Four Years down, on to Year Five

This past Thursday, I celebrated four years since I had returned to the hobby

When I look and think back over everything I've built and painted in those four years, and especially when I compare my first mini with the mini I most recently painted, I do feel that I've achieved quite a lot, especially given the normal life things that I've had to work my hobbying around.


That said, I do feel that maybe I've become a little complacent over time, allowing myself to fall into a sort of creative rut where I've felt my painting skills were 'good enough'

Therefore, I've decided to say out loud the things I'd like to achieve during Year Five in the hopes of giving myself enough of incentive to break the ceiling I've given myself.

So, the skills I'd like to learn/Improve in next 12 months are:
Painting Faces - Something that I always struggle on. I feel I've gotten better during Year four, but further improvement wouldn't hurt.
Layering (Specifically for cloth/cloaks) - Much like with faces, I've had loads of practice on this and feel like I've gotten the general concept down, but I think that I could do better.
Stripping minis - I have a few early painted minis that, looking back, I'm not happy with their paintwork. I'd like to try and learn this skill so that I can give them another try (and even update them)
Improving already finished minis - Some other minis (which come after the previously mentioned ones I want to strip), look better than their predecessors but still need some improvement (particularly in regards to their Armour and/or cloaks), so a little bit of additional layering/highlights are probably required. But I just want to make sure I get that process right.
Mixing Paints - I have plenty of paints, but there is always a colour/wash/layer paint I don't have that I need (according to the Citadel App or some painting video). I'd like to try and get into the habit of mixing paints confidently if and when I need to (or simply having the confidence to use a colour I have when someone else says I need a colour I don't have).

A few skills to improve then. Not too many but certainly enough to be varied while also allowing me to best focus on actually improving. Fortunately, I've plenty of painting planned during Year Five to work on these skills.

My planned projects for next 12 months are:
Kainan's Reapers (in Progress)
Adepta Sororitas Retributor Squad
Ratling Sniper (A Test Model for the Provisionally Prepared Ratlings)
Provisionally Prepared
Saviours of Cinderfall
STC Barricades
Helsmiths of Hashut Infernal Cohort with Hashutite Spear (A Test Model for The Blood of the Bull warband)
The Blood of the Bull
Richard Sharpe 1809 (This may get pushed back as I want to acquire a Rifleman test model before I make a start on this)
Kurnoth's Heralds
Xandire's Truthseekers
The Shadeborn
The Starblood Stalkers
Elathain's Soulraid

So, that's Year Five planned out. It does seem like a lot as I look back, but I'm confident it's an amount I can complete in twelve months (especially as it all consists of most of my Pile of Grey).

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