Right, A little bit of a self indulgence today, I want to diverge slightly from Rant’s usual all Eldar all the time message to discuss something I have been thinking about recently.
This mainly pertains to the hobby aspect of 40k, you see I’m still on a bit of a hiatus TBH which is ridiculous as I have not touched a brush to a model since Mid October. I wrote recently about my unwillingness to paint which is always a latent factor though occasionally I feel inspired and then it’s easy but that would see me do a mere handful of models every year, I know I’m no army painting machine, at the same time I’m not good enough to be top level competition painter either and won’t ever be if I don’t A. discover a love for it B. do it consistently with the aim of improvement and learning as a constant factor (Part A really helps here) and C. Actually want to …..
So where does this Leave me, I have stacks of DE left to do and a similar amount of craftworld guff to complete I want them done but not enough to do them, so I’m left with this constant buzzing niggle because they are sat there doing jack, I have not even played with my Eldar for Over a year, I’m considering giving them the heave ho…. Mainly because I know as much as I would kinda like to have them completed, short of a lobotomy, being out of work and someone paying me a heap of money to do it, It’s never going to happen, which is a shame.
Right before I turn this into a carbon copy of the last article just written differently I’ll cut to the point.
I don’t know if this goes for everyone but running on personal experience I have a hobby battery of sorts or a limit to how much I can do in a given time period, to be ‘comfortable’ It’s not very much at all, maybe a couple of hours a week, the more I ‘WANT’ to do it the more time/energy I’ll be able to expend without it feeling like work or being draining, most of the time I just paint because it has to be done …
I think the reason for this whole Hiatus thing has come about because I burnt out big time, I did over a years worth of painting (for me) in a few months and forced myself well into “this is miserable torturous work” territory, I had mostly used up my creative batteries on the first thing I did and would normally take a week or more out between things to recharge but had to plunge on and force myself to do it again and again, is there such a thing as negative hobby energy ? Either way whatever I did I went screaming right into the bowls of my hobby-fu overdraft and have yet to get back into the black.
Now obviously if this intangible source of creative-ness or energy or whatever you want to call it can be drained surely there are ways to fill up? Indeed I think there are but as with all things it’s much harder to rebuild something than it is to destroy/exhaust them.
Weirdly I have felt a bit like painting more often recently, not enough to do it buuut, y’know….. this is a good sign, I noticed this occurred right after I had read some books I particularly enjoy…hmm so I’m going to stick this out there and see what comes back.
Things that seem to recharge me seem to be things that could be loosely hobby related in some way or at some point required a great deal of creative energy from someone at some point, you hear the term inspirational bandied about a fair bit.
I have been reading a heap of graphic novels and certain comics recently searching out new music and films and returning to specific music/films/novels that I consider creatively excellent in some way.
So this begs the question, does anyone else out there ‘get’ this if so I’m curious to know what you feel your comfortable limits are , have you ever burnt out like this ? if so why and also do you have anything you do to actively to recharge or perhaps you have done it subconsciously ?
And to satisfy my curiosity, some questions
Whats your favorite (you can put more than one if you like) Hobby recharger
1. Author/novel
2. Graphic novel/author/artist
3. Film/Director/Actor
4. TV Series (we are nerds so I’ll include anime/manga here)
5. Artist
6. Band/style of music
7. Computer game
8. Physical activity (no getting busy with the Fap hand does not count)
9. Being honest what’s the one thing you do the most in your spare time.
10. Socially
My tastes can be complicated, especially right now, but I’ll try and answer my own questions these answers will only really be relevant at this point in time, though I have tried to list things that I come back to over and over.
1. Bernard Cornwell, Conn Iggulden, Joe Abercrombie, Gemmell (I would put RR Martin but his last two books are time wasted you aint never gonna get back)
2. If I had to choose only one it would be Millers Dark knight Returns, then artistically It’s Requiem Vampire knight that blows everything out of the water, I think Blade of the Immortal is masterpiece. Garth Ennis deserves an honorable mention too.
