Maintaining Your Drive

Sometimes, the hardest thing of all when it comes to the hobby is maintaining your drive. G'day everyone, Macca here, and today I want to talk about one thing: Motivation. I will probably talk about other things, but that's ok, it's all loosely related.

I find sometimes that I really lack the drive to complete a project. This can be due to any number of reasons, I may be tired, or had a rough week, lots is going on in my life or with my family even. It can be hard to get out of a hobby slump, but I thought I'd share a few of the things that motivate me.

First of all, there is years of accumulated fluff. When I'm down, I like to revisit the glory days of 3rd and 4th ed 40k, which were my favourites. (An argument can be made for 2nd, but it's not here, and no, I despised 5th, so don't bring that up either!)

In those days, there was so much effort and fun put into the armies, the dioramas, the pictures in the codexes. Whilst working on my Iron Warriors project, more than a few times I was drawn to this image in the 3.5 Chaos Dex., a field of silver clad warriors assaulting a home-made table.

Sometimes, the really old miniatures make me smile and the fond nostalgia empowers me. (Or in the case of the Sisters of Battle just in frame on the left, the current miniatures!)

I even crack open a White Dwarf from the late 90's to early 2000's and have a look at the Chapter Approved and some of the short stories within. (Be warned tho, from here I may get a little ranty...)

I almost forgot that White Dwarf had How-To articles on painting that are now sold for $10 eBooks on the net. That one blew my mind, I forgot that these were such great hobby mags once!

Every now and then, I like to get a little chaotic. I get into the mindset of what I'm working on, and since I'm a Thousand Sons player since around the time the real Pharaohs walked the sands, I crack out my favourite Liber Chaotica: Tzeentch. The insane artwork, backwards pages and ramblings can just send me to a fluffy fantasy land full of soul destroying Daemons where reality and the immaterial merge. (Which is quite possibly also a description for GW HQ..?)

Let's not forget the various novels and short stories available to us. This is just a small snippet of my own library. I have read each and every one of these books, and some, such as Scars caused me to re-evaluate an entire Legion! The novels are fantastic because they allow us to visualise the sheer awesome nature of the battles we are trying to emulate on the tabletop.

As a hobbyist, I would be wrong to ignore the many other magazines out there to do with scale modelling. I am a huge fan of tanks, I once drove a T-34 when I was helping to restore the only one in Australia (they are NOT built for comfort, believe me, the Russians who drove them into war are badasses). I also have been in the Abrams, Leopard 1 and the Centurion. So when I open these magazines, it reminds me of the real thing. There are some great hobby articles in here and they can really make you aspire to achieve a goal.

This one caught my eye, a 1:35 scale kit, the fuel jerries on the Abrams tank are actually burnt and melted! Sometimes the die-hard realistic style finds its way subtly into my own work, such as on the Tormentor.

Seeing a well built miniature can really inspire the hobbyist inside to get up and get motivated. When I look at kits like this, I think to myself: "That's what I want to do. I don't just want to build and paint, I want to make something, to do something unique, something I can be proud of".

Of course, occasionally when I'm going through my old stuff, a true classic comes along, and I always make sure to give it the respect it deserves.

I have a plethora of unfinished projects. There are 5 Nurgle Blightkings sitting next to me, half a dozen Solar Auxillia flamers and a Plaguebearer Herald. But I know, that one day I will pick up a book, maybe the Liber Chaotica Nurgle, and I will be inspired to pick up the brush and do some more work on some of those units.

Hobby comes in waves, sometimes you are passionate, sometimes you need a new project to kickstart your hobby, especially if you aren't feeling it. For me however, this is all I need to be happy.

3.5 for life.

~Macca