How to Paint More Minis

This post is part of the Notts Hobbies 30 Day Army Painting Accelerator, Click here to get your free copy.

How do you paint more minis?

Spend more time painting.

I know it's easier said than done, so I'll share our 3 biggest hacks for painting more models.

At the end of each week, I plan my painting sessions for the following week and put them in my calendar. Each Sunday night, I’ll plan everything I need to do next week, including my hobby sessions. Depending on my week, each hobby session could be any length, typically ranging from 15 minutes to 2 hours.

The key is treating your hobby sessions like an important meeting you can't miss. This is why they should be in your calendar with a reminder or two so you don’t forget them.

When we start a new army, we’ll split it into groups and then further into batches of 5-10 models. Crossing off each batch gives me a sense of satisfaction and acts as a reward.

The easiest way to do more of something is to reward yourself for doing it, as this reinforces the behaviour. The obvious reward for painting a squad is to buy another squad, or after each painting session, you could eat a bar of your favourite chocolate, it can be anything that would encourage you to paint more mini’s.

You should make it as easy as possible to start painting, as this reduces the excuses you have to start hobbying. One way to do this is to store your paints and models in a way that allows you to start painting in a few minutes.

You could store the paints and brushes you're currently using, your current batch of models, and your water cup together in a box or on a tray. Then, when you need to start painting, everything is together, and it takes a minute or two to start painting.

If you’re lucky enough to have a dedicated hobby space, leave everything set up so you only need to fill your water cup before you're ready to go. This means it only takes a minute to start painting rather than having to spend 5 minutes getting ready to paint.

A bonus tip to paint more minis is called habit stacking. This is where, after doing one habit, you follow it with another habit you want to start doing.

If there’s a chore you do every day that after you’ve done it, you watch TV or scroll social media, you could habit-stack this with painting miniatures. Examples could be washing the dishes or putting the kids to bed each night.

Habit stacking works because changing an existing habit is easier than starting a new habit.

This post is part of the Notts Hobbies 30 Day Army Painting Accelerator, Click here to get your free copy.