Daily painting is incredibly valuable. I remember when I started back in 2021 it was the only way I could see my self getting the time in to build the muscle memory.
I agree about the distractions from music, podcasts, etc. Instrumental music seems to be the best way to have something going on in the background while I'm painting without taking my attention away from the actual painting.
Awesome video, like always!!! I do the same. I started painting miniatures this year, and I was painting model kits on the competitive side of the hobby for 30+ years. Having a checklist is the best method to organize the project and organize the working approach. Also, I hear instrumental music when I paint my miniatures. It helps me to concentrate on the painting. Thank you for sharing your work and knowledge and making me feel that I'm not the only one who uses a checklist. Thank you again!!!
I'm a custom motorcycle painter. I do alot of lowrider style candy panel paint over heavy flake. On one of my more detailed projects I laid over 3 miles of various widths of masking tape over the course of 3 and a half weeks. 3 and a half weeks of 10 to 12 hour days of only laying tape EVERY day. Staying sane and not tunnel visioned was rough. I actually took the parts home, sat on my living room floor, and had Tom and Jerry playing on tv in the background while my dog laid on the couch and watched me. Mindless noise in the background sometimes keeps us sane on long art sessions lol
Always a pleasure to spend time with you. I paint long hours for commission. I find an hour of an audiobook, maybe an hour of learning a language or something per day but then IDM, psychill, heavy instrumental psychedelic rock, organic trance, focus beats etc etc. No lyrics. Certain genres are almost impossible to exhaust. Kinda depends what you are doing; if I'm priming I have more mental capacity. Everyone is different. I know I SHOULD do detail work in the mornings when I'm sharpest but I still fanny about for the first hour or four doing fast, easy tasks
I paint Imperial Guard a lot, a lot of what you recommend are things I've found really helped with staying on track. One thing I found that really combines really nicely with it is always having a wet palette on the go on our crafts desk. It just helps me plod through when I can just sit down and prep a colour in under a couple of mins and paint an area on a model, maybe a couple of models, actually you know what.. I could use a cuppa tea and a sit down, I'll try to get this entire unit's grenades and lasguns blocked in.
Listen to video game soundtracks while you paint. They were designed not just to evoke certain emotions or be entertaining, but also to keep players focused and engaged with the gameplay. Makes perfect focus music without being your typical lo-fi stuff.
Great video! @zumikito, for hand cramps, try contrast baths: fill one bucket with cold water & add a few ice cubes. Fill another bucket with hot/warm water, and then submerge your hands in each in succession for ~30 seconds at a time, opening and closing your fists. Go back and forth half a dozen times or so and you will get great results.
I like to listen to live radio stations when I pant. It makes me feel like I have company. I never go more than 90 min without standing up and stretching. And if I know I’ll be painting all day, every 3 hours I go outside and take a short walk. It really helps clear my head and keeps me from getting stiff.
If you have mid to lower back pain from sitting painting for a long time also watch your hamstrings, I spent my entire 30’s thinking I had disc issues or that my being bent to one side when it felt like my back ‘went’ from sitting for long periods was based in my back, but though it’s a domino effect my main issue turned out to be shortened hamstrings from sitting for long periods hunched over, I got a back massager for my chair and started doing hamstring stretches and now in my 40s I feel better than I did at 31 😂
I am painting my first competition mini, and I am about 90 hours in and have one month to go. I started using the checklist, and I had to scribble on it. Also, I use a notebook/sketchpad to document my painting mixes as swatches because if you have to come back to something and you forget what it looked like on the palette, it can be helpful since once it's on the mini, it tends to look different.
I don't know about the distractions, to be honest. People can be very different in this regard. I normally listen to music, but it doesn't matter how distracting it is. E-books or other stuff with talking isn't bad at all, either. Actually, I feel more focused with those. What mostly happens is that I'm distracted from listening by the painting, not the other way around. If I paint in silence, then I get distracted by my thoughts. 😄 But it's certainly nice to show people to consider these things.
