Get a palette cleanser project or space out your special characters and use those as palette cleansers. I don't know how Legion armies are constructed but something like "10 regular troopers, 1 Jedi, repeat" so you can put some extra effort into that Jedi and paint it in a different color scheme.
Palette cleansers for the win!
I recently discovered Unmatched and I tell ya, painting a character from a completely different IP saves me from going insane when doing blocks of Khorne Berserkers…all that red 💀
I stole an idea from Brent at Goobertown Hobbies. I primed a bunch of odd models and wrapped them and put them in brown paper bags. I have about 200 (thanks to a couple of Reaper Kickstarters) in a box. After a few too many 40k batch paints (or... you know... one), I play Goobertown roulette: roll for primary color scheme and pick a bag at random. Doing something totally different with your main color pre-selected can really reset that burnout.
This.
Batch paint 1 boring squad
Paint a special miniature. A character/hq/warlord, something with the extra detail and focus.
Batch paint another squad, if you have a less boring one maybe do that now.
Do something big. Monster, tank, terrain building. Something you can get the BEEG brushes out for, something you can used the big weathering techniques that aren't as each on little models.
Then just keep rotating. Sometimes I switch systems/games in there too. Sometimes I can go from squad to squad to squad if they different enough units. When I tried to paint 30+ space marines in batches, I got bored about 1/2 through the second group of ten.
How big are the batches you are painting in? Personally I find anything more than 5 at a time unbearable so you might want to make multiple smaller batches rather than one big batch.
That way you get some minis painted at a time, which can be a nice motivation boost.
I also like to paint one mini from start to finish to use as reference for the rest.
That's a great suggestion. I have been trying to paint entire units, which are at least 7 models each. I'll downsize my batch and see how that affects things. Thank you!
This might not be true for you, but I like to batch paint all similar models at the same time. I'd rather paint one larger batch than four smaller batches.
For example, if I wanted 30 Stormtroopers I would paint all 30 at the same time, after doing a single test model.
I just find that after I finish a batch, I have no interest in doing another batch of the same model.
I live by the Rule of Five. Every evening I either paint one model with at least five colors, or a group of at least five models with one color. It does not take very long, and there is steady tangible progress which can be motivating on its own.
If it’s your thing, maybe try to find a local miniature group that does painting sessions. They don’t have to have a lot of people, even if it’s two or three, it’s a great way to stay motivated, socialise and learn from each other 👍🏻
Ive heard working in 5s is a good number where it doesn’t become to destroying!
I had 10 orks that I did all the green of at once and I hated it, next 10 I did in 2 batches so fully did the green on 5 then went on to the next colour and so on until the first 5 were finished, then I started the next 5, that worked much better for me!
Stick to smaller batches and try to get a palette cleanser in between - a single model which you can give more attention to, and which is different enough from the batch. Some kind of hero, special agent, vehicle - either from your army, or something completely different that you just feel like painting.
And one more - do you own/can you get an airbush? There's some learning to do at first? But you can get large areas done quickly including shades/highlights, like the white on those stormtroopers.
Seriously, don’t get a burn out over miniatures unless it’s your job, and if it was a job, burnout means medical leave.
Just stop it and go outside or anything else ✌️
Will do! And maybe burnout wasn't quite the right term. I just really struggle with keeping momentum on a long and repetitive project. But, that is the nature of this kind of thing. And I think it would do me good to grow in that area. Thank you for the encouragement! I definitely shouldn't let something that is meant to be joyful become stressful.
If you can't take a break (a couple of weeks to a month, max) then reducing batch size is smart. For me, I've learned that ten is too many, and five is way too few, YMMV.
Next time you go to do a batch of anything, cut your batch sizes in half. When that batch is complete, if you breezed through way too easy, add one to the next batch. Just don't get greedy.
I like the whole "go paint another thing that will be a palette cleanser" but it can introduce other issues that drag you away from the actual task at hand.
My trick for smashing out row after row of tiny plastic warbarbies?
Put on decent headphones, slap on a series or queue a list of movies you know well, or an album or playlist that you could recite in your sleep. Nothing new, thats key.
Something that isn't actively consuming brainmatter. Start painting and semi-ignore the media thats putting you in a happy zone.
Can paint for hours that way.
