Warhammer: Fail More, Fail Often

Failure is good actually, and you should aim to fail. 

Last August I entered the Reaper MSP Open. It was my second year doing so and I thought I would easily get a Silver. I had gotten a Bronze the year before. I in fact got another bronze. I was devastated, I hit up a judge, got some feedback, and made my way home. 

I’ll be honest, I was devastated. I thought I had for sure grown more as an artist in the year between the competitions. Now open systems of judging are more fluid than a win or a lose. But I had set a goal to get silver and I failed myself. 

But, I used that failure as fuel. As an iteration of my creative process and reevaluated my effort into this craft. I then proceeded to finish the best pieces I have ever painted. I started deliberately practicing techniques and painting every day it was possible to do so. I was succeeding on a personal level. 

Now it’s important to realize that the terms of failure in art are yours to assign. If you are painting something for the tabletop there might not be a need to raise that model's skill ceiling. I painted plenty of commissions for players and the discussed outcome wasn't my best, but is what was best for that particular model and it’s intent of play.

I now accept failure. But by failing I am raising my own personal skill ceiling. I finished this GW model, trying for a warm V cold scheme. And while I acknowledge the work I did on this, I see it as a failure, it simply didnt convey the vibes I wanted it too. So I completed some other pieces and then tackled the warm and cold theme again. This time I think I succeeded. Is it perfect? No. is it elevated from the past iteration of the theme? Definitely. This year at Reapercon I aim for Gold in painters, anything less and I fail. My diorama and Ordinance Submissions will be a clean slate just like my painter's submission in 2024. But this time if I fail, all it is is more fuel for the creative fire.