"I don't like painting anymore!" Topic

I hope this is just a short term thing, but I just want to be done every time I pick up a brush these days. Maybe I am just going through a cranky phase…not sure. I would just as soon buy painted figures and get to gaming. I used to really enjoy the process of building an army, but not so much these days. I don't paint well when my heart is not in it either. Okay, I am done ranting for the moment.

Sometimes you just need a break from painting then something will happen to reignite the spark. I find it's best to take the break rather than get stressed out about it. Also I've decided that some figures/periods deserve more attention and better paint jobs than others. So on my favorite periods I spend the time painting on the others I bang them out and don't worry so much about the quality.

Most painters go through the not-wanting-to-paint phase.

I use the time to explore new books, periods, and games. That exploration usually leads back to the desire to paint something new.

Its best not to paint when you don't want to, the figures come out badly.

Hope your painting despond ends soon!

Take a break, relax with a comforting beverage. Eventually your muse will return. If not, there are lots of painters for hire. Meanwhile, it is good therapy to at least clean and prime your miniatures so they are ready to paint. Ha, I have boxes of primed and ready to paint figures, so need a more energetic painting muse to appear, myself!

Power through it. Play "Song of the Volga Boatmen" on loop for added inspiration.

Just take a break, and you will see, after a short while you will be starting again

I've found just doing some prep work such as filing & cleaning up and assembling figures is great when your not in the mood to paint them so they are ready when you are, I also do some priming of buildings and scenery during these periods.. hope you get the bug again soon

As above, just take a break for a while, you'll get bored of watching TV and playing computer games after a bit. We all have slow times when it comes to painting.

There is always something that needs assembling and/or priming when I get tired of painting. when there is truly nothing else to do I just read the rules and make some lists up and that usually gets me in the mood to paint something to add to a new list.

I'm in the same place. But I've been there for just over a year. 15mm colonials killed off my painting zen

I got to where I hated to paint. Turns out I just wasn't seeing very well and it was very frustrating to paint. I bought an optivisor, it works great. Its hands free, and stereo instead of one magnifying glass.
Got my painting mojo back.

Where I am…South of England…I have had week after week of crap light. Painting is not easy and I need, personally, natural light. So wintertime turns into a prep time and when the light returns in spring I hope to get going again with the brush.Hope that helps.

If something stressful is going on in your life, your desire to paint may come back when that goes away. I stopped painting last year to do my income tax (March, since I just procrastinate, not procrastinate until the last week or two), had a variety of family problems, and didn't really get going again until we shipped my son back to college in mid-August.

Another possibility is to jumpstart it by ordering some lovely, unpainted figures you've wanted to get for quite a while.

Grelber

I continue to go through this "phase" of not wanting to paint. Going on ten-plus years, now. If you need miniatures that seems to be the main spur to desire, or at least determine, to paint. If you don't need, then incentive isn't there. Of course, this only applies to those "normal" people who find painting a bit of a chore to begin with, not those who love painting for its own sake, whether the miniatures ever get used in a game or not….

I found out how to pay for somebody to paint them…totally worth it.

I am just coming back to painting after taking a several years break. Just wasn't interested in painting, nor in gaming that much either to be honest.

Now I am diving in to two significant projects with great enthusiasm.

I hate painting and rarely paint anymore. To me, it is a means to an end; I do not consider it part of the hobby per se. I've (mostly) been buying pre-painted figures or paying others to paint my figures for me.

I lost my enjoyment of painting about 18 months ago, around the time the workload in my job doubled. I can paint for short periods again now, but it no longer helps to calm me when I'm upset

I never did! A necessary eveil to get aesthetically pleasing troops on the tabletop…

If you don't like it, don't do it. Seems pretty straightforward.
-Kle.

Wow Klebert, that's a simplistic view of the world. We all have to do things we don't like, except perhaps for the super rich. In this case, perhaps not all of us can afford a painting service

Me, either. Fortunately, I don't like it any less, either.

Good luck with the Muse biting you on the ass at a later date.

Thing is Shardik, this is a hobby which is supposed to be done for fun. Some enjoy collecting, some painting, some playing. Some enjoy winning in tournaments, some the group of friends they play with, for some it is recreating some moment in history. Nobody can tell you to do things you don't like to in your hobby.
The games I played when younger with unpainted plastic Airfix Naps and Ancients weren't any less enjoyable than now with my layered and washed metals.
For most of us the hobby includes history, movies, books. Enjoy that part of it till your painting mojo comes back.

Are you using the easiest possible painting method?

Find a subject with simple, unadorned uniforms that allows you to spray on the majority of the colour, paint in the other bits, then finish with a dip.

I'm sure your mojo will return. Perhaps you just aren;t sufficiently enthused at the present? I've followed your work for a few years now – keep the faith brother! If it's of any use at all, I switch to scenics when the whim takes me. Oh, and work on what you want when you want to for a time – slavish devotion to a large project can take the edge off I find.

Thanks for the advice all. Unlucky General, speaking of projects, how is your Lewes project coming? I am going the route of trying some scenics. I'm working on some enclosed fields. I hope that gets me going again. I am gong to try some white undercoat, single color and dip on my next group of figures and see if a quicker method does indeed help.

I don't think of the figures I've bought in the same light as the ones I've painted personally no matter how badly! That the quality fluctuates in my painting may be frustrating but I still paint, that not withstanding.