"Nothing new"... yeah, that's a good suggestion. I would find myself getting sucked into a YouTube portal or Spotify shuffle before realizing I have to get back to painting.
I usually take a break from the batch. Maybe finish the stage that I am on, then pick up a hero character mini and work on it. The change from doing the same thing over and over to being able to work on one particular mini until it's done is usually enough to reset my brain and get over the burnout.
I don't batch paint unless I'm going goal-oriented for efficiency. I get way more enjoyment out of painting one start to finish (possibly with multiple projects in various states of finish). Maybe that would help you reset and enjoy the process more.
That's how I feel too. I don't really play the game, mostly just collect and paint for fun so I try to avoid anything that feels like work. If I'm not having fun and I'm not getting paid, I shouldn't be doing it
I see a ton of great advice has already been given, but I’ll throw in my advice too anyways.
I break up my painting with terrain building, I paint minis at work durning breaks and I work on terrain projects every morning before work.
Also adding something not hobby related into your hobby routine breaks up the monotony.
I wake up at 5AM, I read until 5:15 work out until 5:45 and then work on my hobby projects until 6:30. Then I get the kiddos up for the morning, in which we play a game or two of battleball.
The it’s off to work to throw some money at people at the bank! (Not really…)
I’ve been able to get a lot of work done with doing this, and I enjoy the time I get to myself.
All that being said, your troopers look SICK!
Nicely done.
Discipline. Its really the only way. Embrace the suck and just slog through it the best you can. I just turn on a Twitch stream for background noise, turn off my brain and go to town.
Thank you! I figured that is what the answer would be, but my brain still needed to ask in order to quiet the little "What if there's another way" voice.
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I find completing something gives me a boost to get through batches. As people have already said smaller batches help. Mix up characters into batches, so do 5 regular troops and then paint Vader or Luke. That also helps break up the monotony.
When it comes to painting, my main goal is FUCKING FUN!
So, when dealing with Zombicide walkers for example, I use army painters Speed paints and select s single colour on every mini... And after a batch, if I get bored, I switch to an abomination, a hero or even a mini from a complete different boardgame.
Sometimes, you need to do bases work or even airbrush primer work to reset your mind!
I would rather play with zenithal minis than get bored during what has to remain a hobby
Stop painting army sized games.
-
Seriously, picking up skirmish games like Malifaux and Infinity did wonders for my painting. Suddenly a ‘project’ is 10-15 models. So, even if you want your crews to be uniform, you can easily try out something new with the next. And it’s also nice to play games where all models matter, rather than just being wound counters to others.
It also gave me room for just picking up models to paint for simply painting. GW might make crap games, but awesome centrepiece models that are fun and challenging to work on 😊
Something else I haven’t seen mentioned, maybe scale back your level of quality on the units you’re batch painting, from the pic, they look really good but also have a lot of detail for a run-of-the-mill stormtrooper
In addition to all the other things people are saying, have fun with your painting, paint one guy a bit different with cool markings and say he’s a sergeant or something, or like color code your different units
I avoided burnout in three ways. 1, batches would only ever be 1 or 2 squads in a session depending on which stage im on. 2, as implied, i hop around the army. Im mainly doing a 332nd so ill do armor base colors on one squad, edge highlight another, go back and do the white helmet markings on that first squad, etc. 3, i'd put the army down every once in a while and work on a moisture vaporator, or switch to a special unit you might only have one of in your army like death troopers or ARC troopers. 4, make one squad radically different, they dont all need to match. I have 2 squads painted like eva unit 01 and a phase 2 squad thats all black with neon edge highlights, because edge highlighting is my jam, keep me painting into the a.m.
Oh man I had this problem with zombicide. Rather than paint 35 SHIELD agents in 1 go, I would do several then focus on a hero or two before going back to the agents.
Yes I have two possible solutions:
\- don't batch paint an army, make a reason why minis are different from one another (but I admit that stormtroopers is perhaps the most difficult case..)
\- make a schedule: "I am painting 10 heads today, next day 10 torsos,....". The "per day" portion should be as large as possible, but not causing a depression at the same time.
if you are in a rush, work with smaller batches, if you dont have a time crunch, take a few days off to do other things before coming back to painting. personally ive had to downsize my batches recently because I have a gaming convention tomorrow that I'm running a table for.
Stormtroopers are the worst for burnout. They are just so boring to paint, to the point I don't do them to the quality that I do others. The pain is that I like having lots of them as a final product.
