Projects and Planning

More Dropfleet on the horizon - and a striping tutorial.

Yes, I've attempted to increase my posting frequency.  This is working hand-in-hand with my time at the bench to increase the velocity of my painting.  Coming out of a winter slump, the past several weeks were very productive.  I'm feeling good about where I'm at.  (It's a fleeting feeling; I'll enjoy it while it lasts, hah).

Adepticon was a milestone of sorts - coming home from the event I started framing up "what's next" for the bench. I have some really cool stuff waiting that I've been thinking about since last Gencon (in some cases) but there's been some hesitancy to actually kick it off. I learn more 'stuff' each project; I hesitate to start something not due until August because between now and then I'm going to learn and improve.

But now it's spring, the birds are singing and the flowers are blooming.  It's time.



Projects: 
I'm a list-maker and a planner.  I stress about things less if it's captured on a list.  Doesn't matter if it's housework, yard work, office work, or hobby.  I can at least say, "it's on the list" and therefore it's managed and not forgotten.

So, I created a list of all the things I'd like to have painted between now and Labor Day (Reapercon) with a major milestone of Gencon just before that.  There are 18 items on the list, 2 are done, 2 are significantly in process.  It still feels a little overwhelming, but just writing it down made it more manageable, and technically all of it is optional.

Some of the list items are single figures (and should move quickly once started), but three are very significant time investments, and there are plenty in the middle zone.

Having the list has allowed me to start a couple of projects in parallel without getting too far ahead of myself.  Normally I force myself to work serially as a way to stay motivated ("get this done so you can move on to the NEXT supercool thing") but there are nights where I need to run the airbrush for 15 minutes and then let it cure (i.e. primer), but still have energy to do something else.  Or sometimes I need to let something sit for a couple of days so I can see if I still like it, or think about next steps. 

So, lately I've dabbled on up to 4 projects at once and kept things moving.  That's starting to approach the line of having too many things in the hopper, but it's been okay so far.

I do expect to take a pretty significant slowdown in May and June to deal with the yard, but if fate smiles upon me we'll have a relatively dry summer and I'll spend less time on the mower.  (No, I'm not optimistic about it...).

Overall my goal this year is more games and more finished models.  By 'more games' I mean tackling more organized play as well as sneaking in some more COOP board games here at the house.  For example, my Dropfleet experience was so good at Adepticon that I'm going to go against my inner instincts and pursue a tournament in May.  Another list item is a Freeblades army, which I hope to put on the table at Reapercon if not sooner.

Upcoming blog content:

• I am working on a post to talk about how I do striping.  I don't claim to be an expert, but my technique is pretty quick, simple, and reasonably forgiving of oopses.
• I'd like to revamp some earlier posts about how to get started in the hobby and relaunch under the Zoxe 101 banner.
• I expect to do a couple more Zoxe 101 posts on paints/colors.  I find these posts quick and fun.
• I started a post about observations from the Pros, but deleted it.  It became a meandering slog with no point, but I may resurrect it.  It's interesting to me that the conventional wisdom dispensed to hobby painters is so frequently ignored by professional mini painters.
• Quality versus Quantity.  This is another philosophical blog post that I've started to type a few times but pulled back from.  I've hinted at shifting goals a few times in past posts, but I'm altering how I approach my work and outright rejecting some common guidance.  Part of it comes down to a fundamental question: am I a gamer who paints, or am I a painter that paints game items?  I think I'm at a good point to actually write out my manifesto (hah, that sounds so evil) - this year I'm going to apply the process to actual contest entries.  Can I 'compete' without being a competition painter?  *Spock eyebrow*

Anyway, that's enough for now.