"Has Painting Minis Made You a Better Person?" Topic

Do you find that you are improved as a human being after painting your miniatures?

I don't think so. It often relaxes me, but I'm not sure it results in a long term improvement.

A more educated person. In college courses just touched the surfaced.
Wanting to know details for painting uniforms resulted in more in depth research of areas like AmRev and Napoleonic.

It's made me a better painter, that's for sure.

No! That was my parents;my wife and my kids. Well maybe the army.

Indubitably.

Of course. After painting, my body is free of large amounts of vile profanity. What's left has to be better … right?

There are actually two questions in this topic. The topic itself asks:

Has Painting Minis Made You a Better Person?

which is an inquiry into the effect on your life of a lifetime (or whatever period) of miniatures painting.

By contrast, the first post asks,

Do you find that you are improved as a human being after painting your miniatures?

which focuses on the period after painting some miniatures, not on long-term effects.

To answer the second question first, I would say yes.

Brush painting is usually a kind of mindfulness meditation for me, so yes. After painting, I am relaxed and content, whether the miniatures came out just as I wanted or not.

Spray painting, specifically masking and stencilling, requires planning, so again yes. Taking off the masks and stencils is a special moment, too.

Terrain painting is probably the most relaxing of all, and may involve spray paint, washing, dry-brushing, and even plain old painting with a painter's brush or roller.

On the first question, I would again say yes. Just getting to meditate occasionally helps me with calmness, focus, and stress management. The shelter-in-place has been very good to me on that score. Thinking through the physical process of spray-painting cultivates the habit of thinking through processes generally, something that of course everyone has to do in many aspects of life.

If you need more poll suggestions, please just say so.

After painting, my body is free of large amounts of vile profanity.

I suppose trying to fix mechanical things makes me a better person, too, then.

Does reading this question make me a better person?

It's kept me out of trouble (some of which may have led to jail… ;-)

I'm more relaxed and focused from painting minis. Not quite sure if it has made me a better person though.

It has no power to change me.

No.

Other way around, I try to paint a variety of skin tones.

No. I just really enjoy it. Maybe it has. It gets it a creative side of me I wouldn't have otherwise.

Painting improves my attitude by relieving stress and providing an outlet for my creative juices. In addition, it helps to reduce my personal net worth, so I no longer have to worry about having too much money.

No .just a better painter ,but happy to whittle down by Lead pile.

No, but I wish it did.

It improved my use of color.

Not me.
But them.

…
even the non-human minis…

In the words of Mac Davis..

"Oh lord its hard to be humble,
when you're perfect in every way"

Quite often I'll come home after a bad night at work and I'll do some painting to help me decompress. Keeps me from snapping at my family when they don't deserve it. So, yes, yes it does.

I find it has an effect similar to meditation or deep relaxation. Focusing on the painting to the exclusion of all else, usually. And it's a form of creativity, a type of art or crafts.

I think this has beneficial effects, both short- and long-term.

No, it is just a hobby.

As a young man had no patience at all, lining up hundreds of miniatures to paint I credit to teaching me time a little one way or the other doesn't matter. So yes.

I don't paint; I game.

No

No, but becoming a born again Christian has.

It depends what you mean by "improved" …