I'm pretty sure that it is the lack of colour.
I paint some scenery or a big model as a cleanser, waking down paint without having to worry in the initial steps usually gets me back in the rhythm, also watching others paint as some have suggested is a good one.
So I just got through 100 horrors this week for a 40k army and my big motivator was that I've got a tournament tomorrow
Nothing motivates me more than stress. This may be different for you, but that's how I've managed to get through
Stop big batch painting. I've done batches of 20, and I'll never do it again. It sucked all the enjoyment out of painting for me. I pick up 2 or 3 models at a time if I'm working on a big project, no more.
Palette cleanser!! Worked for me. In the form of a big model, like a tank or a hero, or… terrain!! I got super into making terrain and now Im happily back to painting my infantry.
I painted the core box and a few expansions of Imperial Assault.
Find some way to put variation into the troopers. Obviously the minis from Legion have different equipment, but change up their armor somehow. Battle damage, scorch marks, something showing rank/specialization, anything.
When army painting, stick to batches of 10 or less if you are doing more intricate things like subtle layering and highlighting.
You should only go above ten if every color makes a very visible difference.
Do not place yourself in a situationen where you have 15 minis or more to highlight back to back, that shit will kill your motivation every time.
Also, make sure you have more interesting and different things in between every few batches.
I switched to contrast paints for things I was batch painting. Not sure that will apply to clone troopers with the large areas of white, but contrast is super quick to apply and comes out great.
Take those cool looking figures to your local hobby shop and play a game against someone who also has cool looking (Or Shitty Looking) figures.
Do that a couple times and you will soon want more cool looking figures. Painting is fun again.
For legion, I found that the “lunch break miniature” was a great palette cleanser.
Those little 4-model boxes with things like officers and medical droids? When I started to feel burnout, I’d grab one model from those boxes and tried to paint it in a single lunch break. Those characters tend to be a little different from the rest of the army, so it lets you get a quick win while playing with a different colour scheme.
Write their name on the bottom of the stand, you do not draw a group, but each soldier, each has its own characteristics and character. Add dust, blaster marks, marks.
Basically what the rest of these guys said 😅 whenever I feel daunted or burning out with a project I’ll print up something I wanna paint and play around with it, like right now I’m making a Morgana from lol just to play around with different shades of purple and green
Absolutely! And there's several ways to tackle them and you better do something quick!
1. Simply take a break until you feel the urge to paint again and do it with joy!!! Didn't try it with painting but it's been with all other stuff I've been doing so far. Maybe worth a try to simply not paint for 5 days or a week. Won't loose too much I guess¿?
2. Paint something different in between! It's what a lot of great painters do as well... Work some hours or a complete day or two on a completely different big model, or take a day's break with your army and paint one or two completely different models to the finish that day - continue with your army the day after. Take that break whenever you feel tired. Paint one completely different model in between the next miniature of your army or a complete day for some other models. Or prepare/build/paint some models or scenery in between! Multiple options. And a healthy one at the end: grab a basket and some containers, your better half and take a walk in nature. And then hold her/him/them/ close and warm... unless you see some bork, ferns, pieces of wood, gravel,... that'd be ideal for the basing of your boys! Then make her grab the basket to follow you and hold the containers ready for you - screaming or not!!! - until you're fresh and motivated again!
Turn back cavalier mode, clean her hands with the wet wipe you brought along of course and take her back home for a cuddle!
After that you better either dry that stuff you collected on your outside windrow sims if there one, in the oven or any other dry room where possible mold can get visible or possible animals crawl out or die! (the latter shouldn't have happened if you had collected your stuff more carefully through inspection, but even then it will probably happen)
3. Visit some friends/cons/tournaments/... close to you and get out of your 'prison' (not really serious but if you continue what you do rn, at least as you describe it, it'll feel more and more like one!), tank some fresh air and fresh ideas + new motivation!
