On painting tiny plastic soldiers

In October, I picked up a new hobby– that of painting 28mm miniature figures. For a couple of hours per week, I sit at the counter, put on some music or a podcast, prime, paint, and try to get my head wrapped around color theory. It has been a cathartic new hobby.

See, most of my hobbies typically involve screens– blogging, video games, reading and analyzing news, etc, etc. Pile on the regular screen use for work, and well... it's a lot of screen time. I've been trying to find a new hobby. Ideally, something in person, communal, where I can use both my hands and mind. But it's tough to pin people down regularly– people either live too far away or have a reason why they can't commit to a regular activity, and it's tedious to feel like you're constantly chasing after someone.

So when I started my new job, at the urging of some friends who have been knee-deep in Warhammer, I decided to pick up some minis to try to paint. And you know, I was initially nervous to be honest– I didn't think I'd take to it. Not that the chess-like strategic nature of tabletop wargames didn't appeal to me– it's that everything that comes before it, the assembling and painting, seemed extremely tedious.

But that simply hasn't been the case! I really enjoy it. When sitting there, I enter a flow state that is actively refreshing; it feels good to be making something. To see a bunch of loose plastic pieces, and assemble and glue them, to prime and then paint, and then to have something in front of you that you made happen– it feels good, in a similar way to filling up a blank page does; but there is a visual and tactical piece here that even writing by hand does not give. Now, I am by no means good at it...