Hobby: In the pursuit of paint

 

    We are all busy these days, and whilst Papa Nurgle himself reached out to gift most of the world with a chance to stay home and paint with his generous pandemic. The struggle to find time to paint is still one that faces many in this hobby today. I know for a fact that I was chief amongst them, especially with addition of my son. Working full time, and being a new father has taught me the value of finding any spare moment. My hobbying usually takes the bottom rung in the priority ladder of late. This is what led me to create my #LunchHammer initiative. 

    There is a famous quote from the US Marine Corps that goes 'don't stand when you can sit, don't sit when you can lay down, and don't lay down when you can sleep'. Well for our purposes let us adapt that to our own hobby needs. I took a look at my daily schedule and realised I had one glorious thirty minutes every day to potentially paint. Now thirty minutes does not sound that impressive, however over a week that is two and a half hours. Ask yourself now on average how much do you paint, or hobby each week. Over a month this adds up. Over the last few months I have been creating, testing, and refining my process for being able to be mobile lunch break wargamer. I wanted to take you through what I did, and hopefully inspire you to join the #LunchHammer initiative. 

Painting on the boot of my car whilst waiting around in Newcastle

    So let us start with the basics. Your kit. When i first started my lunch break painting scheme I was perhaps a little ambitious. I had paints, multiple miniatures, brushes, a palette, a water cup, and a big box to carry it in. This was I quickly worked out. Not optimal. The main thing to remember is time. You only really have thirty minutes, and that thirty minutes disappears quicker than stock on a Games Workshop preorder day. So you are hardly going to work on multiple miniatures, likewise you probably are not going to need a great number of paints. You are more than likely able to cull down to a small kit. My current kit now consists of about four to seven paints, a medium and fine detail brush, the miniature I will work on, a palette (though not essential) and a water cup. 

I pack all of this into a small tool box. About the size of a lunch box. You can pick up a cheap one from any reject shop, or cheap store. That is all you need in the past I have also I have used a Tupperware container. The advice I give is look at what you have and keep it simple. Now you are locked and loaded lets move on. 

Red cups because we come to party

     In my experience this hobby is often split into two distinct groups. The ones who enjoy playing, and those who enjoy painting. Both are equal in my mind. Yet, it is without a doubt the painting that takes up the most time. . You need to remember this is a small window to paint in. However, you are not speed painting. You should pick one or two things you want to get done each session. For example I have been getting the free monthly miniatures from my local Warhammer store as a fun way to practice my painting. When it was the Deathguard miniature each session I would pick one thing I wanted to do. Session one I might decide I wanted to pick out all the grubs, maggots, and gross details. Next session I might focus on the metallics, and so on. One session all I did was spend time adding grime and stain marks to the miniature.

Were I not such a staunch Imperial Player, I would collect Deathguard

     The main thing is to simply pick one task to complete each lunch break. Then review at the end of the week. Taking progress pictures is a great way to look at your progress.  To get a little armchair psychologist on you here. This is all about creating a positive loop, and generating motivation. When we look at tasks as a whole such as painting a full army or miniature they can seem like large jobs. We can get lost looking at the big picture, and not just get started. If you instead break the task down you will instead be rewarded with a series of achievement goals. This will in turn make the task of painting more enjoyable. This is similar to fitness goals. Setting smaller targets allows for a positive loop to occur and thus further motivation. Painting is no different. You will get addicted to making progress like this.

    We have covered a lot of the do's, but I want to share with you some of the don't that I have learned from doing #Lunchhammer. Some are pretty obvious but I would be remiss if I did not cover them. So here are my top five don'ts for #LunchHammer

1. Don't leave your kit in the car
    In Australia is basically a deathworld. If you are not dodging a flood, fire, pandemic, or mouse plague these days you can always count on one thing. That most days the inside of your car could roast a leg of lamb if you left it in there. This being said the plastic from GW does not handle it well. I had to do the old 'grab milk on the way home' recently. I got caught in massive lines and when I took my miniatures out at home one of my bases had gotten more warped than Canberra's ideas about professional work environments. If you are going to do lunch hammer, then it is probably a good idea to be sure you don't don't leave your kit in the car. 

2. Don't rush

    The fact you are only have limited time does not mean you should rush. Let the paint dry. Don't do twenty steps badly instead of just doing one small thing well. 

3. Don't see the trees for the forest
    Learn to appreciate the small stuff. When I was doing the witch elf for the free monthly miniature. I legitimately just spent a lunch break doing the face. Just doing some eyes and a face. 

Shhh hey I have a secret... I do cocaine

4. Don't compare your miniatures to other miniatures
    Look I know this is a big ask but you need to make your painting about your own progress. Remember this is about painting, motivation, and to a degree about destressing. You should also learn to appreciate the little imperfections in your painting. My witch elf has slightly off eyes. But, I like it. After all witch elves are usually, much like many patrons of King Street, completely off their chops. King of the Hill has a great moment about appreciating imperfections. 

    I personally look forward to seeing what you can create in your own lunch breaks. Feel free to follow me on at twitter @DanTheGreatGam1, or use the hashtag #LunchHammer. I want to see the wargamers taking back that glorious thirty minutes each shift to help rid the world of grey plastic. 

    'To paint only twice a month a good, even once is still praise worthy. But to paint every day on your lunch break! What could be better than this?' - Ghengis Khan....probably