NaMoPaiMo showcase: Jillian "Stormy" Morrell

Perfectionism is the enemy of progress. 

We all know this, and yet, we all struggle with it. Even on a "fun" project, most of us want perfection. In this guest post, Jillian Morrell - better known in the hobby as Stormy Strike - shares her story of letting go and just having fun. Thanks, Stormy!

NaMoPaiMo 2026

by Jillian Morrell

I did it! I completed my 2026 NaMoPaiMo model!

While this was supposed to be just a fun and “simple” Valentine’s Day themed decorator for me to paint this year, I actually did get frustrated with it early on into painting. I considered stripping it to start over or even giving up on it completely this year. I realized the main culprit of me not being happy with it at that time was simply that I had fallen into my frequent plight of worrying too much about trying to make it “perfect.”

Perfectionism is a common problem I face with myself when making art. When I finally broke through that mindset and accepted that this model didn’t need to be perfect, that it’s okay if has flaws and mess ups - it was supposed to just be a fun model for myself after all! - I was able to really make progress on it and enjoy the process more.

Aside from the photos of my completed model, I’ve also included a photo of most of the supplies I used...

and a collage of photos with the progress pictures I took (when I remembered to take them Haha.) The top of that photo is of two different rough concept ideas I put together in Photoshop back when I was originally planning on using a different mold. I find it fun to see how my original ideas changed and adapted over the course of working on the model.

Thanks again, Stormy! I love your cute little decorator in his all his imperfect glory!