Here we are at the beginning of another year, and I couldn't let the year get too far along without my usual year in review for 2009.
Last year was a busy year for me personally. Some of you may remember, my daughter was born in May of this year. It's been wonderful to have a new baby around the house, but it's been a big change, obviously. Still, this has been one of the most productive years painting-wise I can remember having.
I began last year with two resolutions. First:
First off, I plan to focus on Daemons this year. I want to finish 1,500 pts by the end of the year. I hope I'm not aiming too high, but it seems to me that Daemons paint up pretty fast. Much faster than my Thousand Sons or Space wolves.
Wrong! For the record, Daemons do not paint any faster than anything else, at least by me. I am a slow painter no matter what I paint. I have just come to accept that.
Spending a year on daemons only resulted in me having two unfinished armies instead of just one.
And...
Secondly, I plan to work on only one unit at a time. Being a "painting butterfly" is a huge problem for me. For example, in 2008 I started or worked on at least eleven projects but only finished two. Now, I plan to finish a project before I start a new one.
This worked out really well, actually. As you can see in the picture above, I finished five units this year. I started three projects this year, one of which (the fiend) is one of the finished projects this year
No, five projects isn't a lot, but considering it's more than last year, I call that a victory.
Here are a couple "table level' shots of the completed units:
I give myself a "close but no cigar" prize for the unit of daemonettes below. They are pretty close to being done, but not until 2010, so I don't get six units for 2009.
So, what did I learn this year? First, focusing on one thing at a time gets results.
Unfortunately, the other thing I learned is that I get bored working on the same thing all the time. The solution to that I have figured out is working on smaller batches helps stave off boredom. The flamers and fiend are good examples of this.
I have now applied this lesson to the daemonettes I'm working on. I was painting all 11 at the same time. Now I'm painting six and as soon as I finish those, I'll paint the other five.
What's in store for next year? That's another post, my friends.
4 comments:
Man, you actually had an insanely productive year. I was thinking about what I accomplished in 2009 and its nothing to be proud of. haha. Great job sir!
Great post Scott! It's nice to see what a year brings, and good job fessing up too!
I think you got quite a bit accomplished personally, and there's a benefit to painting slowly and getting things exactly how you want them, as well as just pounding models out... It's a difficult balance to find. I'm currently working on speed painting, but I'm sure I'll tone it back and find a nice middle ground... As long as you're painting, it doesn't really matter.
And pretty soon your daughter will be right there along with you I'm sure! The question remains; will she want to paint pink demons or blue ones?
Is Max expressing any more interest?
Great stuff.
Max is definitly interested, it's just a point of finding the time!
Plus, he's beat me four times at space hulk! Not sure I want another opponent I can't beat.
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