Hello Folks!

I suppose this is the space for me to post my thoughts and musings to any who might find them of interest.

I have really struggled to do much in my hobbying this year. Some commissions and occassional teaching gigs have really put me in a place where I was no longer prioritizing the hobby itself. I was still coming up with plenty of ideas for things to work on, grand plans for dioramas and of course purchasing plenty of kits that will no doubt live out the rest of their days on my shelves, slowly gathering dust. So I had ideas, I had kits and yet… nothing was getting done.

Why?

Was it that freehanding details on my thrice cursed 1:72 Fokker Eindecker was the worst idea in the history of ideas? Was I just another millennial blaming ‘Burnout’ for what was really just another facet of laziness? Probably…

So how to fix it?

Well there lies the rub… There are a few things that I’ve done in the past to help me out of a rut:

• Work on a totally different subject that’s completely new to you! Try a Gundam kit or a Submarine subject, maybe give figure painting a go?
• Work on something low stakes – a beginner kit maybe or something from the backlog that maybe’s been superceded by a nicer, newer kit.
• Try a new technique! This combines great with the previous option – get yourself a new kit and test out a new gap filling method, or practice panel scribing, maybe work on a new camo style. And if it doesn’t work? Well it was just a test kit! Give it to nephew or a cousin to strap some fireworks to and move on to the next thing!
• Work on something super familiar. A bit of a pivot from the previous suggestions but sometimes going back to a familiar kit or subject can take a lot of the pressure off and just make for an easy subject – Just ask anyone who’s built a Zaku before! For me, it’s often a case of going back to gaming pieces, I have a seemingly infinite supply of them, they’ll get use on the table and I can bang a squad out in a weekend.
• Work to a deadline? This can cause even more stress for some but for others this will really drive people to get through a model and call it done. Maybe they’re doing it for an IPMS show, or to gift it to someone or even just for your local IPMS show and tell next month.

Not an exhaustive list and I’d love to hear your suggested additions. 

What have I done to break out of this latest funk? Well I’ve returned to the familiar and have an added deadline! I am working on a host of Warhammer Underworlds miniatures that have been sat in a drawer for far too long. In a week I’ve already painted a half dozen pieces of terrain, a half dozen warriors and another dozen or so nearly completed!