From the workbench of the esteemed Horati0nosebl0wer

It’s good to let your enthusiasm rest from time to time. It may be detrimental if you get too wound up on one project coming away from another but it’s a risk you need to run sometimes. I did a quick pick me up of some fake Rubric marines and have the impetus to jump back on my Greek project. I also have been inspired on another backburner idea and let my creativity run around a bit to have the mental juices flow.

I’ve also sat and played with satin varnish as a break to matte in order to let the minis shine a bit. The Green Stuff world concrete basing material wasn’t quite what I anticipated but it suffices for use. I’ll keep to the process of making texture on plasticard for my display basing and any terrain in future.

I had a sit down while doing some magnet work and considered the notion of what AI can do and has been doing to and with our hobby. Artwork generated through recirculated digital images can be used to create new models for us gamers but it comes with the price of over engineering. Death by Detail seems to be in full swing with where GW and others are going and I think that scale creep is a symptom of it.

To draw down detail to manageable levels a human sense of what a human can work with is required. The supernatural among us who do great things with paint show that simple figures have intrinsic appeal that a painter merely draws out and amplifies through their own skill. This isn’t something a program can reproduce (hopefully ever). From this we are likely to keep seeing great products from 3D sculptors which will amaze us from the outrageous limits of creativity.

On a related note I think that the future of miniature agnostic games will continue to be bright as long as people understand how to build armies. If figures from disparate lines are brought together then the ties that bind them need to be very strong. As the physical material of an army comes together the paint then comes to connect. As a final part to the process the basing finishes the whole deal and makes the whole cohesive. No program to date has a means of building and painting what we love, because of that we need to flex our minds and fine muscle memory. Making better looking stuff by hand is the best way of keeping this hobby/cottage industry/craft(?) moving in an upward trajectory for quality.

You can’t program an army theme and have it physically in hand to play without the human mind. Positronic brains are not yet a reality.

Thanks to the Wonder of Ye Olde Interwebs I have found a means of returning to a process I haven’t played with for some time. Getting a formal class in oil painting taught me the process of a burnt umber breakdown, a value sketch of a piece in a neutral hue, and then dashing all my preconceived notions on color theory by assignments in using split complimentary hues but shifting all colors used in the same direction (warmer/cooler). Needless to say, it breaks the brain and opens up a different way of seeing and applying paint.

This thinking sprang forth, as it was mentioned that Ninjohn didn’t use basic black/white primer. I saw his process and I got to thinking that I’d go about emulating this as well in my own work at scale on a future army. Yes, I will do the insane and spread my love over an entire army in a non-Slaanesh/Crispin manner. Those people I will complain to please bear with me as I go about my madness. I think I have nailed something down to push on with developing my painting.

Horati0, what is best for mini painting?

To crush your enemies in competition, drive them before you with award in hand and hear the lamentations of their women (kind of a pipe dream as spouses rarely accompany for these kinds of things)… or to be an unemployed barbarian

Once more on the employment merry-go-round and it’s getting old. To keep spirits up while doing the search for work I’ve gone about getting my brush in motion as might’ve been evident recently. I’m just about ready to wrap up all the Giftmas givings and keep punching out the random things sitting on the backburner.

Thanks to what I have in store for Lloyd I’m getting onboard with my display pieces once more. Motivation is motivating when going from victory to victory. Let’s just hope he sees it that way as well (heh heh heh).

I got something big finished. A dire wolf from Mierce that I meant to add to the Viking project from some time ago now will be presented to a friend of mine. I show this off with a straggler from the sprue of Vikings and you can see there is quite a bit of resin atop the 80mm base. The pose was a bit awkward to work with but using bits I hope it looks more interesting than bare grass.

So I’ve been busy with things as of late. My friend who regularly runs his D&D campaign had his last game two weeks ago before the school year killed off all his time. I got in some random models he was sure to use.

Addendum of GW Khemri at random. I received these a few years from the generosity of a site member with intent of doing another project for display. That didn’t happen but I needed a small victory in slaying the gray. It was a day at the FLGS for bs and slinging Speed paint. Pretty good for not caring too much. I think there’s is definite use for these paints for mass battle games in short order.

The same friend who I did the Romans for had dropped this 3D printed Madcat Mk. II on me a few months back. I sat and considered what to do until I finally got motivated and did some painting. As per the title this is the Beta Galaxy for Cland Ghost Bear in Battletech. I had to do some hunting online for the decals despite having a respectable collection of hobby stuff otherwise.

As one off piece in FDM for my friend it works by me to work in 10mm(?). Overall I’ll stick with 25/28s as I have so much yet to do. More on the way.