The Challenge

What can you do to motivate yourself so you can paint a “boring” (as in static and simple) character and make it interesting? Bilbo Baggins is an interesting character in the movie ‘Lord of the Rings’ but painting the miniature is a whole different matter especially if you like mostly action figures. Here are some tips to turn a mundane situation into an exciting one.  

Brainstorming

Normally I would run through in my head or note down what colours to paint my figure with. However, since painting the miniature figure was pretty straightforward, I decided to do something else first.There were three ways that I could do to  make the painting experience more enjoyable.

• first I could add an additional character to spice up the scene and make it more interesting(at least for myself)

• the second idea was to build a more elaborate scene than I would normally do

• or I could convert the character and make it hold a weapon or something else.

Objective

For this particular miniature project, I decided to create a more elaborate scene. I did some research on Bilbo’s Bag End and was inspired by Ian Howe’s illustration.

I wanted the focus to be on Bilbo Baggins alone and since he was small in stature, adding another character will make him secondary in role. Since creating the scene would take up most of my time, I decided to put off the conversion idea for some future project instead.

Normally I would paint the miniature figure first and then create the base. This time round, I decided to build the whole scene first before painting the miniature figure. It definitely made a big difference and gave me the satisfaction I needed in the end.

Conclusion

As I have written in my website, having some variety and combining different skills can actually inspire and spur you on and make the best of the situation. All you need is a fresh new way of approaching the subject and suddenly a new burst of energy would hit you and give you  the momentum to turn your “boring” character into the most interesting one. Watch the video below to see how the project went.

For miniature painting tips and guide, visit http://2paintminiatures.com.