It’s crazy, today my blog is two years old and it already seems so much longer. Happy Birthday to two years!
The past hobby time has been intense, at the same time the world is a different place than it was two years ago and so much has happened that it would actually be enough for a bigger time span. I’ve made it a rule (and now it’s becoming a tradition, isn’t it?) to gather everything I’ve finished since the last birthday – miniatures, vehicles, small terrain. At the same time it’s a good opportunity to reflect briefly.
How did it go?
On the whole, I am satisfied with how everything is going. I had insanely high expectations when I started this project. First, my own skills brought me abruptly back down to earth, but above all, time and private life slowed me down in my ambitions. I originally wanted to have a suitable photo background for each character, a few matching pieces of terrain and details, so that I could stage everything nicely. While that’s not impossible, it’s a huge task when you have nothing at all and are starting from scratch. Craft time for everything around it also means: no painting time for the minis themselves.
This frustrated me at first, but eventually I came to terms with the facts. My horror figures, for example, I now photograph all only in front of a black background to have at least a uniformity. Especially in this genre it would have worn me out to make something for every single figure: A lake for Jason Vorhees, a suburban house for Michael Myers, a living room for Chucky, etc.
I have now found my way. Thematically, much takes place in the urban setting and I’m tinkering along the way step by step other terrain that I can use as much as possible. At some point, we’ll get to the jungle. “Get to the Choppa!”
Time for the artist’s soul
Everything you do is also a lot about your inner attitude – even in the hobby. I have learned that anew and it was an interesting process. It was good to be relaxed about the hobby and to find a healthy rhythm for myself without self-imposed constraints and demands. It also helps to distance oneself from social media. I have already written about how to deal with it in general. In fact, it works quite well, I have changed my behavior and significantly reduced social media. The reason is not only the realization that it would be better for me to save time there, but also that I am distracted by all the insanely great work of others.
It’s a paradox: I follow a lot of exciting artists and like to be inspired. But in doing so, it distracts me from my own projects and sparks new ideas rather than inspiring my own progress. That thought makes me a little sad. I really appreciate the exchange, am grateful for followers and interest in my work, and love seeing other people’s work. However, in this abundance, it’s just not healthy for me. After all, there’s always more of everything in the end: more great projects, another helpful painting tutorial, another podcast, and definitely always many more minis to be had.
Trend Topic Mental Health
Phew, I never thought the blog here would be self-therapy like this. I have never dealt with mental balance and never had the need to. Still, I’m learning a lot about myself in the hobby, I didn’t expect that. Maybe it comes from the fact that I love it and am really passionate about it. There are emotions involved, euphoria and frustration, low motivation and sense of achievement. It does something to you and I would say it’s not just painting little toys, it’s become a serious, important pursuit for me. That’s nice and enhances the hobby all the more.
Speaking of “that’s nice”: Just in time for my birthday, another shipment from Crooked Dice finally arrived today. Among other things, the 7TV expansion “Lurkers from the Deep” from the latest Kickstarter. Not that you would get bored…
Back home
Most recently, I embarked on a journey into the past. Warhammer is back. Not in the sense that GW is carefully teasing it. For me, as for many others, the Old World was never really gone and I could never get comfortable with Age of Sigmar. Now that I’m back in the hobby so much, I miss a bit of the good old army project with reading fluff, tweaking army lists, thinking about conversions, etc. I could do that with any other game now, but I just don’t feel like getting involved anywhere like that, and nowadays it just wouldn’t be the same. Nostalgia has always been a very strong motivator for me.
To make it short: I paint old Warhammer minis again and will also buy one or the other on Ebay. Because of the memory or also because I wanted to have them back then. The blog here should stay true to the actual intention, I don’t want to post any Warhammercontent here to not blow up my own concept. Maybe there will be a single post, which I’ll edit bit by bit to show some stuff, but otherwise I want to keep this clean. Surely I will write more about my old hobby time and the hobby itself apart from finished figures – GW and Warhammer will inevitably occur.
The past hobby year was super exciting, productive, educational and entertaining. Thanks to all the readers, followers on social media and all the great hobby contacts. The third year of the blog will surely be great and the world around is getting sunnier again. Above as a post picture you see the obligatory birthday photo, on which everything crowds what I have painted since the last birthday, minus a gaming mat and a few larger terrain pieces. I’m surprised at what all came together. May the next year be just as productive! Continue to enjoy my blog to all readers and thanks for stopping by!
