Progress and Style

This following is just a thought dump... probably no pictures... and was written from a hobby perspective but could apply to a wider scope too.

Given it's my blog i can brain dump if i wanna.

I bought some cheap models off ebay recently for the Zona Alfa project. They were second hand models and i chopped, modified and re-painted them so their initial state was largely irrelevant.

They were however, some of the ugliest paint work I've ever encountered. Not clashing colours, not painting out of the lines... just really pedestrian execution.

If i had to guess, they could have been done by a kid or someone who had never painted before. 

I'm not aiming to bash people's early efforts, nor the efforts of people who just don't give a crap - which is equally as valid a position as people who do give a crap.

And at the end of the day it's just hobby.

However, it struck me as being really ugly and more importantly I noticed that I thought it was really ugly.

This prompted me to have a look at the paint work of my relatively old models - although the paint work is more basic than I would settle for now, it still seemed to indicate that more effort was put into them.

The next link in the chain of thought was about being able to realising one's own progress.

If you paint a lot then your work is likely to get better - same goes for most endeavours  - at least up to your personal capacity (which I believe has definite limits).

This is not necessarily something that is easy to notice as you're working on this or that project, and it's not until afterwards when you see a comparison of items that it may become noticeable.

I can easily see the difference in (what I perceive as) the increase in quality of my own painting through the various eras.

I don't necessarily want to revisit old projects and spruce them up; that's how they were, that's the history of this or that project, and how they will stay.  Other people may treat the matter differently.

I guess it's nice to be able to easily see the progression of your handiworks, even if you reach a plateau where further improvements are fairly minimal.

Painting is great for this comparison as it is a simple matter of looking...  this model is simplistic, this model has more tonal depth etc.

Easier and quicker than say appraising prose or the ability to put together an army list.

It's important (in my opinion) to be able to acknowledge your improvement. It boosts morale for one thing, and on the opposite side of that inspection/introspection it can allow you to look critically for areas to work on.

A clear painting weakness of mine is the ability to choose colours. I can copy colours and even modify then to an extent just fine, but given a plain model, paints, and no target in mind, and I'm sometimes floundering (aka the 'ambull' project).

I generally regard my paintwork as being decent. There's usually more that I could do, but I don't have the talent, dexterity or patience for extreme levels of details and eventually I will call 'done' once it's bearable.

There are other people who produce extraordinary levels of quality and detail, even on tiny scales such as 6mm. Nutters, but talented.

I think that more than developing a specific talent set or level of technical expertise, what I've been working towards is developing a style.

I paint how I paint regardless of what I'm painting or the scale of what I'm painting, and I can do it consistently. I don't really enjoy painting, but I like having a painted army.

Through experience and experimentation I've found a relatively small number of techniques that I'll call on and which can be applied to just about anything - embracing concepts rather than rigid mechanical technique.

base coat -> block in colours -> washes to darken -> dry brush to emphasise/lighten -> details as required -> basing -> DONE!

That's my formula, which is probably the same one used by thousands of other hobbyists.

Additionally I think with my particular style there's also an element of quantity over quality.

When you look at one model it's just acceptable, but when you put that model it in a squad or army then the groups' paintwork adds an extra zing - consistent laziness perhaps - a matter of context definitely.

Anyway that's it really; experience is always a winner, work towards your own style whatever that may be, and lots of little sessions will get you there in there end.

...

I actually had a conversation with a game compadre at the last game day. He mentioned an inability to motivate and get the painting done.

Based on this i listed a few points (some mentioned in the above blurb)...

"following up on our convo yesterday. i think the reason i'm getting things painted is;

i) having the paints and everything out means i don't have to 'make a session' out of it.

ii) lots of little sessions eventually gets lots of stuff done.

iii) personal choice: batch painting. some people do model by model. but i find batches more inspiring.

iv) the blog helps just to keep me focused on getting the next something done - because i'm thinking about it more.

v) not being able to handle having tasks incomplete. applies to non-hobby stuff too.

...

it very much helps to find that particular method that works for you (if you can). for me the 5 minutes here and there really paid off, even if it was just one or two models or colours. the little bastards don't paint themselves."

Re point (i) this is invaluable... and applies to so many hobbies and tasks... whether it's playing a piano, or using an exercise machine, or painting models - out of sight is out of mind. If you walk by the paint desk and feel the eyes of the little models following you accusingly then there's some motivation, and it's easier for me to appease that guilt with a little smear of paint before carrying on with something else.

update 2020-11-08

I have recently been revisiting BaC (post on that soon). I'd gotten around to assembling some Tzeentch Horrors, and I had a box of Orks sitting around for ages. Both are on the paint table.

Anyway, i was looking at the models i'd already done from that earlier era (mainly for use in BaC as I don't do full 40k).  My traitor marines, chaos marines, the earlier Orks.

I noticed that my painting from this era was quite primitive. Not bad per se, but it's only at a level of what I'd consider, 'blocking in the colours' (per above),   before washes and dry brushing are done. 

The Horrors got the full treatment and look pretty neat. My Tyranids from this era are also not bad as they had more 'organic dry brushing' than the other factions - just because it seemed to suit them (perhaps that's where I discovered dry brushing - fun to contemplate).

I'm considering doing the 'next steps' on the Orks both old and new models (not quite done with the basic colours on the new ones so I have a day or two of contemplation) as washes and dry brushes should actually make them all look much nicer.

And, if I do that I'm going to want to improve the rest of the chaos, and marines... not like I have many pressing projects anyway (No sarcasm. I don't).

Anyway, the point that I was actually thinking about was WHEN did I go from blocked colour models to full works models?

The techniques were mainly developing during the Epic era - probably earlier than the 'resin' era but definitely by the 'resin' era.

For 28mm i think Blackstone might have been the first full project where i went full works in a big way.  Possibly Necromunda.  Similar timeframe, definitely crossover.

update ends

Until next time...