Tag: ADHD

I’ve been painting miniatures for nearly three decades, and in that time, my biggest struggle has always been staying focused on finishing projects. The dopamine hit of starting a new army, warband, or skirmish team is intoxicating—assembling the models, planning a color scheme, even organizing the paints and brushes all feel like progress. But once I hit the mid-way point, motivation crashes, and my ADHD-riddled brain wants to chase the next shiny thing.

Enter speed paints, Contrast paints, and Xpress Color—the holy trinity of keeping me engaged in the painting process long enough to actually finish things.

I’ve moved 90% of my painting to these paints, and honestly, it’s been great for my mental health. The remaining 10% is usually airbrushing, which I also love for its instant gratification—that is, when I remember to clean the damn thing afterward.

The ADHD Hobby Cycle

For those of us with ADHD, painting miniatures follows a familiar pattern:

1. Excitement Phase – You start a new project with enthusiasm. The first models look great, and you’re pumped about the army or warband.
2. The Middle Slump – The novelty wears off, and suddenly you realize there are 50 more models to paint. Your brain wants anything but to keep going.
3. Project Abandonment – Something else catches your attention, and before you know it, that army joins the ever-growing Pile of Shame.

This is where speed paints have completely changed the game for me. They streamline the process, cut out the tedium, and let me see progress faster—which keeps my brain engaged long enough to finish.

Why Speed Paints Work for ADHD Painters

1. Instant Gratification

ADHD brains crave immediate results, and traditional painting methods can feel like an uphill battle. Base coat, shade, layer, highlight—each step demands patience, and I inevitably lose steam before finishing a full squad.

With Contrast, Xpress Color, and Speed Paints, one coat does the work of three steps. The paint settles into the recesses like a wash, gives mid-tone color, and leaves natural highlights in seconds. It’s like cheating, but in a way that keeps me actually painting.

This is the same reason I love airbrushing—it lets me get entire armies base-coated in minutes, creates smooth blends, and gives me that instant progress boost that keeps my motivation rolling. The only downside? Forgetting to clean the damn thing afterward and having to spend an hour unclogging it when I next sit down to paint.

2. Reduces Decision Paralysis

Traditional painting methods demand constant micro-decisions: “What shade should I use?” “How do I highlight this?” “Did I thin my paints enough?” For someone with ADHD, decision fatigue is real, and these tiny roadblocks become massive motivation killers.

Speed paints remove a ton of this stress. Instead of worrying about complex layering, you just slap it on and move on. There’s less thinking, more doing, and that’s critical for keeping momentum.

3. Prevents Hobby Burnout

Because speed paints make it easier to get table-ready miniatures quickly, I actually finish projects instead of abandoning them. The act of finishing gives me the dopamine rush I need to keep going, rather than leaving me with half-painted models that only remind me of another unfinished project.

It also means I can switch between painting styles more easily. I can use Contrast/Xpress for my rank-and-file, and still enjoy traditional techniques on characters and centerpiece models without burning out.

4. Works With My “All-Or-Nothing” Brain

ADHD brains tend to go full hyperfocus mode or completely lose interest. Speed paints cater to both:

• If I’m in hyperfocus mode, I can blast through entire units in a day.
• If I’m struggling with motivation, I can still make visible progress in just a short session.

Unlike traditional methods that demand long painting sessions, speed paints let me paint in short bursts without feeling like I’ve accomplished nothing.

5. Encourages Experimentation Without Fear

One of the biggest barriers to finishing models is fear of messing up. ADHD brains tend to be perfectionist about weird things—we struggle with “good enough” and often abandon projects because they don’t meet some impossible standard.

Speed paints lower the stakes. Because they’re fast and easy to apply, I don’t feel bad about experimenting with colors. If I don’t like it, I can re-prime and start again without losing hours of work.

The Ultimate ADHD Hobby Hack: Slapchop + Speed Paints

The Slapchop method (black primer → drybrush white/grey → speed paints) has been an absolute game-changer for me. It combines speed, simplicity, and instant results, which is exactly what my ADHD brain needs.

• The drybrush step helps define details before I even apply color.
• Speed paints naturally enhance the highlights and shadows, making the model pop with minimal effort.
• The whole process feels fast and rewarding, which keeps me engaged.

Slapchop + Speed Paints means I can finish an entire unit in an evening instead of spending a week on one squad.

ADHD-Proofing My Hobby with Speed Paints

Since adopting speed paints, I’ve actually finished:

• My Skaventide box (most of it, at least)
• My Desert Italians for Bolt Action
• I’ve completed my Squat army
• Most of my Imperial Guard

I’ve completed more models and units since speed paints were released than in the rest of my life combined.

The Exception: Horus Heresy Armies

The only place where I still stick to traditional painting techniques is my Horus Heresy armies. I prefer to airbrush, weather, and use pigment powders to get that gritty, battle-worn look. These armies feel like passion projects where I can sink time into individual units, rather than speed-painting a whole force.

But for everything else, speed paints have been the ultimate ADHD hack.

If you’ve ever struggled to finish armies, gotten bored halfway through a project, or felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of unpainted miniatures in your backlog, speed paints might just be the key to unlocking your hobby productivity.

