"Too old for painting and gaming?" Topic

Maybe I'm just bummed out because every time I'd finish painting a color on the 25mm Foreign Legionnaires I was just working on, it seemed like I'd have to go back and do touch-ups on 40% of the . . . figures. Perhaps I'm getting too picky about my painting, or these are lousy figures and just hard to paint, i.e., it isn't my fault at all. Still, it set me to wondering when one gets too old for this hobby. I've seen complaints from people who can't paint 15mm figures anymore, or have to put on glasses to paint. I've heard people complain about having trouble hearing at noisy conventions.
I hadn't really worried about this before. The local newspaper says people my age in reasonably good health can expect to live 10 years longer than their oldest relative; my grandmother died at 104, so I should be good to 114, many years down the road.
You see, once the I finish up the French, I'd thought about doing 15mm Balkan Wars but don't want to waste any more money if I'm over the hill already, and only halfway to 114!
How old is too old? Should I buy 54mm and spray paint generic red and blue armies, good for Bunker Hill, Salamanca, Antietam, Velestino, the Marne, Huertgen Forest, and Fulda Gap and mount them on little trays topush around with my shuffleboard stick while I sit in my wheelchair, hoping I can suqeeze out a couple more years gaming?

Grelber
Candidate for curmudgeonhood
Note: Suggestions that I am already over the hill and should ship all my figures to you on my way to the rest home will be cheerfully rejected out of hand

I figure if my eyes give out and I can't paint anymore, I'll be bolstering the Sri Lankan economy by sending the a portion of my pension to them to paint figures for me

Dave

I'd never suggest you ship all of your figures to me.

You probably couldn't make it to the post office.

I'll stop by and pick them up in person.

Seriously though, you're as old as you think you are. I've had to make some adaptations for painting as I get older (better lighting, opti-visor, etc.) but as long as you are still enjoying the hobby don't give up on it. One of the guys I game with regularly is 62, and I think that this hobby helps keep him young (in mind at least).

Now stop shaking that cane at me and get back to your painting table.

I'm 27 and still have to touch up many of my figures. And my time in the army has my hearing all ed up. You're only too old if you think you're too old.

"Old"? "OLD"?? Scruby and Featherstone (were) are old, and they never quit.

You can always resort to bigger figures link painted by someone else.

Unless the painting is the main pleasure for you in this hobby, then you have my sympathies. Try a wash method that doesn't require as many "joins" between colors. Use a magnifying "loup" and stop yer bellyachin' about agin'….

1066.us

Our club's oldest surviving member is late 70's. He is a really nice guy, but cant hack it anymore. I asked him what the stages of leaving the hobby were, as much out of worries self-interest as anything.

About 15 years ago – early 60's – he gave up painting, His eyesight was poor,his hand-eye coordination was gone and his patience was wearing thin.

About 10 Years ago he found he was no longer able to enjoy playing many games – they dragged on, he lost track of stuff, he couldnt stomach whining kids, and he kept forgetting rules.

About 5 years ago he realised he not only couldn't remember what was in the top shelves of his collection, he couldnt REACH them and couldnt be bothered getting a ladder.

He sold up a few years ago.

Sad.

Pat

I guess you are too old when it becomes physically painful to either paint or push minis around the table.

I view the hobby as two hobbies: painting and the actual gaming with the figures. I am as happy doing the one as the other.

Lol…

I guess that all depends on how you feel. Maybe having figures painted might be an answer? But painting is so much fun.

Because last summer I started with psoriasis on my right hand and trying to spread to my left, I have been thinking the same things you have been--how much longer do I have until I can't paint any longer? 5, 10, 15 years? When will the artheritis begin? Sometimes I get very depressed. Just thinking of it now is getting me depressed. Heck, I've been painting for only 1.5 years!

So, I guess we'll go until it becomes too painful. I wish I knew as well.

Never too old to … if you are too young to die.
That's what Jethro Tull said in the '70

Old – it is a matter of mind over matter You act old you are old I have seen old 50 year olds and young 80's – Davinci. Michelangelo, Pollock, etc painted/sculpted into their 80's

I am 61 and paint 6mm as well as fine detail on large scale figures using a "5" zero brush. My eyes aren't as sharp as they were earlier so I compensate with more light and magnifying eye glasses My distance vision is fine after double cataract surgery. Doug is right adopt new techniques and one advantage in being "old" is you have lots of time.