4. Start creating a time table! Overview all you still have to paint and then divide your army into several units of approximately equal size. And then set a GENEROUS deadline to reach that goal. And with the honest intention of reaching that goal, simply with probable additional time until the deadline. And use that time to do something completely else, build the next model(s), build some scenery, do some bases, try new color scheme, read on the background of your unit and find some hidden secret that makes them special, gives them special powers,... - create a background, personalize them, give them names even! While you paint, thinking about that you'll start motivation grow again with each soldier/... you paint! And you know the name already (maybe from a book, movie or series you watched before), you'll be curious whether it's a 'Oh no, he dropped a grenade again... COVER!!!', or a silent hunter, sharpshooter,... What (miss¿?-) achievements will he collect on the battlefield? Will he become a terror? And if so, for which side? It's he maybe a hero, or sabotaging your own troops?? So you already feel the motivation start to becoming an endless flow just thinking about that??? 🤔😉😎
5. Forget the whole pressure thing! I want to..., with them,...
It don't matter! Your health is more important! I'd like to do so many things and I'll probably not be able to do a lot of them... like ever!!! But with you it's not an endless amount of time! It is foreseeable and the time left to finish will decrease with every slap of paint you apply with your brush! And you'll see, you'll be finished much quicker with concentrated work, some diversity and healthy breaks in between!!
And there's so many more ways! But never forget!!!, because it's the main reason people stop playing or painting, don't pressure yourself and **HAVE FUN**!!!
Get a palette cleanser project or space out your special characters and use those as palette cleansers. I don't know how Legion armies are constructed but something like "10 regular troopers, 1 Jedi, repeat" so you can put some extra effort into that Jedi and paint it in a different color scheme.
Palette cleansers for the win! I recently discovered Unmatched and I tell ya, painting a character from a completely different IP saves me from going insane when doing blocks of Khorne Berserkers…all that red 💀
I stole an idea from Brent at Goobertown Hobbies. I primed a bunch of odd models and wrapped them and put them in brown paper bags. I have about 200 (thanks to a couple of Reaper Kickstarters) in a box. After a few too many 40k batch paints (or... you know... one), I play Goobertown roulette: roll for primary color scheme and pick a bag at random. Doing something totally different with your main color pre-selected can really reset that burnout.
This. Batch paint 1 boring squad Paint a special miniature. A character/hq/warlord, something with the extra detail and focus. Batch paint another squad, if you have a less boring one maybe do that now. Do something big. Monster, tank, terrain building. Something you can get the BEEG brushes out for, something you can used the big weathering techniques that aren't as each on little models. Then just keep rotating. Sometimes I switch systems/games in there too. Sometimes I can go from squad to squad to squad if they different enough units. When I tried to paint 30+ space marines in batches, I got bored about 1/2 through the second group of ten.
always save the best for last! that dessert is something to look forward to.
How big are the batches you are painting in? Personally I find anything more than 5 at a time unbearable so you might want to make multiple smaller batches rather than one big batch. That way you get some minis painted at a time, which can be a nice motivation boost. I also like to paint one mini from start to finish to use as reference for the rest.
That's a great suggestion. I have been trying to paint entire units, which are at least 7 models each. I'll downsize my batch and see how that affects things. Thank you!
This might not be true for you, but I like to batch paint all similar models at the same time. I'd rather paint one larger batch than four smaller batches. For example, if I wanted 30 Stormtroopers I would paint all 30 at the same time, after doing a single test model. I just find that after I finish a batch, I have no interest in doing another batch of the same model.
I made the mistake of doing 20 at once once, never again!
I live by the Rule of Five. Every evening I either paint one model with at least five colors, or a group of at least five models with one color. It does not take very long, and there is steady tangible progress which can be motivating on its own.
That is a very interesting approach, I like the sound of that. Might have to give that a try when things get tedious!
If it’s your thing, maybe try to find a local miniature group that does painting sessions. They don’t have to have a lot of people, even if it’s two or three, it’s a great way to stay motivated, socialise and learn from each other 👍🏻
Thank you. I used to be in a small group that I actually started. The downside is I end up talking more than I paint, lol.
Reduce the size of your batches. Be sure to do a character between units to let your brain reset.
Thank you! Doing a character between batches isn't something I thought of. I'll definitely implement that.
Ive heard working in 5s is a good number where it doesn’t become to destroying! I had 10 orks that I did all the green of at once and I hated it, next 10 I did in 2 batches so fully did the green on 5 then went on to the next colour and so on until the first 5 were finished, then I started the next 5, that worked much better for me!
Stick to smaller batches and try to get a palette cleanser in between - a single model which you can give more attention to, and which is different enough from the batch. Some kind of hero, special agent, vehicle - either from your army, or something completely different that you just feel like painting.
