Resolutions for 2011

Most years I sit down with a sheet of paper and jot down bullet points of my plans for the coming year. I then pin the sheet to a noticeboard and pretty much forget about it. This being the 21st century and all, I thought I'd get all hi-tech. I also hope that by putting my plans down here, I'll be less inclined to "forget" about them.

So, my gaming related plans and aspirations for 2011 are:

Painting

• Improve my painting. Kind-of a given for a painter, but worth saying. Hopefully it'll prevent me from falling into a rut and remind me to keep experimenting
• Experiment more. Try coloured washes when painting skin and armour, practise designs on clothing (borders on cloaks) and skin (tattoos), have another go at NMM etc.
  
• Learn just what the "consistency of skimmed milk" actually looks like, so I can judge when paint is properly thinned :-)
  
• Spend a bit more time looking at what colours I have available for a particular part. All too often I just grab the same paint each time, and only afterwards find a colour that might have been more interesting
• Practise blending and gradients. My transitions are still too sharp, so I'd like to smooth them out more. This may involve using retarder in the paint to slow drying and allow for wet blending. Yet another item in the experiment category
• Stay focused on the project I'm working on. I have a bad habit of starting to prepare the next project while still in the middle of the current one. This tends to split my concentration and make me want to rush the current one to get it finished (at the moment I'm actually thinking about the project after the next one, which is just not helpful)

Modelling

• Get back to converting figures. I enjoy this aspect of the hobby, but it always seems to take away painting time, so I tend to find excuses not to do it. I need to make the time to select and work on a conversion project
• Sculpting. I sculpted some figures a few years ago and want to get back to it, so I'm hoping the conversions will get me into the correct mindset . I enjoy painting, but the creation of a figure from nothing but putty and wire is equally satisfying (and infinitely more stressful, when you're as bad at it as I am). This aspiration may get converted to heavily modifying an existing figure, depending on time constraints
  

General

• Try and enjoy the hobby more. I tend to focus on the painting side, so I'm going to try and not just jump from painting project to painting project this year. The hope is to do more modelling, sculpting and gaming (possibly even exceed my total of last year's one wargame!)
• Practise with my camera and try and take better photographs. I bought my first DSLR before Christmas, so I need to learn to use it properly