As a kitbasher more than a painter My immediate thought was trying to figure out how they did those mechadendrites and whether they were mostly green stuff or not.
Something I think a lot of people need to remember is that lots of golden daemon painters and other artists take weeks if not months to create their competition/portfolio pieces. Medium matters ofc, as a visual artist can whip up fantastic characters and anatomy in 20 minutes if they've practiced enough and are pros, but with miniatures, it was seriously sobering to see how much time master studios spend on these amazing miniatures.
This! I've heard the kitbashed nurgle tank that won gold last year took a year to finish and make. Not a month or two, although that's already a lot - an entire year.
Comparing your skilllevel to others really is a double edged sword. I do it all the time and for me it ranges from inspiration to imposter syndrome of sorts. Like "how can I even share my work, compared to "them" I look like a fraud".😅
The thing i find de-motivating is how quickly people can bang out great looking minis, at least with a Golden Demon/big competition winner is that it took at least 100 hours to paint. I get better at painting but i don't seem to get much faster so it's always a drag.
I usually have the same reaction to insane paint jobs like that Cawl. I find that I very, very often fall into the "wow that's sick as hell, but I really don't need to go that far." I mostly just paint to have painted models and just try to get them to look good when you're standing at a normal tabletop distance.
Same. I have to ask myself how much time do I want to spend painting? I also want to play the game. I also want to play my guitars. I also want to play with the wife. So I usually get to a point on my model where I say to myself.... ok..OK... that looks good. I could go farther. But this is good.
I think something people forget is that no one is just good out of the gate. When I see a model that just blows my mind, and I can’t even comprehend how they got to the finished model, I remind myself this person likely has put thousands of hours into painted. They have had lots of time to perfect their craft and might even paint full time. You can’t hold yourself to the same standard.
The detail on the first AdMech model is amazing, and I can respect the skill put into it. That being said, it's not my style, and I'd never even try to replicate it, from both lack of skill and lack of interest. I love the gleams of light on the axe but as an Ork player, I much prefer a grimy bolted-together trash look. Battle damage is where it's at in my book. I thought painting Orks would be easier since they don't care about paintjob quality, but my goodness, making something look like trash on purpose is harder than a flat paintjob to me.
This is definetly true. Like for example I don’t like edge highlightinh and so I don’t do it. But I want my minis to not be one dimensional so I drybrush. You have to ask yourself where you want to be in painting and in this hobby. Do you want to learn how to edge higlight then do it. Do you want to be able to pul of nmm then learn it. If you don’t the, don’t and be happy with it.
I also have crippling hobby anxiety in the form of wanting to do so many things but never actually getting to them because of my "skill level" instead of saying "hey let's practice" but this is good stuff 👍
This was a great video! I appreciate the distinction between "inspiration" and "aspiration" and what definitions you ascribe to each in the context of this video.(especially after a certain livestream discussing it at length) I think this had some valuable takeaways in the context of understanding how the work of others can motivate or de-motivate you into/out of painting. I'll even try applying that where I can if something like that comes about. Also, that model from the start, truly *gorgeous* work. The shading and NMM work were absolutely masterful. While it hasn't "inspired" me much personally, I can see "aspirational" qualities in it that slightly improve my desire to paint, or just get better at painting in general.
This was a really great and insightful video! Never given much thought to the difference between inspirational and aspirational, but I realise I've been living in the mindset of "I only have to be good enough" for the past few years which has helped me smash through my painting backlog. If I'm not painting for competition or to pay the bills, then wtf is the point of getting stressed about it. I have a friend in mind who desperately needs to see that grid you put together so she can start enjoying her hobby (writing) again.
I think it's impressive. Definitly some eye candy I take a moment or two to appreaciate, but if it's not in my style ( vibrant color and volumetric highlights ) I don't think about it any further besides posting it on Discord. If it's in my style I ask the creator for a some work in progress photos and see if I can implement some techniques in my art. Bear in mind, I activly choose to skip some steps because I my green tide demands too many bodies to triple highlight boots.
Yeah I've already given up on trying to paint that well, I compare myself too much to others and end up downplaying what I've already painted which whilst not anywhere near good enough in content with it
I can see insanely painted models, but I have neither the time, patience nor aptitude to learn to paint to that standard. But my own models are painted by me, and that’s part of the charm of the hobby.
Honestly as someone who LOVES painting and modelling the plastic to look personal, when I saw that AdMech piece, my first thought was ["GODDAMN!"] followed by "I wonder how they did that.." no hint of "I want to be like that" but just straight curiosity on what techniques were used, what steps were taken first, what happened to make that piece look that good.