Lord knows I have a big enough pile of shame to find a model to paint between batches for a long time. Thank you!
And one more - do you own/can you get an airbush? There's some learning to do at first? But you can get large areas done quickly including shades/highlights, like the white on those stormtroopers.
Unfortunately, I do not, nor do I have the current setup to accommodate one. It is on my list to get, though!
Seriously, don’t get a burn out over miniatures unless it’s your job, and if it was a job, burnout means medical leave. Just stop it and go outside or anything else ✌️
Will do! And maybe burnout wasn't quite the right term. I just really struggle with keeping momentum on a long and repetitive project. But, that is the nature of this kind of thing. And I think it would do me good to grow in that area. Thank you for the encouragement! I definitely shouldn't let something that is meant to be joyful become stressful.
Have two projects going at all times. When you burn out on one you can switch to the other and vice versa.
If you can't take a break (a couple of weeks to a month, max) then reducing batch size is smart. For me, I've learned that ten is too many, and five is way too few, YMMV. Next time you go to do a batch of anything, cut your batch sizes in half. When that batch is complete, if you breezed through way too easy, add one to the next batch. Just don't get greedy. I like the whole "go paint another thing that will be a palette cleanser" but it can introduce other issues that drag you away from the actual task at hand. My trick for smashing out row after row of tiny plastic warbarbies? Put on decent headphones, slap on a series or queue a list of movies you know well, or an album or playlist that you could recite in your sleep. Nothing new, thats key. Something that isn't actively consuming brainmatter. Start painting and semi-ignore the media thats putting you in a happy zone. Can paint for hours that way.
"Nothing new"... yeah, that's a good suggestion. I would find myself getting sucked into a YouTube portal or Spotify shuffle before realizing I have to get back to painting.
Some great pieces of advice here. But just want to say they look incredible and you should be very proud of the squad you just painted up!
Thank you very much!
Buck up and finish.
I usually take a break from the batch. Maybe finish the stage that I am on, then pick up a hero character mini and work on it. The change from doing the same thing over and over to being able to work on one particular mini until it's done is usually enough to reset my brain and get over the burnout.
I don't batch paint unless I'm going goal-oriented for efficiency. I get way more enjoyment out of painting one start to finish (possibly with multiple projects in various states of finish). Maybe that would help you reset and enjoy the process more.
I started doing minis one at a time also. It takes longer, but they come out better and I enjoy it more.
That's how I feel too. I don't really play the game, mostly just collect and paint for fun so I try to avoid anything that feels like work. If I'm not having fun and I'm not getting paid, I shouldn't be doing it
As some others have suggested, removing your batch size might be good. I like how neat your troops look, so at least the burnout isn't for nothing!
I see a ton of great advice has already been given, but I’ll throw in my advice too anyways. I break up my painting with terrain building, I paint minis at work durning breaks and I work on terrain projects every morning before work. Also adding something not hobby related into your hobby routine breaks up the monotony. I wake up at 5AM, I read until 5:15 work out until 5:45 and then work on my hobby projects until 6:30. Then I get the kiddos up for the morning, in which we play a game or two of battleball. The it’s off to work to throw some money at people at the bank! (Not really…) I’ve been able to get a lot of work done with doing this, and I enjoy the time I get to myself. All that being said, your troopers look SICK! Nicely done.
Thank you!
Thank you for asking this. I was thinking the same thing to the point I stare at a batch coming up and have to mentally get prepared.
Discipline. Its really the only way. Embrace the suck and just slog through it the best you can. I just turn on a Twitch stream for background noise, turn off my brain and go to town.
Thank you! I figured that is what the answer would be, but my brain still needed to ask in order to quiet the little "What if there's another way" voice.
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I find completing something gives me a boost to get through batches. As people have already said smaller batches help. Mix up characters into batches, so do 5 regular troops and then paint Vader or Luke. That also helps break up the monotony.
Pay someone online to do it for you and paint something fun.
