Saturday, May 12, 2012

Dealing with Painter's Block

When we begin a project, sometimes it is best to put it to the side when we have no idea how we wish to proceed.

Back to the shelf

Yes, I can hear those little voices on the internet already saying it; "Krisken, you were going to paint that Warp Hunter, what happened?"  Well, I'll tell you what happened- Painter's Block.  I know, it sounds silly, but for two days I sat and stared at that Warp Hunter, sure all I needed was just a little more time to envision what I would be doing for the vehicle and how I would make it spectacular (well, for me anyways).  And yet, two days passed and not a brush was raised.

I fix you, I promise

I stared at pictures of other models which had been painted by far superior painters to inspire me.  Then I would fiddle with the model, pick it up and look for another area I could begin painting and realizing it all rested on the image I decided on.  In the end, my eye would drift to the Harlequins sitting on my desk.  I liked some of them ok, but they never received the same attention as the Shadowseer and Eldrad I recently painted.  Something about them was just off, and I could feel the inspiration inside bubbling up to repaint the parts of the first model I knew could be better.

And so, that's what I decided.

Very, very early WIP

I've found when confronted with a lack of inspiration, often it's best to move onto another problem until the first can present itself a solution.  We all have a finite amount of time to work on our hobby and the best way to move forward is often to follow our instincts.  Hopefully soon I'll be inspired for the Warp Hunter, but until that time presents itself I'll continue to improve the army I've been having a blast working on.

2 comments:

  1. Excellent advice - really liking where you're going with the re-paint, though I really liked the old one too!

    Keep up the great work!

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    1. Thanks Mordian7th! While I do like how he looked before, there was just too much open space for my liking and not enough taking advantage of the potential of each model. Hopefully I can push myself with each model to make the upper echelons of table top quality.

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