Tuesday 16 April 2013

I have been quiet for a while and for that i apologise.
I have found I have lost my creative mojo for writing. My 'muse' you might say.
So In my muses absence I will turn to you guys and girls and ask; What do you want to read about here?
a Q+A so to say?

Monday 4 March 2013

Both/And

So, having worked for several years in GW Manchester I came to realize what being a good painter meant.
 I had to get new releases painted by the release date and this could mean anything from a couple of tanks or single minis to sprawling armies on awe inspiring terrain. The team and I had to know it all! Not only to do our actual retail jobs but also to satisfy our hobby aspirations. Rarely did we just do a hobby task just because it had to be done. We did it and made it a pleasure, a pleasure through learning a new skill or it was the new release you had been waiting years for or a new game with new miniatures to explore in new scales etc etc.





The Tyranid releases were a fond example of a speed challenge for me because tyranids are a horde army with some awesome centre pieces, big ones. The Carnifex was a kit I Painted in a day, time was of the essence! Using a tank brush and Basecoat brush, clever use of devlan mud and some time managment I managed to do my retail job as well nail this bugger!
I was lucky though because GW had made an awesome kit and it pretty much painted itself :)




Working in this way and striving for speed and quality ("both/and" a GW  mantra I swear by) has taught me many things about what is and isn't necessary in painting professionally.

Work smarter AND harder.

Tommie

Tuesday 26 February 2013

What is a Good Miniatures Painter

What makes a good painter in my opinion is one that can work to an objective and complete that objective.

Imagine you run a Painting studio. What would you like your team to be like paint wise?
Top standard display painters? Mass army producers? Golem Demon winners? ;) Constantly exploring new ideas? Deadline Hitters? Great teachers and communicators? educated in the finer points of colour theory blah blah etc etc on and on

Add caption

Now imagine you are a hobbyist and you want to be a 'great painter'. What skills would you like to have to become 'great'?
Top standard display painting? Mass army producer? Golem Demon winner? ;) Constantly exploring new ideas? Deadline Hitter? Great teacher and communicator? educated in the finer points of colour theory blah blah etc etc on and on

I ask you all again. What Makes a painter great?
Every model i painted over a year and a half

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Is good good?

As my career in GW progressed I came to realize something and that something was what it means to be a good painter.

Do you guys know? I'd like to know what you guys think. Before i write more put you ideas in the comments below.

T

Sunday 10 February 2013

Both/And and More

Well I do hope you all decided to GO BIG in at least one way since my last post. Hobby wise that is.

I was having a think this week about my hobby and what my hobby actually is.
I came to the conclusion that miniature painting is not my hobby though it is a massive part of it.
Ever since i started painting I had two objectives. The first objective was and still is to paint to the high standards of the 'Eavy Metal team the second was to paint for a living which i do at Golem Painting Studio.
These two reasons  changed my mind on what my hobby is. My hobby is Professionally painting Miniatures and always has been. I pursued it since first picking up a brush. Now my hobby as you can now imagine goes beyond just putting paint onto a fantastic model because my interests lay in the hows of how a studio is run, how are colour schemes decided, how do you take good photo's etc.  All these things have gripped me since I was a kid and I applied this curiosity regardless of what job I had and I tried to be the best Professional hobbyist i could. That attitude earned me this.





No not the tourney mug! (though that was one of the BEST days working at GW i Ever had and on day I will tell you about is at some point) When I was Given the 'Eavy Metal badge I blubbed a little. I blubbed because It a gesture that said to me I was doing the right things in my job and somebody decided i deserved it. I never knew it existed till it was presented to me, it came to me (myyy precioussss) so yes i blubbed.

Do not wish, do.

Tommie

Wednesday 30 January 2013

GO BIG!

I hope you liked my brief space wolf tangent off the history of my hobby last post? If not TUFF.

At Gw Manchester ,and those that have been there will know, is that 'BIG' is the order of the day. Big armies, big tables, big castles, generally big ideas and high aspirations.
Regardless of any perceived obstacle we went for it and the guys at the store still do! and it's this quality that is the next lesson.

The Manchester Warlord - Imperious Obliteratum



I DON'T CARE IF THERE ARE REASONS NOT TO!! - I will focus on the reasons to DO!
I DON'T CARE IF I DON'T HAVE THE SKILLS!! - I will LEARN THE METHODS and DEVELOP THE SKILLS!

