How to stay motivated?

Hmm, I used to play at tournaments and that was always one of my main motivations as points were usually deducted for unpainted models.

Lately though, I've no real time for painting and I've lost the ability to motivate myself just to paint, but when I do I make sure to have something on in the background to listen to. Usually something I don't need look at (movies or tv shows I've already seen enough times to know what is going on (Pixars Wall-ie is oddly my go to movie), music, or YouTube videos).

I agree, pick your project and don't be distracted. Also, be consistent in your "work" schedule doing a minimum each night/day while at the same time don't work so long it becomes like WORK.

Paintdog, you make a great point. I was using "work" as a figure of speech as in the painting process; as I said, when it becomes "work" you're doing too much. As you said, it's supposed to be fun and relaxing. I've had a tendency with my OCD to push it to the point where it has become like a job I had to put so much time on or complete a quota in a day. I've definitely had to put a brake on that lest I burn myself completely out.

Also have trouble keeping motivated. I have two quite reasonably sized armies, basically opponents that I fight against each other. I considered them "finished" about 25 years ago, but they've aged quite badly and need extensive touch ups. They also need partial rebasing/magnetizing to suit newer rules systems like General D'Armee and Sharp Practice. The artillery is especially poor, with guns and draught teams requiring complete repainting. Also had to add a few units, for example of British 95th Rifles, to balance the sides. Despite over five months of work I've yet to get a single unit completed to my satisfaction.

Have repaired the worst of the paintwork problems on infantry and cav, and have mostly replaced the bases on the infantry, but have barely started on the cav. Biggest problem is I keep getting distracted researching new units and all the wonderful new figures available. Waste a lot of time trying to find figures compatible with my old units, for padding them out.

I find that rewatching old TV series on Netflix helps in the background. I generally know the stories quite well, so don't need to give full attention all the time.

Hi Donald, 
Thanks for the psychoanalytical reply! Suppose I ought to just flop down on the couch...

It's not that I dislike painting: I do actually enjoy it, though I get bored easily, especially when having to paint large numbers of the same figure. No, the problem is more subtle.

I never used to be much of a perfectionist, but looking back at figures I was once quite happy with, I find myself disappointed at how mediocre they look. The hobby has really moved on in the 25 years since I last took part in it, and with all those beautifully painted figures on people's blogs and videos I see my efforts are rather shabby. (Don't get me wrong, they are still better than 90% of the stuff that gets sold on ebay, but that's not saying much.) Now, I know I can paint well. I've won prizes at the Model Engineer Exhibition, and had illustrations published (and paid for). Yet the new figures are not turning out quite as well as I'd hoped and it's kind of frustrating. 

Previously, I would wash the plastic figures, splash on some white or pale grey undercoat, and then just paint them in the recommended colours using Humbrol enamels, usually without attempting any shading or outlining of belts, etc. Glue 'em to a strip of beermat cut to required base size, paint that ochre-yellow, a coat of matt varnish, and .... job done. 

Nowadays, I carefully clean off any flash and excess plastic before washing the figures, undercoat them with PVA glue, then spray with primer. After painting the main colours using acrylics, I paint on a thin coat of oil-based dark shade over most of the figure.  Since this dulls the colours, I then repaint nearly everything, adding highlights, shading, and finer details. Basing is now an extensive ritual, though I still use beermat as the foundation, but build it up with filler, grit, several layers of paint and PVA, and then drybrush, static grass and tufts. The final stage would be spraying the entire unit with a coat of matt varnish, except that none of my units have progressed that far yet.

So, as you see, the whole process has got a whole lot more labour intensive. Also, I no longer trust my earlier reference material - things like Ugo Pericoli's Armies at Waterloo - and prefer to do my own uniformology research, which is also very time-consuming.

Ultimately, my goal is just to get two armies, my armies, onto a presentable wargames table. I do in fact play quite regularly, once a month or so, and it's a great feeling to see all my troops on the table, more presentable each time, with better bases and ever fewer uncompleted figures. I *am* getting there, just rather too slowly for my liking.