3. This is always going to be tough, but Nolan does good work, Schneider, JJ Abrams, Clint Eastwood, thinking about it I cannot honestly pick out a favorite film or even a short list, It’s very much a mood thing. Recently I really enjoyed Kick Ass and a Muppet Christmas Carol….
4. TV in England is pretty shite for the most part, I like The Big Bang Theory and how I Met Your Mother and Castle, in fact it’s mostly only light comedy stuff I want to watch atm, barring Masterchef the professionals (I’m a foodie btw) still not sure if I actually like the Game Of thrones Series yet, I’ll give it a chance and watch the next series though. Apparently I need to watch supernatural and the walking dead at some point….
5. Olivier Ledroit, Jes Goodwin, Kopinski, Smith,Brom prob quite a few more.
6. Erm mostly into bluesy rock or rocky blues, Joe Bonamassa, Jeff Healey, Seasick Steve etc, though recently been on the NIN then Fall of Envy and Drowning pool (catharsis ?), my music tastes can vary a great deal.
7. Hmm, thinking about the games I have played recently, Crysis 2 looked pretty but I found the story and acting terribad, which kinda spoiled it, I think Deus Ex ticked all the boxes for me.
8. lol, I do jack diddly at the moment, would possibly help a great deal if I did get of my arse more, In the past I have done martial arts, the gym, Rock Climbing, running and cycling, of them all I liked German longsword the most and miss it quite a bit, there has been nowhere to do it since I moved up here, 2 years now :o(
9. Currently I veg out and do pretty much nothing, I spent the entire last week or either surfing the net or reading comics, I have read an insane amount of graphic novels and comics in that time, though I think that phase of operation recharge is coming to a close.
10. Almost missed this one out as my social life is more or less non existent, I do club on the Monday nights and have a couple of friends round here who I see from time to time/almost regularly. It’s a bit of a comedown for me as a few years ago I had loads of friends where I was living before and could always have something on even if it was just an RP group, hell I could just walk into any one of a couple of bars on a given night and know people, God I need to get out more…..
So hopefully this has been a little food for thought and vaguely interesting, looking forward to seeing what people have to say.
Theres a few of you regs who I’m quite curious to hear what you are into/upto outside of the hobby and how it relates to what you do hobby wise.
I’ll leave you with the obligatory post post funneh or Two
Really, really good blog Mat. I too have suffered hobby burn out from time to time. I remember spending so much time getting my Wood elf army just right with brass etched foliage on all the bases and trying to paint everything to a high standard that at the end of it I honestly couldn’t stand to look at them. It might so weird but I couldn’t face putting them down on the table for months.
I actually retreated to playing non-GW games for about half a year before I could face WFB and my Wood Elves. Even when I could face playing with them again I kind of resented that army, even though at the time I was enjoying playing with them. My hobby/painting batteries took far longer to recharge and then got sapped again by speed painting a dwarf army in about a month. Still not fully recovered.
Your inspirations are quite similar to mine in some ways. But I used to have a Muse:
http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=9506&tabview=image
It used to be housed in the BM&AG, which you could easily visit. I used to love walking around the Pre Raephalite collection in B’ham and got so much inspiration from their use of colour. However, Millais masterpiece has been nicked by the Tate now so my number one Muse has been taken from me!!! Woe is me. I need a new one.
Any way. How about popping round mine this weekend for some gaming. Lets see if actually playing some games gets those creative juices flowing!!!
whats the betting if you had made a showcase set of 5-6 character/models abd really lavished attention on them you would have been fine, it’s the sheer industrial volumes of what is essentially the same thing over and over , especially when you consider that a unified army looks good and that means painting the smae colours even if the mode l IS different !!
I liek your painting, is pretty I recognise the artist, has he done other famous ones ?
Currently still looks like we are good for Saturday.
Awesome I’ll send you a text about what we’re all up to and when. The aim currently is to just play as many games as we can. God knows what that’ll mean on the day though… lol.
