Tuesday 17 April 2012

Painting by Numbers : Using a Painting Chart

About a month ago I mentioned I was putting together a painting chart to assist with both organising and motivating my Blood Drinker Strike Force project. Well surprisingly enough, I've actually got on and finished it...the chart that is, not the project (softly, softly, catchee Jokaero, as they say); still I hope it's fairly swift output can be taken as a sign of things to come.

I got the idea from Admiral Drax who has designed a very neat and efficient system using MS Excel; I contacted Drax and he very kindly mailed me a couple of example templates he'd used for his awesome Guard Army.

With technical assistance from my Excel savvy Wife (I didn't just marry her for her looks), I soon adapted it for my 'Drinkers without frying my hard drive and here it is.


Having the whole force set out on a template like this made me realise that prior to this I had gotten to a point in my miniature collecting where I couldn't see the Chapter for the Marines as it were. As you can see there is a lot of work to do, but the charts already helped by getting me to go through the Forge and organise the resources to set about completing the project. The resulting excess from this 'purge' can be seen in my ongoing Ebay Auctions.

I now have a clear path to my goal, with the visual motivation to get me there.

My thanks again to Drax for sharing this handy little system, another good example of the community spirit the Hobby engenders. Right let's get some more of those boxes green shall we...

5 comments:

The Angry Lurker said...

That is a beautiful piece of Excel and will look better to you as more green is added!

Admiral Drax said...

WOW, THAT'S A LOT OF WORK!

I love the way you've oranised it and named characters though. Good luck with a labour of love, and thanks for the props.

I'll add you to the ol' blogroll - no idea why you weren't already on it...

Lunar Camel said...

I've used a similar Excel guide for my armies as well (although not as fancy as yours). It really helps because you can see at a glance what needs to be done (either built, painted, finished, etc). I now do this for all my armies.

HOTpanda said...

A little organization goes a long way when it comes to executing a plan. I use a bar graph for each of the models I currently own and have it post on the sidebar of my blog. This enables both myself and everyone who visits my blog to see how my progress is going. I cannot buy new models till all the bar graphs are complete.

Bix said...

Thanks Chaps for all the kind comments.

@Angry, yes all thanks to the better half; you should have seen my first solo effort. It looked like the old Pearl & Dean opening for cinema adverts! lol BTW loving the shirts for Salute, you gents look like you should be on the doors.

@Drax, no worries mate, wouldn't have got it done without your help. Now if you can just show me a way to get the miniatures painted with a click of the mouse. ;o) As for the amount of work, maybe if I spent less time thinking up names for all of them I might get more painting done! Lol

@Lunar Camel, welcome to the Veil’s Edge mate; yeah that’s what sold me on the idea and I think I’ll be using it from now on. It’s just fancy cos I get carried away with naming and background, my wife kept trying to remind me the chart was supposed to be streamlining my workload, not adding to it, but as you can see from the Blog, I’m a sucker for fluff.

@HOTpanda, most certainly and I think having the restraint not to buy more stuff before you’ve finished the current project is very admirable. Our hobby is so full of shiny things, with more tempting treats seemingly added almost daily, it’s very easy to fall into the habit of hording. I’m Guilty as charged.

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