As for getting someone to paint figures for me. Hmmm. Well, maybe. I know one talented young chap who paints on commission and has very reasonable rates (which means he's always rather busy). I was thinking of buying the odd unit or two on ebay, but most of the available figures are of disappointingly poor quality and would need rebasing. And I know I would end up repainting them anyway... 

So, must end now. But maybe will come back for another therapy session at a later date.

The best thing I did to remain enthusiastic whilst painting was to paint in smaller quantities. Previously I'd try and paint a whole box in one go. This meant I spent ages and ages painting the same things (50 redcoats, then 50 trousers etc). Now I paint in quantities of approx 15-20, which means I spend less time on each specific monotonous task and am able to more than one piece of kit in a sitting.

Well said waynew!

Best quote I heard on this topic is the old business adage: "Do you want it perfect or do you want it Tuesday?"

Perfectionism is indeed a curse, but in truth I don't think I suffer from it.

Recently looked at some of the Airfix tank kits I made in my early teens, and others made at the same time by my slightly younger brother. Mine are quite a mess, wheels hopelessly misaligned, huge gaps in the hull, sloppy paintwork (my idea at the time of 'weathering'); his are much cleaner, wheels fairly even, very few gaps, paintwork in truth a little sterile and soul-less with odd colour choices, but all even. Now, he quit modelling and wargaming before he was 17, got mediocre exam grades and flunked out of university; I got straight As, a degree in Astrophysics (no, seriously) and am still a wargamer. My brother was and still is a perfectionist. I suffer from a different problem: I am probably the world's greatest procrastinator. I will know a project has to be in at 5pm on Tuesday and will take 3 hours, so I will start it at 2:30pm on Tuesday, realizing it will be rushed or even slightly late.

So, the problem is, I keep putting off finishing my units. It's not all laziness. I genuinely find it hard to make decisions on which figures to use, on basing and unit size, and a myriad of other trivial issues. I know my painting technique is currently evolving and improving thanks to all those wonderful pictures and how-to vids (gamer porn, you might call it), so I don't want to definitively close a project too early and set it in stone. My only hope is that by trial and error and default, and deadlines imposed by needing to finish a unit for a 'big game', I will eventually stumble to the goal.

Used to paint just generic Napoleonics and ACW but for the last 30 or so years of the last 50 have concentrated on doing actual numbered/named units
currently for my Carnage and Glory armies. Each unit has a permanent battalion/regimental number on its base. Currently at the scale
I use I have about 700,000 troops. Only need 50 more years to finish....

Just do a little bit every day/evening - your collection will slowly grow...

This does indeed seem to be the magic formula for success in any venture. You will cover a thousand miles eventually if you take a few steps a day, every day.
Or as my mother used to say, "Save a penny a day, and in two days you'll be a millionaire." Slight exaggeration on her part, but despite earning a very low wage most of her life she's never been short of money.

My problem is in two areas.
1) Starting a new unit. This usually requires a considerable amount of cogitation and physical effort, certainly more than the 'few steps a day' kind. Besides the uniformology stage, mostly this involves selecting the figures, purchasing the required amount, and then cleaning and preparing them for painting and basing.

2) Finishing the unit. I'm rarely satisfied with my unit, always want to add a few men to pad it out, or improve the shading on their jackets. So I keep putting off the final closure of a unit, which I define as adding static grass and tufts to the base, and spraying with varnish. 

With area (1) there are no short cuts: it's just work that needs to be done and is best done in one intense burst, say over a whole weekend. With area (2) I know I'll never be satisfied, so kid myself that I'll finish the painting at a later stage. Meanwhile, a unit that is based and flocked looks SIGNIFICANTLY better than one that isn't, so once the painting is acceptable I try to add the static grass. One day, I will get round to the varnishing...