), buying new miniatures can inject a little modelling enthusiasm into the lethargic painter. I'm not talking about starting a brand new army, necessarily, but if you have a bunch of marines that are sitting around unpainted, getting a cool veteran sergeant (and saving him until you're done with the troops) can be a good way to reinvigorate that project.

1 : Miniatures are not an option ... no mini ?! Then dont play ! Never, ever, accept paper pieces as minis... personnaly I'd never play with a greedy/lazy player ( damn ! you can afford a whole warband with 50$ by seeking the net a little bit).

2 : You dont like to paint !!! Simple ! Use D&D prepainted minis... the range is wide and you can create easily some warband with those models.

2A : You dont have time to paint !!! Simple ! Spray your miniatures in black and drybrush overall with grey (it shows the details). Use different shades for different henchmen groups !

3: Painting talents is divided into three groups - Beginner, Tabletop, Amazing ... the three are acceptable as you cannot judge the work of others. As long as someone do his best with the time and talent he have its all right !

Our LGS absolutely loves it when we get a game in with two HUGE, fully painted armies. It really grabs people's attention. The last time Tony and I played WFB with our armies, we ended up with a crowd of about 8 people watching and several of them were so intrigued by it, they started asking about which armies we'd recommend, and then one guy and his son bought about 200 bucks worth of models! This kind of thing motivates me to keep painting: it keeps the interest in the game alive, and it gets others to take interest in the hobby as well.

Totally agree with VampireKhaine and SiliconSicilian. Your workspace should be an easy set up, so you can get started immediately. Don't bite off more than you can chew, though. The biggest unit I work on is usually 20 models. Any bigger than that, and then "assembly line" process gets REAL tedious.

I've also found that having some background music really helps the process. I've got several playlists of music from Two Steps From Hell, which gets me pumped for getting these warriors ready for battle. Soundtracks like LotR and Conan the Barbarian are also some of my personal favorites as well. The theme just seems to match, and I think that it shows in the look of the model.

Reading the white dwarf gets me really motivated to paint/model

Paluke wrote:

PerryParker wrote:

So, in summary: Play often!

I felt this in the same way! after every game of mordheim or 40k i played, the painting bugs kept crawling in! but after a while without playing games it fades away...

so indeed, play often!

Thats what motivates me most. Mostly i want to show something new at the next game (like a piece of scenery or a new modell or something got some paint).