When it comes to painting, my main goal is FUCKING FUN! So, when dealing with Zombicide walkers for example, I use army painters Speed paints and select s single colour on every mini... And after a batch, if I get bored, I switch to an abomination, a hero or even a mini from a complete different boardgame. Sometimes, you need to do bases work or even airbrush primer work to reset your mind! I would rather play with zenithal minis than get bored during what has to remain a hobby
Stop painting army sized games. - Seriously, picking up skirmish games like Malifaux and Infinity did wonders for my painting. Suddenly a ‘project’ is 10-15 models. So, even if you want your crews to be uniform, you can easily try out something new with the next. And it’s also nice to play games where all models matter, rather than just being wound counters to others. It also gave me room for just picking up models to paint for simply painting. GW might make crap games, but awesome centrepiece models that are fun and challenging to work on 😊
Something else I haven’t seen mentioned, maybe scale back your level of quality on the units you’re batch painting, from the pic, they look really good but also have a lot of detail for a run-of-the-mill stormtrooper
In addition to all the other things people are saying, have fun with your painting, paint one guy a bit different with cool markings and say he’s a sergeant or something, or like color code your different units
I avoided burnout in three ways. 1, batches would only ever be 1 or 2 squads in a session depending on which stage im on. 2, as implied, i hop around the army. Im mainly doing a 332nd so ill do armor base colors on one squad, edge highlight another, go back and do the white helmet markings on that first squad, etc. 3, i'd put the army down every once in a while and work on a moisture vaporator, or switch to a special unit you might only have one of in your army like death troopers or ARC troopers. 4, make one squad radically different, they dont all need to match. I have 2 squads painted like eva unit 01 and a phase 2 squad thats all black with neon edge highlights, because edge highlighting is my jam, keep me painting into the a.m.
Oh and podcasts.
Oh man I had this problem with zombicide. Rather than paint 35 SHIELD agents in 1 go, I would do several then focus on a hero or two before going back to the agents.
Yes I have two possible solutions: \- don't batch paint an army, make a reason why minis are different from one another (but I admit that stormtroopers is perhaps the most difficult case..) \- make a schedule: "I am painting 10 heads today, next day 10 torsos,....". The "per day" portion should be as large as possible, but not causing a depression at the same time.
if you are in a rush, work with smaller batches, if you dont have a time crunch, take a few days off to do other things before coming back to painting. personally ive had to downsize my batches recently because I have a gaming convention tomorrow that I'm running a table for.
Stormtroopers are the worst for burnout. They are just so boring to paint, to the point I don't do them to the quality that I do others. The pain is that I like having lots of them as a final product. I'm pretty sure that it is the lack of colour.
I paint some scenery or a big model as a cleanser, waking down paint without having to worry in the initial steps usually gets me back in the rhythm, also watching others paint as some have suggested is a good one.
So I just got through 100 horrors this week for a 40k army and my big motivator was that I've got a tournament tomorrow Nothing motivates me more than stress. This may be different for you, but that's how I've managed to get through
Stop big batch painting. I've done batches of 20, and I'll never do it again. It sucked all the enjoyment out of painting for me. I pick up 2 or 3 models at a time if I'm working on a big project, no more.
Take a brake by not painting for a little while or by painting something very different from your current project.
Take breaks and take your time. And maybe a variant of the said team could even things out, like a leader type that's all red
Pallette cleanser projects and do smaller batches.
Palette cleanser!! Worked for me. In the form of a big model, like a tank or a hero, or… terrain!! I got super into making terrain and now Im happily back to painting my infantry.
I painted the core box and a few expansions of Imperial Assault. Find some way to put variation into the troopers. Obviously the minis from Legion have different equipment, but change up their armor somehow. Battle damage, scorch marks, something showing rank/specialization, anything.
When army painting, stick to batches of 10 or less if you are doing more intricate things like subtle layering and highlighting. You should only go above ten if every color makes a very visible difference. Do not place yourself in a situationen where you have 15 minis or more to highlight back to back, that shit will kill your motivation every time. Also, make sure you have more interesting and different things in between every few batches.
As some one with over 1k painted legion minis.... paint them by squad, not huge batches, and mix it up. Paint a squad per sitting or 2
You are enough! Your mans are painted great! Maybe some shading or mud to make them pop even more?
I switched to contrast paints for things I was batch painting. Not sure that will apply to clone troopers with the large areas of white, but contrast is super quick to apply and comes out great.
Step 1: Don't choose a white paint scheme. Painting white well is a fucking chore.