Sitting back and making up excuses is just a waste of time and even worse is the term 'I wish I could do ...'
We never wished. instead;

We conceptualized
We Educated
We executed
Through this process we grew our staff, our store, our skills, our reputation,  most importantly our hobby.

The Manchester Imperator




As you can see from the Titans our work was Progressive. By that I mean we tried to better what we had done previously and in the case of the titans it was size what was to be upped. The warlord stands at about 4.5 feet and the Imperator a massive 8 feet!! We wanted the titans to be in the same scale that the epic titans and infantry are to each other and not settling for less. But remember thinking big can be applied to a standard instead of a size e.g a single miniature painted to your greatest abilities and beyond! (The beyond is the important bit btw)

A NMM chrome effect on the nightbringer.


Never had i tried the Chrome thing on a Mini before. I literally copied a picture of the Silver Surfer onto the Nightbringer from a poster I had pinned to the back of helms deep in the store. From this I Had stretched my skill level and skill repertoire  

There were other Projects that made really really fond memories at Gw;
The Lizrdman temple
The Necron board
HELMS DEEP TO SCALE! (this made No.2 in City Life Magazines top 5 things to see in Manchester. The No.1 spot going to Justin Timber lake)

Sadly I do not have pics of all the projects we worked on as a team so if any body else does, either from the store or from a games day event please can you share them below in the comments box?

Think BIG

Tommie

Wednesday 23 January 2013

It's Cold Outside...


He watched the red snow. The red snow both ran and settled, clotted and melted, a duality that Sithric Jarnskeggisson observed in all things.
He stared, breathed deep and ran the portents.
Trees rushed by and futures flitted in between them. Wyrds and malificarum, both hunter and hunted danced eternally in the winter forest and this dance tells a tale, a possible tale or an impossible tale.
Sithric's still form frost-glistened as he read the wood, a pall of vapour rose from his slightly open mouth, while in his head his wolf form stalked and panted in the glades and gorges of possibility. His terminator armor insulating him from the cold allowed the winter elements to blanket him while he hunted his Lords wyrd in the winter wood.
The wood was quiet. The white snow lay untracked, the trees sentinel still. His wolf form stopped and pierced the dark of the wood with it's eyes. Deeper and deeper he gazed. Deeper he inhaled taking in the scents of wyrd and malificarum...... nothing.... no thing.... no things!! Wyrd and malificarum are what make things and in return things make them!

Sithric woke, ice, frost and snow cracked and sloughed of his armor whiting out the running, clotting blood. He turned and Made for the inside where the Wolf Lord was. Something bounced off his hip as he hastened, a doll of some kind, Sithric ignored it but it did not ignore him.
'My Lord!' it began hurriedly.
Sithric turned 'You are Vostroyan!' he exclaimed in his deep drawn accent. 'You know you should not sneek and slithe around when a priest stalks the winter woods?'
'I know Lord, I...'
'It could be the death of you. Lay you on the ground and make red snow' Sithric threatened as he pierced the newcomer with his yellow eyes.
'Lord the fleet is mobilisi...'
'Especially when you wear those funny hats on small bodies' Sithric carried on. He inclined himself lower so the hair of his shock beard intruded on the Vostroyan troopers face, forcing him back.
'Lord I INSIST! The fleet is mobilising and the High Commander is..'
'I know' intoned the Rune Priest
'Y- you know?'
'Yes. I know' Sithric purred. 'To Barabbas we go, the fourth planet'
Sithric turned and marched. The trooper just stood. The red snow seeped and clotted back up through the white out.


Though not Sithric Jarnskeggisson please enjoy my wolf priest intead, Roi Stridbarsson

Tuesday 22 January 2013

The GW glory days

I worked for GW on and off since i was 18 (1996) on and off and it did have its ups and downs but mainly ups and great ups at that! I love GW :)

It was at Gw that i discovered the wonder that is chaos black spray. Undercoating in black and then in a coloured spray became the secret to speed painting for me and this all came together on an ultramarines army I painted for Paul Evans at GW Manchester back in 2001/02 and it was under Paul's management that my hobby skills truly began to take shape.
If you're on facebook look em up. It is The best GW there is!!!