Science is increasingly showing that the more active the brain is the healthier it is. Also arthritis and other aging problems can be lessened through activities like painting and modeling.

One thing in closing, the "dating game" is another game that men are supposed to lose interest in or have less activity when they become "older ". Another myth!! you act old --you are old – you act young you are young Being in a society ( China )where age is respected allows this old rat ( Chinese sign) lots of opportunities to show the youngsters the benefits of experience

Come on Grelber – cheer up – grab your paintbrush and get back in there and if anyone says the figures don't look that great, look them straight in the eye,say " So what !!" then whack them with your cane. One advantage of being old is young people won't hit back !!

I hit this wall a while back.

That's when I put the 28mm Napoleonics away for 10 years and started doing 15mm figs (they paint up a bunch faster and really are easier to paint).

I also developed some of my more infamous techniques like the 10 minute tank, and 100 15mm figs in three three hour sessions -- come what may.

Finally I started doing 1/72 airplane models for WWI.

I still do a Napoleonic command fig now and again + I have 18 Russian Hussars to base up. Wish I could decide on a rules set.

mjc

they dragged on, he lost track of stuff, he couldnt stomach whining kids, and he kept forgetting rules

I'm there already

A few beers and the situation usualy improves.

Using a different and more forgiving technique might help. I switched years ago from priming white to priming black. This way, if colors don't quite meet, say between pants and jacket, its just a black line between them, and looks fine. I also suggest this to all new painters I meet, whose neatness hasn't developed yet.

You're never too old to game! Painting…maybe after the eyes start to go(almost there!!).

I've always been a painter, and luckily I've got a dedicated painting desk out of the household traffic pattern. Thus, I can walk away from it all for awhile and pick it up again when I feel like it. The thing to remember is that this is a HOBBY--essentially something to waste time and money on when more important things aren't consuming your every waking minute. Nobody will ever think less of you if you pack the whole thing in and go do yoga or just take more naps, have an extra beer, or show a kid how to paint some of those leftover toy soldiers.

I am 71 and the youngest in our group. Arthritis slows down my painting and I think none of us paint to a standard that we would like but it is good enough for our eyes. Some of us have only started recently. Two old dears took up Warhammer to play their grandchildren then continued when their grandchildren "outgrow" it.

Your never too old.

x42

The hobby is aging in general, so I hope people never get too old or I will be out of a job in a decade or two!

The kids will be permanently jacked into their computers at that point.

I'm 58 too and have switched down scales from 15 to 6mm and smaller because they are easier to paint. I also wear glasses for close work and need more light to paint now – and I use a low magnification stand magnifier to help with smaller detail.

I packed in the main job two years ago and earn a part of my crust painting for other people.

Are you too old to paint – only when YOU say so.

Old warriors never die,they just fade away.

We don't stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing.

There are older guys than you that are going strong. Don Featherstone is in his 90s and he pops up in UK shows occasionally.

My eyes are nto great anymore and I'm going to be 44 soon. My biggest problem is I have trouble seeing things far away after an hour or two of painting the little s.

best ting you can do if you want to game is block paint and wash the figure. You'd be amazed at all of the flaws that disappear after a coat of future wash!

Listen to the other folks here. Stay young at heart! Keep on gaming and painting!

Geez, I'm 50 and I've been painting since I was 10 or so. Even then I had to go back and touch things up. I still do. And at all ages in between, I've had to touch up my figures.

It's because I'm human, and make mistakes. The difference is that I am (all too) good at noticing flaws, and I am enough of a perfectionist that I go back and fix them. As a result, most people think my figures are well painted.

I wonder if the problem isn't that you find yourself making more mistakes, but that your standards are improving. The latter would lead to your being more critical of your own work, and so finding more things that need touching up. Perhaps you should look at some of your earlier work to see if you don't detect flaws that these days you would go back and correct.

And remember: you're never too old to game – It's what keeps you young!