And if you’re like me, every finished army is one less excuse to start yet another new project. (Not that it’ll stop me.)

Every wargamer has one. That dream army. The one that lives in the back of your mind, meticulously planned down to every last model, conversion, and paint scheme. The one that will look absolutely stunning on the tabletop, a true masterpiece of hobby dedication.

And yet, if you’re anything like me (or just about every other wargamer I know), that perfect army never quite makes it to the finish line. Instead, it lives in a perpetual state of “work in progress,” half-assembled, half-painted, or worse—never even started.

For me, this cycle is deeply tied to my ADHD. I was only diagnosed at 39, but looking back, the pattern is painfully obvious: the dopamine rush of starting a new project is intoxicating. The thrill of planning a new army? Amazing. The actual process of finishing it? That’s where things fall apart.

So why does hobby ADHD hit so hard, and is there any way to actually finish an army?

The Joy of the Planning Phase

First, let’s be honest: planning an army is one of the most enjoyable parts of the hobby. You’re free from the tedium of building, priming, and painting. Instead, you’re immersed in possibilities—dreaming up lists, researching lore, and imagining how the army will look once it’s complete. The brain is flooded with inspiration, and in this phase, everything is still perfect. No painting mistakes, no modeling frustrations, no rules nerfs.

For someone with ADHD, this stage is absolute gold. It’s all novelty, all potential. But the problem is, novelty fades.

The Grind of Execution

Once you start building the army, that initial wave of excitement fades quickly. Cleaning mold lines, assembling tiny parts, and dealing with resin that just won’t fit right can kill momentum before a single model is painted. And then comes the real killer: batch painting.

It’s easy to be excited about painting the first few models, but when you’re staring down a sea of identical troops that all need the same basecoat, wash, and edge highlight, the enthusiasm starts to dwindle.

For someone with ADHD, this is where things tend to fall apart. The novelty is gone, and the brain is looking for the next exciting thing. Pushing through repetitive, long-term tasks without immediate rewards is tough. When I force myself to sit down and paint another unit of line infantry, my brain is already racing ahead, thinking about a completely different project that suddenly seems way more interesting.

The Distraction of the Next Big Thing

Even if you push through the grind and get a decent chunk of the army painted, there’s always a new temptation on the horizon. A new edition drops, a faction gets a stunning new release, or a different game system suddenly becomes popular in your local scene. Suddenly, the dream army you were working on feels… less exciting.

For me, this happens constantly. I’ll be in the middle of a Horus Heresy army, and suddenly, I get the urge to start a historical force for Vietnam, or a pirate-themed game like Blood & Plunder. I’ll tell myself, I’m just researching it, but before I know it, I’ve bought models, rulebooks, and maybe even terrain. The dopamine cycle resets, and the previous project gets abandoned—until the next cycle repeats.

The Fear of the Finish Line

Here’s a weird truth: sometimes we don’t finish armies because we’re afraid to.

When an army is unfinished, it still exists in a state of potential. It’s not yet a failure. Once it’s done, though, there’s no more “what if.” What if the color scheme doesn’t turn out how you imagined? What if the models don’t look as good on the table as they did in your head? What if you finish the army and then… don’t actually enjoy playing it?

Leaving an army unfinished keeps the dream alive. Finishing it forces us to confront reality.

How to Actually Finish an Army (Maybe)

So, if the perfect army is doomed to remain unfinished, does that mean we should give up? Of course not. But it does mean we need to be honest with ourselves and adjust our approach.

Here are a few ways to actually get an army finished—things that have helped me (at least sometimes):

1. Commit to a deadline. A tournament, a narrative event, or even just a friendly game night can be a powerful motivator. If I know I have to get something done by a certain date, I’m far more likely to finish it.
2. Accept “good enough.” Perfectionism is the enemy of completion. If you’re trying to paint every model to display quality, you’ll burn out. Set a standard you can actually maintain.
3. Limit distractions (as much as possible). I try to avoid buying new models until I’ve made serious progress on an existing project. Do I succeed at this? Almost never. But when I do, it works.
4. Trick your brain with novelty. If I’m painting a unit and getting bored, sometimes I’ll mix in a random model from another project just to reset the dopamine. It’s not always efficient, but it helps.
5. Remind yourself why you started. Revisit the lore, artwork, or inspiration that got you excited in the first place. If I feel like quitting a project, sometimes all it takes is rereading a piece of background lore to reignite my enthusiasm.

The Never-Ending Hobby

The truth is, most of us will always have unfinished projects, and that’s okay. The wargaming hobby is about more than just finishing armies—it’s about the journey, the creativity, and the joy of exploring new ideas.

For me, I’ve learned to accept that I will always be chasing new projects. That’s just how my brain works. But I’ve also learned to find ways to actually finish some of them. It’s not about forcing myself to be someone I’m not—it’s about finding systems that work with my ADHD, instead of against it.

So next time you start planning yet another dream army, take a moment to look at the shelf of unfinished projects and ask yourself: is this the one I’ll actually finish?

Probably not. But hey, dreaming is half the fun.

Got an unfinished army sitting on your desk? Share your story in the comments below! Let’s all commiserate together.