Gods’ Damn It, Sorrowshard, I keep telling you that the internet isn’t only for 40k and porn… “Ophelia” is by John Everett Millais. The BM&AG also contains “The Blind Girl” by him. He appears to have had a bit of a downer on showing females having fun. He has a looser, more painterly style than some of the pre-Raphaelites, like Ford Madox Brown (having three names appears to he been important when trying to make your way in 19th Century Art).
Its a shame that BM&AG contains one of the finest collections of second rate art in the world. Some of the pre-Raphaelite stuff is technically excellent, though mawkish – I’m looking at you, “The Blind Girl” – certainly the textiles and foliage in “Ophelia” were a joy to behold; like the “Lady of Shalott” (also snaffled up by the greedy barstewards at the Tate). The BM&AG’s 20 Century collection tends to be even worse.
I do like to pop in and take a gander at “The Archangel Lucifer” by Epstein, if only because it is such a bizarre piece of public art to display in the foyer of your gallery. There is also a painting of a Conditorri in the round gallery that has a really nice bit of heavy impasto on his armour.
I’ve been so busy for over a month I haven’t had a chance to do anything, and now I am sick, stuck at home but too sick to paint.
Things that do help however are:
Warhammer novels, these (when good which is rare) inspire me towards the army in question. I loved the TS’s novel and the two Aspect novels. I tried to read a recent Inq novel and it was so bad I couldn’t get past a few pages. There was also a really old Eldar novel which was total garbage.
Gaming with friends, it makes me want to paint so my army is ‘complete’ and so I have something to show off. I’m not the best strategist or player but my army can make me proud.
Buying stuff. But this lasts all of 2 seconds
When I know I’ve finished all my Uni assignments (until the next set) that really helps me relax and paint a bit without the stress.
Good music or a TV series in the background I also find helps me paint. Stargate (an old favourite) is great for background chatter when painting, since I know the series pretty well and don’t need to concentrate.
I also got a compressor/tank for Christmas, and just need an airbrush to get about 40 DE figures, and 4 vehicles ready to paint. Hoping it helps speed up the process and make it more fun!
I loved Crysis 2 though because I finished it in under a week without a huge time investment and was able to do Uni/Work at the same time without feeling like I was neglecting either.
I played WoW for a while and like my games to be less addictive or demanding on my time these days, which Warhammer is not, on either count.
Hmm, last Bl novel I read that was actually any good was prospero burns, purely because it was much bettrer written and more mature than the usual bolter-porn. ADB’s books are all quite Inspiring but for me the majority of the Heresy books are a fail.
The Eisenhorn and Ravenor books are amazage and Abnett is following up with a new Eisenhorn VS Ravenor Trilogy *claps hands like excited child*
Weird , when I paint I find it impossible to focus on anything else, I dont even really notice when the music stops and it’s pointless having anything on telly.
I completely agree , I want ot play a game , have it last a fair amount of time and tell a story and then leave it , it fills a similar slot to reading books and watching films for me, I deliberately did not pick up skyrim, too much RL stuff on and I can hardly whine about how time consuming painting is then go and spend eleventy billion hours playing a game.
Burnout is never fun whichever way you slice it. That being said the only time in recent memory I had major burnout was after Games Day (painted a crap load of the club table stuff) and after my back op when I couldn’t paint.
Went through a load of TV (The Shield was a favourite) and played a crap ton of xbox.
Must admit im convinced your burnout is GW related, go play about with some Infinity figs and you might well find some mojo again.
Might well be GW related , my approach to painting does not lend itself well to high volumes and my lifestyle will never support the amount of time required, well not until I’m retired maybe ?
As it happens I’m trying to find my way with Infinity at the moment, realised I’m not really feeling the faction I chose so ima change things up and get some models that really make me want to pick up a brush.
have you looked at infinity at all ?
Meh, I go through ‘phases.’
