Big Model Fatigue

[Kramer]

If the internet has taught me one thing in all these years, it's that there is always someone running into the same issue. But how do you deal with it? 

The cauldron of Blood took me over 3 months, I'm currently in month two of a Kharadron Frigate. And i'm not even done blocking in all colours ? I freely admit I don't paint a lot (two to five hours per week) but dang, it takes so long and i'm losing interest. (which doesn't help my to paint pile  )

So any tips on speeding up the progress, because I really want to keep painting the big models just a bit faster if possible  (currently my plan of attack is two layers base, correction, shade, details, highlights)

[Melcavuk]

Airbrush, so much airbrush, all the time.

Honestly I get the same fatigue but for me it is on hordes, doing to same colour for hours on end whether on a a single of many models can be mentally exhausting, best way of breaking it up is to have other things to paint to give yourself a creative palette cleanser that way you can hit back at the original model refreshed and enthused.

[Oneyah]

Can definitely relate to this. I did 5 boats last year for my overlords and the big one dragged a bit, it was the deadline of armies on parade that gave me the final push I needed.  There is initially real excitement but the more time passes the enthusiasm wanes and you start to just want to get it done. I’ve been more successful when I have dedicated a good chunk of time (maybe 4 hours on consecutive days) to really break the back of it (can sometimes be enough to complete it). Also try switching which part of the model you are doing evenwithin a painting session eg. Crew, balloons, Hull, floor, base. You could also spend 5 mins breaking down the model into painting steps and roughly timing out how long you think it will take which allows you to be more satisfied with how much you have done rather than thinking you have made limited progress. Your plan of attack sounds perfect, you just need to find the motivation to get it done.

[Kokoshi]

Few useful speed hacks :
- All-over washes on white basecoat : with the good shade on a clean white priming, you can squeeze a few steps as you will get basecoat + shades in one easy step. Neat layering/edge highlight on top will give you a good paint quality.
- Drybrush : on every textured part of the mini. You gain time and usually get a good result.
- Airbrush : I don't use it, but it definitely looks like a huuuge speed hack for smooth highlights.
- Using large brushes : I'm slowly learning to be confident with large brushes for basecoating or even some layering, and are cuting in half my painting time.

As for achieving anything in work, I would advice to do big sessions of 2-3+ hours rather than short sessions of 1 hour. You will achieve more things every time, and avoid that daily feeling of not getting anything done while giving it 1h every day. Take time for other hobbies or sport when you're not painting. And when you paint, do it for a full afternoon. Having a step-by-step strategy for your miniature helps a lot, as you're gonna mark each step you've done.

[RuneBrush]

Have a look at coloured spray cans and masking off areas with (proper modelling) masking tape.  It's possible to get some amazing results using cans, the first Forge World Warlord Titan was painted entirely using spray cans in a weekend by Mark Bedford - but he is also a magician.

[Kramer]

4 hours ago, Melcavuk said:

Airbrush, so much airbrush, all the time.

Honestly I get the same fatigue but for me it is on hordes, doing to same colour for hours on end whether on a a single of many models can be mentally exhausting, best way of breaking it up is to have other things to paint to give yourself a creative palette cleanser that way you can hit back at the original model refreshed and enthused.

Oh no worries there for me! While painting the frigate I’ve been painting batches of 5 to 10 models on the side to relax. So with you on the palette cleanser!

[syph0n]

The pallette cleanser @Melcavuk suggested is a great idea. Something totally different, or in my case, the odd character model really helps me. I struggle to paint units, bit will do a single model in one go usually. 

I find basing is the big one for me. My god did I feel motivated basing a unit and some characters. I was going to save the basing till last and do the whole 2k in one go, but I'll do batches now. 

 

[Hagen]

My answer will not be of any use probably as it's more an acceptance of failing to do what the OP is trying to do. 

I used to have this problem a lot, when I would start painting armies or huge models and really hit a brick wall after just a few hours into the project. It only recently occurred to me that I am just not an army/big models hobbyst and since then I shifted my focus on smaller projects where I can do war bands of 5-10 models max and enjoy converting and painting every single one of them. Since I took this decision I am honestly experiencing a painting renaissance, I never enjoyed the hobby more and I even have that sense of accomplishment that comes with completing a project.

I convert and paint only one model at a time and really push myself and my skills on each of them, taking all the time I need and enjoying every brush stroke, Sometimes I still burn out after a few hours but it's much rarer now. Of course I do not play games very often and when I do it's only skirmishes/kill team sort of things therefore I am really happy that GW had been pushing these types of games more and more in the past couple of years.

Again I realise it's not really useful an it doesn't answer your question but it was my personal solution to the same problem. Downscale happily!

[Ollie Grimwood]

15 hours ago, Kramer said:

If the internet has taught me one thing in all these years, it's that there is always someone running into the same issue. But how do you deal with it? 

The cauldron of Blood took me over 3 months, I'm currently in month two of a Kharadron Frigate. And i'm not even done blocking in all colours ? I freely admit I don't paint a lot (two to five hours per week) but dang, it takes so long and i'm losing interest. (which doesn't help my to paint pile  )

So any tips on speeding up the progress, because I really want to keep painting the big models just a bit faster if possible  (currently my plan of attack is two layers base, correction, shade, details, highlights)

I can’t help with speeding the process up but I can suggest having three projects (but project I mean a single unit or large piece) on the go that way you can switch between them to try and stave off fatigue. It works for me but it won’t speed things up. 

[Kramer]

On 9/21/2018 at 11:57 PM, Ollie Grimwood said:

I can’t help with speeding the process up but I can suggest having three projects (but project I mean a single unit or large piece) on the go that way you can switch between them to try and stave off fatigue. It works for me but it won’t speed things up. 

Yeah, thats what I’m doing now. But switching back is usually the problem. But hey, due to last week my Garrek’s Reavers are close to done. And only one second layer of zandri dust on my frigate. ?