The lesson during this project was 'HAVE A SYSTEM AND A RHYTHM'. When painting the first mini for an army I create a 'route' around the model that i stick to for each mini of that type this way i do not have to think about where my next brush stroke will be, it's planned and programmed in.
With the route planned next comes speed, this is where rhythm comes in. *stroke, turn, stroke, stroke, turn, dot dot, stroke etc etc*
With the route and the rhythm programmed in then speeding up is easy because you have less to think about, it's all programmed in!

Till  next time kids :)

Sunday 13 January 2013

And then I consolidated

So i worked on consolidating the skills I brought together on Azrael. These were skills bases on one single high standard mini, not an army. Inspired by the Brilliant 'Eavy Metal work as per usual I set to trying to apply all those skill to an entire army, and Eldar army
First to Old Jes Goodwin mini with a paintjob Inspired by Mr McVey (as was my way)


Then ,after anotherbreak, on this rather awesome sculpt of a howling banshee, the best incarnation for me by Mr Fitzpatrick I believe.
To be honest I failed. Painting this way over an army took too long for my young impatient self. So how to fix??






I needed Quicker ways Ways.

Way 1 - use black undercoat not white
Way 2 - use a massive brush/spray for basecoats
way 3 - use less stages in smarter ways


What lessons did you guys learn?

Thursday 10 January 2013

So I tried.

I said this next post was to contain a biggie as far as my painting milestones go but first let me tell you the answer to my top tip from the last post.
Those sharp of 'eye' may have spotted the clue 'eye' put in the question; Play the game and post below and see if your 'eye' spy is good enough to spot it.
Notice the eyes of bertrand and his chubby chum are rather different? This is because the methods used were different. Bertrand's eyes were painted first using the method; white the eye first then dot in the pupil. This makes him appear creepy and beady eyed. Gui le Gros's eyes used the method; black the eye then only white in one side of each eye. in Gui's case this is his right side of each eye this give Gui' sooo much personality and life because his eyes are not just staring forward like most 'guides' instruct you. His eyes capture your imagination. What is he looking at or for? What is he thinking? You don't really get that from Bertrand.

Try it on the next set of eyes you paint, right handed painters go for the models right of the eye with white and you sinister(left in heraldic blurb) folk go for the left of the eye with white. the direction of approach is easiest these ways but feel free to do whatever you want!

So I Tried! This is my second break in the hobby (1996ish) and I was Working in Peterborough for the sweater shop and I was massively bored!
I happened upon the local GW there and of course in I went. The Angels of Death codex had not long been released and Really like the look of Azrael and the other characters tho Azrael stood out as the favorite. I made my Dark Angel purchase and promised myself I would go back to Mancland oop north and Paint again!

So I did and I tried and I did this...


Neater and smoother I had gotten. During the painting of this model i applied EVERYTHING I had learned and I applied it a section of the model at a time starting with his right foot and working out and up from there and saving the face till last. A method I still pretty much stick to today though i flit between completing those sections or just doing a stage at a time, e.g all the shading on the model
The eyes on this guy are looking slightly down to accentuate his furious redemption!
The winged designs on him are a NMM type thing though is till had stuff to learn about that.
And can you spot the 'red period' sneaking in?
I will see about a better picture in the future

Try the eye thing and tell me your results below

Ciao for now!

Monday 7 January 2013

I realised how things could be if I tried!!

I looked for the Banelord Titan I said I'd photograph for my next post but I had stripped it apparently so apologies to those who were looking forward to retro epic goodies.

All of us it seems fall out of the hobby at some point or another (so I hear at least) and I was no exception. There were two periods i can remember where things cooled off for me hobbywise. The first was late in high school and the second was just after college when i got a job at the Sweater Shop (booooo!). These periods were filled distractions like boobs (see last post if you want boobs), smoking, guitar and riding bikes... oh and burning things to keep warm while we smoked. Please by the way tell me what your breaks from the hobby were filled with in the comments below.

