Good enough

The King of Average

That sounds really nice! Do you know what causes you to go the extra mile on some of them but not all?

Luis G Rodriguez

I can feel you, having the same dilemma with these hobbies. So many nice board games and armies to paint, fortunately lately I have been dedicating a bit more of my time to paint, but mostly board games so no competition painting in a looooong time since I can possibly paint a full board game instead of a single mini. For board games I do not waste much on cleaning or planning and when the result is sub-optimal, well, I do not care much, though in some games or minis sometimes I go an extra mile, or two.

The King of Average

Funny enough I've said that same thing quite often when referring to cleaning up the miniature. The way I say it is even a quick job will be 2 hours of my time, if I'm going to spend more time than I would watching a movie on it, I want to at least clean it up. So there adds 10-20 more minutes for cleanup, and of course I gotta plan the miniature out. Just winging it is not my style so there's another half hour planning all the paints and the order I'll paint them. I'm at 3 hours now and that's not including when I get to the point I want to highlight it and end up doing 3 coats of highlights lol. Thankfully I am past the point where I feel I waste minis to build up to another one, though that's a very real thing I felt when I was first starting out.

The King of Average

And you are happy with that? Step 1 is just making myself stop when it reaches that point, step 2 where I really struggle is that I feel like it's crap and therefore like I wasted my time. "If I just put in a few more hours into it, it'd look so much better" is my literal thought process lol

Good question. I see the "good enough" as a relative term that depends on many variables. One more important than the others. I am not a good painter, I dont have enough time to paint and I dont have luxuries of tools and space to paint properly. So "good enough" is good enough in those circonstances. Its good enough to my level of skill, the time I had to put in it, and the purpose the mini have (repetitive sculpt of a board game vs impressive miniature that I want on display for example). Also, I am the kind of person that wants things to be efficient and well done. The expression "If your going to do something do it right" is one that I use often but it is absolutely devastating when you paint because you litteraly get better every time. So of course the next mini will be better, but that blocks me sometimes thinking I'm "wasting" a mini to do the next one better. Thats when the "good enough" comes in. To say "Well, in those circonstances thats the best I can do for now. I have to accept that." Or else you'll never be done. Thats how I see it.

We all (painters) struggle with this. The simple fact is, that there is simply not enough time to throw down quality work on every single mini. Myself along with tons of others are at the point where we are buried in plastic! I had a hard time dealing with this myself. I felt like I just couldn't keep up. So now I spend a good deal of time on certain heros and large figures and the rest of them are plain "good enough" for the table.

We all (painters) struggle with this. The simple fact is, that there is simply not enough time to throw down quality work on every single mini. Myself along with tons of others are at the point where we are buried in plastic! I had a hard time dealing with this myself. I felt like I just couldn't keep up. So now I spend a good deal of time on certain heros and large figures and the rest of them are plain "good enough" for the table.