Sometimes I paint, or write lists…I keep a rule book/army book at the bedside- the statlines and whatnot put me right to sleep…
I’m a terribly slow painter, as well….
I usually have to ‘work up to it,’ by hitting some blogs, looking at some material, whatever…
For Flames of War a WWII movie will send me right to the hobby desk.
I keep ‘Band of Brothers’ on my Hard drive, and line up a bunch of episodes for paint-fests.
When I was painting Gaunt swarms (ugh…never again…maybe), I would go and uh, find some of the 40k audiobooks and play them….
I took a break from the Hobby for several months, too…The Ultimate Rival lured me back with Flames of War…
Something will hit you, eventually, or some so-called ‘friend’ will force you to play a game of something, or whatever.
It’ll happen…once yer in this game, I don’t think there’s any getting out….
Only in death does hobby end!
Hell my Xeno breadbin
lol, I cant even bring myself to toy with lists atm, hmm yes maybe if there was some good 40k video on offer it might help get the old juices flowing, eldar stuffs in Avatar quality CGi would be ace.
I tried audiobooks when painting , I ‘listened’ to one four times and could not remember a thing so that killed that !!
yeah , well Jody is mostly to blame, I was close to dropping the lot and then was given a series of intro games for infinity, has kept me at the club and I’m glad to have something else to play now, will prob help me in the long run.
I never suffer from the Burnout you mention as my actual hobby time is non-existant, resulting in a preference for making than painting. I have however set myself a target to get all of my Legion of Everblight and Corsair squads assembled and painted by February so I can begin to work on more major fodder such as the gaming table I keep intending to make. When I paint, I prefer to be quick on the draw, resulting in slapdash work to just above tabletop quality – something that keeps me occupied for about 2 hours a week.
I find i can motivate myself to do more hobby things by working bit by bit on my Eldar codex project, and by reading about other wargames, or by simply looking at the state I previously left my modelling area in.
I do enjoy the hobby aspect, but I prefer infinitely the gaming; with the rumoured new ruleset however, I am unsure as to whether I will be still in 40K when 6th Edition does hit.
1. With regards to my favourite author, I prefer modern and classical literature to anything that has any overt reference to Scifi. My personal favourite author is Carlos Ruiz Zafon, author of ‘The Shadow of The Wind’ and ‘The Angel’s Game’ among others, who’s writing style shows even through a translation to english from the original spanish. My favourite novel however is something altogether different – the classic Joseph Keller book ‘Catch 22’.
2. I am ashamed to say that the only graphic novel I have ever had the pleasure of reading was Watchmen.
3. Again, my tastes differ from what people would expect from a geek yet retaining a science fiction vibe. I prefer more classic movies and odd movies to those that are traditionally mainstream but my personal favourites include: The Devils Backbone – Guillermo del Toro, Magnolia – Paul Thomas Anderson, The Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou – Wes Anderson & Burn After Reading – The Cohen Brothers. Occasionally I will go out of my way to see something really special at an arthouse cinema, resulting in finds such as El Secreto De Sus Oyos, Moon and Das Leben Der Anderen.
4. As far as TV series are concerned, I always enjoy rewatching Firefly but I keep my interest up with shows like ‘The Walking Dead’, Dexter, The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother.
5. I like a large amount of modern art, yet also really enjoying the work of Classicists. I am a real art fanatic, going out of my way to go see paintings if I happen to be in the same area as one allowing me to see famous works by Salvador Dali, Gustav Klimt, Kandinsky, Vermeer and my personal favourite artist, Edward Hopper. I first encountered his work in the National Gallery in Washington DC, where I found my favourite painting ‘New York Movie’
[http://www.edwardhopper.info/i/New_York_Movie.jpg]
6. As to be expected, my music tastes wildly differ depending on my mood, ranging from Sigur Ros and light folk music to the music like Tool, Opeth and NIN. When I performed live with my band at uni, we were somewhere in the middle of it all, sounding a bit like Radiohead crossed with My Bloody Valentine.
