When is a Model / Project done?
How many times have you looked at something, thought that’s going to be a quick job, and found yourself elbow deep in paint, flocking and plastic cement as you glance at the clock and see multiple hours have passed? The constant pressure of “just one more little bit” before you pack up the brushes, tidy away the paints and clean out the paint water can lead down a rabbit hole of unknown depths, so how do you bring yourself to sit back from a model, stare at the output from the time you have put in, and say its done and you are happy?
Or maybe, on the other end of the scale, you have a large un-started model sat there looking up at you. In your head you can see the colors and the blends, the paint on just the right spots and the look on your opponents / friends faces when you pop it down on the table or set it up on the shelf, and yet somehow deep down you are scared to start and place that first brush stroke? It all just seems like a lot of work, a lot of effort that you may get wrong, perhaps it’s easier to do something else and come back to painting another day?
Ultimately, I think it’s about setting the expectations with yourself (or your client if you are painting commissions) of what you want to achieve with the paint job, do this by asking a few quick questions before you begin.
Firstly, how much time do you have and want to invest in the model? Deadlines or time limits can come in many forms depending on your situation and lifestyle, ranging from 3-5+ hours per day down to trying to squeeze in a few hours here and there when kids, partners or other commitments allow. Adding that to knowing when the model is needed can allow you to work backwards defining the total time. Do you have a battle or D&D game this weekend? Is there a painting competition at the local gaming store at the end of the month, or perhaps you have some friends coming round that you want to show off to? If you have an idea of the time you can paint each day / week, and how many days / weeks you have, you can work out how many hours you have to put into the project.
Next question is what is the mini being used for? There are multiple levels of paint job (and I use paint job here to include the additional elements of the build such as basing, posing, flocking etc.), ranging from getting it on the table at all costs through to painting competitions or key display pieces for you, a friend or a client. As you can probably guess, the latter takes a lot more time and effort than the former, and for some it’s not worth it but for others it's where they take the joy in the hobby. The split is typically referred to as ‘Tabletop Ready’ and ‘Display Ready’ but Games Workshop (a.k.a. GW - one of the biggest names in the hobby) are leaning towards using ‘Battle Ready’ and ‘Parade Ready’ in their text and documents.
If you are painting Tabletop Ready / Battle Ready miniatures, the focus is on creating contrast and a cohesive look from arms length. Starting with the major volumes, (which is just a fancy way of saying the bits of the model that are going to be the most important or prominent) painters will typically put effort into blocking these out and getting basic highlights that really make the model pop, before coming back in to add smaller details with a single splash of color. As humans we tend to naturally focus towards faces, hands and weapons (something to do with our evolution I would imagine), so getting the shoulders and head popping along with the larger color palette items such as cloaks or armor gives a quick and effective result for a limited amount of effort and time. The final step is normally a consistent and simple basing scheme, something like sand or gravel.
Display ready painting, or Parade ready as GW calls it, is about taking each individual item on the model and painting each of those items to the best of your ability. This typically means each volume or item on the model has several passes, having multiple layers of paint and technique applied to it to make the model sing in whatever style you as the painter are aiming for. This is the time that advanced techniques are explored by painters, such as Non Metallic Metals (NMM) where by painting specific colors you can imitate the reflectiveness of metals with a far greater level of control than using metallic paints. Others use OSL, or Object Source Lighting, whereby the light producing elements within the scene or model impact the colors and effects on the model such as campfire at their feet causing a red glow across the armor, or a glowing gem in a staff causing a blue tinted shadow across a face. This is also where some painters really explore dynamic basing, adding in multiple terrain elements, kit-bashing and posing the model in a unique pose. Often they spend almost as long on the base as they do on model to create a combined unit and experience.
The third question is very much related to those advanced techniques - Is this a mini that you are using for specific practice? Have you ever painted NMM or OSL before? Do you want to explore Wet Blending or Stippling, perhaps trying out a new paint scheme or range of paints? Selecting the right model to try these effects on, and knowing that this is a test model or a practice model can allow you to manage expectations for what the end result will look like as well as ensuring you are focusing on the elements you want / need to in order to help improve as a painter. We will be looking to create a post at a later date going through some of those painting techniques.
The final question is kind of a catch all for the model expectations - is there anything else you want to achieve with the model? This would be where you think about things like Magnetisation of parts, swapping in weapon sets or banners or flags, and if so do they need to be painted as well? Does this model form part of a unit that needs to be coherent and work together, or is there a display board that it needs to sit as part of? This can be very different with each model and system, but it's always worth considering as early as you can in the process.
Once you have answered all these questions, it's time to start painting the model and then when you hit the level of expectation stop painting the model, both of which can be hard. Staring at the model and thinking it’s not quite right and you need to add a bit more here and a bit more there can be both demoralising and frustrating in equal measures, but there is a phrase in the UK that applies : Perfection is the enemy of Done.
Models can always be improved at a later date, adding extra layers of paint or highlights or shadows, there is no deadline on re-visiting a model (unless you are working on a commission, but that's a separate and specific use case). Depending on the deadlines and expectations you set for the model, it may well be you split the painting job into Tabletop and Display levels, achieving the first for the game at the end of the month and then coming back to hone the blends and edge highlighting when you have the time and are not rushing.
In addition to that, you are always better at the end of a paint job than you were at the start of it. Any time that you have a brush in your hand and are applying paint to a model in a precise and deliberate way, you are naturally increasing your skill, dexterity and general ability level. Sometimes the difference between the start and end of a model might be less than 1%, almost imperceptible, but it will be there. By that logic alone a model can never be perfect or 100% the best you can possibly create, as to do so you would have to imitate the painters of the Golden Gate Bridge - by the time you've got to the end you repaint the first thing you painted.
So in summary the 4 questions are:
How long do you have and want to invest in the model?
What is the mini being used for / what quality is expected?
Is this a mini that you are using for specific practice of a technique?
Is there anything else you want to achieve with the model?
Doing the best you can when you know the limits, deadlines and expectations can be freeing to a lot of painters. Knowing the end goal and aiming towards that rather than perfection or maximum effort can be relaxing and comforting, encouraging you to paint more, achieve more, and in the end, hopefully you can enjoy more.
