Sunday, October 18, 2009

Sunday Night Musings: Hobby Time

Being productive in this hobby is tough.

I have found that I spend most of my hobby time reading other hobbyists' blogs or browsing forums (or writing posts like this one on my lack of motivation). I get great ideas from these sources, but they typically stay plain 'ol ideas--they do not evolve into an actual product.

For instance, I started a Daemons of Chaos army because my fiance bought the Masque of Slaanesh for me as a gift. I decided that I should use that model as a springboard for an entire army. I spent some time developing possible lists, and even joined the Tale of Even More Painters as motivation to work toward a completed DoC army.

The motivation lasted a few weeks, but has since dwindled. During that "motivated" time, I was able to assemble and paint a Beast of Chaos and convert a Herald of Nurgle.

After that?

Pfffffttttt....

I have ideas on what I want to do next. I have developed an armylist that I am working toward building, and I have even listed what models I need for what unit and where I am progress-wise. I have the models necessary to complete a few of these units, but I find myself unwilling to take the next step and actually work on them. It's as if structuring the hobby makes it seem too much like a job. Yet if I don't add some structure to it, I never get anything done.

I need to restrict the amount of time I spend developing ideas, and use the time gained to actually grow my physical army.

7 comments:

Caliban said...

Just to let you know, you're not alone. Trying to keep up motivations is a constantly failing struggle for most of us, I suspect. I've barely managed to keep up my interest by forcing myself to commit to part of one big group project per year. That way, I know that it's not just for me, but others are relying on me as well. And since we meet regularly, it's not a group I can let down.

Cheers
Paul

Mordian7th said...

Man, I'm right there with you. I went haring off on an Eldar tangent and after painting a few units I'm already having trouble bringing myself to finish it off.

Having a second project (which isn't always fiscally sound, heh) is how I get around army fatigue. I'll occasionally take a break from the main project and just paint something that seems like it would be fun to paint.

Of course, in that direction also lies the possibility of having not one, but multiple half-completed projects. Not that I'd know anything about that... :)

Shrink to Fit said...

Thanks for the sympathy, guys! I plan on turning this self-pity into some production.

I'm just going to focus on small steps. I'll see how that goes.

Darth Weasel said...

procrastinating and reading random musings are the highlights of the hobby :-)

Anonymous said...

What necessary phrase... super, a brilliant idea

Anonymous said...

What abstract thinking

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