To get to this level of creation, you actually have to enjoy painting and/or kitbashing miniatures. Then just keep painting until you get there. I'm nowhere near that level either, but when I look at it, I see a level I'd like to reach one day.
Whenever i see paintjobs like that i like to look at em but i also know i dont want to do any of that. Things like nmm or artificial lighting and shadow effects. They are really cool if someone can do em, but since theres metalic paints and i only play with the lights on i dont need those extra few miles nor do i want them tbh.
I don't think anything is beyond my ability, if someone else can do it, I can do it. I think many things are beyond the amount of time I'm willing to invest in getting to that level.
my reaction lately has been similar - i have embraced mediocraty and i think its very freeing! i know why i paint: i enjoy it most of the time, i have the urge to do it sometimes so i follow that urge, i want to game with painted game pieces, which is what the minis are foremost, and i still can get better, but getting better or take my time with a special mini or project. But also for me lgetting better looked like: i want to train speed painting that still looks ok in various ways and overcome my gnawing perfectionism to finally have a game with a fully painted force - and i actually finished this goal, i have a fully painted Warhammer Fantasy Skaven Army now that im proud of, where quantity makes quality, i have a lots and lots of painted smaller games, like Necromunda, and im onto my Lord of the rings collection, and all by lowering my standards just a bit and embracing being average at this weird hobby. The feeling of accomplishement is so much better then pondering over minis for hours and never being happy anyway bc theres always room for improvement. At least that has worked for me lately. Now and then i feel i need a pallette cleanser and i take one mini and try to do it as good as i possibly can, but more often then not i get frustrated and return to my standard painting and pumping out more pieces to play with for my friends.
Im vary much the same mindset, love seeing peoples work but it doesn’t drive me to do better, I know I’m a shitty painted but I love the game models and lore behind my trash paint job of a lamenters collection. End of the day I’m content with where I’m at will I get better eventually? Yes but for right now just doing a checkerboard and hand painting a chapter logo is good enough for me!
Seeing some amazign models is inspirational, but anytime when i come across some post about progress like " i started painting in 2021, theres my first model (some nicely painted mini), now last month i painted this (drops some best painted mini i have ever seen)" i want to blow my brain out. Like, bro in two years went from nice level to some ultrapro level, when i in eleven years painting have barely achieved nice level
I have a few tricks for this, namely that I’ve stopped thinking of warhammer like a game. For me it’s just an art project that I occasionally use to play a game. I build models for aesthetics not legality by the rules, and when I see people better than me, and I notice demotivation creeping up on me I’ll tend to find one piece of a model, like an effect or blend, and I’ll focus my effort on leaning how the creator achieved it. If the model isn’t aspirational, perhaps one tiny piece of it could be! This is how I accidentally improved my color blending like 10x over
I love how simple and to the point this video is. It really kinda gave me some clarity as to why I'm hesitant on doing in the gunpla community call customs and kitbashing.
first i was on the stream were you had the tought and talk! its a great looking model but first i never will be on the lvl out of time and skill , i am happy to look at it but i shuld not take it as my standart
my initial thought was: That's a really cool simple technique for pattern tesselation on armor, I should consider that for my CSM! my second thought was: it could use a bit more color or something to grab my attention despite the impressive technical skills on display
Non metalic metal in general creates the same feeling in me. I think it's great and cool and requires real skill, but I don't care for it in any way to do myself
When I see the model I think. Thats really cool but I only paint to play the army on the tabletop and no way in hell am i spending that amount of time for points costs on the tabletop.
A fundamental problem with WH40K is that we look at the box, and expect to have an item that looks like that inside it. Not the grey maps of plastic we actually buy. I combat this by looking at primed, not painted, models and going "Could I turn this into something cool?" Then I do that
I don’t really like that kind of mini panting; The supper detailed kind that is. I prefer ether simple battle ready with lots of washes or weird cool ideas for you army’s. (These are to look at lot to paint)
Do you compare your skills with others in every activity? Do you think you should be perfect in chemistry, architecture, economic, have perfect body and be no.1 programmer? Seriously?
Beware! Getting inspired is a very effective way to grow your pile of shame lol Take inspiration and enjoy marvelling at the stuff that’s better than your work and maybe, PRIVATELY, take a bit of pride if you see something not as good as your work. Don’t let Imposter Syndrome get the better of you. It’s your hobby not theirs.