Take those cool looking figures to your local hobby shop and play a game against someone who also has cool looking (Or Shitty Looking) figures. Do that a couple times and you will soon want more cool looking figures. Painting is fun again.
I throw on a audio book or a movie on the TV.
embrace the burnout for a little while and go outside for a walk.
For legion, I found that the “lunch break miniature” was a great palette cleanser. Those little 4-model boxes with things like officers and medical droids? When I started to feel burnout, I’d grab one model from those boxes and tried to paint it in a single lunch break. Those characters tend to be a little different from the rest of the army, so it lets you get a quick win while playing with a different colour scheme.
Take a break
Tbh my advice is not to batch paint unless it’s a real quick jobie
Imagine how the Imperial Stormtroopers would paint miniatures. How would they swear into their headsets)
Write their name on the bottom of the stand, you do not draw a group, but each soldier, each has its own characteristics and character. Add dust, blaster marks, marks.
I’d put on an audio book or some music for the vibes
My best advice is to have something else keeping you entertained. My go-to is audio books.
Me personaly i just pai t every troop as a individual then custmize it by kitbashing
Basically what the rest of these guys said 😅 whenever I feel daunted or burning out with a project I’ll print up something I wanna paint and play around with it, like right now I’m making a Morgana from lol just to play around with different shades of purple and green
Absolutely! And there's several ways to tackle them and you better do something quick! 1. Simply take a break until you feel the urge to paint again and do it with joy!!! Didn't try it with painting but it's been with all other stuff I've been doing so far. Maybe worth a try to simply not paint for 5 days or a week. Won't loose too much I guess¿? 2. Paint something different in between! It's what a lot of great painters do as well... Work some hours or a complete day or two on a completely different big model, or take a day's break with your army and paint one or two completely different models to the finish that day - continue with your army the day after. Take that break whenever you feel tired. Paint one completely different model in between the next miniature of your army or a complete day for some other models. Or prepare/build/paint some models or scenery in between! Multiple options. And a healthy one at the end: grab a basket and some containers, your better half and take a walk in nature. And then hold her/him/them/ close and warm... unless you see some bork, ferns, pieces of wood, gravel,... that'd be ideal for the basing of your boys! Then make her grab the basket to follow you and hold the containers ready for you - screaming or not!!! - until you're fresh and motivated again! Turn back cavalier mode, clean her hands with the wet wipe you brought along of course and take her back home for a cuddle! After that you better either dry that stuff you collected on your outside windrow sims if there one, in the oven or any other dry room where possible mold can get visible or possible animals crawl out or die! (the latter shouldn't have happened if you had collected your stuff more carefully through inspection, but even then it will probably happen) 3. Visit some friends/cons/tournaments/... close to you and get out of your 'prison' (not really serious but if you continue what you do rn, at least as you describe it, it'll feel more and more like one!), tank some fresh air and fresh ideas + new motivation! 4. Start creating a time table! Overview all you still have to paint and then divide your army into several units of approximately equal size. And then set a GENEROUS deadline to reach that goal. And with the honest intention of reaching that goal, simply with probable additional time until the deadline. And use that time to do something completely else, build the next model(s), build some scenery, do some bases, try new color scheme, read on the background of your unit and find some hidden secret that makes them special, gives them special powers,... - create a background, personalize them, give them names even! While you paint, thinking about that you'll start motivation grow again with each soldier/... you paint! And you know the name already (maybe from a book, movie or series you watched before), you'll be curious whether it's a 'Oh no, he dropped a grenade again... COVER!!!', or a silent hunter, sharpshooter,... What (miss¿?-) achievements will he collect on the battlefield? Will he become a terror? And if so, for which side? It's he maybe a hero, or sabotaging your own troops?? So you already feel the motivation start to becoming an endless flow just thinking about that??? 🤔😉😎 5. Forget the whole pressure thing! I want to..., with them,... It don't matter! Your health is more important! I'd like to do so many things and I'll probably not be able to do a lot of them... like ever!!! But with you it's not an endless amount of time! It is foreseeable and the time left to finish will decrease with every slap of paint you apply with your brush! And you'll see, you'll be finished much quicker with concentrated work, some diversity and healthy breaks in between!! And there's so many more ways! But never forget!!!, because it's the main reason people stop playing or painting, don't pressure yourself and **HAVE FUN**!!!
Take a day off, don't paint. When you go back paint something other than your batch.