Hand cramps are real, and awful. I get them all too regularly. I recommend heat rather than cold, and magnesium supplements. There are also "exercises" you can do where you literally practice relaxing your hands. Might seem weird, but our hands are nearly always in motion, or slightly tensed in preparation for motion. Lay your hand on a small cushion or similar in your lap with your elbow dropped so you're not holding in the shoulder or upper arm, and just try to leave your hand motionless for 5 minutes. It's a lot harder than it sounds!
Hi, I'm Alex. I paint miniatures recreatively. My hands are shaky, my patience limited, and my eyesight ... unquestionably impaired. Thank you for the video. I agree with you on most points, mostly on a theoretical basis ... but I need to know I have at least 1 hour to sit down and start painting, too. And Zumikito, do deadlifts, not rear delt machine crap. For real, deadlifts.
Putting a project together: Step One: Have enough miniatures to complete that unit? Yes move on to step two, No then buy more miniatures or go back through what you have. Step Two: Unit is put together now so do you know what the paint scheme is? Yes move onto step three, No then figure that out since these miniatures are not going to paint themselves (we do wish that they were able to) Step Three: Put paint on brush and put on miniature, repeat until the miniature is done (make sure that you clean your brush(s) as you go. Step Four: Finish the touch ups and bases and get that unit in line. Step Five: Place finished miniatures into their cases and move onto the next project.
During university, studying had the same result. I couldn't listen to music with vocals or podcasts. Only instrumental songs that were slow and almost became background sound
I paint every day as well but I only do it 3 to 4 hours a night depending. On certain occasions I have 24hr duty and I paint that whole night (obviously after I do my checks.
Oh, and eye strain is real. Look up and away from your work for 30 seconds every 5 minutes, preferably to focus on something in the distance, and try to just relax all the muscles around your eyes!
I dunno man, that Krieg sargeant is very similar to say, just a space marine or something. You could probably get at least a silver in the open competition with that, not even 40k single miniature!
"paint being a linear process is just not the case" yeah, some truth of hobbies/crafts/designs of all kinds. The moment you long for a clear cut, linear and clean process you are in BIG BIG troubles. Only in modern schools there is this myth of a perfect in one go execution with clear concepts, ideas and process.
What I do is zenithal highlight (or values undercoat) and then take a foto. Either I paint it with gimp or print multiple copies in gray and draw with colors (for color scheme). You could use the printed page maybe also for notes.
I'm kind of professional painter, and this is my full-time job. I paint a cyberpunk-theme Adepta Sororitas army with a lot of details for a year and last week I hit 50% of the whole army. In my eavy metal style it takes a lot of time so I get it how you felt during so long painting session, but IMO painting army is better for our brain than one mini. We see the process day after day during painting a unit, and that's why I'm not sure about GD or any other painting competition, cuz' I just have to see the progress.
I know that there is at the very least a camera and a screen between me and your artwork, but something about your nurgle champions on purple base always strikes me as odd. My brain tells me they are not part of that base. I dont know what it is exactly, perhaps the shadow color is not in common, something about the lighting. With a ground that of that saturated color I would expect the light to carry its hue partially to the models, at least into their shadows. Might be talking out of my a** here but something is off to me
Just some food for thought. It looks like you've plateaued. The incubi are all painted in the almost exact same manner which makes them look like clones instead of individuals. Considering how large and wide their swords are they'd make an excellent focal point at a sharper side-angle which would also lend a more realistic contrast in lighting. Another thing to consider is the highlight values of the horns, masks/faces and armor and differentiate them more from each-other with high-blues and low browns e.g. There's a lot of same-style going around as well, not that it's wrong but it is boring imo. At 5:11 I found myself staring at his right hand, confused by the lack of texture; since he's fat and fat people's skin is either stretched out, thin and with stretchmarks or lose and saggy with wrinkles. It's really weird following his deflated right arm only to see a crisp and tight hand without a blemish. The hand also looks completely relaxed yet it's actively lifting a heavy hammer. I think that the nurgle dudes would look awesome with some proper physics painted to them. Illustrating their heavy weight adds a lot of realism and sells their living lividity. I like watching your stuff, cheers.
