One of my
#hobbyresolution2019 goals was to write an extra blog post each
month. I've scribbled down a few ideas, but, having been on such a
painting kick, I didn't really have anything concrete to write about,
so, ironically, my first extra post is about planning and motivation
(it was on the list, honest).
Before I start, I'll
put up a general disclaimer. This is by no means the only way to go
about planning and following through on hobby projects, but it
generally works for me, and also, I'm aware that I have the luxury of
a lot of space to leave my gaming stuff about. Pick out the bits
that work for you, add more from other sources, the key is to finding
something that you are comfortable with and capable of following
through with.
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| Make a plan and 'stick'
with it! |
Having been involved in
this hobby for around 30 years, I've started many, many projects and
even managed to finish some, but the reality is that there are many
more unfinished ones and I'm sure I am not alone in suffering from
bouts of analysis paralysis. It is way too easy to amass hordes of
miniatures, and avoid doing anything meaningful with them. Yet, here
are many things that can kick off a new hobby project, new miniatures
or rules being released, a resurgence of an old favourite game, new
faces at the game store or club, the start of a new year (guilty) or
just a hankering to do something new or different, but how can you
keep on top of it?
The Humble Army List
It might not occur to
some people, but writing out an army list can be the first step in
documenting a new project, OK, so these days, it might not actually
be written out, you can type it up, or use a variety of army building
programs or apps. Sometimes, mainly with historical games, although
Lord of the Rings also has/had it, is the actual forces present at a
battle, which makes the job even easier, as it is literally just
copying information.
Normally I'll scribble
down an army list on paper so that I can fiddle about with it to get
the points right. Once I've settled on something, I put it all into
a spreadsheet, that allows me to track the progress easily.
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| There is no greater joy
than colouring in little boxes. |
I include columns to
track which models I own, whether or not I have resin bases for them
(generally I'll use resin bases if possible on 28mm stuff, and mdf
for 15mm) and then how far they are along the various stages of
completeness. I have the formulae in so that I can see how close I
am to finishing each stage. As well as keeping track like this,
I'll also print out a blank version of the sheet to keep close to my
painting area so that I can update it immediately when I finish
stuff.
The Project Checklist
This is a new one for
me, essentially just a collection of boxes to track my
#hobbyresolution2019 projects.
All it is, is all my
projects broken down into the target number for me to check off upon
completion. Again, simple stuff, and I've printed a copy out for
this too.
An extension of this is
to return to the spreadsheets and keep a tally there too.
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| #hobbyresolution2019
projects. |
As you can see, I've
gone an extra step here and colour coded the various projects, aiming
to complete 4 every 3 months. Some, like blogging every week, I
can't score up until the end of the year, so they are easy to drop
into the October - December bracket, and others, like running April
Fuel Daze, happen a lot sooner in the year, so can be ticked off
quicker. I try to spread out the 8 painting projects over the year,
and get some easy victories early on, plus it helps to not focus
solely on one aspect of the hobby.
A Hobby Diary
So, now that you have
your army list and project tally sheet printed out, what do you do
with them? Stick them in a hobby diary obviously, so that you can
track your daily progress.
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| Need more stickers for
that authentic homework jotter look. |
I track loads of
information in mine, from when I should be making blog posts, to
various shows and tournaments. I also track my #hobbystreak score
with it. The #hobbystreak thing is good because I'm now at the stage
where I want to be doing something hobby related every day just to
keep that number creeping up. There is a facebook group for it, but
it doesn't get much traffic, but the folk there are supportive.
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| A daily dose of hobby
goodness. |
I choose a larger
diary for this year with the specific plan of glueing in all the
sheets I was printing out for my #hobbyresolution2019 goals. It also
gives me a bit more space for filling out what I get up to on a daily
basis.
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| God I love colouring in
boxes. |
With all the paperwork
out of the way, the next step in planning out my projects is to go
through my leadpile and see what models I already have. These are
sorted out into assembled and unassembled piles.
The Shelf of Shame (aka
Project Holding Area)
I've seen many posts
over the years about Shelves of Shame, and I totally get how
demotivating it can be to constantly look at a bunch of half done
figures. So, I'm going to do something about that. I've dedicated 2
shelves of an Ikea bookcase to this, one for the assembled miniatures
for my current projects, and one for the random dark age/fantasy
miniatures I want to work on randomly. These are cunningly placed
out of direct eyesight when I'm at my painting desk, so that I don't
have to look at them constantly, but, they are close enough that I
can grab what I need when I finish working on other stuff. There is
no shame here, just a selection of models that are pretty much ready
to go. Weather permitting, I try to get them primed well in advance
of needing them, and recently, I've also been doing the drybrushing
stages of the bases, and repainting the rims so that it is one less
job to do before I actually start. It definitely helps, as nothing
kills enthusiasm for a new project than doing a load of tedious
basing work. As long as I keep on top of the painting, the shelf
shouldn't get too busy, and it is good to have stuff ready to go.
