#PointADay, Painting For The TableTop, & Pushing Myself Along The Way

I genuinely enjoy all the different aspects of the WMH hobby from playing the game to putting models together to painting to reading the lore to reading / watching batreps, etc. That said, next to playing the game itself, none of them are as engaging for me as painting. To be able to put something on to listen to, zone out to the rest of the world, and try to bring a model to life.

I've mentioned in the past, I have zero desire to paint for display, much less competition. I paint solely so that Donna & I have models to play with. However, if I'm going to do something, I want to use it as an opportunity to learn, grow, and challenge myself. 

So, I'm always trying out new things in my painting. I started with the old school method of base coat with a midtone, wash with a shade to darken the recesses / shadow areas, dry brush with a highlight on textures areas, and call it done. Then, I started to seek out videos to learn more. Next, I tried painting in specific shadow & highlight colors after the midtone basecoat. After that, I started learning about glazing (something I'm still just, sort of, maybe, not quite, almost okay at). In the last 4-5 months, I've started trying to experiment with edge highlighting, filter coats, non-metallic metal, and more.

These days, I tend to basecoat with whatever color will be the darkest for a given part of a model and then layer / glaze / stipple / crosshatch up through however many midtones and highlights that area calls for. I'm even trying to experiment with how different brush strokes can give the impression of unique textures on fabric, stone, or metal.

Along the way, I discovered a cool little monthly challenge known as #PointADay. The idea is that in a given month you paint a number of points worth of models equal to or greater than the number of days in that month. It's a nice way to engage the community, motivate people to "slay the gray" (as Ninjon would say), and produces a lot of really sweet paint jobs that we all get to enjoy seeing posted.

But my brain has this weird way of subconsciously twisting good things into being pains in the neck and this was no different. Not at all the fault of the PointADay challenge or anyone involved. Just my warped brain doing warped brain stuff.

I started out with PointADay being a fun form of motivation. Over the course of the last few months, I found that I was turning it into a stressful grind. There were 3 main aspects to my personally corrupting this "good thing".

First, I started trying to map out what I was going to paint when to make sure that I "got my numbers in". It went from being an enjoyable challenge to a task I *had* to manage.

I didn't realize that I was doing this until it was the last day of a month and I was a few highlights away from finishing a unit. I thought to myself, "that'll put me way over for this month. I need to put them away and paint them in a few days so I can count all of those points for next month". 

Of course, I rationalized it to myself that I was just too busy to finish them up that day, but truth be told, I could have spent another hour or 2 to knock them out. However busy I was, I'm sure that I could have adjusted something somewhere to find that 1-2 hours.

Secondly, I found myself comparing my novice paint jobs to those of people who were vastly more talented & experienced than I am. I know that's a failing mindset in any aspect of life, but again...it sort of creeped into my subconscious over time.

The goal in all things should be to be better than I was the day before with no regard for how I compare to others. I lost sight of that. I started feeling like I needed to do more, learn faster, push harder, and try to not suck so bad compared to all the other models being posted.

Thirdly, I found myself determining how much effort to put into certain models based on what their points value was in relation to PointADay. "Oh, this is only worth 2 points. I'll just slap some paint on it to get it done, because it's not helping my numbers much this month".

The thing is that I went into it with good intentions, but let what we'll just call "the social media mentality" get me off course and adrift in nonsense. It was taking something that was fun and turning it into a form of unconscious anxiety. Thankfully, I recognized what was happening.

Life got extra busy for us a few weeks ago between family & work. That forced me to take some time away from painting altogether for a week or so. In that time, I reflected on what I was doing & how to get back on track.

Not only did I get motivated to start painting again, but I grabbed 3 Protectorate of Menoth models / units that have been sitting on my shelf, primed, but ignored for months...all because I was worried that I wouldn't be able to paint them well enough (for whatever esoteric measurement "well enough" represents). These included an Allegiant of the Order of the Fist (alt Prize Fighter sculpt), an Avatar of Menoth heavy warjack, and a full unit of Choir of Menoth.

In the last few months when I was slowly falling into my warped ideal of PointADay, I'd either set an arbitrary timeline of "I need to spend no more than 1-2 days per model" and / or "I need to push my skills way further on this model". By contrast, I've just been enjoying the last week. Just putting in whatever amount of work that I can on these models each day.

Owing to my unmedicated ADHD, I might paint a little on the Choir, then bounce to painting a little on the Avatar, and then paint some on the Allegiant all in one session. Other times, I'll grab the Choir and work solely on one of them taking several areas of it from base coat through to midtones and highlights.

Members of the Choir are worth 1 point each, yet I'm enjoying putting some time into each one of them. From the folds of the robes to the unfurled scrolls they carry, to the armored shoulder pads of their leader. Who cares how many points they help with the challenge? I just want to have fun seeing what I can do with them. 

I just want to recapture the fun of getting lost in the journey and I'm happy to say that I'm enjoying painting for paintings sake again.