Painting as practice, not a side project.
Painted by Eric King ~ With the Paint Quest system
Paint Quest is a structured approach to painting miniatures — a set of sessions and small goals built to keep the brush moving, instead of waiting on motivation that comes and goes. Right now it runs at your setup. Coming soon in person, locally, around a table with other painters.
Most unfinished armies aren't a skill problem. They're a structure problem.
Paint Quest is a system for defining what "done" looks like before you start — and giving you a stopping point every time you sit down to paint.
Why most squads stay unfinished
Painting time is inconsistent
Sessions have no defined scope
Progress feels invisible
Motivation drops halfway through
None of that is a talent gap. It's the absence of a container to work inside.
The fix isn't more motivation. It's smaller, defined attempts.
Phases are the contract. Attempts are the execution.
Paint Quest runs on four terms:
Quest — one squad, start to finish
Phase — a stage of completion you define, with a clear definition of done
Attempt — a single, time-boxed painting session with one job
Progress — attempts completed and models advanced, not how you feel about it
You set the phases up front. Once they're defined, every session that follows has a scope and a stopping point. The system doesn't tell you how to paint. It tells you when to stop.
Define your squad. Model count, paint scheme, and — the step that matters most — your Definition of Done per phase. This is the one part of the system you can't skip; everything else depends on it.
Pick an attempt. Match the session length to the time you actually have — not the time you wish you had.
Paint. Then stop. When the attempt is done, you're done, even if you want to keep going. That's what prevents burnout and over-detailing on the first three models while the rest sit primed.
Log it. One line per session. The log is what turns "I painted for a while" into visible, explainable progress.
$5 Everything you need to define a squad, run phases, and track attempts on paper.
Bonus! Backlog Triage- A companion tool for sorting your existing pile into quests, so starting doesn't become its own decision-paralysis exercise.