Blog #1 - Rant - How do You Get Over Painting Procrastination?

I might as well start my blog with something that has really been bothering me for a while: How do you stop your painting procrastination? Why do we get it in the first place?

I guess we start with the basic question: Why do we get it in the first place? If your like me, then you're not very good at painting, but you find it pretty fun. So why does the desire to paint go down in the first place? Is it simply because of being busy in real life you'd rather do something other than paint in your precious spare time? Or is it because your not completely confident in your choice of paint scheme? It's truly a strange thing to explain, but nevertheless, we still need to get rid of it.

So that brings me to the second part of this curious equation: How to stop this laziness. Well, some people probably have a lot of different ways to do it, but I'm going to start with some basic ideas. First off, try to bribe yourself. Let you get yourself something, or be able to do something. For example, maybe after you paint all of your current models(depending on how many you need to paint), you can finally use your saved up cash to start another army you've seriously been wanting to get for months. Or you can sign up for a competition that requires all your models be painted. That would really get you into it.

Or, you could look at the small details of your painting area: it could make a BIG difference. So, walk into your painting area/room/whatever, and ask yourself these questions:

• Can I get easily distracted from outside sources while working in here?
• Is the chair I sit in to paint comfortable?
• Are there any lighting/noise/etc. sources that are annoying?

After that, it's time to check out what you do when you paint. Do you have a TV on? This could be a source of either distraction or relaxation, make sure its on a channel that you find interesting, but not to the point where you have to watch it all the time, and only paint during commercials, that could make you rush, which could ruin the quality of your models, or just stop painting completely to watch your show. Second thing to ask yourself is: what am I listening to? Music can also be a large portion of your ability to focus and enjoy painting. Any rock or rap is always distracting, and whenever I listen to my favorite podcasts I always find myself focusing on listening to it instead of actually painting. The only music I find relaxing that helps me focus is Gregorian Chant. Not a lot of words to listen to, nothing insanely loud or intense to distract you, just turn it on and start painting.

That about does it for this rant, if I ever think of anything else I continue it in another post, but for now, I'm gonna find something else to talk about. Until then!