Hi everyone :) Today I want to take some time to reflect back on the minis I've painted in the last few weeks, and my commitment to paint a miniature every day. In case you haven't seen, over on twitter I have been painting using the hashtag #MiniADay and you can find all the pictures if you search for the hashtag. I'm currently on day 30, so the one month mark seemed like a good time to reflect on the process so far. Why a Mini a Day?I decided to start painting a mini every day because I could see my pile of half-painted miniatures growing and growing, while my collection of completed minis stayed about the same size. I was having no problem completing miniatures for commissions or specific projects, but wasn't finishing many others. Unfortunately I am someone who often needs deadlines and accountability in order to complete things. As I was staring at the minis which were unpainted I decided to use that to my advantage and publicly commit myself to finishing and posting a miniature every single day. A Sense of AchievementWhen I started this I knew that every day wouldn't be easy. There are some days which have been really busy and it's been difficult to find the time to paint. In some ways, though, those have been the most rewarding when I see something completed at the end of the day. I have to be honest and say that I had a real sense of achievement as I looked back over all the photos of the miniatures from through the month. What took me 30 days to paint could have taken me months with the rate I was completing minis before I started this. I've decided that I'm going to create a slideshow video over the next few days to put up on YouTube with the hope of inspiring others. Nowhere to hideOne thing I have struggled with is that committing to posting every day means that I have nowhere to hide. If I reach the end of the day and absolutely hate what I've painted I still have to post it. This cuts both ways I think. I don't think that there is anything wrong with people posting work which they don't think is great, especially if they learned something from the process. That is very easy to say, and much harder to do though! There is one piece from through the month which I absolutely hate, but I was trying something new. Does that mean it should be hidden? Well, I'm going to take the middle ground and, having posted it on twitter, not include it in this post! Having some gentle pressure to post things we're not proud of can be helpful both for ourselves and for new painters who can see that we're all learning. That said, however, I don't think anyone should feel real pressure to do something they're not comfortable with since the idea of mini painting is to have fun. Something for me to keep thinking about... Choice of MiniaturesA concern I had going into #MiniADay was that I would end up painting only simple minis because they would be the easiest to get painted. I think that temptation has been present at times, but it certainly hasn't stopped me from painting more ambitious miniatures. Giving twitter followers the opportunity to vote on a miniature for me to paint was certainly helpful. They picked the Zombie Dragon above, and I was able to paint it over a few days while still completing one each day. I've now included the chance to choose miniatures for me to paint for all my supporters on Patreon, so I'm sure they'll keep giving me interesting and challenging minis to paint! Trying new thingsAnother danger I anticipated with this project was that I would retreat into a comfort zone of painting, sticking to tried and trusted techniques and not stretching myself. This has been a more difficult issue for me to stay on top of, but I have definitely tried some new things. I had used resin for a number of things before (see, for example, the stalagmites above), but I hadn't tried anything quite like I did with this orc. I decided that he had lost his hand in combat, and that blood would be coming from the stump. This is something I'm going to have to keep motivating myself to do, and keep pushing myself forward into new areas. There are many techniques I want to try out and learn, and I don't want the need to paint and post to get in the way of that. The futureI didn't really have a set time frame in mind when I started this, but a month already feels like a good achievement. I'm definitely going to keep going with it for the time being, but will continue to assess whether this is a positive or a negative for me and my painting. I hope to get a slideshow video uploaded in the next week or so, and am already looking forward to creating another one in a month's time! Goblin Squire :)
1 Comment
Madth
9/6/2020 15:31:34
Fantastic read. Very well put together, and on par with your exceptionally painted minis! Thank you for sharing!
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