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?

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

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

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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

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

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

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

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