In a word...
No.
I still have loads to do, but on balance significantly less than at the beginning of the week when I launched this challenge for myself. In fact I knew by about the end of Day 2 that I wouldn't be able to accomplish the challenge.
Today I was able to reflect on the successes and failures of the week and spent a very pleasant afternoon finishing the bases for my 33 Fire Warriors and 4 Battlesuits.
Learning stuff
So what have I learnt? I won't bore you with the internal monologue I was going through this week, but I will summarise my conclusion's if that's ok? :
- Setting goals is positive, no question about that. Setting specific, achievable goals and 'planning' how I'm going to achieve them is a far better way of going about it.
- Rushing is bad for my painting
- Quality matters to me
- Consecutive, 12 hour painting marathons aren't good for you
- With armies, process is important
That's about it. I didn't plan how I was going to achieve the very general goal of completing my army this week. As the clock ticked down I started rushing and making mistakes, which in turn compromised the level of quality I want to achieve. In other words I reckon I could have completed the target I set myself, if I was willing to accept a lower standard. As it turns out, I'm not.
That all sounds very 'down' but I'm very glad I set myself the goal and launched myself into the process. That's very unlike me and it's definitely to be encouraged for some projects and it's how I learnt how I'm going to go about painting armies in the future. All of that is experiential gold.
What's the goal of all of this?
Today as I was painting, washing and highlighting bases, I was very relaxed and really enjoyed the process. Surely that's the ultimate goal?
In my relaxed state I didn't just enjoy the painting, I also formulated this blog post in my head, the photo shoot I wanted to do and even let myself have a bit of a daydream about doing this for a living and what direction i'd like to take it in.
On top of all of this I sketched out some initial plans for a future project I'd like to do with fellow painters. All in my head(!) and, I believe, all because I was relaxed and enjoying the work.
What's next?
I'm pretty happy with the way my Fire Warriors turned out, so much so that I'm considering entering them in the Science Fiction War-games Unit category at Salute 2012 here in London on April 21st. I also have and idea for the Sci-Fi single figure category. It'll be the first time I've ever entered a painting competition and that will definitely spur me on.
Show me the pictures!
Take from this post what you will... or just enjoy the pictures I took this evening. If you've read all my posts up to now many thanks and thanks also to those who've offered moral support this week, it was very much appreciated.
cheers
Paul
These models look really good. I'm proud of you for managing to paint so much in so little time. I tend to find that the impending deadline of a tournament is the thing that drives me to paint my own armies... but you've managed to willpower your own way through your models! thats tough!
ReplyDeleteThanks oink, very kind of you to say. The Tau and I are going to spend some time apart for a while... but I'll finish the entire force, in a slightly more organised way, very soon I hope.
DeleteReally liking the smokiness of the paint on the Hammerhead first pictured. Works well on that drab style of colour. I was wondering how the technique would translate to larger surfaces.
ReplyDeleteBest for the painting competition! :D
Thanks Tael. I agree it works pretty well. There is some patchiness that can be improved upon but I'm fairly happy.
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