7. Skyrim, obviously. haha.
8. I walk the dogs – a lot, and I try to swim at least once a week… yet am still horribly unfit.
9. I do this: http://youtu.be/Th6fZ1hn6PU
10. As most of my friends are away from Suffolk now, there really isn’t much more to do than hit the pub or cocktail bar with a few of my remaining friends from now and then. I try to game at least once every two weeks, but that rarely happens with my isolated situation here at home. If I get into postgrad vet school things might be different – here’s to hoping.
yeah, first look at the rules looks like a nerf fest for DE , they have not even fixed lances and made ‘tanks’ even tougher, I had such high hopes , but DE will be unplayable in the new rules set, EV I had hoped would be a mechanism to protect our fast but squishy stuff but it barely makes a difference and shooting is even more dangerous, I’m going to look it over properly put it honestly looks heavily slanted towards playing imperial/conventional armies …
Pretty annoyed actually, i had hopes for blast pistols too but you only get a single attack it seems so thats fail too as everything worth hitting with it will have 3+ or better armour.
Read Moar Graphic novels !! – though Watchmentis a cracking place to start!!
Nice acoustic skills my man, something I could do with learning myself.
I think Postgrad school might help the old social life ;o)
After more read throughs it does seem to crumble to my inner self screaming ‘FAKE’….
I will try, but I just started reading the Wheel of Time, so I should be done with that series by 2015… lol.
Thanks, I can do much better, but our new puppy ruins every attempt to record new covers for youtube. I miss playing in a band so much.
I totally ‘get’ this – I’ve had it since October. I haven’t blogged, painted, played or even been to a game store. It’s just burn out. The hobby takes a ton of energy and since I have not had enough to go around in the past couple of months, the hobby got cut out and my interest faded altogether. I think the time away from it is what I’ve need to rekindle my interest. It’s been long enough that I’m starting to get the desire to pick up a paintbrush again.
Maybe try a different game ? One suggests Infinity ;o)
That’s a decent suggestion. Instead of getting into a new game, I could go back to FoW, which I never really had the chance to play. I have a bunch of unpainted Germans hanging around. The change of scale and different style of painting might be good.
Any chance you’ll comment on the 6th Ed rumours Sorrow?
Fritz on his blog mentioned them, and honestly while I see some good stuff I find the changes too massive and game changing to really see me continuing to play.
5th needs some tweaking to make the game work, it doesn’t need a total overhaul which will once again destroy any balance, and suddenly require all new codex design while they figure out what works….
As I said above, first Impression does not make me happy, I think De will just get murdered , shooting is worse now , Lances for a reason I cannot begin to fathom are still the shitty 3rd ed rules they have always been , to be honest i’m boiling up to a mega rant/rage quit at this rate.
ill re read the rulebook a few times and get some test games in before I go to off the deep end, Ill post some initial thoughts/ comments at the weekend after I have had a chance to absorb and digest it a bit.
Every rumour I hear about 6th seems to suggest the same thing unfortunately…
I think the root problem is that GWS designs all the rulesets around marines, so marines are the ‘standard’ which is stupid, since they are super human and totally undercosted.
All the rules are based upon marines being amazing, and then all the other races, particularly xenos are placed around (below) these stats.
The whole rigid save thing, ie being hard to hit depending on how you move is a great idea, although we can all see where it is going, marines will get a highish figure making them even harder to kill, while most Xenos probably will remain relatively fragile.
The great part will be that everything will ‘improve’ in certain ways, but from a comparative perspective marines will always come out on top.
Plus if we really do see a massive change in the rules we can’t expect anything good… they can’t even create balanced codexes for the current rules system, which has been out for years, and which could be great with a few improvements and modifications, instead of restructuring the whole gaming system to make money.
Just so frustrating……
I think the hobby can get over whelming very quickly. Ideas for lists come like rain and building models is usually much faster than painting them. It’s good to take breaks and take steps away. I’ve never painted a batch of models that I was proud of when I pushed myself past my ‘this is enjoyable’ limit, I get sloppy and the results are terrible.