A different take: at one point, years ago, I sold off all my 15mms and switched to 25s. Now, as my eyes get older, the 25s get harder to do and I don't even like to think about 15s.

But . . .

I've switched over to some 10mm, but mostly 6mm (the latter especially for ancients or any massed armies). Where I painted 15s and later 25s for detail on the individual figure, I now paint 6s and 10s to look like units. So, my "palette" is actually bigger now and easier on the eyes. But be warned -- painting a stand of 6mms to look like a unit is a different skill than painting a 25mm to look like a person.

Lee John Ayre wrote :

"We don't stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing."

That's the spirit !!!!!!!!!!

I moved back to 25/28mm figures about 15 years ago and basically just play beer and pretzel games now. What painting skills I ever had are still with me, I'm just alot slower now. Hands and eyes still holding up. "Very OldBob"

All things old become new again. I need glasses all the time now. I have figures that I painted 30 years ago that I will one day do the dip on when I can no longer print.

To use a phrase that has kept me going through 46 years of teaching:
{It's very similar to what John Lee Ayre wrote.}.

"You don't stop laughing because you grow old,
You grow old because you stop laughing"

67 years old and still laughing (and teaching).
GaryQ

PS. Some day I'll remember to change my member name and bring it up to date.
Oh, Hell!!, I'll wait until I'm 70 to do that. In the meantime, back to grading papers and painting my huge grey army.

Each of those worlds shared an over-arching feature, something new and terrible: the hope of Joy was always dogged by Death… (- A Darker Shade of Bright)

"We don't stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing."

What a load of tosh. You stop playing because IT gets old….

NEVER too old! I'm 48 and must admit to nearly giving up a couple of years ago when the eyes started to go. I got an Optivisor and have a complete new lease of life and enthusiasm.

hussarbob1746.webs.com

Rogcollectibles 16 Apr 2009 11:26 a.m. PST
The hobby is aging in general, so I hope people never get too old or I will be out of a job in a decade or two!

I have heard this said since 1970s. It has not been established as fact and the number of gamers in their 20s at HMGS East convnetions does not hold this out either.

As to too old to paint I find at 50 I do not have the time to paint as much and find my eye sight being an issue. I was never a big painter prefering other's skills to mine but I still enjoy painting special units from time to time. As to gaming I am more selective in games I play as my time is limited. I also have become more selective in project I start. I figure I have only 30 or so years left. When one reached the point of looking at less years left then past one becomes more realistic in projects, hobbies, and other undertakings (bad pun) one gets into.
VR
James Mattes

Lack of time rather than age is what seems to be stopping me from doing as much painting as I used to.

I still enjoy the modelling and painting aspects of wargaming and wish that I had sufficient time to do more of both. Mind you, I also wish that I had more time to design wargames rules and to play wargames. I have, however, discovered that if you have a blog it does seem to give you the drive to get on with things, if only so that you can write about it on your blog!

Bob Cordery
link

Come on Grelber, I don't buy all this "over-the-hill" crap. The real problem is your painting sucks. Go down to your local Games Workshop store. Buy a few figures and let the kids show you how to paint. They'll get a kick out of helping you and you'll learn how to paint.

Here is another help: black-lining. Yep, the better you get at black-lining the better your hand/eye coordination will become. You might also try a smaller brush size and a stronger pair of lenses to paint with. And, let's have no more of this age trash talking.

Rich

To all the 'old' hobbyists here… interesting read and being 48, which isn't old I guess after seeing your ages, I have always hated painting all those miniatures up to the age of about 20, not through eyesight failing, just the work involved.
However in the last 20 odd years, I started to get into it more and with better miniatures and acrylics coming along, changed me completely. I now have my business which is a painting service and also a miniatures site. I'm kept 'young' by the involvement and thoroughly enjoying it.
We have 7 large customer projects at present and a few smaller ones, and with the help of a couple of newly acquired young painters, we go from strength to strength.
If and only if you don't want to paint your miniatures, check us out battlecolours.com and kindredminiatures.com
Keep gaming and painting but most of all, stay with it!
Geoff
Battle Colours
UK