Many people ask us what it is like to be a miniature painter, as they consider doing so themselves. We try not to discourage or dissuade them, but we also don't want to delude them into thinking that it will be a magical world where everything is fun and easy :-) I tell them that they will be constantly working 7 days a week, with perpetual deadlines and such. To me, just another day at the office! It also means another day of experimentation and learning new stuff!
As an example, I have 3 other "staging areas" like this one set up right now. This represents about 5% of all the things I am working on at this time. You don't see the 2 LOTR armies, 3 40k armies, and 3 WFB armies that are all under way. Not to mention one last Storm eagle, all manner of monsters and other creatures that are too big to show here. :-)
What I really looking forward to is my first foray into using pastels on my miniatures. Think weathering powders, but in color! In fact, some of these figures will be part of the original beta test. My 2 LOTR armies will be the biggest laboratory to start the process. That should give me enough data to move on to the Dark Eldar army, which is the real target for this yet to be developed technique.
People also ask me why I don't get burned out after such a punishing pace for well over a decade. It is this kind of development that keeps things as new as when Cathy and I first painted those Lizardman figures on the kitchen table that summer of 2001!
What is impressive is that it seems to work out for Cathy (I assume your spouse) and you for such a long time!
ReplyDeleteIt has been an advantage, since our basing techniques developed a lot faster as a result of her expanding on what I did, and vice versa. Those techniques developed twice as fast as they morally would, and that continues to this day.
DeleteI used to do some commissions and recently got back into blogging. It was hard and though my clients were always happy I never felt like I had enough time to do any of the jobs the justice I wanted. It was hard for me to let go and I think I was my own worst enemy. What you do it very impressive and it makes me want to give commissions another go at some point. Perhaps age and wisdom have tempered my perfectionism...nah, probably not;) Thanks for all the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteI do wish you all the best as you get back into the painting. One secondary result of all the commission stuf is that I have to paint things I would never try on my own or never heard of before. That makes me develop all sorts of new techniques and processes!
DeleteI am very interested in seeing how your pigment work develops. :)
ReplyDeleteI think I finally found some containers that I think will work for the pigments!
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