People say that 'practice makes perfect', i both agree and disagree, for a few different reasons but the reason i want to focus on here is 'A change is as good as a rest'. You see these breaks in my hobby journey bore the fruits of some of my greater milestones in painting because seemingly out of no where I could paint better..... much better, check out Bertrand and his mates below




I had gotten neater and more precise and better chooser of colour. A miracle of natural ability!!! Break his fingers!!!! you may exclaim or things of that ilk. (all things like that i dislike btw). 1- why break my fingers when you can learn from them and 2- IT WAS NO MIRACLE and I was no natural.
So what was it??? Well for starters I had matured mentally , tho some may still dispute that, and physically, so a natural increase in ability was going to happen. however my knowledge of painting seemed deeper and this was because of the 'Game' from my last post.
I never made the 'game' just about painting i made it my template for all things in my life. I got better at the 'GAME!' ( i just lost btw x x x) it's the real reason I got better and Its a real transferable skill. A principle if you will and i stick by it to this day.
Top tip i learned is in the pic above but I'm not just going to tell you what it is. Play the 'game' and post below and see if your 'eye' spy is good enough to spot it.
(The game is the eye spy game from my last post)

Next time I will show you another milestone and for me it's a biggie

Tommie

(I am crap at grammar btw, you may have noticed)

Wednesday 2 January 2013

As Time went on..

I drifted in and out of the hobby, as we all did, but I remember my fondest memories of that early period were playing and painting epic scale Space Marine (the game) models, in particular the epic Eldar of the Biel Tan Craftworld. Sadly none of those figures I had then are in my collection now and I have no memory of why, there is just the ruined carcass of a Banelord Chaos Titan which I can't seem to find right now. I will find it soon and I'll show it to you because this is where my first freehand attempts arrived.
Until I find it though I have managed to take some pics of other very early freehand jobbies, some on those early wood elves and a bit on an Ultramarine









For those that do have the memory, can you spot who would be my next major influence in the world of painty paint??? Kudos to those that leave the answer below in the comments and your reason why

Why am I sharing this with you all you may wonder? The reason is Painting for me is very simple and straight forward a process but in that simplicity lies the complexion. That complexion is the skill of execution!!!
Let me explain. There are two basic shapes to me, the first is a straight line the second is a circle. Both are as simple as simple can be.......but not to paint or draw.....that takes skill.
I am sharing my painting journey with you all so you may gain insight into how I developed my 'simple' skill

The first step I took was one of 'spot the difference', a simple game you all know, or is it?

The pages of white dwarf  were and still are filled with inspirational painted miniatures and that is what I wanted mine to look like and I still do. So I copied. Lots.
The attempts i made at copying the worlds greatest painters were far from the mark so with each finished piece i played that age old game but I played it with two extra rules.

rule 1 - What. What are the differences

Extra rule 2 - Why.  Why is this different from that

Extra rule 3 - How - How did make this difference happen. and how could I make it be more like that?

It is this that I consider to be my most valuable lesson EVER.

Because I went on to copy some more complex ideas pretty soon after!

Tyrion here is rather battered but you can see I was going in the right direction when compared to the McVey original below


So between now and the end of your hobby journey practice this lesson lots

And a parting gift of retro models boobs a familiar distraction to all most hobby journeys


Enjoy

Tommie

Tuesday 1 January 2013

The Beginning

Years ago I started an awesome hobby somewhere around 1989 to 1991, i can't remember now. This hobby was Wargames and the crafts that come along with it, building and painting armies and scenery.
My first project as a hobby youngling was the warhammer fantasy regiment set, of which the Wood elves were the things that caught my imagination. The set was a birthday present from my older brother along with some paints appropriate to the task and as you can see my skills were somewhat lacking.


Regardless of my lack of skill I never cared, I just enjoyed what i was doing! Which I believe now to be the key to getting better, that along with a keen observational eye.
A couple of years went by and I was luck enough to happen upon GW Manchester on a day when there was an 'Eavy Metal Roadshow!!! The guests of the day were Nigel Stillman and Tim Prow.
As a youngster of around 12 I was quiet kinda lad because of my keen eye I think and it was this quality that pointed me in the direction I am still going to this day as a figure painter
I sat the entire day in relative silence at the table where Tim and Nigel were demonstrating their skills. Nigel painted a chaos 'thing' and Tim painted a Chaos sorcerer and it was the sorcerer that caught my eye.
I eye balled every move Tim made with the brush and memorized the colours he used and the order he used them in and intermittently took close peeks of the 'Eavy Metal models he had brought along with him.
The end of the day came and I left having brought all the bits Tim had used to create the model, paints , brush and sorcerer and the desire for a Megadeth T shirt.
At home I proceeded to apply as much as I could remember to my new figure and my painting journey really blossomed





The original base I put him on is gone now (i used sugar instead of sand for texture) but miraculously the paint job still exists. I may hunt another down and paint it again :)
Tell me where your hobby journeys began in the comments below


Tommie Soule