Ugly Model Goggles

I wanted to take a moment to talk about something I call the “ugly model goggles”.

Often for myself and many others, there comes a time during a project where we just aren’t feeling it. Perhaps the shade of the armor isn’t how we want it, the highlights aren’t sharp enough, or maybe it’s just a nagging feeling that we just aren’t good enough.

An old foray into painting Space Wolves

It’s quite a crushing feeling, especially after riding the excitement of tucking into a new project. Maybe it’s because the hobby makes us put ourselves out there. We paint things that others will see, and it puts us on the spot. Perhaps it all just boils

down to the fact that we’re our own worst critics and in the end, it’s all down to being okay with ourselves and our abilities.

Regardless of what experience you have in the hobby, I can guarantee you’ll have the “goggles” on at some point. What matters the most though, is seeing past that blurred vision.

The idea to write this came after seeing a project by a friend of mine. A Space Wolf model was painted, and that person just wasn’t happy with it (despite it being awesome). It reminded me of my own forays into tacking the Sons of Russ scheme myself and for as long as I can remember, I just haven’t been happy with how I paint them.

Another victim of the Ugly Model Goggles

I sat myself down and delved into images of the Space Wolves. The depths of the internet inspired me to try and tackle the classic scheme for the Wolves. Happy out, I tucked into a Finecast Grey Hunter Standard Bearer and before I knew it, he was being stripped of his layers before I could shout “gauss flayers!” I found myself wearing the “goggles” and for a moment, I wanted to pack in the idea. Some of you may remember the Wolf Lord I began painting some time ago. Another victim of the “goggles” and he still sits on a shelf, praying for his saga to one day be told.

So, I built the model and slowly tucked into the scheme and what came about, even I was quite surprised with. It took some paint mixing, some sit down talks with myself, but I'd finally come up with a model I was relatively happy with.

I’m not going to rant on any longer about the trials and tribulations of how I defeated my worries and came to paint this model because to be honest, I'm never truly happy after a project, there's always something that could have been done better.

What matters is that it’s okay to make mistakes, to not be as good as we want to be at this time. I wouldn’t even call them mistakes because as long as we learn from them, they’re just another tool in our arsenal to help us become happier with ourselves and our hobby.

What counts is that we continue on our hobby adventures. Every choice we make is another step along the path to experience and learning new things. Have fun and learn, keep that passion going and know that there's a whole community out there who will support you.

At the end of the day, what will truly hit home is being okay with not being the greatest, to make mistakes and get back up, confident that we can learn and progress.

That's all part of the adventure.