And in response to my previous post about making exercise and army painting thoughtless and routing, I offer up my last piece of advice. Set a goal. Make it hard. Work very very hard at accomplishing it.
Of course, I offer this advice only after you've got your routine and boring stuff down. Don't tackle freehand artwork on a tank until you already know how you're going to do a) the freehand b) the tank or c) both.
You do the daily work, you get the routines down, you get motivation from others, and the end result is a big project you can showcase.
I think marathons is the right analogy for this.
I think signing up for a marathon isn't the best way to train for that marathon. I think you need some training first, you need to see that you can enjoy and benefit from runs before you ever consider signing up to run however many miles/kilometers a marathon is.
With armies, I'd say get that squad or dude done and figure out what you'll be consistent at doing before tackling a table-ready force.
I recommend getting routines down before setting big goals because then accomplishing big goals can become, to a certain extent, routine. Your daily brushwork and exercise naturally flow into a higher goal. The higher goal motivates you, but it is not the be-all end-all of your existence.
So even if you come short of your goal, you will not have truly failed.
Okay, that's enough preaching for one day. Maybe tomorrow I'll post actual pictures of miniatures.
Felix Flauta gotta paint and play them all!
I have a hard time running on a treadmill as it is! I also have a hard time painting!! lol I don't know how well I would be able to do this.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, a marathon is 42 km, or 26.2 miles. (Plus a little bit extra, but that's neither here nor there.) You draw a pretty good analogy - painting an entire table-ready force is kind of like running a marathon - you need to do a lot of prep work (whether it is painting smaller projects or running) first.
ReplyDeleteIf someone told me that, having never painted (or run) before, that they wanted to paint an entire army (or run a marathon), I would tell them to seek smaller goals at first (paint a full unit/run a 5k), and work on getting into the habit of painting or running. And, once those habits are established (in running parlance, building your base), thne set your sights on a bigger target.
And, telling everyone that you are going to paint an entire army (or run a marathon) is a darned good way to get support from others. (And random trash-talk, of the "you must be crazy" variety.)