Not-Pandora's Box
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| Because I know what is in it. |
The unassembled models
all go here. It means I don't have to go hunting through cupboards
and boxes and drawers to find something, and it breaks down the
backlog into a much easier chunk to deal with. Any good sized box
will work, I'm using a Privateer Press 2 player starter box, but you
could easily use a large shoebox or Really Useful Box depending on
how much stuff you have to assemble. Pulling this stuff out from the
backlog is instrumental in not feeling overwhelmed looking at the
sheer amount of stuff to be done. Again, helps motivation to see the
contents go down after every assembly session. Obviously the aim is
to empty is at soon as possible getting everything built up for the
shelf, but at least it is all in one place.
Cabinet Space
There's really no point
in spending all this time building and painting stuff if you aren't
going to show it off, even if it is just to yourself. I'm lucky
enough to have a full wall of display cabinets, and I spent some time
arranging them at the start of the year to make space for all my
current projects. They are the Ikea Detolf ones, with 4 shelves per
cabinet. On entering my games room you only really see the top 2
shelves, so I'm constantly working towards having all 16 of those
filled with painted miniatures. One day I'll get the kit to double
the shelf space, which I'll eventually need for the infantry heavy
forces, not to mention the 6mm and 15mm stuff.
I try my best not to
have any unfinished minis in the cabinets, or, if unavoidable, hidden
on the bottom shelf, and similar to colouring in boxes on
spreadsheets, filling up each shelf with painted miniatures is good
motivation to keep going. I know loads of people have cases for all
their painted stuff so they can just grab it and head out for a game,
but I think the hassle of packing and unpacking them is justified by
the spectacle of full cabinets.
Deadlines
One of the biggest
motivational factors for me is a hard deadline. It was true in my
University days, and hasn't changed today. A hard deadline is one
that I have no control over, say, the end of a month, or a tournament
date. You just have to knuckle down for these, and have planned out
what you need to do well in advance. Conversely, it is also good to
have soft deadlines. A soft deadline is a self imposed one, like,
I'll have this unit painted by the end of the week, or, I'll transfer
my flip top paints to dropper bottles at some point in the future.
It doesn't really matter if you hit these, they are flexible by
nature, it could be getting stuff painted for an arranged game, and
suddenly something comes up and you have to reschedule, Okay, you
might have to deal with a minor crisis, but you might just have
wangled a week's extension on stuff too.
The Internet
Getting towards the end
now. The final part of keeping motivated is to join in with various
groups and challenges on the internet. A word of warning though,
salt is everywhere, and you are guaranteed to butt heads with people
from time to time, so, use the various groups selfishly. By that, I
mean switch off notifications, don't get involved in arguments and
use them to join in with challenges, show off your stuff, and get
inspired by other people. Post your stuff up there as a way of
giving back to the community, but don't get lost in spending all your
time trawling the net rather than getting stuff done. I'm
currently doing the #talesofinstahammer challenge between facebook
and instagram, which is 6 months of building up an Age of Sigmar
army, with monthly goals and secret challenges, the
#hobbyresolution2019 challenge on instagram, which is my 16 projects
for the year, and the #hobbystreak challenge, again on Facebook and
Instagram. Last November I got involved in the Paint for 30 minutes
a day challenge, and that really got me back into painting regularly
again, I just made up a 30 minute playlist on YouTube and set it off
when I started. Some days I'd do the bare minimum, others I'd easily
paint for 3 or 4 hours. I'm also in a lot of great groups for
hobbying, (
Gaming Addicts & Miniature Enthusiasts,
Sculpting,Painting & Gaming, and my
15mm Fantasy Gaming group to name a
few) The support and encouragement of your peers will do wonders for
your motivation, and everyone loves a bit of ego stroking from time
to time, right? Seriously though, one of the key things for me, is
the boost that I get from either positive comments or amazed
reactions to the stuff I'm doing, even when I feel like it's a bit
crap. I'm also pretty thick skinned and good at deflecting
criticism, because, barring commissions, my stuff is painted for me,
so, ultimately, it doesn't really matter if people don't like it.
Recap time then - write
your plan down, keep it to hand, sort out the stuff you need to be
working on, keep at it, and keep keeping at it. If it isn't working
for you, don't be afraid to change it up a bit, you are only
accountable to yourself.
Hopefully my ramblings
will be of some use to some people out there, even if it's just a
guide for what not to do :p and I'd love to hear any more
suggestions for other ways of planning out projects and keeping
motivated with them.
Cheers,
John