1. Gemmell is the MAN !!!, You may like David Butcher and his ‘Dresden Files’. I used to pimp the hell out of RR Martin but….well it’s just sad really. Unfortunately, I’ve had to read many many technical manuals for work and my fun reading has really fallen off considerably.
2. I no longer do comics, I can only afford, both fiscally and temporally , heh :), so many hobbies
3. Big Trouble in Little China, Dune (Original) and Flash Gordon (Original)
4. I’m REALLY into NCIS right now
5. I’m not cultured enough to have a favorite artist
6. Anything inspiring and up lifting, heavy work load will kill me if I go with dark music atm
7. Plants Vs. ZOmbies and yeah, I’m finding it very difficult lately to get into gaming
8. I tend to walk and listen to music a lot in the evenings, It’s helped me lose weight and release a lot of stress. I never regret walking, but I ALWAYS regret not walking.
9. Watch NCIS, spend time with Family and pick away at small 40k projects
10. For social….spending geek time at the FLGS is always inspirational to me, being around my peoples
Very interesting post, as I feel EXACTLY the same a lot of the time. I like painting, when I’m in the mood. But when I’m not I really can’t be arsed to. I have heaps of Eldar and Dark Eldar (and some other stuff, like my Nomads army, my Malifaux crews and some random models) that need to get painted. I’ve always considered myself an army painter for some of the same reasons you’ve mentioned: not good enough to do proper competitions (Golden Daemon), and not really interested in becoming that good because I A: don’t like painting enough to do it for as many hours as is required to become that good and B: I always feel I paint gaming figures, painting stuff to look pretty in a display cabinet just doesn’t appeal to me AT ALL.
So on to your questions:
My ‘Hobby Recharger (TM)’, is mostly seeing finely crafted armies at tournaments and such, as that always drives me to finally get a quality army done myself. Hearing rumours of a new edition and seeing cool new toys helps too. And having a long term project I like to do, without any deadlines, ensures I feel like working on it at least some times.
1: Tough one. I really like the original Dune series, the Coldfire trilogy and a bunch of BL books. But the cake has to go to Steven Erikson’s EPIC saga The Malazan Books of the Fallen.
2: Ron Spencer? I really don’t know…
3: Star Wars/Matrix/Goldeneye. I’m a huge Star Wars fan, so that one is obvious. The Matrix is also quite self explanatory I think, and for some odd reason Goldeneye is one of those movies I’ve always really liked. No particular reason I can think of, I’ve always felt it’s just plain awesome!
4: House, HIMYM, Big Bang Theory and Chuck.
5: Artist? As in: across all media? Probably Jess Goodwin. Or maybe Ihsahn. I’ll say Goodwin for now. He is an absolute genius, and he’s responsible for my favourite 40k army: the Eldar.
6: Emperor, and pretty much all other high quality/unique black metal bands. Of course I’m not that narrowminded, but it’s my staple. I can also thoroughly enjoy some soundtracks (Metroid Prime comes to mind) and ambiend (Aphex Twin for example).
7: Morrowind. Best. Game. Ever. Although I currently mostly play BF3, and I’ll always have a soft spot for Starcraft and Diablo II.
8: Just some exercises to keep fit, but I don’t particularly enjoy any of them over the others. I can say though, that I really dislike walking. Biking is okay, though.
9: The only answer ANYONE can give is sleep. Think about it! It’s true! But I assume you mean when awake… So: stare at stuff on the internet. Just clicking through various forums, news sites and tech sites to keep my mind from important stuff.
10: Gaming club on monday and tuesday. Meet some friends after uni sometimes, and party in the weekend. Ah, the upsides of being a student!
German longsword? KDF? There’s a group in Nottingham that some of my mates train with. Their site appears to be dead, but I can find out contact details if that’d be of interest.
Yup yup, KDF , sadly Nottingham is a bit far :o( and looks like I’m moving back south now…. Cheers